Quoted from Ericpinballfan:

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.

Quoted from paynemic:

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

Quoted from DaveH:

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.

Quoted from Max_Badazz:

I made these last night .... the book left out the half of sausage that needs to be included like the park had (which I added), but it was pretty close in taste to the real thing. We had these while waiting for our boarding pass number to be called. [quoted image]

Quoted from seenev:

It's not certain that they'll even be open by Thanksgiving. The governor seems determined to keep them closed.

Quoted from Ericpinballfan:

Aren't your passes good for the Disney parks in Florida too?
By Thanksgiving....If you can I would book FL.

Quoted from Ericpinballfan:

Without turning this into the covid thread its horribly subjective.
All those guests fly home...if they get infected its pretty hard to trace it back to Disneyworld. The travel along could be blamed.

Quoted from taylor34:

All of these businesses that require people to show up are handling it the same way...hush, hush. You're not going to hear about anyone from any of those places getting it. But frankly, you can just do the math and it's pretty much a given that it's happening. Just like airplanes. 1 in every 6,600 Americans is getting it every day, so if you have more than that going you can be pretty much assured that it's happening. Like I calculated my kids school before it started, there's a 1 in 10 chance that someone in the school will have covid on a given day. 30 school days in, 3 kids have gotten it.

Quoted from NimblePin:

Bzzzzzt.
The reason you can’t find a parking spot at the beach on the weekend is, because all local beach residents are actually sleeping in/staying home and not giving up their prized overnight parking spot to go eat, shop, play like they used to do pre-COVID.
Trust me, I’m there well before the sun comes up (5-5:15AM) and there might be maybe one or two spots open among the local houses on any given weekend. I’m usually the first in the water and even when I leave after 9AM, there’s still the same dew-soaked cars up and down the rows.
Holiday crowds aside, there’s definitely less people on the beach this year compared to non-COVID years past.

I went to Downtown Disney about 12 days ago to check out how they’re handling things.
Happy to say they are doing a very good job screening and managing the influx of guests that fill the stores/restaurants.
Even went out of my “covid comfort zone” and ate outdoors (sans-mask) at Napoli for an entire 45 minutes with my family.
It was weird.
But, so far so good all these days later!
In my opinion, Knott’s Berry Farm has truly set the gold standard bar in getting creative during COVID.
Their “Taste of Calico”, “Taste of Knott’s”, and Taste of “Fall-O-Ween”, have really kept Knott’s afloat during this crazy pandemic.
Theme park locals and tourists alike are stoked that they get some sort of normalcy in walking the physical park.
Sure you can’t go on rides but, the pricing reflects that since you are just paying for a food tasting card that gives you five or so items to choose out of a dozen+ depending on the event.
Free parking too!
Each event sells out DAILY and gets better and better with each rendition.
Disneyland could easily steal yet-another-page from Knott’s playbook and do something similar to keep fans happy, as well as a decent amount of cast members employed.

Quoted from zr11990:Deleted post

Quoted from MrBally:

My sister read in either the LA Times or San Diego Union that Proof of immunization will be required and General Admission will be value priced at only $200.00 per person.
Occupancy will be kept low and as already mentioned, annual passes are being cancelled and refunded.

Quoted from o-din:

Yes, cancelling the passes for now was the right move. It's the only way they would be able to control each day's attendance when they do reopen by only selling so many admissions per each day.
It will probably be like these football games where the stadiums are only at partial capacity, but those that do go in will definitely be paying a premium.
They did say they will work on a new pass system eventually, but I think it will probably be way more astronomical in price than it has been the last few years.
Glad I got my Disney ya yas out when my daughter and myself were young. This place is far from re-opening though. My guess is at least another year, maybe more.

Quoted from Fizz:

I'm sorry but I find this mind boggling. I mean, I totally respect that people have different opinions about theme parks being open, and that is cool. In fact, I find the debate interesting.
But, as far as casting shade on the state of florida or any other state is concerned... It just doesn't seem like someone who is extolling the virtues of california has very solid ground to stand on.
Have you even seen the latest covid stats? CA is the worst of all states right now, my man.

Quoted from Fizz:

You know, I'm glad to see people in this thread who have been to the parks and felt safe from covid. I am a big fan of Disney parks and other theme/amusement parks in general, but I haven't been to one since covid started. But that's really more due to just not being able to go, than due to the virus.
But just for fun, I've been debating this whole topic with myself. It's a very difficult thing to discuss without it becoming political, and I'm tired of political bs, so I haven't really discussed the topic much with anyone.
Does anyone know if there have been any major outbreaks tied specifically to theme/amusement parks? I haven't heard of any, but that doesn't mean there haven't been any. Plus it's probably a pretty hard thing to actually pin down.
Overall, I'm thinking that theme parks should inherently be pretty safe with respect to covid, and here's my thinking:
On the one hand, there is definitely exposure to a lot of people from who knows where at a theme park. And all of these people are touching things (handrails, ride restraints, etc). So, that is all certainly not good.
But, on the other hand, most theme parks are either completely or mostly outdoors. And, although you will come into contact with many people at a theme park, you are very rarely in contact with any one person for more than, say, thirty seconds. The exception here would be waiting in an attraction line, so hopefully those lines are socially distanced adequately.
As far as spreading the virus through touching things, that's a problem, but it's easily mitigated through use of hand sanitizer. Although it doesn't completely eliminate that threat.
My understanding (and I'm no doctor) of the virus is that it spreads mostly through close contact, indoors, for an extended period (like 15 minutes) with an infected person. And at a theme park, we really don't have that. So, overall, I'm feeling like theme parks should be pretty safe, at least in comparison to many other entertainment venues. Still not as safe as staying in your house though.
Another thing I was thinking about is that many theme parks are running rides at half capacity, with empty rows between parties. And I'm wondering if that's actually the right way to go. I think if you run the ride at full capacity, get people through quickly, and you can reduce the line, so that people will not have to stand near each other as long. At least in theory.
Also, all of this is from a guest's point of view. Employees might be a whole different ball of wax.
What do you guys think?

Quoted from Ericpinballfan:

I have weekly. I help run a union with over 500 employees at Disneyland. I have 16 working in mothball status. Hoping for an Oct start at this point.
I have guys and gals emailing everyday about there health insurance ending. Were in crisis mod.

Quoted from sbmania:

Although I love WDW and have been many times over the past 10 years, I can not bring myself to spend a week there wearing a mask (which drives me crazy after about 30 minutes) and without Parkhoppers and Fast passes. Parkhoppers and FP+ are the only way I have found to avoid waiting in long lines for the more popular attractions, and I won't spend the money for a week on-site stay at WDW with the chance that I will not have been able to experience every attraction I want to see.
On a related matter, my family visited my wife's family in Myrtle Beach and Charlestown, SC over the holidays. I wore no masks on the street and we ate out several times in restaurants where a mask was worn until seated and then taken off. Bars were also open in a similar manner. We toured the USS Yorktown while there. When we returned to PA, my 21 y/o son got a Covid test only because he was required to before returning to work. To his and our great surprise, it came back positive, despite his feeling ABSOLUTELY no sickness whatsoever. As his dad of 69, I got a test several days later which was negative. Its been more than 2 weeks now since we returned and nobody in my family of 4 or my wife's family of 4 has had any signs of sickness whatsoever. Maybe my kid's test was a false positive?
I KNOW that people are getting Covid and getting very sick and dying. At least that's what I am told although I have not seen this (thankfully) in my personal social circle. I know personally at least 6 people who definitively have had Covid and called it a mild cold. I KNOW not everyone's experience is the same! And this is not meant to disrespect anyone who has a family member or relative or friend who is very sick or has passed. I'm just saying I personally can't say with absolute certainty that all of this mask and social distancing is doing a damn thing to stop the spread. It just seems like if you are going to get it, you do. And if it is going to hit you harder than the next guy, it will. There just seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.
Most of the people that I know that got it took great precautions to protect themselves yet they still got it. And many I know who take no precautions whatsoever have never gotten it. I also don't think the vaccine is the ultimate solution. A new strain could come out at any time which the vaccine may or may not be effective against. I'm starting to lean towards the thought that we just open everything back up, let everyone live their lives as they wish, mask or no mask, stay home or go out, cautious or not so cautious, everyone decide for themselves. But accept the consequences of their decision. I know not everyone will agree with this but what we are doing now is having marginal success at best in my opinion. And don't say that if we weren't doing what we are doing that the disease would be hundreds or times worse. There's no basis to state that from what I have seen. Things have just not been that straightforward and logical.

Quoted from o-din:

Aren't they handing out fast passes anymore?
Anyway, the scene at Dodger Stadium was people waiting for hours in the morning, but no lines in the afternoon if you do have an appointment.
I'll be passing on the entire routine though. I've had enough shots in my life.

Quoted from o-din:

Says the guy who since he has been on here I have never seen offer any tech help or any help at all to other members and seemingly has to make a profit on every game he sells. And gets his kicks by following others and responding to new members with insults perhaps to make himself look like a bigger man.

Do you believe in Santa Clause too? Anyway, by the time my turn comes, this will already be over or it will be shown that the vaccines did not make the difference many are preaching they will. And I did sign mom up for one.
That is all. I'm going to watch football today and try to not think about it or respond to this kind of chatter anymore.

Quoted from o-din:

Mom is 98 years old and in assisted living and they sent me the consent form last week. Would you have me say no to them? Sure it's a risk, and I'm on pins and needles about it as covid has already gone thru there twice with her never testing positive.
As far as your science, they are already saying getting vaccinated does not prevent you from being a contagious carrier anyway and are unsure how long any immunity lasts. Where's the herd immunity in that? And if I am or was exposed already, which in my line of work I'm almost certain I was, I'm already part of your herd.
Anyway, to keep this on topic, I miss Pluto and his antics as they are way more entertaining than all these armchair scientific expert guilt trippers here.

Quoted from Elicash:

Question for the Disneyland folks-
Me and my wife are thinking about doing Disneyland Hotel / Disney in mid July. Lodging is obviously very pricy.
My question - is the Disneyland hotel worth it? My memory from childhood was that the monorail got you into and out of the park specific to and from the hotel. But sounds like this is no longer a perk?
Sounds like they have a great pool, amazing tiki bar and it’s a nice place.
But is there any MAJOR reason to stay here?

Quoted from Fizz:

Wow, 16 days! I have never done a wdw trip that long, that sounds great!
As far as getting the boarding pass, here is what I did. It really just comes down to clicking at exactly 7:00am. You can only get it once per day, so if you get it in the second run it's still fine.
Ok here's what I did. There's no big secrets here, and this might be overkill.
1. Book several reservations at DHS so that you get multiple chances. You've got that covered.
2. Use whatever phone or device you have with the fastest processor. If you have multiple devices, multiple people can try each time.
3. Use time.gov to see the time. It's best to have this on a separate device so that you can look at it on one device and click on the other device. You want to click at exactly 7:00 or maybe SLIGHTLY after. If you click too soon, it'll tell you the window is not open yet and you'll need to reload the page.
4. The first night I got to the hotel, I ran a speed test using my mobile on both the hotel wifi and on LTE. I ran a few tests on LTE, to find the best physical location. No surprise, the best location was standing outside. LTE was much faster than the hotel wifi. I'm not sure if the ping test or the actual download speed is more important, but in my case, both were much faster on LTE than wifi so it didn't matter.
5. In the MDE app, right at 7am and zero seconds, I clicked "Join" from the main page of the app, just underneath the AT-AT. Other people have used the method of clicking that button before 7, which will then get you on the page which tells you that the queue is not open yet, and then they refresh that page right at 7. I'm not sure if it matters which way you do this, but for me, clicking from the main page worked well.
6. Once you do click "Join", exactly at 7, the next page will come up where you select all the members of your party. As long as you all have park reservations, they will all be selected automatically. So, you do NOT need to slow down to look at this page. Just click Join again. I think there is one page after that, where again you do not need to read it. Just click it right away.
So, essentially, just click three times without slowing down.
The exception here will be if you click a bit too early and need to refresh the page. If this happens and you are using an iphone, you'll need to pull down on the page to refresh it. If you're using Android, you can pull down on the page or you can click the little house on the screen. I think clicking the house is ever so slightly faster.
Also, note that you can practice this any day, even without park reservations, and even from home, just to get familiar with the screens. The only difference is that in this case the members of your party will not be automatically selected, so you'll have to do that manually. When you get the the screen that says "is everybody here?" or something along those lines, that means that you would have successfully gotten the boarding group if you had actually had park reservations.

Quoted from marioparty34:

Disney wouldn't let me hit the same ride twice in a day. So if we got Spidey in the morning, we could only do ROTR later. Couldn't do Spidey twice in the same day. I guess you alternated all 3 days to ride 6 times total? Not 6 times Spidey, 6 times ROTR right?

Quoted from Methos:

So it has been decided that we are going to make our first visit to Disneyland. We're WDW veterans, but the attractions at DL have made the family want to make the primglage.
I have two immediate questions -
Coming from Chicago - would it be better to fly into LAX or John Wayne?
Also - are the hotels directly across from the DL park ok to stay at? i see there are quite a few, and the price difference between the few park hotels and these are pretty substantial. Never been to Anaheim before, so any feedback is much appreciated.

Quoted from jester523:

Did a last minute trip to Disneyland on the 22nd as my NY Xmas plans got cancelled.
I highly recommend the Genie+ (in its current format.) It cut down on a ton of waiting.