runDisney Marathon Sell Out and Shanghai Disneyland Opens

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An opening at Disneyland Shanghai and a superfast runDisney sellout. This is what we cover this week on the No-Guilt Disney podcast. 

runDisney Marathon Sell Out and Shanghai Disneyland Opens

We have an opening!

And a superfast sell-out!

Plus an awkward photobomb that needs its own show, to be honest.

This week we’re talking about what’s happening at runDisney, Shanghai Disneyland, and Disney Springs.

And of course, we fangirl our favorite Bobs along the way.

Join the Facebook group where this and so much more are discussed. 

 Find the No-Guilt Disney Podcast Team

by email at [email protected]

Patty

• noguiltdisney.com
• noguiltfangirl.com
• The No-Guilt Fangirls Podcast
• Now Streaming Disney Plus Podcast
• @noguiltlife on all socials

Theresa

• insightfulllife.com
• @gertiethedino on Twitter
• @in.sight.full.life on Instagram

Jane

• @realmousewifewdw on Instagram
• @realmousewifeFL on Twitter

Music from https://filmmusic.io
“Vivacity” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) 

Transcripts

Patty 0:06
To all who come to our happy place, welcome to the No-Guilt Disney Podcast – where we have no guilt about our love for all things Disney.

Jane 0:13
We are three Disney fangirls who probably know more about the Disney Parks than most grown women should – and we’re perfectly okay with that.

Patty 0:22
We are totally okay with that.

Theresa 0:23
Yeah, for sure. Hello everyone. My name is Theresa and you can find me on Twitter at @GertieTheDino.

Jane 0:30
I’m Jane and you can find me on Instagram at @RealMousewifeWDW.

Patty 0:35
Hey y’all! <snort> Yeah, that was me. I’m Patty. I’m snorting all over the place tonight. This is that kind of day. It has been that kind of week, I think. Patty Holliday from NoGuiltDisney.com and No-Guilt Travel, a travel agency that specializes in Disney and Universal vacations. You can find me on all socials at @NoGuiltLife. I can also be found photobombing pictures with Scott Evans, the adorable brother of Chris Evans. And if you guys want to see that picture, well you just need to come and join our Facebook group because I will drop it in there.

Jane 1:20
Guys, that’s why we’re laughing hysterically, because it’s the most awkward photobomb ever and she just sent it to us.

Patty 1:29
<laughs> Oh, it was a fun night. Anywho. Hi guys. What’s up?

Jane 1:38
Hi.

Theresa 1:39
I feel like it’s been it’s been pretty quiet this week, right? There’s been no Disney news.

Patty 1:45
Yeah, None. None at all. I would say there’s been a lot of stuff happening. A lot since we last recorded even.

Theresa 1:54
Yeah, the last time we recorded Shanghai Disney, we talked about it was getting ready to open, and it officially opened a couple days ago.

Jane 2:02
Woohoo. And then today runDisney races are selling out again. Like it’s 2013.

Patty 2:10
Right, right? And the fun part has been so many people going, “I’m so surprised. I’ve never seen it happen like this before.” It hasn’t happened like this for a while. But it’s a little crazy. We’re going to we’re going to talk about all of that. We have some exciting, and I don’t know, it’s been an exhausting week. And a lot going on, trying to keep up with all these things happening. But let’s unpack this virtual vacation baggage and talk about all this stuff. We also have Disney Springs to talk about. It’s opening next week, right, Theresa?

Theresa 2:48
Yeah, May 20th.

Patty 2:51
Okay, all right. See? Stuff is happening, people! We’re popping over here, stuff is going on.

Theresa 2:59
So I guess we should start with runDisney. Because it was today, I think – today, yesterday, it was this week, and I know there are a lot of comments online with people freaking out because they thought they had their registration ready to go. And then it was just gone.

Jane 3:14
Last week was Annual Pass and DVC sign up, and that was gone in minutes. And everyone was a little worried about today, but we kept kind of being like, “Well, you know, Annual Pass, DVC, they don’t really sell that many entries. It should be fine.” It was not fine, y’all.

Patty 3:34
It was not fine. That is accurate.

Jane 3:38
It’s the exact opposite of fine.

Patty 3:41
I gotta say, I’m sorry. I know it’s not my fault. But I’m really sorry there’s so many disappointed fans out there, because I know how much these races mean to people, and how incredible they are, and how awesome they are, and probably how much people really were looking forward to getting out and having something to really shoot for and look forward to in this year of all years. And then to have registration just, like, fly – like, it just flew out. It just went, it was insane. Really, really quickly today, and I’m sorry, guys. I’m sorry if you didn’t get in.

Theresa 4:20
We were talking a little bit earlier, too. I know in the past, we’ve mentioned if you can’t get into a Disney race, a travel agent is usually a good option to go to, but we were talking before we started recording and you were saying even that had its limitations this year.

Patty 4:33
It definitely had its limitations this year. So travel agents do get a slice of the inventory and it’s allotted to us in advance. And until Wine & Dine, which Wine & Dine – all us travel agents did expect that to go pretty quickly. And it did. But that was…we were banking on two things. Well, actually, I guess it was a three part thing. One: that race is smaller than Marathon Weekend. It’s smaller than Princess Half Marathon Weekend. So it’s just less people, less bibs, right? Two: the theme was villains, which even Jane signed up for all three races. Her big runDisney comeback is happening hopefully in November. And that says a lot – people love villains, right?

Jane 5:22
They do. I mean, those are my people.

Patty 5:24
Those are your people, right? So the villains, plus the fact that it’s just a smaller race. You know, it just, it is Wine & Dine, people really do like Wine & Dine, they really enjoy this race weekend. So all of those things combined for a really, really quick sell out. But then what surprised us from the TA level, from the the background – we were watching and it was happening to us, where our allotment would sell out. And then a couple of days later, runDisney would reallocate a few more bibs in different categories to us. And then within a week, those would sell out And then they gave us a few more, and then those would sell out. And that that happened two or three times, they would replenish our bibs. It finally got to the point where they’re like, “We can’t give you anymore, we need to save.” It’s fair, totally fair, not complaining. They needed to make sure that there was plenty to go on sale to the general public; all cool. But yeah, we saw them, even from the travel agent side, it would it would get to be very slim pickings at times, and then sometimes they would give us more and sometimes they wouldn’t. Anyway, for anyone looking for bibs right now, unfortunately, travel agents cannot help you at this point in time. That could change. So if you have one that you’re working with, or you have one that you love, or you’re looking for one (Hello, that’s me), please reach out. We can put you on a waitlist. I know plenty of TAs across the board are creating waitlists, and if by chance we happen to get any bibs come through our way, trust us: we want you to run, too. And all of the TA bibs do need a two night stay, so you do have to book a room package at an on-site resort. There are a few limitations there. But, you know, it’s two nights and if you’re going to run the races, chances are you’re probably going to stay on property or close anyway. So you know, it’s an option. But unfortunately, we just don’t have the bib inventory at the time of this recording. Again, could change. Let me know if you want some information on that. You can find me by email at [email protected]. So yeah, that’s where we are. If you are still looking for bibs, probably your best chance is to reach out very quickly to charity and I will put that link in show notes for you. I have a list of all the charities that are out there. Charities are also running pretty low on their bib supply. But right now they are the only game in town. So if you want to run this race in January, the charity route is your only option.

Theresa 8:14
And I’m assuming that we think, or you guys have heard, that the reason that supply seems to have gone so much faster this year is because they probably have fewer bibs available, just given everything that’s going on, trying to cut down the total numbers of who will be racing.

Jane 8:30
So that is the rumor. There have been some reports that people have called runDisney and some people have been told that they have no idea what they’re talking about. Other people have had Cast Members say to them, “Yes, we cut back on the number of registrants based on what’s currently going on in the world.” Whether or not that’s true, who knows, but that is some of what people are being told.

Patty 9:01
Yeah, just to give you an example, Wine & Dine Half Marathon, I think typically has, I don’t know, 12-, 13-, 14,000 finishers. Does that sound right? Where, when you’re talking about the half marathon and the marathon weekend at Disney in January, you’re talking a much bigger race. They say 26,000 runners, but I think finisher-wise, that tends to be more like low 20s.

Jane 9:33
And that’s each day. That’s not over the whole weekend. That’s each day.

Patty 9:39
So it looks like, or It feels like, this Marathon Weekend is maybe gonna be more the size of Wine & Dine weekend, or could even be smaller. We don’t know. Because we don’t know and they don’t they don’t give us any numbers, we don’t we don’t really have an idea. But that’s just a guess based on how quickly things sold out. Now the other side of that coin could be that that’s not true at all, that they are selling just as many bibs as they always have, and the key difference, I think could play into this, is that you’ve got crazy runners who have this pent up need to run because all their other races have been canceled. Everything’s been canceled or moved or changed. I think there’s a few that are still holding on for the fall. But for the most part, a lot of races have been canceled. So could also just be this is the only game in town right now, so we want to all sign up for it. I want to get my marathon in this year. I can’t get one done in October, because it’s been canceled, so when can I? And that could be an answer, too. So it could be also demand. But I’m leaning towards the side of a smaller, for social distancing, or attempts at social distancing, or whatever it is they’re going to try to make this thing look like – that’s my guess.

Theresa 10:58
I know a couple episodes back we talked about Club runDisney and the fuss that people were making about that, and looking back now – the people who bought that, especially with the guaranteed race spot for one of the races, I’m like, Oh, they probably made a really good choice.

Patty 11:15
No, they did not. Because here’s the kicker: you paid for that now, but you don’t actually get that benefit until October of 2020.

Jane 11:29
So you don’t even get the registration benefit? I thought you’d get the registration now for the races that fall in that time period. Oh, that’s awkward.

Patty 11:42
Awkward’s a good way to describe it. So folks that signed up and put their $800 down for Clun runDisney actually will be able to participate in 2022’s Marathon Weekend with a guaranteed bib, but not for 2021. Interesting, huh?

Jane 12:02
That’s weird.

Patty 12:08
People online are also saying, just like Theresa was kind of assuming, is that they must have taken out a certain amount for Club runDisney. Not the case. Not yet. We haven’t seen Club runDisney affect the race registrations just yet.

Theresa 12:24
On a positive note, I did see somebody I know on Twitter who is a Perfect Dopey, and he was saying he didn’t get into like the initial the pre-registration; he got shut out of that. And it looks like they did email people specifically, if they had any of the Perfects, they messaged them to be like, “Hey, here’s your special individual link to register.”

Patty 12:47
Wellllll, not really. So yes, you’re onto something; that is something good. However. Okay, so runDisney’s kind of had a little bit of a struggle; and I’m going to go with giving them the grace of, like, half their staff is probably furloughed. Nothing’s normal right now. So in normal times, the Perfect – and a Perfect runner is somebody who has run the same event all years that it has been out there. So when you hit the five years, which is I believe this is the fifth year Dopey, is that right Jane? Or is this the sixth year Dopey?

Jane 13:26
Oh, isn’t this…I want to say this is year seven or eight now.

Patty 13:30
Oh dude, okay. See? I don’t even remember. But point being, after you get past the fifth year you’re considered a Perfect, as long as you keep running. And so yes, they have that list and they have their emails, and it’s supposed to work just like you’re saying, Theresa, that in advance they’re supposed to get a link that says, “Hi, you’re a perfect runner. Here’s your link, you have a guaranteed link if you want.” You still have to pay for it, but you have a guaranteed slot, so you don’t have to stress. This year, I’m assuming due to COVID – I don’t think it’s a change in runDisney policy or practice; I think it’s just everything being shut down and weird and awkward all over the place – they did not send those links out. They didn’t send them out. Now people got them, because they took it upon themselves to either call or email runDisney and say, “Hey, where’s my link?” And when they asked for it, runDisney said, “Oh, here you go.” And they sent it right out to them. If they did not ask for it, they did not get a link, and they got shut out of the races today. Now, all that being said. Perfect runners: if you happen to be listening to this, go ahead and call or email runDisney and request your link. I had two instances of runners, one that Sarah told me about from Heigh-Ho Travel, and then I had a runner myself who contacted me and said, “I didn’t get my link. Do you have any idea what I can do?” And we both said call runDisney and let them know, and hopefully they can hook you up. And they did. They immediately said, “Yeah, no problem. Here you go.” And they sent it out. So in other words, I think those numbers are still being counted, or they’re being held out, or they’re being created or whatever. But I don’t know how long that’s gonna last, that those are going to be available for. So Perfect runners: you still have a shot. If you got closed out, go ahead and contact runDisney ASAP.

Jane 15:26
And hopefully the link is working, because I saw somebody that had one of those links. And when they clicked through it just said this race is sold out.

Patty 15:35
Yeah, they had to like turn on something on the back end. Like I said, I’m giving them grace, because this is the first race that we’ve had go on sale, where everybody’s been furloughed. Things are definitely different. Definitely different.

Jane 15:51
I also think almost people were available exactly at 10am, which is the other thing. If you’re in an office and you’re running around, and you’re doing things, and you’re going here, and you’re going there; but half the country is still shut down. People are working from home, they’re able to move their schedules around a little, I think a lot more people were available to register.

Patty 16:11
That’s another really good point. And somebody else made that comment to me earlier today, too. They were like, “We’re just we’re all home and able to get online, where normal circumstances we’d be working or we’d be in a classroom with our students.” And they couldn’t do it. So that could have absolutely have been part of the issue as well, as people were able to get online quicker. I don’t know. But I can tell you by the numbers, Goofy sold out first, which is weird, which also totally signals to me that they had less bibs allocated to Goofy, because Goofy is usually the last man standing, right? But Goofy sold out first. So most likely we’re looking at lesser numbers. That’s my guess. So Goofy sold out like by 10:20; Dopey and 5K were gone by 10:25; the half marathon was gone by 10:30; the 10K was gone by 10:32; and then the full marathon, the standalone full marathon, was gone by 11:15. And all these races opened up and went on sale like 9:58 or something Eastern time. So everything went quickly. And we hadn’t seen that for a really long time. But it’s what happened. So that’s where we are. I mean, I think that kind of sums up our runDisney day: it was fast and crazy.

Theresa 17:31
That’s why I sit at home.

Patty 17:35
Well, you need to come and cheer or something. We need to get you to come out to one of the races.

Theresa 17:39
I mean, I love doing that. Having been somebody who’s cheered, especially woken up in the morning, seeing the runners go down Main Street, I totally get why they would want to decrease the numbers. Because at the beginning of the race, people are so packed together. If that is the case of they did want to decrease how many people are on the course at a time, I completely understand why they’re trying to do that.

Patty 18:00
Yeah, I think they’re trying to give us a race. And I also feel like, you know…I don’t want to armchair quarterback or guess, but I think the race is gonna feel and look a lot different than it did in years past. And that’s going to disappoint some people. I mean, this is a good segue into what just happened with Shanghai. Because there was a lot of feelings about what we saw when Shanghai opened. With the assumption being a lot of what we’re seeing in Shanghai, we could also see here in the US, and we got feelings about that. People don’t want their magic messed with, man.

Jane 18:38
They sure don’t.

Patty 18:39
Alright, so let’s talk about Shanghai, since we’ve already like opened that door. Let’s go ahead and dive on in. Did you guys watch the opening ceremonies? Did you pay attention? I was the dork that was having a watch party. Totally in on it.

Theresa 18:56
I watched very briefly. I did see they opened… I don’t know if they fully opened with it, but I turned on when they were having the band play the music to Fantasmic and it made me so emotional. Last week we were talking about, “How do you feel about the news that they’re opening?” I’m like, you know… they’re opening, we’ll see what happens. But hearing the music from Fantasmic, I was like, oh. Oh, it’s getting to me now.

Jane 19:19
Yeah, I watched some of the opening, but I didn’t watch a ton of it. I watched some people walk in. I watched it for maybe like 5-10 minutes, just getting an understanding of what was going on. And that was about it.

Patty 19:38
I watched a lot of it. because A) I was a little bit where you were at Theresa, where I was emotional about it, because I’m a big old dork. But then B) I was also just fascinated. And I was trying to see how they were pulling this off. Now, the first thing that stood out to me was how very, very, very few people were inside this park. So every single thing that we’re about to talk about, or mention, or say, if in your head you’re like, “But we can’t do that in Florida, there’s too many people. It’s too packed all the time. It’s too big.” I just want to put out as a heads up that I don’t think that’s what we’re going to see. I think that if they – and also, I’m going to assume that Florida’s opening first, because it feels like Disneyland, like California is pumping the brakes a little bit harder over there. So I don’t I don’t know that we’ll see Disneyland maybe till the end of the summer. If we see it at all this summer.

Jane 20:36
Yeah, I definitely think that we’re – I say we’re, I am in Florida – I definitely think that we’re going to open before California. I think they’re much more conservative about large gatherings and you know, those types of things, like stadiums and concerts, and basically putting large amounts of people in one area. And while there are ways that we can control it down here, our state is much more loose in terms of guidelines. So I think that we’re going to have opportunities to open beforehand.

Theresa 21:18
And we’re also starting to see that too. We’ll talk more about Disney Springs opening later, but on the 20th Disney Springs is going to start their initial small phase opening. And that’s kind of how Shanghai opened as well. They opened their Downtown Disney type area, they started gradually opening some like the resorts. They’re moving in phases, and I think we’re gonna see similar things here. Disney Springs is going to open first, I think then the resorts will open before the Parks, and they’ll gradually build up to that. I think we had brought up on the podcast about talking Shanghai opening, they have a general capacity of 80,000 guests. The absolute maximum that they could have opened at within this first phase would have had 24,000. And they said they were opening well below that because they just did not want to take any chances. And I think because they’re operationally doing things so differently, they really needed to have, a minimum number of guests there to see what works in this small crowd. And then I saw a report that gradually as time goes on, they’re going to start adding in increments of 5,000 as they increase what their capacity is going to look like. I was looking some of the wait times and they’re generally pretty low in Shanghai, where they have some of the highest wait times across the board of any Disney park, and they were generally pretty low.

Patty 22:50
Gosh, I saw like five minute wait times, I was like, sign me up for day one, if that’s what we’re including in Florida. Come on, man.

Theresa 23:00
They did have the requirement for all guests need to be wearing masks. And I think some of the brief things that I saw is that – I didn’t watch as much as the footage as you did – but that was kind of one of the more interesting things, guests were entering the park with masks, but then not always wearing them as they should be. Which I think that’s something that will, you know…I think that’s just an issue everyone’s going to be having. But it’s interesting to see how Cast Members are going to manage that.

Patty 23:30
From what I saw was that most of the guests were wearing them, but they did pull over in front of the castle to take a picture, and they took it off to take their picture, and then they put it back on. My thing with that, that didn’t get me too spun up or upset about it, was the fact that nobody was around them.

Jane 23:51
Nobody.

Patty 23:52
I mean, they they were basically getting an empty Main Street picture. I think that’s the key to kind of keep in mind as to how or why this could possibly work, at least to start. And then we have to see, like Disney is going to do, adjust and flex and decide what works and what doesn’t work. But in the beginning, the numbers are going to be so low on who they let in, on just how many people that they let in, that they are going to be able to manage things, and manage lines, and learn what real people will actually do when they’re told to do something. They may very quickly learn that Americans are actually going to be more accepting of the masks than we’re all giving ourselves credit for. I don’t think so. But, you know, they might. You never know. They may find just the opposite, of course, that there’s no way, no how, people are just not going to wear these masks and then they will have to make that decision on safety of the guests, safety of the Cast Members. How important is the whole mask issue? Right? But I do think that based on what Bob Chapek said this week, it sounds like masks will basically be required. I’m going to actually quote what he said. He said, “One of the things we’re likely going to require is masks for both the Cast and for the guests. And I think the masks for the guest will be something that culturally is different. In Asia, as you know, it’s fairly commonplace for folks to walk around in public with masks on.

That is not the case in the United States. So that will be something that will be a little trying for some of the guests, particularly in the hot, humid summers that we tend to have.” So they recognize it; they know what they’re up against. But let’s be optimistic. Let’s see what happens right? And they’ll make the right decision for the company and for the parks on how to move forward. But we’re not going to know until we get the park open and get it started to see what reality actually is. Right?

Jane 25:56
And here’s the great thing. This isn’t forever. Everyone hears change, and then they think the change is so permanent, and it’s not forever. There is a lot of question, there’s a lot of speculation, how are people going to do it in the heat and the humidity? And to be honest, I live here and I go outside and it’s 95, and I put my mask on to go run errands and stuff. And is it 100% comfortable? No, I definitely don’t feel like I’m sipping a pina colada and enjoying my life. But is it safe? Yeah. There’s other times of year when it’s cooler, so I highly recommend if it’s gonna make you uncomfortable to wear a mask or you think that that’s just going to take away from your magic, or whatever, I highly recommend thinking about coming in at a later time. Hopefully, we all wear masks, the sooner that we can get through this, and then everything can go back to whatever our new version of normal is.

Patty 26:55
It’s a good point: these masks are not going to be required in Disney for forever. It may be for the next year, and then they go away. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Jane 27:04
It’s a very touchy subject personally for me because I live here. And for me, it’s just about the safety of that Cast. I have family in that Cast, I have friends in that Cast. Everyone says to me, you don’t have to go to Disney. You’re right. I don’t. But everybody that works in Disney, they’re my neighbors. My whole town was built by Disney. So, you know, it’s very hard to hear a lot of the pushback. And it feels very, very personal. And I understand that everybody’s comfort is at the top of their mind. And right now everybody’s running on edge. But this isn’t permanent. We can get through this. And like I said, if we do it as quickly as possible, then the less time we’ll have to wear it and then maybe in a year, we’ll all be sunning outside with no masks.

Patty 28:03
Some of the other changes and things that they’re doing differently over in Shanghai: the queue lines are different; there’s no character interaction, no character meet greets. There’s no indoor shows. And I don’t think there’s any fireworks.

Theresa 28:22
No, there’s no fireworks, and I think there were minimal outdoor shows. So you picture like the castle type show. And I did see a picture of basically on the ground in front of wherever that was happening, they did have little boxes. And those boxes were to indicate where you and your group would stand to watch it. They even said that they had they tried different types of markings on the ground to see what would people stand on, or what were they more likely to stand off of. So I think in the queue they had blocked through like, “Don’t stand here,” but then in places where they were doing those shows, it was a specific space for you to stand. So, like I said, I think that they’re testing it out with this audience to see what they respond well to. And I think we’ll gradually see some of that here. And it’s gonna be the same kind of thing. What we’re seeing happening in Shanghai, I think a lot of it will be adopted into the domestic parks, and it might look a little different. But I think we’re gonna see a lot of these similarities, just with slight changes.

Patty 29:24
Yeah. And and I get that, for example, that the character interactions or the fireworks or the big parades, all of those things are what make a Disney experience a Disney experience for a lot of people. And it does sound like it’s not going to happen immediately when things first open up and maybe not for a couple of months. And I guess my answer there is, do we want the parks open now? Or would you rather that they just don’t open at all and hopefully in a year they can call all these Cast Members back and reopen. To me, that doesn’t…that doesn’t work I would rather have something, even if it’s modified, than keep the whole place shuttered until it can come back at its once grand and miraculous crane glory that it should be. That’s me. And I get that that’s not necessarily everybody’s answer. But that was me. I take a little bit of magic instead of no magic, right? I guess is the way that I’m looking at it. But those are things that are factoring in. And I know, I was watching some comments on one of the live feeds from Shanghai. And there was a lot of American voices that are basically saying, “Okay, well, if this is what it’s going to look like here, I’m not going to go. I’ll wait a year.” There were also just as many people saying, “Yep, I can work with that. Yep, I can. I’m coming.” So I don’t know that it’s tipped one way or the other in the court of public opinion, but it’s absolutely a valid choice if not having those special experiences ruins it for you. It makes sense, I don’t think you’re wrong. But unfortunately, I don’t think we should have them at this time, and I do feel like Disney is making some really smart choices on how they’re trying to control what they can. One of the other very cool things that I caught when I was watching that feed Ifor way too long) was I also watched the janitorial staff, the custodial staff. And they were wiping down everything. They were wiping down the railing that’s around the center, big Mickey head. I think it’s flowers right now that they had there. I saw him spraying and wiping it down. And I hadn’t seen anybody leaning up against it or hanging out up against it. Nobody had touched it. But that was part of his job, to go and wipe that thing down, regardless. And I’m like, “You know what? I like seeing that too.” I like seeing their presence more, and they’re wiping, they’re cleaning, and they’ sanitizing. And I think that’s gonna go a long way as well, to trying to open these parks up safely.

Jane 32:13
Yeah, I agree. I saw a bunch of people talking about, if the parks do open with these changes, that it’s no longer a value for the price they’re paying. And I was like, you know what? I can understand. For me, you know, it’s my Annual Pass, it’s already paid for. So like, it is what it is. But if you’re coming down here and spending that kind of money, I totally get that you want the whole dog and pony show. I would want that same thing too. But it’s just not always possible. Hopefully there’s a lot of options for people to move vacations or make it work for them. And, you know, we’ll get through it.

Theresa 32:59
And on the Annual pass note, Disney – I mean, they have given people options if you do have an Annual Pass. They have said that, we talked about this earlier, they’ll extend Annual Passes for whatever period that the park is closed – and it’ll be interesting to see if that includes phased openings, where they might have limits on how many people can get in. But they have also given people the option, for Annual Passholders, you can cancel your Annual Pass now. So if you have the monthly payment, you’re not locked into that; if you’ve paid upfront in full, you have the option of having that extension added on once the Parks open, or you can cancel it and they’ll give you a refund. That’s one thing we talked about, you might feel like, “Well, I have an Annual Pass, I’ve already paid, and I’m going to lose out on this if I don’t go.” Disney, they are doing everything they can to give people as many options as they can right now.

Patty 33:49
Honestly, I’m just so impressed – and I know anybody listening to this is probably like, “Well of course she’s saying, that she loves them.” Well, I do love Disney. But I will also say when I don’t love them or when I don’t agree with things they’re doing or I don’t like their choices or I think it’s, as we said, awkward. Club runDisney. But in almost every aspect that I’ve seen so far, I have been super impressed with how they’re handling things, at least from what the lay person is getting the experience of. I can’t speak for what’s happening behind the scenes, and I don’t know truly how Cast Members, for example, are being treated or their expectations. But I can just say from a big Disney fangirl who wants to get back to Disney: I like some of these choices. I like the things that they’re doing. And I want to say thank you for both the Bobs. I think you guys are knocking it out of the park and dealing with this as safely and productively as you can and we appreciate you.

Jane 34:52
And we appreciate Bob #1 more than Bob #2.

Theresa 34:56
I wasn’t gonna say it

Jane 34:59
That’s what I’m here for. I’m here to say all the things that we’re thinking.

Patty 35:05
All right, look…

Jane 35:06
We don’t hate Bob #2, but we have the teensiest crush on Bob #1.

Patty 35:13
We do, Yeah. We can =say that. I think that’s all right to say.

Jane 35:19
We need a No-Guilt Fangirl episode of Bob Iger. We could probably get him on the podcast.

Theresa 35:30
He’s not doing anything. I did say aim high.

Patty 35:36
Jane’s gonna tweet: Hey, Bob, what’s going on? You busy?

Jane 35:39
I finally have motivation again.

Patty 35:44
All right, please land Bob Iger on the podcast. Thank you very much. All right. Well, he’s listening. So Bob, let us know your schedule; we’ll clear ours. You just let us know, we’ll work within whatever we got to do. Yeah. So anyway, back to Bob #2, though. So this is Bob Chapek. He’s two, Iger’s one. Bob Chapek also mentioned, he said: “If guests continue to behave in the way that they have, we may be able to approach that [adding more people to the Parks]. We’re all playing our part in this ecosystem of safety, if you will, and we’re going to do our part and we need our guests need to do their part, too.”
So let’s do that, folks. When we get this chance to get back in these Parks, don’t mess it up. Some of us don’t have trips and planned until November, and some of us – okay, that’s me, I’m the “us” – would really, really, really like to go to Disney this year. So those of you that do get to get in early, if you’ve got planned trips, or you do make your opportunity to get down there do what they say, follow instructions.

Theresa 36:53
Well, I’m guessing – this is another good point. This probably is why they, I know they’re not going to acknowledge it, but this could be a good reason if they did have the capacity for the race; because who knows what phase of opening they might be in in January, in terms of how many people are coming into the Parks. So I would imagine that they are playing it safe, and it’s worth it as things progress, if they are re-opening faster than expected because people are doing the things they should be doing, keep an eye on what’s happening. Make sure you’re getting on a waitlist with a TA if you’re curious about running.

Patty 37:28
You’re getting so logical, because that is true. They could have cut the race in half, planning on if they can add more bibs later. That’s very logical of you there, Theresa. I like it, I like it. Anything else with Shanghai that we want to mention or talk about as far as what we liked, what we didn’t like, what we saw, we didn’t see. Oh, I wanted to make a point. We have a Corrections Corner, to steal from My Favorite Murder again. I think in the last podcast, I said something about, it’s a small world finally being played in one of the Disney Parks.

Jane 38:07
It’s no open.

Theresa 38:08
There is no small world.

Patty 38:10
There’s no small world in Shanghai!

Jane 38:12
Y’all, this is a family podcast. But I almost said my favorite thing to say. So I’ll just spell it out for you, it goes, “Oh, FFS.” It’s just my house again.

Patty 38:32
It’s just your house. It’s the only place playing it’s a small world on a daily basis. Theresa, why didn’t you mentioned that before? You’re supposed to correct us when we’re wrong. <Theresa laughs> We count on you!

Jane 38:43
You’re our theme park historian!

Theresa 38:46
I was actually gonna bring up something about that during the Disney trivia episode. And we had so many other things we were talking about, I didn’t get to it.

Patty 38:54
You are supposed to fix these things when we mess up. That’s that’s your job. Call us out say, “Girl, you wrong.” But yeah, there’s no it’s a small world, who knew? Theresa did, but nobody else did. So let’s talk about Disney Springs. What does it look like? And what is going on in Disney Springs? And Jane, are you – Oh, wait, wait. Before we before we move off of this topic, I do want to ask this one question to both of you, put you a little bit on the spot. I think I know your answers, but I’m still going to ask it. If Walt Disney World opened, and the same protocols that we know about with Shanghai, exactly the same – except for the QR code thing, because obviously the US does not have that at this time. But everything else is the same, right? The temperature check, limited people coming in, you do need to wear a mask, all of the social distancing queue lines set up, blah, blah, blah. If everything is exactly the same as Shanghai, would you go at your first available opportunity?

Jane 40:05
Yes.

Theresa 40:07
I’m saying yes with an asterisk, only as a person who would be traveling there. Just because of the way it’s set up, I’m curious to see how they would handle those types of capacity issues, both with the number of locals and people booking rooms.

Patty 40:27
Say you can get in.

Theresa 40:29
Assuming I know in advance I’m able to get in, because I think that would be a frustrating process to get there and then not know each day. I think I would, and even if I couldn’t get into the Park each day, if something happens, there’s so many things at the resorts that I could do. I would be fine just being down there. I’ve talked a lot about how I just like the atmosphere of Disney. So even if things are different, I’m okay being away from people. I don’t need the people around me. I’m okay skipping out on rides if certain attractions or shows are not going to be running. I enjoy Disney background music and just wandering Disney. So I would be fine going, assuming I know that I can get into the Park at least one day, or assuming I am going down knowing I will not be getting into the Parks any days, but I have a room. That’s fine, too. I’m all good.

Patty 41:22
And that’s part of the trick question. One of the things with Shanghai is they had a reservation system. They sold only a certain amount, a limited number of passes. But then Annual Passholders had to get into this registration. So I’m sure those were limited as well. And I’m assuming that was a whole nother runDisney 2013 or runDisney 2020, as it happened today. Got to get in the queue and lottery it up, and hopefully your number was called to go. So yeah, that would be my assumption, is if I knew I could go, I would go under these circumstances and in fact, I would probably be more likely to go sooner than later. Because I think in the beginning, Cast Members and guests will be hyper-vigilant, and will be on their best behaviors, right? And will also be really looking for things and trying to be as careful as could be. So from a safety standpoint, I’m all about that. And from a purely selfish standpoint, I am all about those five minute walk on, I get an entire boat on Pirates of the Caribbean to myself – yep, sign me up. I’m doing it. So those things definitely would be a positive, and I would be interested in going. But honestly, from the safety standpoint, I was comfortable seeing what they were trying to do and what they were trying to accomplish. So I feel okay going.

Theresa 42:45
My bigger concern would be getting on the plane. Being in the confined box.

Patty 42:50
I’ll come pick you up, we’ll roadtrip down. It’ll be fine. We’ll have a grand ol’ time. We’ll go, we’ll swing by, we’ll pick up Tania, and we’ll just road trip down. It’ll be great. All right, so now real quick: let’s talk about Disney Springs, because that is our actual first official Disney opening, right, stateside? And it’s happening on Sunday. So what’s happening?

Theresa 43:20
I think it’s little funny to say it’s the first Disney opening because they are opening some of the restaurants and the shopping areas, none of the places that are opening are Disney operated. It’s all the third party operated ones. I wrote down some of them. So it’s Wine Bar George, STK, The Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. Some of the smaller kiosks like the YeSake and the Joffrey’s kiosks, Sunshine churros. And I think I saw Anthropologie, some of the retail areas. But don’t go down there thinking that you’ll be able to get into World of Disney or Raglan Road or some of these other ones that Disney oversees. So they’re gonna be opening. They’re going to be requiring Cast Members and people on property to be wearing masks. I’m not sure for all the situations in terms of what that restaurant capacity is going to look like, how many people that they are able to allow in and out at a time, I think they said there’s going to be limitations on the parking areas. So it’s gonna be interesting to see how it goes. I did also look earlier and right now, Disney, they’ve pushed back their date for people to make reservations for anything on property to July 1. It used to be June 1, but now that the period, the month of June, the only places that you can make a Disney dining reservation is at the Disney Springs restaurants. You can make them for some of the other restaurants that are not on the list of having confirmed openings. Don’t interpret that as meaning you will definitely keep that reservation. I think it’s still playing by ear, but Disney is playing it safe, and they’re only allowing people to make reservations there at the moment,

Jane 45:02
A friend of mine has a reservation for Raglan Road for the end of May that was made months and months ago, and that still hasn’t been cancelled. But from what I had read, I don’t believe Raglan Road is on the list that’s opening as of now. I mean, of course, everything could change. The same way with runDisney information. It could change overnight. But it still hasn’t been canceled. So we’re just curious to see how that goes.

Theresa 45:32
Are you planning anytime in the near future to try and go, or are you still waiting to see how things play out during the first couple days or weeks?

Jane 45:42
I am definitely not planning on going immediately. I do think that we are opening a bit too soon for my liking. I went to Target last week to run in for some essentials, and you have to wear your mask there and and people were very compliant about that. But there were people trying on clothes and that really bothered me. I was like, “What is going on? You’re touching it, and then it’s gonna go back and then somebody else is gonna try it on, and we don’t know where it’s been.” I’m pretty sure I may have texted Patty, my first thought was, “Oh my God, the testers in the MAC cosmetics store.” I was like, I can’t ever go in my favorite store again. I’ll never buy any more makeup.

Patty 46:39
I tell you it changes a lot of things, right? It also it makes you realize all the wandering around and kind of window shopping or whatever that I once did. I have no reason to go to Disney Springs. So I wouldn’t go…I take it back. If I lived there, I would go purely for a looky-loo, because that is who I am. I want to see how people are reacting, or what they’re doing, or if they are wearing their masks, if they are washing hands and whatever. I’m curious like that. So I probably would go, but I mean, I’d go check it out and then I probably wouldn’t go back again because I don’t have a reason to go there. Does that make sense? A lot of things nowadays are turning into, “Do you have a reason to go there?” No, you don’t? Then don’t go. That’s just my personal kind of thought process during this whole quarantine thing.

Jane 47:30
Yes. So for me, the biggest thing that I was excited about for Disney Springs was if I can go take a walk and still feel like I’m in Disney. I don’t even have to go in a store; I just can walk from one end to the other, and just hear Disney music, and feel like I’m in a bubble, right? That’s the whole concept. So that particular aspect of it is really exciting for me because I’m bored, but I just I need a little more time before I think we’re ready. I’m just curious, I kind of want everybody else to go and I’ll stalk it from Instagram and see what I can see there. But I will also say that a lot of the people, a lot of the bloggers and influencers that I follow on Instagram, they’re also saying, “Nope, we’re not going.” And it’s surprising because these are a lot of the big accounts that they are at every opening of everything, and they have to rush to be first and they’re all like, “Nope, we’re staying home.” I don’t know if that’s just because the stores or things not being as open or if it’s just everybody’s safety, but I think it’ll be a couple of weeks before I ease into the Disney Springs thing.

Patty 48:52
That’s fair, that’s fair.

Theresa 48:55
We’re all really excited to see what happens, but we also wanted to get back into… we haven’t really done a storytime lately, where you guys share some of your Disney Parks memories with us. And we thought that we’re all missing it a little bit, so that would be fun to jump into. But we do have a special prompt for you this time. It came up a while back, and we’re finally circling back to it. We want your most awkward Disney character encounters. I know every single one of you has one; because I certainly do. I know Patty and Jane absolutely do. Patty’s may involve real people that she photo bombs. <laughter> We all have these awkward character encounters, and we just thought, you know, we’ve been talking about a lot of news and a lot of things that are going on in the world lately. Let’s just do something fun. So make sure you are in the No-Guilt Disney Facebook group. I’m sure we’ll have a thread there where you can share it, you can send it to our email which is [email protected]. We do also have the form available on the NoGuiltDisney.com website. So plenty of ways…I’m sure I’m going to be putting out a call on Twitter for this. We’ll be putting out calls on Instagram. We just want to hear whatever your most awkward character encounter is. I think we’ll get some really funny things and we’ll just we’ll have a good time.

Patty 50:16
Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. So definitely do not disappoint us. Reach into your memory banks, and throw out some of those core memories of the time where you also photobombed Chris Evans’ brother. And if you want to see that picture, come join the Facebook group.

Theresa 50:34
And make sure you keep joining us each week on the No-Guilt Disney Podcast, because as Patty likes to say:

Patty 50:40
It’s no fun to fangirl Disney alone. Bye, y’all.

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