MickeyBlog News for June 22, 2020
I’ll be blunt. If you didn’t pay attention to Disney news this week, you’re waaaaay behind.
You need to catch up asap, especially if you’ve planned a Walt Disney World vacation. I’ll hit the highlights in the latest edition of MickeyBlog News.
Where to Start?
Disney has announced so much news this week that I’m not quite sure where to begin. So, I’ll go with the time-sensitive one.
We finally know how Disney will operate its new park admission reservation system.
As you should know by now, an admission ticket isn’t all you’ll need when Walt Disney World theme parks reopen.
Disney will limit attendance during the pandemic to protect guests. So, you must book a reservation to enter one of the parks.
Disney will open the booking system for these reservations starting on June 22nd. On this date, guests with confirmed Disney hotel reservations and park admission may reserve a park visit.
On June 26th, annual passholders without Disney resort reservations can book their park visits.
Finally, on June 28th, everyone else with a valid park admission ticket can schedule a reservation.
Obviously, a few caveats apply. For starters, annual passholders without hotel reservations can only hold three park visit dates at a time.
Anyone who lives in Florida and visits Disney regularly will wince at this news. It limits the number of spontaneous visits possible.
However, Disney’s doing it for the right reason. The company must give out-of-state vacationers a chance, too.
As an act of contrition, Disney will extend annual passes by an extra month. Alternatively, passholders can accept a partial refund instead.
To make up for the “reopening period” limitations, Annual Passholders who paid in full can:
Opt to receive one month extension (added to your pass in October 2020) or cancel and recieve a partial refund. pic.twitter.com/XjZbVW6gdc
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 19, 2020
Now that annual passholders know how the new system will work, Disney’s giving us another chance to back out if we’re not satisfied.
I commend them for this thoughtful bit of customer service.
More about the Reservation System
There are many moving parts here, so I’m going to start with the one that I believe.
If you’re feeling lost right now, get in touch with a MickeyTravels agent to have them set up your Disney vacation.
Their services are entirely free, and they’ll walk you through all the possible options for your visit.
I say with all sincerity that I’ve written about Disney parks for many years now and have published books about its history…and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed about our October visit.
A casual Disney fan has no chance. So, let an expert take care of your vacation needs. It’s the smart play and, again, free.
If you’re dead set on doing this yourself, the first thing you need to know is the start time.
Disney’s park reservation system will go online at 7 a.m. EST on Monday, June 22nd. Again, you can only book if you have admission tickets and a hotel reservation, though.
This system will apparently remain in place for a while. I say this because you can book a park visit all the way through September 26th, 2021.
Disney has indicated new Disney resort hotel packages will return on June 28th, and the company will sell admission tickets again later this summer.
Image Credit: Disney
To the company’s credit, Disney has thought of everything here. For instance, if you have a hotel reservation but not park admission, you can add the latter starting on June 24th.
This strategy would give you a two-day head start on annual passholders trying to book park reservations.
What about the Park Visit?
Okay, I’ve warned you for a while now that some stuff would have to change during the pandemic. Disney’s finally revealed many of the details.
For starters, Park Hopping is officially unavailable.
Disney’s going to limit availability so much that it can’t allow guests to claim spots in two parks on the same day.
Also, Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Christmas Party won’t happen in 2020, which is heartbreaking. Likewise, H2O Glow Nights is off the table.
Disney hasn’t ruled out Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party yet. Management will take a wait-and-see approach on the impact of Coronavirus by then.
Inside the parks, PhotoPass photographers must make some changes.
Disney understandably won’t allow cast members to touch your phone to take pictures.
So, you’ll either need to take selfies or buy PhotoPass.
Yes, the photographers will still take your pictures as long as they can use their own equipment.
Image Credit: Disney
Some of these photographs will involve the use of props. Disney’s not throwing them out.
However, cast members will clean said props after each use. This might slow down the time you’ll spend waiting in line for your pictures…assuming there is a line.
More Park Updates
As for the characters, they won’t hold meet-and-greets. Instead, Disney will host processionals and staging area displays.
That way, you’ll get to watch the characters you love in a new and delightful way. The official Parks Blog promises the following:
“Our characters will appear in new and different ways that bring a smile to your face while also being mindful of physical distancing. From special cavalcades down the Magic Kingdom Park parade route and friends sailing the waterways of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, to processions along the World Showcase promenade at EPCOT and motorcades on Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ Hollywood Boulevard, each area will come to life throughout the day. You never know when a party of your pals may come by, so be prepared for plenty of surprises!”
Also, Disney confirms that Spaceship Earth will return when EPCOT reopens.
Interestingly, the Parks Blog indicates that the planned refurbishment will still occur, just not right now.
Scott Gustin has posted a list of which attractions will reopen at the parks. You can read the tweet below:
BREAKING: Here’s the FULL LIST of attractions that will be open at Magic Kingdom: pic.twitter.com/OAfFKAanxu
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 20, 2020
However, I think the shorter way to state this comes from two other tweets:
I think is the full list of MK and AK attractions not listed:
MK
Casey Jr. Splash
Enchanted Tales w Belle
Shootin’ Arcade
Main Street Vehicles
Monsters Inc. Laugh FloorAK
Boneyard
Primeval Whirl ⁰
Finding Nemo Musical
UP! A Great Bird Adventure— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 20, 2020
Let's try this again. Full list of DHS and Epcot attractions/shows not listed:
EPCOT
Beauty and the Beast "Sing-Along"
Shark World (Bruce)DHS
Launch Bay
Indiana Jones Stunt Show
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast Live show
Frozen Sing a long— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 20, 2020
Gustin later adds this update:
Update: Disney updated the site this evening and removed Turtle Talk at Epcot and Festival of The Lion King at Animal Kingdom.
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 21, 2020
So, I think the situation has played out as we’d all expected.
Certain shows, especially singalongs, are problematic. And character meetings are a non-starter.
Photo: GMA.com
Even More Walt Disney World News
In unexpected park news, Disney has revealed that it’ll phase out the free Magic Band program for hotel guests.
Instead, the company will transition to using the same functionality on My Disney Experience.
Guests can still pay to buy Magic Bands, of course. The program’s not going away.
Instead, this is more of a cost-cutting move married to the pragmatism that we all take our phones everywhere.
The other shocker involves FastPasses. Disney had previously announced that this service wouldn’t return with the parks.
At the time, everyone (including me) expected that Disney would switch to a virtual queue.
Well, our friend, Mr. Gustin, indicates that the company’s not doing this:
Because I was *shocked* to hear this update, I asked the Cast Member to read me the item in the FAQ. It apparently says:
"Upon reopening, Virtual queues for attractions will not be available.”
And multiple people confirmed the info distributed to Cast Members.
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 20, 2020
Like him, my shock was total at first. However, after a bit of contemplation, I realized that Disney’s probably going to announce some form of paid MaxPass-like system soon.
That’s entirely my speculation, although a couple of other Disney insiders have drawn the same conclusion.
The prevailing belief is that such a change isn’t imminent, though.
We must wait to learn how Disney broaches these topics on the Parks Blog. Returning to the days of waiting in line for everything seems like a dramatic step back.
In fact, indications are that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance won’t employ Boarding Groups. It’ll have a regular standby line instead.
On the plus side, Disney surprised everyone in a good way, too.
The company revealed that the 2020 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival will debut on July 15th, which is also the park’s reopening day.
So, Disney closed with the 2020 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival and now returns with Food & Wine.
Yes, There’s Still More
In a regular week, I would have led with this one. Instead, it’s toward the bottom of noteworthy news items, which tells a story in and of itself.
Photo: MickeyTravels.com
Orange County Mayor, Jerry Demings, announced this week that facemasks are now mandatory.
Florida’s Coronavirus situation has declined dramatically since the state reopened, which may or may not be a coincidence.
A few lowlights include the fact that Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Lightning players have tested positive.
Also, the state has broken its record for the largest number of new infections nine times since June 1st…and four times over the past week.
The situation’s gotten scary, so Demings acted. Due to this decision, face masks are a part of Central Florida living until the curve flattens once again.
Mayor Jerry Demings
Image Credit: Orange County, Florida
Believe it or not, we’re still not done.
Disney has also revealed that two of its buffet dining experiences, Biergarten Restaurant and Chef Mickey’s, will return as family-style restaurants.
So, they’ll work like ‘Ohana with the server bringing plates of food to customers.
I actually love this move and hope that it causes every former Disney buffet to carve out its own flavor profile. They were fairly indistinguishable the old way.
Finally, Disney’s chosen to theme its social distancing group. These cast members get to say that they’re part of the inaugural INCREDI-CREW!
Image Credit: Disney
As a reminder, their purpose is to remind guests to honor all the safety requirements in place during the pandemic…and, apparently, stop the Screenslaver and Syndrome from enslaving Metroville.
Okay, that’s more than enough for this week. Folks, if it doesn’t go without saying, you need to be reading MickeyBlog every day.
The Disney updates are relentless at the moment.
