Last week, I complained that Disney was doing a poor job working with some of their key stakeholders at a critical time in the parks’ history. In particular, I singled out their failure to reach an agreement with Equity to bring performers back to the parks, and their continuing struggles to offer annual passholders access to the parks. This week, we’ve got a mix of good and bad news on these two fronts, along with some updates on Florida tourism and the overseas parks.
COVID Testing For Cast Members, Equity Performers to Return
Disney announced this week the addition of a new COVID testing site for Cast Members and their families. Free testing is available to these groups.
Free testing was a big demand of Equity, the union that represents a large swath of performers in the parks, including those at Finding Nemo The Musical and Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage. Shortly after Disney announced the free testing, they also came to an agreement for Equity performers to return to work.
While the financial / attendance outlook for the parks isn’t great (as we discuss more below), the parks need to have a decent product if they have any hopes of continuing to draw crowds heading into the school year. Bringing back some of the currently suspended performances is a good step in that direction.
Good and Bad for Passholders
Passholders got a mixed bag from Disney this week. The complicated AP cancellation process came to an apex this week, as even a day after the deadline to cancel passed, Disney was still seeing two-hour holds for assisting passholders with the process.
Yes, these people are specifically leaving the passholder program, but they’re likely to come back at some point in the future if Disney treats them well. I suspect many will try out the comparatively low prices passes over at Universal Orlando, and Disney shouldn’t leave them with a bad taste in their mouth if they want them to return.
For our part, we cancelled one annual pass (Emily’s) and kept one (mine). Hers was a Platinum Plus Pass obtained in March, and it’s unlikely she’ll make more than one or two trips in the next year. Despite not knowing that the refund amount would be, we went ahead and just clicked the email link to get a refund. Now we wait.
I have a Premier Passport, which grants me access to both Walt Disney World and Disneyland (California). Since Disneyland still hasn’t reopened, it’s likely I’ll get another chance to cancel my pass, though I have no idea how they’d calculate my refund (for instance, will they still “bill” me for the days I could have gone to Disney World?).
The good news for passholders this week was a lot of new parks pass availability. While it has disappeared relatively quickly, we’ve seen multiple days where Disney opened up more space at all the parks for annual passholders—including Hollywood Studios.
Last week we lamented that Disney wasn’t working well with its core stakeholders at the moment, and that those groups were the only people keeping the parks running. Now, they’ve taken steps to rectify that.
Disney World Park Hours Cut
Beginning September 8, Disney World has new park hours:
Magic Kingdom — 9AM to 6PM (previously 9AM to 7PM)
Animal Kingdom — 9AM to 5PM (previously 8AM to 6PM)
Epcot — 11AM to 7PM (previously 11AM to 9PM)
Hollywood Studios — 10AM to 7PM (previously 10AM to 8PM)
On the face of it, these changes make sense. September is always a slow month in Walt Disney World since kids are back in school, so the parks will have less revenue and it won’t take guests as long to visit them. Many people have already reported that Animal Kingdom is basically a half-day park, something our analysis confirms.
But there’s a big problem here. As instagrammer sonshine.adventures pointed out in here story, this makes it very hard for locals to visit outside the weekends.
This might further help the parks pass availability issue on the weekdays, but I expect to see weekends fill up quicker than ever.
Sure, Animal Kingdom probably wasn’t going to see many more guests with a 6PM close, but Magic Kingdom—which is a popular “quick visit” spot for locals would greatly benefit from a shift to something like 11AM to 8PM.
The flipside is that Disney doesn’t want guests taking parks pass space just to visit for a few hours. I get that, but decreasing tourism numbers in September might justify rethinking how parks pass looks. Maybe even just release some extra parks pass space at noon every day to passholders.
Disney World Change & Cancellation Fee Freeze Extended
Disney World has extended their temporary suspension of change and cancellation fees through the end of 2020.
The downside of this change is that it makes it harder for Disney to anticipate parks pass availability. If lots of people book trips they later cancel, Disney can’t release that parks pass capacity to annual passholders until relatively late.
But the upside is much bigger, as it allows Disney to see as quick a rebound as possible. Ideally, they want people on the books so that once travel becomes safer, people don’t have to think twice about booking a new trip—they’ve got one ready to go.
With tourism down significantly (see the next section), it currently isn’t hard to book a trip on short notice (though it was rarely that hard even before the closure). But certainly some people need to book months in advance, and this new change allows them to do so without risk of change and cancellation fees this year.
Florida Tourism Down 60.5%
I’m surprised the drop isn’t worse, but tourism in Florida’s second quarter dropped from 32.4 million people to 12.8 million people
If, like me, you’re surprised the drop isn’t bigger, it’s probably worth noting here that the pandemic isn’t a fully shared experience. In Chicago, it’s been hammered into us to more or less be afraid to leave the house. In other states—particularly several very near Florida—social activities are almost back to normal.
Indeed, for people in states that are more reopened, Disney World might be safer than many activities around them. Even in Chicago, which has been fairly slow to reopen, I feel less safe in a public park where very few people wear masks than I might in a theme park with a universal mask requirement.
That explains why the drop isn’t even higher I suppose. Plus, many people visit Florida for things other than theme parks, and theme parks are probably going to be among the last industries to recover.
Table Service Getting Virtual Queue
WDWNT reports that Disney World’s table service restaurants will be getting wait times and a new virtual waiting room feature. This will allow guests without reservations to join the queue for the restaurant without having to wait in an actual waiting room.
Overall this is a sensible change, as anything that allows guests to avoid indoor spaces in favor of the open air of the park is a good idea. It also advances a broader cause (previously part of the reasoning for FastPass+) that you want guests out, walking around, and shopping rather than waiting in any single spot for anything.
My only concern (having thought about it for 30 seconds) is whether it might be abused by guests joining queues with little intention to dine. Someone might see a 45-minute wait, join the queue hoping for 30, and then decide not to dine when their hopes prove wrong. But that’s probably a. very minor issue.
News from Overseas
We’ve actually got a few interesting updates from overseas this week!
Shanghai Disneyland Capacity Increasing
Shanghai Disneyland will increase park capacity from 30% to 50%, as the country continues to recover from the pandemic.
Shanghai Disneyland sees heavy traffic from locals, as it sits a short train ride away from the center of a city with a population of nearly 25 million.
Unlike Florida, which is struggling to bring back tourists, Shanghai is seeing only a few new imported (i.e. not local transmission) cases these days. While the park was the first to close, it seems likely it’s going to have a better quarter than the US-based parks.
Rumor: Paris’s Walt Disney Studios Park May Close
Rumors have spread suggesting that Walt Disney Studios Park, the secondary park at Disneyland Paris, may temporarily close due to low attendance.
Walt Disney Studios Park is easily the worst Disney park in the world, and it’s usually only a half-day park. It has a lot of new construction planned in the coming years to improve its cache, but if the resort is struggling in any substantial way, then closing this park is a reasonable thing to do.
While the park does have some notable rides—like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (coming soon to Epcot) and Crush’s Coaster—it doesn’t have a particularly deep ride lineup, and its overall atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired.
In any of the other multi-park resorts, I’d think closing a single park was a big deal. Here, I wouldn’t be surprised if it easily makes sense in the near future.