Disneyland faces gradual opening under California tiered plan

I think Disney needs to get some hard data on the effectiveness of their measures in Florida. The problem is, I don't have any idea how you design an experiment or collect data for something like that.

I agree a true scientific proof would be hard to achieve here, but I think there is an fair way to measure Disney's effectiveness. Considering how juicy and click-provoking it would prove to be, how many media outlets have had the pleasure of publishing the headline

%big number here% Infected with Covid at Disney!!! Deathwatch begins!!!

Despite the multitudes worldwide that have visited Disney's properties since reopening, that headline remains unused to my knowledge. Compare that with the college reopenings, Sturgis, etc. Despite Disney's level of media risk, they have not been busted yet. Seems effective to me.

Where I was going was more like, "Hey California, we're actually pretty good at this so far, and here's why. Please get out of our pants now." This is really about the classic thing I return to about the industry in general, that it really goes out of its way to not hurt people because that's bad for business, and heavy-handed regulation wouldn't change that.

Counterpoint: Fun Spot.

But even they have only failed procedural inspection. In terms of being a known site of infection, I don't believe they are guilty. It goes back to what Jeff was saying. Their efforts were effective even if they were not official "best practices."

Fun Spot doesn't have to justify operating in California, so for the purpose of this discussion, I'm not sure they figure into it. Their failure (if you can call it that) isn't Disney's.

There have been rumors about Universal cutting days due to soft demand. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if that happened at Disney, but it's hard to say. Disney now has to rely pretty heavily on local markets, since international and even domestic long-range travel is suffering. Which is why they're kind of doing it wrong, requiring the reservations of locals, but wanting locals to show up more. It's so weird. Regardless, translate that to Anaheim, where under normal circumstances, the locals already play a significant role in attendance.

Piling on what Jeff said, the pent up demand from the Annual Pass base in SoCal will overwhelm whatever attempts Disney tries to do. The locals market is so strong that, unlike Orlando/Central Florida, they'll max whatever capacity they're allowed, certainly through the holidays if not into Q1

Meanwhile Visit Orlando is spending $13,000,000 on an ad campaign for Floridians to stay IN the state of Florida and come see Orlando.

ApolloAndy said:

Counterpoint: Fun Spot.

Am I the only person thinking about the fatal Big Thunder derailment at Disneyland?

(But, more seriously, the first park that comes to mind is Mt. Olympus.)

99er said:

Meanwhile Visit Orlando is spending $13,000,000 on an ad campaign for Floridians to stay IN the state of Florida and come see Orlando.

WDW has also issued a targeted resort discount to non-Floridians plausibly within driving distance.

https://www.mousesavers.com/walt-disney-world-vacation-discounts-an...relocalpkg

There's also word of a PIN code discount that seems to be hitting farther north, but I'm not sure about that one.

Does this mean that Disney now likes poor people?

Right now, they’re liking anybody who will part with their money, no matter what amount.