Opinion: Throw out your Disney World playbook. It’s a whole new world.
It’s time to put your “How I Visit Walt Disney World Playbook” aside. We’re all starting from scratch.
Everyone who visits Walt Disney World at least once a year has a playbook, whether it’s physical, electronic or mental. We all know when to make resort reservations, dining reservations and FastPass+ selections. We know what time of year is the best for us, what days we will visit which parks, depending upon Extra Magic Hours or other factors. We all know when to show up at the gate and the order of rides we will go on. We all have our favorite spots to watch the parades and fireworks, and we know which shows we can’t miss. We know which popcorn kiosks are close to which rides and what treats we must get.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed all of that. The need to limit capacity, create social distancing, and add additional health and safety protocols for what is essentially a small city unto itself and one of the most popular destination locations on the planet means the playbook needs to be rewritten.
And Disney is slowly doing that as it prepares for its July 11 reopening. A new reservation system is coming, and Disney already has:
- Cancelled hotel reservations and halted new reservations. (Disney Vacation Club Members can still make new reservations).
- Cancelled dining reservations.
- Eliminated the Disney Dining Plans included in packages
- Announced it will require not only a ticket but a reservation to enter a park.
- Suspended the FastPass+ service indefinitely
- Suspended Extra Magic Hours
- Canceled parades and fireworks
- Shortened park hours
- Announced it will require face coverings for everyone over age 2
- Altered or canceled character meals
There are still many questions as we await information on the reservation system, including:
- What are the hotel/resort pool policies?
- Will annual passholders not staying on property still be able to get a park reservation?
- Why are DVC resorts open prior to the July 11 theme parks and if my stay overlaps the opening am I guaranteed a park reservation?
- Can I get a dining reservation at a resort if I don’t have a resort reservation?
- Can I only visit one park a day? Can I still park hop.
Many Disney regulars must be feeling like deer in headlights, and I can image a sea of Disney travel agents’ heads exploding as they try to answer questions that as of yet have no answers.
Disney has trained us all these years to be obsessive planners, but now the pendulum has swung completely the other way — we have to be flexible and able to roll with the punches.
Disney World is going to become an evolving experience. It could change month-to-month depending upon what happens in Florida and the world with COVID-19 pandemic. Rules and policies may ebb and flow depending upon the state’s health and the nation’s health. Disney might introduce new policies and procedures even after re-opening.
Let’s remember the pandemic is not over. No one really knows (although there are many theories) what happens in the Florida heat to the novel coronavirus, if and when a second wave will hit, and what the spread will be like in states as the economy starts up again.
We are all heading out in the a new world. We are all writing new playbooks, whether at home, at school, at work, or a trip to Disney.
“While no one knows for sure what we’ll see or do,” narrator Judi Dench says in Spaceship Earth (an attraction scheduled to change, and another big question mark). “I do know it will be quite an adventure—an adventure that we’ll take and make together.”
