Disney parks fans thread

Universal is really gunning to fill the gap where Disney is failing. Universal Hollywood even started a running division when rundisney had to stop California races due to disputes with the city of Anaheim. 10 years from now Universal could be #1 with Disney looking to catch up.

WDW just announced that they are shortening the park hours even further.

Just a heads up, in case anyone here is still planning a trip.

Seems to me that they are doing the exact opposite of what they need to be doing.

At first it seems ridiculous but I kind of see why they are. We are down here now. We went to magic kingdom and did Almost every ride and stopped for snacks 3 times in 6 hours. Longest wait of the day was for seven dwarves which was 26 minutes and that’s only because they stop the rides and clean all the cars every 2 hours and they happened to do that while we were waiting.
Hollywood studios was busier but we did everything including the new rise of the resistance ride and was able to ride the new Minnie and Mickey railway twice and the midway mania ride twice. We got there when it opened but we also spent 3 hours in the middle of the day swimming and resting at the house we rented.
We are annual pass holders who go a lot so I have a pretty good idea of how long it takes to do things in the park and I would say right now it takes 1/3 to 1/4 of the time to do stuff. The average guest can see and do everything in the park plus their favorites twice with their current hours.

That is awesome! Sounds like you are having a great time.

The crowds are very low right now, and they are not even hitting their very low daily capacity limits on a consistent basis. Disney stated that attendance has been lower than they projected, and that half of all attendance is annual passholders, who don't spend very much.

From the standpoint of getting on rides with short lines, it's great!

I'm going down in a few weeks. It doesn't bother me so much if the park hours are shorter as long as the crowds aren't crazy. I"m guessing in September it won't be too busy yet.

Yeah I'd guess that September will be really low crowds this year, maybe even lower than what they are seeing right now. Should be a great trip! Let us know how it was when you get back.

Found in a drawer. 11 shiny Starcade tokens. These are actually sold on eBay for as much as a few bucks each. Keeping them for now.

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I've got a bunch of Flynn's Arcade and Mad Tea Party from DCA.

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We went to that Flynn's Arcade at DCA for one of those special event nights, that was pretty darn cool. One of the favorite things I have done at the park. Well, my passholder wife knew I loved Tron so she bought my way in for a birthday present.

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Right now we are still booked to arrive November 7th. There is no way we are going though. Does anyone know the runs for canceling? We can get the hotel money back but what about tickets? We booked this year and November specifically to try and not go during crowded times. There is no way were going next year. With the 50th anniversary and hopefully COVID being over, it's going to be nutz.
D.

I was told that my tickets would be good anytime since they haven't been used yet. However, if i use them at a later date, I would have to go to customer service and pay the difference between the rate at which i bought them and the current rate.

I miss buying the 10 day, no expiration tickets, for every trip.

Call Disney. Shit changes all the time. We just got the "make your final payment or we'll cancel your reservation". We called them and they said no problem, take another two weeks to get it to us.

Did you book your trip as a package? Or did you buy the tickets and book the room separately?

If it was a package then there is a 30 day cancellation window, and you can cancel the entire thing.

If you booked a room only and bought tickets separately, then there is a 5 day cancellation period for the room. You would have to hold onto the tickets and use them later.

All of the above are the pre-covid policies. As was mentioned by Methos, call them. If you bought the tickets separately, they may give you a refund on the tickets due to current circumstances.

Just info - Today is the last day for Annual Passholders to cancel the rest of their pass and get a refund from July 11 thru the end date of the pass. If you did not get an Email, you will have to call. Took about an hour on hold, so Email link if you have it is best.

I am not a DVC owner, but I have researched it a bit. I'm not going to try to give you advice, other than to say it's a REALLY big topic. There are many, many things to consider. Therefore, I highly recommend that you research this somewhere other than a pinball forum.

One possible good place to start would be wdwinfo dotcom. They have a section of the site dedicated to it, as well as a forum topic dedicated to it.

Even simply renting DVC points comes with some risks/drawbacks, so it's good to know before you do it.

I own DVC points ..... and the $9600/yr maintenance fee is crazy. Sure my family gets a solid 2-3 trips per year (either to Disney FL, Disney CA, Disney SC, Disney Cruises, or convert to RCI pts for Vegas or something fun), but unless you plan on taking a sh!t ton of trips and multiple family members use it (parents, cousins, aunts/uncles, etc), then do the math to see how it works for you. We own original Old Key West, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Bay Lake (Contemporary). On top of the cost of the pts, factor in airline cost, food, tickets, etc. (when my parents first bought in 1994, park tickets were free with DVC bookings)

We get the two room with kitchen every time. Breakfasts in the room, snacks and ice cream, cold drinks (Big Red soda!), we can reheat leftovers or cook lighter dinners. My parents stay in one room and my wife and kids in the other. Worked out great when the kids were little and wanted to rest or go to the pool as they could bring them back and my wife and I stay at the parks.

ETA: the website I mentioned above is just one that I happened to know about. Not necessarily the best one to use.

holy crap. Do you have about 2000 points?

I just purchased my first DVC contract a few months ago. Only bought 180 points, but I would recommend to use the Dis Boards for your research. Everything you need (and more) is there. There is a file on that forum with a very detailed cost benefit analysis. It is a quite impressive.

We have 1400 pts. The points are for 45 yrs and each resort has a different amount (Bay Lake are way more annually for fees than Old Key West). I checked the bill, its $9300/yr (not 9600 but still nuts LOL)

Also unless things have changed, minimum buy in is 250 pts. Once you own, you can add in 50 or 100 increments. Keep in mind you are not going to get squat for 100 pts, especially a two bedroom for a week. Points used are based on time of year, resort you stay at, and room size. Old Key West can be 29pts/night where as Bay Lake Park View is 50pts/night

https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/destinations/list/ this will give you a good idea on the points used for each room

My apologies for my ignorance, because I live there.

Condos, and Houses are renting for $60-$100 a night, within 20 minutes of Disney Front Gate.
What is the Advantage of Disney Club/Points/Monthly fees?

No disrespect meant, I honestly dont know the short answer to this.

But they ain't on Disney property. Big difference for the non locals.

I did it once, will never do it again.

I recently looked into DVC. Seemed the time to have done it was 20 years ago.

Cheaper for me to stay at a moderate resort 3 times a years with my annual pass than doing DVC.

A moderate will be about break even, but it will tip the scale when you consider selling the asset. If you want to say in Values, then it's a no brainer. But a moderate 3x, that will probably be a better financial value if you plan to stay in studios or 1 bedrooms.

We’ve rented houses three times in a development near the edge of animal kingdom and it was just fine. Even had our own pool.

But it ain't a Disney pool!

I know the places around Disney to stay are pretty good deals, I even stayed in the Hilton twice in Disney Springs (which technically is on Disney property).

The DVC resorts are a completely different level of leisure. Many DVC members go JUST to the resorts, not even to the parks. Really depends on what it is you want to do. If you are looking for the best value, don't do DVC. It caters to a different type of vacationer. My family loves the resorts, which is why we bought in. You can pick up a few points for a few grand too, it isn't that expensive.

I know absolutely nothing about DVC points. But I also recommend the Dis Boards (https://www.disboards.com/) as a source of information. Lots of valuable information on that site and it is very active. They have the answer for just about everything so I can only assume they have plenty of info on DVC as well.

The resale cost of DVC is quite low in comparison. I bought a 200 point contract at the Polynesian for $141 per point and the current direct price is $235 per point for the same resort. We tend to go in late August and 200 points is good for about 9 nights. So, after paying for the contract, the dues are your only expense. Our dues are $6.79 per point, totaling $1358. That ends up being about $150 per night when we go.

One of the reasons that we bought at the Polynesian is that we have a 5 person family, so we need that extra bed in the room and it's still considered a studio room and it's not a higher cost 2 bedroom. The Polynesian also has the largest studio room, with an extra shower in it. And we just generally love the being in the resort. It has a very laid back feeling.

Like many others, I have a spreadsheet that I used to determine if this was a good investment for my family. The key is that you have to go to Disney every year, you have to like staying in the deluxe resorts and you should have the cash up front. If you're borrowing the money, you probably shouldn't do this.

The ROI at current rates is about 8-12 years. Disney makes sure that the contracts hold their value by having the right of first refusal (ROFR) on every aftermarket sale. If the price per point is too low, they buy them back up at the low price and resell them at their current rates.

If anyone wants a copy of this spreadsheet, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you. I built it off of a lot of historical data. On average, rooms go up 5.38% per year, and dues go up 3%. Renting points goes up 5%. All of these are adjustable.
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This thread has turned into a time share infomercial.

So other than the Bay Lake points, we got in early with Old Key West (when it was the only DVC resort) and paid very little. We have taken many cruises that cost nothing with points, many Vegas trips, trips to Hilton Head, trips around the country (Poconos, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, etc) using Disney points (you can easily switch some to RCI for just about any other resort). Because of this, we got our money's worth. Flash forward when Bay Lake opened and my parents went and bought more points. Now the annual cost is through the roof and with teenagers now, we aren't using them as much any more. My parents are getting old and they don't use them as much with their friends. My aunts and uncles and grandparents all passed away so they are not using the points "from beyond".

We buy food at the beginning of the week to eat some meals in the room, we never get the Disney dining plan (complete waste of money unless you eat at buffets everyday....just a side note on that, about 5 yrs ago we chose not to do the plan for the first time since the 80's when it was the "Gold Key plan" and for six of us, saved over $1600 in food and beverages for the week over the plan and we ate constantly)

I think it's worth it for those that have many people involved that can use it all the time. The flexibility of staying at any resort and any time in any sized room plus the discounts on food, annual passes, merch, free buses to and from the airport, pools galore, extra magic hours, etc make it a good investment .... if you use them all the time every year

It totally has and I got suckered into the conversation LOL ... I can talk Disney all day

I don't know anything about DVC so I can't add anything to the conversation. But I know a fair amount about WDW vacations, having been there multiple times over the past 10 years or so. Biggest rule in my book - stay on WDW property, preferable on the monorail route. It makes getting to and from Magic Kingdom and Epcot simple and quick. With the prices you will be paying, you want (at least I do) to maximize your time in the parks, seeing attractions, doing rides, etc. You don't want to spend any more time than necessary on buses or travelling to and from parks.
Second rule - never sleep in! Get to the park at least 45 minutes before it opens. That way you can hit the big attractions several times before the sleepy heads show up. And finally, make all of your fast pass and dining reservations as soon as you can - to the minute! Literally minutes after the 2 or 3 month window opens, fast passes for the biggest attractions are already getting booked.
Note - with all of the Covid crap going on, WDW is doing things differently now and Fastpasses aren't being used according to what I have read. So none of the above advice may be valid any longer. I personally won't go back until everything is open and operating normally and the face mask requirement has been lifted. That's just the way I look at it, but it isn't a "magical time" if I have to wear a mask the whole day. Hopefully things get back to normal by next year!

Sbmania - I disagree with some of your touring plan advice. . But you are absolutely correct that wdw needs to get things back to normal, asap.

They are seeing lower crowds and revenue than they projected after re opening the parks. And their response to that is to try to save on costs by cutting hours even further. That's not going to help draw tourists back to the parks. They're going to end up with an even higher percentage of locals in the parks, who are mostly AP holders and don't spend any money.

All of this ties into the DVC discussion. Personally, this seems like a shaky time to make a multi decade commitment to Disney, due to the impacts of the pandemic as well as other geopolitical issues.

I'm just not sure where it's all going. Will they recover from all this and continue as usual? Will they recover, but reduce spending even further, and will the parks and resorts suffer? Will they sell off the parks and resorts? And if so, will the new owners be awesome, or suck?

If you are a Disneyland annual pass holder and would rather have them turn your pass back on when you first decide to go back to the park
Sign this petition http://chng.it/sHF4RMCmZr

This way you can decide when you feel it's safe enough to go back.
Hopefully they will listen and roll out annual pass reactivation differently at Disneyland

DVC is a big part of Disney, so that's why it'll come up. Depending on how you travel, it can be a huge savings or a huge waste of money.

It all depends. If you want that "magic" (hate that word), or the experience on what the resort has to offer, staying on property is a no brainier. I'll never not stay on WDW property. Even the value resorts are fun to stay in. If you only want to visit the parks, stay off site. The monorail route can get pretty backed up too, the busses are just fine, but it depends on what resort you are at (The Values, Caribbean, Port Orleans routes are painfull).

As far as DVC, I wish I would have bought in years ago, and as Max says, we could discuss it for hours/days. We bought at Canyon (Wilderness Lodge) because we love that resort. I'm thinking of adding on a small Old Key or Poly as the prices aren't too bad on those. But any of the DVC resorts are exceptional....except Rivera. That does nothing for me.

Never buy direct unless you want to waste money.

I signed it and want to wait until the experience goes back to normal because I hate wearing a mask, but I'm pretty sure my wife will want to go back on day 1.

I've been reading some speculation that the parks may open in mid September, based on current covid numbers, reservation availability dates at hotels, and other factors like Knotts food events ending then.

"In a press conference today California Governor Gavin Newsom said that the state continues to engage in 'negotiations' with theme parks in determining a reopening date."

It's starting to feel like these negotiations are hostile. Disney, Universal, Legoland, sea world, and six flags are all clearly frustrated and have been publicly signaling that they want to open ASAP.

It’s stupid. There have been no reported super spreader incidences in Disney world. It’s a no brainer to open.

Corps putting profits in front of people as usual.

The real question is....Why Open?
Everyone forgets its still a pandemic, regardless of any numbers. Leave politics and your rights out of it.
Is there really a need, you have to go?
It's non essential entertainment.
You can't just watch Disney+?
Its just a park.

Uhhhh... Regardless of any numbers?

How dare people claim their rights!

What about peoples jobs and livelihoods that center around that park. And hotels and ticket sales, etc etc. You can’t just expect the government to keep handing out money to people not to work. Where do you think all that money comes from?

What I think people really forget is that this thing doesn’t spread by voodoo. You have to get the thing on your fingers then put them up your nose or somewhere else, or eat something without washing your hands. I have hand sanitizer always ready to go. Clipped on my belt like a real nerd, in fact. I’m willing to take my chances. I’ll wear a mask (something like 90% of the spread is droplets out of our mouths).

Workers want to get back to work (generally). Life has to move on. There will be a lot worse bugs than this in our future. And if we can’t sort this little thing out, wait till we get one that spreads like this and kills like Ebola.

Literally no evidence of spread at WDW. Why hurt people, jobs, and the economy unnecessarily. Just out of an “abundance of caution?” That time has passed. Time to get back to helping all people live, not just keeping a very few from dying.

informal : a decision or choice that is very easy to make and requires very little thought.

I wish that were true in this case. Unfortunately, that isn't how pandemics work.

There is no monitoring of the virus from guests who are out of State and leave.
In state guests, are not being traced to this extant, and any info is being kept hidden from Public Data.
So, No looking for evidence, does agree, with what you say, but it doesnt mean it isnt happening.
Everyone being safe as possible, is simply your risk, not Disneys.

My Brother is now going into the Parks, for Work and Pleasure, But I wont.
We have different risks, which I believe is what many feel is the "line"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/workers-reveal-disney-is-covering-up-its-covid-cases

(This is one story.....Orlando news, shares none, but I hear stories weekly from Family)

Disney is doing a great job, on behalf of its guests, a bit less for its workers....

Here in California, if you take the number of confirmed cases and multiply by 10 as suggested by the CDC to get an estimate of the actual number of cases, it's close to 1 in 5 people have been infected/are immune already. If you use the same metrics to estimate the mortality rate, it's 0.1859822412%.

Numbers as of today:

Confirmed cases: 744,479
Deaths: 13,846

(100/(744,479x10))*13,846 = 0.1859822412

Maybe the shutdowns made sense in March when we thought it might be 9% or higher mortality rate... But less than 0.2%? This seems crazy to me. People should take whatever precautions they want for themselves and their family, but mandating shutdowns over these numbers is crazy. The negative effects of the shutdowns outweigh any benefit.

If you are going to make up numbers to make the math look better, you may as well multiply the infection rate by 100 instead of just 10. That would make your final mortality rate ten times lower and convince more people...

I'm not making it up. It's from the CDC.

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