Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Discussion Thread

I've always heard that the Yeti fix is cost prohibitive unless they take the ride down for a planned, extended refurbishment. I would assume that right now wouldn't work for that given that no one knows how long (or short) this shutdown will last.

^ That's my understanding too. It's like a car repair where they have to take apart most of your engine to get to that part, labour costs are very high, unless they're already doing something that requires the engine to be taken apart to that level.

Now would be the time. This is just ramping up in Florida, and the beach have not been closed yet. I would say they will have more then 3 weeks till they open again

Looks like Disney is halting construction projects with groups of 10 or more. So if it takes 10 or more people to fix a yeti, the pipe dream is put on hold yet again.

Breaking: Walt Disney World shuts down all construction due to coronavirus

 

Burbank, California-based Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) has shuttered construction operations at Disney World as coronavirus continues to impact Central Florida's once booming building industry, according to the head of the region's top construction trade organization.

 

It wasn't immediately known if construction workers will be paid or when construction operations will resume, said Mark Wylie, president and CEO of the Central Florida chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors Inc.

 

Wylie expects other Central Florida construction sites to shut down, as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended March 16 that events of 10 or more people be canceled or postponed.

 

"They're going to be closing a lot of construction sites," Wylie said of the Central Florida region. "It's already having a terrific impact on the economy."

 

Disney wasn't immediately available for comment.

 

Walt Disney World, Comcast Corp.-owned (Nasdaq: CMCSA) Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Orlando (NYSE: SEAS), Legoland Florida and Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex all announced closures of attractions starting March 16, with many staying closed through the end of the month and others not providing a date to reopen. Disney also halted its cruise line operations and announced plans to shutter its local hotels and shops. Universal also plans to close its hotels and shops.

 

That timeline would put the theme parks reopening sometime by mid-May. Executives with the theme parks were not available for comment.

 

Unfortunately, the CDC's recommendation most likely will impact the theme parks' plans, said Dennis Speigel, founder and CEO with International Theme Park Services, a Cincinnati-based theme park consulting firm. "The timeframe has risen exponentially, and we are still in uncharted water. Operators like Disney, Universal and Six Flags have no idea now. The short term was closing two to three weeks, but now it will be extended indefinitely," he told OBJ.

 

Meanwhile, on March 17, the city of Orlando announced that City Beautiful businesses — such as bars, nightclubs and restaurants — are prohibited from selling alcoholic beverages. This does not apply to stores where alcohol is sold. "Gathering in groups may put lives at risk," Mayor Buddy Dyer said.

 

This puts at risk a multitude of Disney projects ongoing right now, such as the transformation of Epcot that includes the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind coaster and the new Remy's ratatouille Adventure ride.

 

Also, this will hinder the work on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel that is slated to be ready by next year.

 

"Everything from feasibility to pricing, discounting and construction. This will halt the construction on these projects and delay everybody. What will the delays be — is it one to three months? We don’t know," said Dennis Speigel, founder and CEO with International Theme Parks Service Inc., Cincinnati-based theme park consulting firm.

 

However, it may not hinder less intensive projects like the Disney's plans to update the visual aesthetics of Cinderella Castle. The project would change the color scheme of the iconic structure.

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2020/03/17/breaking-walt-disney-world-shuts-down-all.html

Now would be the time. This is just ramping up in Florida, and the beach have not been closed yet. I would say they will have more then 3 weeks till they open again

I've been led to believe the Yeti fix is a "months" project, not weeks and, since it would likely involve a contractor, it's not an on-the-fly, do-it-just-because-we're closed kind of job like disinfecting the trains or pressure washing a sidewalk.

Now would be the time. This is just ramping up in Florida, and the beach have not been closed yet. I would say they will have more then 3 weeks till they open again

 

I've been led to believe the Yeti fix is a "months" project, not weeks and, since it would likely involve a contractor, it's not an on-the-fly, do-it-just-because-we're closed kind of job like disinfecting the trains or pressure washing a sidewalk.

I really wish people would stop complaining about the Yeti. It's just so dumb that people think this is a top priority of things that need to be fixed. 99.9% of the people who ride Everest don't even realize that it is "broken" because you fly by it so fast and many people actually miss it completely even when it was working! That is why it was never fixed. If it was like the Lava Monsters or the bears on Big Grizzly where it is a show scene where you pause and watch something, THEN it would be fixed. But as it is right now, IMO, it works just fine.

If anything, the design flaw here was that the animatronic yeti should have been where the animated projection is of the yeti pulling up the track. THEN it would have been deemed an important show scene and need fixing.

Sorry, the whole "fix the yeti" thing has always been a pet peeve of mine.

I could care less if they ever fix it. I rode EE a half a dozen times before I even knew there was something that it had done at one time and wasn't doing anymore. It's easily my favorite ride at AK and probably one of my 3 favorite rides at the resort.

^^ Sorry to hit a sore spot. Totally not my intention.

I think a lot of us who have seen that things are always worse than the authorities who are telling us to move along, there's nothing to see here, and also always better than the panicking people saying the world's about to end, are looking for something, anything, to hang our hats on to say see, something good came out of it. Even if that something is as dumb as a yeti getting fixed when it in no way needed to, well there's our ray of sunshine. And you're right, this isn't the dumb thing we were looking for. It'll be there. It always is.

Sorry, the whole "fix the yeti" thing has always been a pet peeve of mine.

I've been lucky enough to ride with a working Yeti once, multiple times with disco Yeti. You're dead on the money, it's a stupid animatronic to bother fixing. It's a blink and you miss it moment, the strobe works just fine. When it worked it was cool and all, but it didn't add or detract from the ride.

I agree. You fly by it so quickly that I don't notice a difference between the disco yeti and moving yeti.

Now would be the time. This is just ramping up in Florida, and the beach have not been closed yet. I would say they will have more then 3 weeks till they open again

 

I've been led to believe the Yeti fix is a "months" project, not weeks and, since it would likely involve a contractor, it's not an on-the-fly, do-it-just-because-we're closed kind of job like disinfecting the trains or pressure washing a sidewalk.

I really wish people would stop complaining about the Yeti. It's just so dumb that people think this is a top priority of things that need to be fixed. 99.9% of the people who ride Everest don't even realize that it is "broken" because you fly by it so fast and many people actually miss it completely even when it was working! That is why it was never fixed. If it was like the Lava Monsters or the bears on Big Grizzly where it is a show scene where you pause and watch something, THEN it would be fixed. But as it is right now, IMO, it works just fine.

 

If anything, the design flaw here was that the animatronic yeti should have been where the animated projection is of the yeti pulling up the track. THEN it would have been deemed an important show scene and need fixing.

 

Sorry, the whole "fix the yeti" thing has always been a pet peeve of mine.

I agree. It was a poor design decision from a storytelling point of view to put a super impressive animatronic in a scene you fly by. "Disco Yeti" works just as well for how fast you go through it.

WDW cancelled the Star Wars Half marathon weekend scheduled for April 16-20th.

Some more retro pics!

These are from 2005 when Expedition Everest was still under construction, and Lucky the dinosaur was meeting guets!

Enjoy

Great shots, John! I wished that they'd gone beyond Lucky and (what I call) the "Muppet Labs", etc. with more mobile AA. You would think that with this tech, they'd start bringing out those mobile droids in you-know-where by now, lol.

Nonetheless, great stuff here! Thanks for sharing it.

"Muppet Labs" ~ Magic Kingdom. HKDL. TPR 2012 China/Hong Kong Tour.

Walt Disney World Plan Phased Reopening from July 11th 2020

- Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom open July 11th

- Epcot and Hollywood Studios on July 15th

- Character meet and greets, parades, and fireworks will temporarily be suspended

- Reservations will be required

- Proposal approved by the task force, will now be reviewed by Orange County Mayor

- If approved, Governor Ron DeSantis will then vote

"Jim McPhee, Senior Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World, formally presented Walt Disney World's reopening proposal during this morning's Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force meeting.

According to the proposal, Walt Disney World would begin a phased reopening for parks beginning July 11th. Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom will open on July 11th, and Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios will open on July 15th."

From: https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/walt-disney-world-presents-proposal-to-reopen-parks-beginning-july-11th/

Full live stream:

Also from that article...

"McPhee mentioned that guests will also need to reserve their days at the park. More information regarding the reservation system will be forthcoming."

Oh sorry I missed that Satans Hockey, I will update my post now. Thanks for the correction.

I'll take it!

Yes, opening in mid-July is probably the most sensible thing they can do considering the circumstances.

It will be interesting to see who they decide to let into the parks during that time. They mentioned some possible soft-opening measures, but they did NOT mention anything about the resorts. It makes me think that they will be relying mainly on Florida residents / day trippers, and / or passholders for revenue in the short term.

There were some rumors rumbling around that they may not allow passholders to get in for free, effectively making each day a "hard ticket" event like After Hours. We'll certainly know soon!

EDIT: Scratch all of that above, they just made a written statement that resort hotels will be opening on the 11th / 15th too, and that they WILL be allowing passholders to make reservations. Very interesting!

^ I imagine that last part would frustrate a lot of passholders, but if the crowds are limited to a level where lines are almost non-existent like an after hours event, I would happily pay extra for that.

^^And some DVC properties are opening before that starting in June.

Another takeaway that I'm just reading about is that they will be halting new ticket sales and resort bookings, to allow existing tickets / bookings to get their reservations. Good on them, feels like a little dog treat for those who have been biting their nails week-to-week. I would assume that the people who got their stays cancelled / rescheduled are getting some relief from that too.

See here: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/05/plans-unveiled-for-the-phased-reopening-of-walt-disney-world-resort-theme-parks-resort-hotels-and-disney-stores/?CMP=|437908310351&keyword_id=kwd-340562299645|dc|wdw|437908310351|p|5238:3|&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7LHVtsHU6QIVGP_jBx11_At5EAAYASAAEgJy_PD_BwE&ef_id=Xsz8IgAAAGwKRQ9x:20200527165613:s

Because theme park capacity will be significantly limited as we welcome guests back to the magic, we will manage attendance through a new theme park reservation system that will require all guests to obtain a reservation for park entry in advance. At this time, we are temporarily pausing new ticket sales and Disney Resort hotel reservations so we can focus on guests with existing tickets and reservations (Disney Vacation Club members can still make new reservations). Existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders will be able to make reservation requests in phases before new tickets are sold; we’ll be reaching out to these guests soon to provide additional details. We will resume new ticket sales and hotel reservations after that period of time. Theme park reservations will be limited due to attendance limitations and will be subject to availability. More details about this new reservation system will be available soon.

I'll be interested in seeing how long all of this is in place for. I wasn't planning to go to WDW until sometime during Feb-Apr of 2021, but if they're still doing all this, I'll probably just pass on the Orlando area mega parks again (Disney, Universal.) My older kids love Fun Spot, Sea World, and Busch Gardens more anyway, and my youngest still has plenty of time to get to see the Magic Kingdom someday!

I'll be interested in seeing how long all of this is in place for. I wasn't planning to go to WDW until sometime during Feb-Apr of 2021, but if they're still doing all this, I'll probably just pass on the Orlando area mega parks again (Disney, Universal.) My older kids love Fun Spot, Sea World, and Busch Gardens more anyway, and my youngest still has plenty of time to get to see the Magic Kingdom someday!

Can i ask what part of this would keep you away, and doesn't Sea World, and Busch Gardens have similar rules?

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/05/an-update-on-walt-disney-world-resort-reservations/

Now we have full confirmation of some policies that have been posted before, including a new one - no FastPass or Extra Magic Hours!

FastPass+ and Extra Magic Hours: As a result of the COVID-19 impact, the FastPass+ service will be suspended for the time being as we plan to use additional queue space to manage capacity at our attractions and maintain physical distancing. We will automatically cancel existing FastPass+ selections and share any future updates on the service at a later date. Also, please note that upon reopening, Extra Magic Hours will be temporarily suspended.

This is pretty big but is probably a good idea considering the limited capacity of the parks.