Tri-Circle-D

The dock reassignment coincided with the closure of the Polynesian Resort monorail station in November. I’m guessing they needed a bigger covered waiting area for the Polynesian guests, and with only the DVC rooms open at Wilderness Lodge it made sense to give the Polynesian the bigger dock. I agree. If the exercise trail was going to reopen, it wasn’t going to be until after the Reflections construction was completed. Now, I doubt there’s a plan or any money budgeted to reopen it. It will probably remain closed until someday long in the future when a new DVC resort is built. T

Typical Tampa Bay Times. WDW has not been selling new APs since July. TCD

What a dumb article. Why should Disney push forward with spending millions of dollars on new attractions when the pandemic remains uncontrolled and there are no signs that travel will be returning to normal levels for a long time? I hate what is happening as much as the next guy, but Disney is shrewdly doing what it needs to do to weather the storm. TCD

Mark- thanks for sharing this article. I ran into Billy several years ago when he was running a special event we attended at the Magic Kingdom. Great guy! I love the part of the article mentioning that Prince Charles, Diana, William, and Harry attended the Hoop Dee Doo show. Wow. TCD

I agree with all of the above. The other reason for having to wear masks while on golf carts and bikes is laziness and lack of leadership by Fort management to craft specific rules for the Fort. This is another example of them just using the rules for hotel rooms at the campground. In the hotels it’s easy enough to say that the rule is all guests must wear masks when they are outside of their rooms. That doesn’t make sense for certain activities at the campground, where the common spaces are vast, and guests can participate in outdoor activities where they are not likely to come in close conta

Very good. I hope some of the posters and friends of posters on this thread watch this. Probably won’t do any good though. TCD

Good to see a post from you Dave. You’re right, the Fort we knew and loved is just about gone. What’s left is a nice but overpriced campground. We still like to visit, but not anywhere near as often. This is consistent with what I posted upthread. Your friend is one of the many guests who choose to blatantly ignore the mask rule. A CM asking him to follow the rules didn’t work the first time. And it probably didn’t work the second time. I don’t consider that enforcement. TCD

Yes, you can still fax site requests. No, they have not let up on the mask rules. In fact, they are using new signage identical to the signs they are using in the parks that say you will be asked to leave if you are not wearing your mask properly. That said, we were there for a two night stay last weekend, and compliance and enforcement were practically nonexistent. Guests were blatantly ignoring the mask rule. On a previous trip over Labor Day weekend, there were castmembers stationed at the four way stops of the major roads monitoring mask compliance. Last weekend, there were no castm

Michael I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. I know he was a fighter. TCD

What a stupid thing to brag about. The chance to be recalled to a part time job that pays a bit over minimum wage with no benefits? Gee, I’ll bet those castmembers are glad about all the union dues they paid for the union to cave in and kiss Disney’s ass. I’m sure the part time workers all have huge savings accounts they can live off while they’re waiting around for two years to be recalled. Disney is doing exactly what they want to do. Their financial experts made a long term plan, and it’s playing out beautifully for them. Plenty of revenue is rolling in, and they are slashing expen

Yes more is on the way. Disney now will take advantage of the circumstances to gut the union workers. Dumping non-union employees first helps with the optics, but this is their chance to decimate the union and you can bet they will. More money for the executives and shareholders, and more castmembers kicked to the curb. Walt Disney World as we knew it is gone for good. TCD

And don’t forget that they received untold billions of pandemic bailout money. I’m sure some of it helped to fund the payment of health insurance for the furloughed workers. But now that the free money is gone, so long suckers. TCD

You are absolutely right. The current Disney management would be perfectly happy to operate the parks department like a Six Flags or even a traveling carnival as long as the dollars keep rolling in. And that’s clearly the direction they’re heading. TCD

It makes sense for them to go full speed ahead on this project. The set up is perfect for post COVID-19 travel. They can require everyone to be tested before arriving, and then keep them in the bubble while they’re there. There are plenty of folks who have weathered the pandemic with no negative impact on their finances. Enough to keep this hotel booked for the next few years. And Disney is undoubtably salivating at the idea of how little they will have to pay starving ex- castmembers to come back and work. Disney always wins. TCD

Seems like a pretty good deal for the guy. I bet he comes back. TCD

I know bloggers need to drum up interest by speculating, but this probably really is only for installing parking lot lighting. They already have been using the cleared site for castmember parking. Now, they’re adding some light poles. That’s all. TCD

You’re right- it’s the American way. I don’t think there are any more compassionate corporations. Disney used to be different. In my personal experience, they are the last corporation I’ve dealt with that at least made an effort at customer service. Have you dealt with Amazon or Walmart or any other big company lately? The pits. Now Disney is right down there with the rest of them. Sad. TCD

Remember how WDW cut and did not replace the MK night parade, added all those before and after hours events and dessert parties by taking away park hours and venues, and began charging hotel guests for parking? Not to mention endless price increases and smaller food portions? That money grubbing adds up to billions of profits that are sitting as billions of dollars of cash on the corporate books. All of it made possible by the blood, sweat and tears of their loyal castmembers. Could they use some of that cash to help their paycheck to paycheck castmembers? You know, the money the

Gee, thanks Mayor. I can assure him that no hardworking WDW CM expected to be laid off back in March 2020. My daughters and I’m sure thousands of CM’s like them naively believed that Disney would treat them differently than a common money-grubbing heartless corporation. Bad on them for being so stupid. TCD

Wow. The Disney Parks experience that we all knew and loved in the US is gone, and I don’t see it coming back. When they get around to rehiring, the new employees will be trained in a new way. Guests with issues will probably be directed to call a call center, where issues will be handled with the same friendly incompetence that we’ve seen them use for passholders during the closure. Live entertainment, parades and fireworks will be rare or nonexistent. But prices won’t come down. TCD

Thanks, Mo. Yes, we will all get over it, but it really stings now. And, we need to keep things in perspective- millions of people have lost their jobs, and 200,000+ more families have lost a lot more. One more thing- if any of you Disney lovers out there think this won’t affect you, think again. Disney is firing performers who are irreplaceable, and has decimated its Guest Relations staff. The things that distinguished Disney from a Six Flags amusement park are all but gone. The current management thinks guests won’t care. We are all in for a rude awakening. TCD

Things can change, but I was surprised to hear from Twin #1 that she does not want to go back. Honestly, she and her fellow castmembers were not treated very well before this, and now the company has demonstrated quite clearly that they consider them worthless and expendable. What future is there in that? TCD

Unfortunately, TCD Twin #1 got the call last week that she is one of the 28,000. We are all gutted. Two college programs, both at WDW and DL, and three years of hard work since graduating from college, and she has been kicked to the curb so Disney can afford to pay their executives and shareholders and sit on billions of dollars of cash in hopes of buying up some bargains in the coming economic crisis. For now, Twin #2 remains employed in the Disney HR department, but she suspects that will only last as long as it takes to clean up the little messes caused by firing tens of thousands of

Hey Ray- two things: 1. Disney IS offering discounted tickets. Florida residents can currently buy a 4 day pass for $49 a day: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/florida-resident-disney-magic-flex/?ef_id=EAIaIQobChMI47DX3I-U7AIVBo_ICh0akAspEAAYASAAEgIgrPD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!5060!3!468198360657!e!!g!!disney world tickets&CMP=KNC-FY21_WDW_TRA_FL_W365_TKT_TCKC_Tickets_EVRGRN_Gold_Exact|G|5201013.RR.AM.01.01|MSHBVUJ|BR|468198360657&keyword_id=kwd-98099335|dm|disney world tickets|468198360657|e|5060:3|&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI47DX3I-U7AIVBo_ICh0akAspEAAYASAAEgIgrP