This week saw a few news items and a collection of new posts from us for those of you who want to learn more about the reopening.
Disneyland Canceling More August Reservations
We don’t expect Disneyland to open in August, and we think September is a stretch. So it isn’t surprising to see them cancelling reservations through late August.
Walt Disney World Reopening Updates
Rise of the Resistance Boarding Pass Changes
When Hollywood Studios reopened, Rise of the Resistance had a new boarding pass system where passes were released in batches 3X per day, at 10AM, 1PM, and 4PM. This was an expansion of the previous system, where passes were released only at 10AM.
As of July 24, Disney is switching to two boarding pass batches per day, at 10AM and 2PM. This means guests will want to try to get a group at 10AM and, if they fail, try again at 2PM. You can still only get one boarding pass per day.
I suspect this change just has to do with challenges they were having splitting the groups up across the 1PM and 4PM groups. This system continues to baffle me. I don’t think it had to be the top of Disney’s priority, but implementing a new system that avoided the heavy crowds and mad cell-phone tapping rush of 10AM would be a great way to improve guest experience.
PeopleMover Experiences Ongoing Downtime
Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, one of our favorite attractions at Magic Kingdom, has not reopened yet. It is still listed as an available attraction on the official reopening page.
Notably, the ride actually closed before the parks because of technical problems. It’s likely those same problems are ongoing, and it’s possibly Disney simply isn’t prioritizing reopening the attraction right now.
In any case, we’re on edge a bit because we love PeopleMover, and last week brought news of Primeval Whirl permanently closing.
Disney Updates / Clarifies / Reminds Guests About Mask Policy
You can’t walk around Disney parks with a beverage and just leave your mask off because you’re drinking. If you wish to remove your mask to eat or drink, you need to be stationary to do so.
RunDisney Wine & Dine Weekend Cancelled
The RunDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend has been cancelled. The race weekend was originally scheduled for the weekend of November 7. More information can be found at the RunDisney website.
This sets the Walt Disney World Marathon—held in January—as the next race to watch. I find it highly unlikely it will be safe to hold marathons by then, but I’ll cross my fingers for all those currently signed up.
We just had our hometown marathon (which we were signed up for) cancelled. Despite taking place over 26.2 miles, marathons start incredibly crowded. Even by the end, keeping six feet from other runners is no easy task. At points, the Walt Disney World Marathon course feels about 12 feet wide.
New Ticket Option for Florida Residents
Disney has a new “flex” ticket option for Florida residents. The tickets are multi-day tickets (2,3,4-day) that can be used over a wider range of dates than regular tickets, and that are priced lower than regular tickets.
New Post About Disney World’s Cavalcades
We have a new post summarizing what we know about Disney World’s new cavalcades. It’s spoiler-free, but links to videos of the cavalcades if you’d like to see them.
New Wait Time Analysis
We looked back at the first week of wait times at each of the reopened Disney World parks. The conclusions were mostly what you’d expect—wait times are low.
There are a few interesting bits in there, though, including Na’vi River Journey seeing longer waits than Flight of Passage, and Peter Pan’s Flight falling pretty low in the Magic Kingdom rankings. Read the posts:
Parks Pass Availability Update
As long as you’re not planning on using your annual pass, you’re looking at pretty good availability on the new Parks Pass Reservation System these days.
As of this update, ticketed guests of Disney hotels and other ticketed guests (not APs) can book any park any day except Hollywood Studios on July 23-24-25.
Passholders are more restricted. July 25-26-27, August 8, 10 are fully booked. Hollywood Studios is booked through the end of August and every weekend in September. Several days in July-August-September have only Epcot available. And the calendar is wide open beginning September 28.
Passholders can book Disney hotel stays if they wish to access the availability of Resort Hotel Guests.