Walt Disney World remains silent on the subject of its park reopenings, likely monitoring the progress of the ongoing phased reopening at Disney Springs. In the meantime, Universal Orlando has gone from presenting its reopening plans, to proposing a reopening date, having it approved on county and state levels, and announcing an official reopening to the public all in the course of 24 hours. While Walt Disney World won’t be submitting its plans until sometime next week, we may have some idea of one of the key operational aspects of its reopening: capacity.
According to Amanda Dukes of WESH 2 News, a Disney executive has informed Governor Ron DeSantis and Vice President Mike Pence that the company is considering reopening the park at 20-30% capacity.
Tweet #2: @WaltDisneyWorld says it's not submitting a plan to the OC Economic Recovery Task Force YET and does not have a date to do so. @DisneySprings is back open and Wed. a Disney Exec told @GovRonDeSantis and @VP they are considering reopening the park at 20-30% capacity pic.twitter.com/LjoDqUCp5y
— Amanda Dukes (@Amanda_Dukes1) May 21, 2020
This is not unlike the scenario at Shanghai Disneyland, which reopened at 20% capacity on Monday, May 11, with a reservation system in place. The park plans to increase ticket sales by 5,000 each week until Shanghai Disneyland is selling at 30% capacity. Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek referred to Shanghai as a short-book market, where typically tickets are sold on a week-by-week basis, and believes that the company needs to be “very conservative, very prudent” in moving forward.
While Walt Disney World does receive many locals and Florida Residents, it also has a lot of national and international guests flying in. Governor Ron DeSantis’ Re-Open Florida Task Force Executive Committee has considered the notion of a phased reopening that includes only locals and state residents, but there is no confirmation on whether this will actually be the case.
Universal Orlando has stated that it will be reopening on June 5 with limited capacity, but has not given any percentages or numbers.
I’ve been to many Passholder events, and im sure all those people are not from out of state or countery
I am a AP and from out of state….to let locals and in state folks only come in would be unfair to all AP. Why? Because that would restart the clock on expiration dates. They said they would extend the life of the AP for as long as the parks are closed. Why should I being from out of state and an AP be subjected to losing time that would actually not allow me to visit.
Disney will limit attendance to a quarter…will that even be necessary? Will that many people be willing to show up? Imagine wearing masks in Florida in June…. Social distancing in the happiest place on earth… for me, it kills the mood, like, totally. But I can’t wait to find out how everybody handles this new normal. And what about the hotels? If the hotels aren’t open, there’s no need to limit attendance at all, I just can’t imagine.
My family went to Disney Springs yesterday. Masks were brutal. One grandson was having problems with the masks. I believe there will be health issues and people will pass out.
Hopefully they will consider anyone who is staying onsite a “local.” Would be a bummer to come all the way down just to watch all the locals heading in to the park and then not having enough room for the guests who have paid for the pleasure of staying on their property.
So, Floridians aren’t as valuable because they can drive in?
You Floridians already get the perk of having easier access to Disney! Haha, I promise I’m kidding, I’m a passholder & I drive every month from SC (& mean no disrespect to locals, I was actually born raised in FL). I do get just letting locals in first to keep crowds lower, and I would think Disney would extend the out of state AP’s accordingly… I really just hope they announce exactly how long face masks will be mandatory in the plan, as I will be waiting until masks are optional or not required at all before I’m heading down.
How can the park possibly only be reopened for Floridians? I’ve already purchased my tickets. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m fairly certain this violates the commerce clause. Anyway, we hope to see you soon.
I agree and dearly hope they don’t go that route or do what they did in Shanghai and require purchase of new tickets based on a date after they open. I already have tickets and am not going to buy more. But the reality is, they absolutely can do that. The tickets have a disclaimer on them that says Disney reserves the right to restrict admission at any time, and they have already released statements saying they might have to adjust what admission media is accepted and how. They have the right to do that as long as they offer a refund for other tickets.
No, you are not a lawyer: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/commerce_clause. Any reopening plan that limits (and/or restricts) the attendance (temporarily) is not a form of legislation….
Wouldn’t be surprised if they open to Club 33 prior to public opening. Or even have a DVC or Passholder day separately. “Open” July 1, public access at limited capacity July 6 … or something like that once they take care of the consistent revenue folks.