Minnie, Mickey and Goofy joined Disney cast members at Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort at Walt Disney World to commemorate the Disney Resort hotel’s March 31 re-opening.
Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort is the final resort to re-open at Walt Disney World during the phased re-opening.
This marks the first time since March of 2020 that all of Walt Disney World’s Resort hotels are open to guests.
Walt Disney World has expanded its temperature screenings to include some of its resort hotel restaurants.
Prior to this expansion Disney was taking guest temperatures on arrival at Disney Springs and the theme parks. Now a temperature measurement will also be taken at table service restaurants inside Walt Disney World Resort hotels.
Based on guidance from health authorities, Disney will continue its policy that anyone displaying a temperature of 100.4 F or above will be directed to an additional rescreening and assistance. Those with temperatures 100.4 F or above will not be allowed entry; those in their party will not be allowed entry either.
Walt Disney World announced that it will be delaying the re-opening of some of its Walt Disney World resort hotels and cancelling others.
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort will now re-open on October 4 instead of the previously announced August 12.
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will now re-open on November 1 instead of the previously announced August 12.
Disney’s Beach Club and BoardWalk Inn will now remain closed until further notice.
The revised re-opening schedule looks like this:
The following resort hotels do not have free-opening dates:
At this time Disney has not specifically stated why the re-opening schedule has been changed, though it’s like due to a lack of demand.
In just a few days, Walt Disney World will begin welcoming the first guests back to the theme parks, with Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom opening on July 11th and EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on July 15th.
If you recall, Disney had temporarily paused 2020 ticket sales and Disney Resort hotel bookings so that they could focus on helping existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders plan their visits. Today Walt Disney World has announced that beginning tomorrow, July 9th, ticket sales and Disney Resort hotel bookings for 2020 will resume.
In the announcement Disney added a word of precaution for guests trying to book stays or purchase tickets tomorrow….
For those looking to make their plans right away, please note that tickets and Disney Resort hotel bookings may be released at different times throughout the day tomorrow. In addition, we will use virtual waiting rooms as needed to manage the high volume of guests looking to plan their visits.
Walt Disney World has pushed back its open reservation window from June 1st to July 1, 2020.
Shortly after the resort shut down from COVID-19, Disney began accepting reservations from June 1 on March 29, but will now not accept new reservations during June.
What isn’t clear yet is if the move of the date is due to capacity being reached for June, or if Disney has no plans to operate during June. People in the know state that the hotels/resorts are not full, but there is speculation that capacity could have been capped to keep attendance reduced. Cancellations of existing reservations are taking place on a rolling basis through late May.
Hey there everyone! Disney News Today is back!
A week or so ago, I wrote that the site was going to be re-imagineered into reporting the news and happenings of the Disney Community along with my take on the stories. This will be the first installment of the new site with hopefully a lot more to follow.
Last week Friday Disney Vacation Members were sent an email from Ken Potrock, DVC Senior VP & General Manager, extending Holiday Wishes to members. Along with the holiday sentiments, Potrock also mentioned the “big plans” for the future that DVC was thrilled to tell us about.
The item in this list that drew my attention was the mention that DVC would begin removing trash on a daily basis. This change would begin immediately at Bay Lake Tower, Polynesian Villas and Bungalows, The Villas at The Grand Floridian, Disney’s Grand Californian and Aulani. The change would be implemented to all remaining Disney Vacation Club Resorts on January 7, 2018.
We’ve been Disney Vacation Members since 1995, and frankly we’ve gotten used to ‘Mousekeeping’ not showing up every day. So, understandably my first reaction was, “who complained about not having daily trash pick up” and what was this going to do to my dues.
Being the way that I am I had to find out why this was happening. I just didn’t believe that this was just about trash pick up. So, I contacted Membership Services. While the answer that I got from them was not completely forthcoming, it did shed some light onto the situation. In a statement that I got from a Cast Member at Member Services I was told, “It is important for us to visually inspect every room for maintenance, safety, security and other purposes.”
Within days sources were saying Walt Disney World was changing the security policy at this time for the Monorail Resorts (Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Polynesian Village . Reports stated that Disney would be removing “Do Not Disturb” signs. According to the Orlando Sentinel, guests at these locations can now use “Room Occupied” signs. Using the new door tag does not preclude maintenance or housekeeping staff from entering. Guests are now being informed that Disney staff will now enter rooms at these properties daily. If guests are not comfortable with Disney staff going into their rooms when they are gone, the company will coordinate with those people on an individual basis.
While Disney has not specifically said so, there is a lot of rumors and chatter that sooner than later this policy change is going to be extended to other resorts.
When the security policy at the Monorail Resorts was reported, the trash policy change at the Disney Vacation Resorts started making more sense.
So, why is Disney making these changes?
Like I mentioned earlier, I was initially confused why DVC was doing this. Then I thought it might have to to with it was taking Mousekeeping longer to clean out the trash when they did come because there was a significant number of guest not taking out their own trash between trash pick ups. Then I started thinking that maybe this way that maintenance/housekeeping staff and check on things that need to be fixed and get them fixed before guests check out, thereby not holding up guests checking into their new rooms.
Now, even though Disney has not “officially” stated so, the new policy appears to be a response to the October shooting in Las Vegas that killed 59 people and injured more than 500.
I have seen some blowback by a small amount of people on the Internet that they are not happy about this change….stating that they won’t be staying at any of the Monorail Resorts anymore.
Personally, I think that this is very short-sighted. While Disney has not officially said so, it appears that this change is going to spread to the remaining Disney Resorts.
Honestly, while inconvenient, I’m fully in support of this change. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in now. It’s why “we can’t have nice things.” Disney has to do this because they would end up being liable if they didn’t implement something like this and something like Las Vegas did happen on property.
What is surprising me is why Disney hasn’t come out front and said this is why they are implementing the new polices. I think as Disney Vacation Club Members, we’d be more understanding why the trash pick-up is being changed if management at DVC would just tell us it’s out of concern for guest safety. I also believe that guests staying at the Walt Disney Resorts would be less reactionary and more understanding of the security changes if Disney was more upfront about why the change is occurring.
Okay….that’s it for for today. I’ll be back soon with another story soon.
See ya real soon!
New high-tech laundry machines are being implemented for guest use at most Walt Disney World Resort hotels.
The new machines offer live reporting of availability via the internet, where guests will be able to view the status of each machine, and receive notifications of availability and when a cycle is completed. You can view the machine status at http://www.laundryview.com/disneyworld.
Along with the internet connectivity, the new machines offer quicker cycles to reduce wash time and an increase in capacity for larger items.
All locations will also now accept credit and debit cards in place of coins.
Coin operation still continues at a limited number of locations at Disney’s All-Star Resorts, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Disney’s Pop Century Resort.
Most resorts have already been upgraded, with the final locations expected to be completed by early May 2015.
From LaughingPlace.com –
Beginning February 10th, guests that have MagicBands shipped to their home, and have completed online check-in will be able to receive an email or text message with their room number so they can bypass the front desk.
Guests will still have the option of visiting the front desk of their resort if they choose.
Last week, Disney sent a memo to travel agents announcing a new resort policy scheduled to begin on February 10 that allows qualified visitors to bypass the front desk check-in process. Guests must:
Those who meets these requirements receive an email before their arrival with their room number and the ability to go directly to their room after being met by a cast member curbside.
The roll-out schedule is as follows.
Disney News Today 