Travisma

Smart thinking, there could be a light up board next to the repaired Yeti saying this fella is sponsored by Yeti Coolers!
Your photo pass could have a Yeti Cooler sitting next to you with a link to their website and a special AK discount!
And all of the ride cars could have a Yeti sponsorship decal on them like NASCAR.

Your Friday morning stroll just got upgraded. The all-new walkway (and swing-arm bridge) connecting Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and the Magic Kingdom has officially opened to guests!
The walkway is fully set up with fences along the edges, and leads up to the new Magic Kingdom Resort Dock, where guests pass through security screening before entering the park.

Disney Parks Chief Shows First Looks Inside New Attractions
Disney Parks, Experience and Products Chairman Josh D'Amaro kicked off the IAAPA Expo Virtual Education Conference with a keynote address that was both optimistic and defiant, while also providing an update on new Disney attractions around the world.
D'Amaro spoke from the Disneyland Resort in his pre-recorded presentation, giving fans a look at the upcoming Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure, among other sites
 
 
You can see the recently installed Quinjet over D'Amaro's shoulder in the screen capture above. That was just one of several upcoming projects that D'Amaro previewed during his talk. He also provided fresh looks at the Worldwide Engineering Brigade headquarters that will be the home to the new interactive Spider-Man ride at DCA.
Yet D'Amaro's presentation included no visual or verbal references to the TRON coaster at the Magic Kingdom, which should fuel rumors that the project is being mothballed and will not open for the resort's 50th anniversary next October 1, as had been expected. The projects that D'Amaro confirmed as going forward in his presentation were the Avengers Campuses at Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Paris, the Cars Route 66 makeover of the Studio Tour at WDSP, Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway and the Disneyland Hotel DVC tower at Disneyland, Zootopia at Shanghai Disneyland, Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea, The Art of Marvel Hotel at Disneyland Paris, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, Harmonius, the Space 220 restaurant and the new entrance at Epcot, and the Star Wars hotel. And the "Princess and the Frog" makeover of Splash Mountain is still on, too.
D'Amaro only provided an opening date estimate for the Ratatouille attraction, which he said remained on schedule for a 2021 debut.
"Our properties have been likened into small cities," D'Amaro said, quoting California Governor Gavin Newsom's frequent explanation for why theme parks present a complex challenge for reopening during the pandemic.
"Walt Disney World property is nearly twice the size of Manhattan. We have a bus fleet the size of Atlanta. And if we counted all the boats at Walt Disney World, we'd have the seventh largest naval fleet in the world," D'Amaro said. "But unlike a real city, we can choreograph the procedures under which we actually operate. We can manage and control attendance, enforce protocols and adjust operations specifically to our business and our experience, and attractions can be modified to comply with safety recommendations."
D'Amaro again expressed the company's disappointment that it has not been able to reopen its California parks and that it has been forced to close its parks in France once again. But D'Amaro closed his presentation with a note of optimism and a challenge to the industry.
"When your foundation is rocked, but that foundation shows that it can withstand constant tremors, when your guests show their passion and yearning for your experiences, even when the gates are closed, when your cast members accomplish things in one week that would normally take a year, when you realize that the unthinkable or the impossible, or very much possible, then you have to ask yourself — what's next?," he said.
"Where can we go from here in the world that we find ourselves in today? Optimism, innovation, and courage — they will ultimately win the day. And at Disney, we aim high. At a recent town hall meeting, I had some Imagineers that I was speaking to, and I included my presentation with a simple call to action — I dare you. I dare you to dream bigger and differently. I dare you to say what you've always wanted to say. I dare you to throw out that dogma that has sometimes acting increments, rather than exponentially. I dare you to make yourself weak in the knees. I dare you to dare yourself.
"It's easy to get protective and defensive during a crisis. And while it's necessary to some extent. I believe that a crisis also creates opportunities for us to reinvent ourselves to think of our business and our industry in brand new ways. I dare us. I dare this industry — stand proudly on the foundation that we've built. Climb up on the shoulders of our legends. And then fly."
The IAAPA Virtual Education Conference this week replaces the annual IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando, which was canceled due to the ongoing pandemic.

“I’m confident that brighter days are ahead of us,” wrote Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro on Monday.
The Disney Parks Chairman gave a keynote speech during the IAAPA virtual expo this morning. Now, he’s taken to his personal social media to share his hopes for the future of The Walt Disney Company — and to challenge the theme park industry to dream big and move forward.
“This has been a year of unprecedented moments, disruptive forces, and new challenges,” D’Amaro wrote in a post published to his LinkedIn. “At the start of 2020, I could never have imagined something as devastating as COVID-19. I have never witnessed anything that has impacted our business, affected so many lives, and brought so many changes to our industry.”
The bright beginnings of 2020 were quickly overshadowed by the effects of COVID-19, the pandemic that spread throughout the globe and shuttered all six Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide. By mid-March of this year, Disneyland Resort in California, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disney Resort had closed their gates.
The Walt Disney Company also recently disclosed that it lost billions of dollars as a result of the pandemic. 
But companies like Disney persevered and moved forward, finding ways to make magic for Guests who were stuck at home and unable to visit the Happiest Place on Earth. D’Amaro reflected on this in his presentation today, and he shared more of his perspective in his LinkedIn post.
D’Amaro wrote, “This year, even as our gates were closed, we saw our guests demonstrate their passion and yearning for our experiences through social media. We watched as our teams accomplished things in a few weeks that might normally take a year. We took what we once thought was unthinkable or impossible…and made it possible.”
The Disney Parks Chairman even went into a bit more detail about how Disney Parks have adapted their practices to fit the health and safety protocol that needs to be in place amid this ongoing pandemic.
 
“From the adoption of new technology that allows guests to check in to their rooms, order food and enter a queue from their mobile phones … to the introduction of selfie spots and character cavalcades so our guests can interact with their favorite Disney friends, we’re finding new ways to deliver magical experiences as we reopen our parks in the age of social distancing,” D’Amaro shared. “The pandemic has changed us and forced us to focus on the most fundamental elements of who we are, what we do, and what we care about. It reminded us of what is most important – while compelling us to adjust and innovate.”
Above all, it seems as though the Disney executive is challenging not only the Disney Parks team and The Walt Disney Company at large, but also the theme park industry as a whole — and even the general public — to dream bigger. The effects of COVID-19 are long-term, and this pandemic is still raging on. But Josh D’Amaro is sending out a message of hope during these tumultuous times.
“I dare you to ask: if we can navigate the challenges of this crisis – perhaps a little battered, but never beaten – what else can we do? Can we take what makes us special, reinvent it, and make something entirely new?” he wrote. “Here at Disney, that’s our opportunity. We can bring our world-class service, our ability to kindle connection and childlike wonder, and our experience immersing guests in meaningful stories and powerful franchises…anywhere.”

As people have previously posted here and on numerous FB groups, everyone knows the rules before they arrive, or at the very least when they check in.  If they choose to ignore the rules and get reprimanded I have no sympathy for them.
Do the cart and exercising mask rules make sense?  Maybe, maybe not but it’s Disney’s property and Disney’s rules and if you can’t abide, don’t go.

As people have previously posted here and on numerous FB groups, everyone knows the rules before they arrive, or at the very least when they check in.  If they choose to ignore the rules and get reprimanded I have no sympathy for them.
Do the cart and exercising mask rules make sense?  Maybe, maybe not but it’s Disney’s property and Disney’s rules and if you can’t abide, don’t go.

We just came back from a Halloween stay.  Do to some issues we mostly stayed at our site, but on one of our wanderings, I did hear a CM on a golf cart tell a passing guest on a golf cart to put on his mask.  I saw maybe 95 to 99% compliance on adults and kids.

We just came back from a Halloween stay.  Do to some issues we mostly stayed at our site, but on one of our wanderings, I did hear a CM on a golf cart tell a passing guest on a golf cart to put on his mask.  I saw maybe 95 to 99% compliance on adults and kids.

We went to MK this past Saturday, and EPCOT on Sunday.
The parks definitely were not as crowded as a normal October date, especially EPCOT with Food and Wine going on.
We didn't really have any issued social distancing.  You just have to watch where you're walking and try to anticipate where there will be a clear spot to get past people.
MK we walked around Adventure Land and Frontier Land and caught the Country Bear Show.
Most of the ride times we pretty high on the MDE wait time.  Not sure if that was where all the people were.
It was hot and we didn't feel like waiting on rides so we left to go back and enjoy the condo we rented.  Daughters and granddaughters stayed
No issues with the monorails, one family per seat, and there was a heavy grey vinyl cover above the seat backs making each compartment separate.
It was a pretty warm walk to and from the parking lot.  We were in Scar.
EPCOT wasn't overly crowded.  We walked on to Nemo, maybe 5 minutes from the entrance to getting on the ride.
The LAND boat ride took a little over 5 minutes to get on and that was basically walking the entire time.
Soarin was a 35 minute wait, the MDE said 50 minutes.
We walked as far as England then left.  It was hot and we didn't plan on getting much food or drinks.  My daughters and granddaughter were doing the Ratatouille Scavenger Hunt so they stayed.
That big event hall between Canada and England was open and they had maybe 4 or 5 food vendors in there along with a merchandise stand.
They weren't giving out the little guide books that listed the food vendors.  You're supposed to scan a QR code and download one.
 
Overall we felt safe and will be going back to the parks when we are camping for Halloween
 
 
In an interview with CNBC this evening, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that Disney has kept the capacity at their theme parks, specifically Walt Disney World, capped at 25% of total capacity. Chapek notes that the theme parks are operating on the premise of a 6′ physical distancing restriction, which amounts to a 25% capacity.
Of course, our experience on the ground has been that there are certainly more people in the Walt Disney World theme parks since they reopened in July, but that’s not necessarily the argument here. If capacity is 100,000 guests at Magic Kingdom, that means Chapek is saying that there are less than 25,000 guests in the theme park on any given day. This can be true.
In July, we may have seen less than 10,000 guests in Magic Kingdom on any given day, and while it would be fair to say that there were more than double the guests in the theme parks in October as there were in July, saying that the parks are not welcoming more than 25,000 guests can also be true.
Chapek says that capacity will not be increased until CDC guidelines allow. Disney is managing capacity via the Disney Park Pass reservation system.

We went to MK this past Saturday, and EPCOT on Sunday.
The parks definitely were not as crowded as a normal October date, especially EPCOT with Food and Wine going on.
We didn't really have any issued social distancing.  You just have to watch where you're walking and try to anticipate where there will be a clear spot to get past people.
MK we walked around Adventure Land and Frontier Land and caught the Country Bear Show.
Most of the ride times we pretty high on the MDE wait time.  Not sure if that was where all the people were.
It was hot and we didn't feel like waiting on rides so we left to go back and enjoy the condo we rented.  Daughters and granddaughters stayed
No issues with the monorails, one family per seat, and there was a heavy grey vinyl cover above the seat backs making each compartment separate.
It was a pretty warm walk to and from the parking lot.  We were in Scar.
EPCOT wasn't overly crowded.  We walked on to Nemo, maybe 5 minutes from the entrance to getting on the ride.
The LAND boat ride took a little over 5 minutes to get on and that was basically walking the entire time.
Soarin was a 35 minute wait, the MDE said 50 minutes.
We walked as far as England then left.  It was hot and we didn't plan on getting much food or drinks.  My daughters and granddaughter were doing the Ratatouille Scavenger Hunt so they stayed.
That big event hall between Canada and England was open and they had maybe 4 or 5 food vendors in there along with a merchandise stand.
They weren't giving out the little guide books that listed the food vendors.  You're supposed to scan a QR code and download one.
 
Overall we felt safe and will be going back to the parks when we are camping for Halloween
 
 
In an interview with CNBC this evening, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that Disney has kept the capacity at their theme parks, specifically Walt Disney World, capped at 25% of total capacity. Chapek notes that the theme parks are operating on the premise of a 6′ physical distancing restriction, which amounts to a 25% capacity.
Of course, our experience on the ground has been that there are certainly more people in the Walt Disney World theme parks since they reopened in July, but that’s not necessarily the argument here. If capacity is 100,000 guests at Magic Kingdom, that means Chapek is saying that there are less than 25,000 guests in the theme park on any given day. This can be true.
In July, we may have seen less than 10,000 guests in Magic Kingdom on any given day, and while it would be fair to say that there were more than double the guests in the theme parks in October as there were in July, saying that the parks are not welcoming more than 25,000 guests can also be true.
Chapek says that capacity will not be increased until CDC guidelines allow. Disney is managing capacity via the Disney Park Pass reservation system.

Disney has been slowly chipping away what made their brand special for years.
People that have been going to the parks and the fort for a long time always post remember when this .....
They are just accelerating it now.
Even people that have only been going for a few years are seeing major changes.
Has Disney been loosing $$?
Yes they have, but so has about 70% of the companies and population.
But I bet they are sitting on plenty of reserve funds that could comfortably take them past this mess without screwing over the workers and guests!
 

Depending when you go (holidays or over a weekend) the 2000 loop can be party central.
Large groups come in and take over multiple sites.  They will use one site just for a kitchen set up with 3 or 4 EZ Ups and multiple tables.
They let the kids run wild.
But saying that, last time we were in 1500, a scout group took over 3 sites across the street from us.  Multiple cars and utility trailers on the sites along with a camp kitchen.
They set up maybe 10 - 15 tents along the canal behind the sites.  Must've been about 50 people, but they were pretty quiet and well behaved.

I'm pretty sure they kicked him out because of the mask but gave him the ban for incorrectly quoting a Disney movie in the process.  😎

He got a trespass warning also, so he's banned from Disney property at the moment.

Another thing to remember, there is only 1 bathroom, and there are no nearby comfort stations (except if you are near the "quiet" pool.
So if you have family members that like long baths/showers, plan your potty visits ahead of time. 
And if you like cooking and are a gadget person (or just like decent knives) you may want to pack your own.
They supply the basics.

Well the yellow had a pop out, and I guess the blue structure could be a pop up! 😂

40% off of $2100 is still a little too steep for us.

At a 6 pack price..........😆

Best zoo ever!

Early reports right after re-opening said that the Fort was a ghost town.  Loops entirely empty or lightly booked.  Pools empty, same with the shops and restaurants.
But, reports from the weekend starting Friday the 3rd said that the pools and decks were so crowded that they reached the new capacity guidelines and were turning people away early in the day. 
If a storm comes thru, they have to stay closed until they clean all of the chairs/tables etc, because they didn't know what ones were in use before the storm hit. 
The new normal guidelines are you turn the backs down when leaving or lean the chairs into the tables so they know to clean those.
Stores and restaurants were packed and are on new early closing hours.  Also they were told they had to wear masks while looping in carts.
The people posting said that the only feature that has stayed pre-covid is the site rates.  Everything else has been cut back.

I totally/completely have no desire to return at this point. I do have a hotel reservation booked for Oct, but if our kids can't join us, (because they had not booked yet, and may not be able to book) AND they are in a state with a 2-week quarantine when entering FL. Also, we can't buy tickets at this time, so most likely will cancel. The no park hopping and reservation system really stinks. My plan was to go early in the morning and hit the attractions I wanted to see at rope drop (at Studios, AK, and MK), then late afternoon, troll food booths at Epcot. We are purely, hunt and peck type travelers, and casual do what we feel like type travelers, I did like FastPass + because I could book a couple things in the later afternoon and we would be guaranteed to ride a few things without long waits, but this book your park months in advance not knowing if we'll feel like actually going to that park that day, or if the weather cooperates just won't work for us anymore.
Also, I've finally convinced hubby to go cross-country with me in the T@B. I have three weeks planned next march for less than even a week at Disney.

See, we're just the opposite (but yes local).
We've gone for the 4th of July week on two different trips and never went to the parks (Silver blackout dates),
Found it relaxing just hanging out, resort hopping (now blocked), and going to DS and off site shopping.  
Not going to the parks, lets you feel like you're getting your $$ worth out of your site! 
 

I guess the state can write your arrival date on your forehead with a sharpie and you have to leave it there for the 14 days before washing it off! 

Mine arrived yesterday, they look great.  Thanks for the quick service and the time spent creating them and getting them made.

Someone posted on FB (maybe mistakenly) that their reservations were cancelled, but Disney was taking new reservations starting June 1st. They were pitching a fit.
Maybe got June and July mixed up