When is it too much? More hours cut back

I think we can all understand that the situation around Disney World and the pandemic has created a difficult environment for both Disney itself as well as guests. When reopening for July was first announced, I was receptive to the changes as being necessary to fulfill the requirements of the state’s regulations but also as a “first step” for WDW into a vast, unknown reality.

But I guess I was expecting things to get BETTER over time, not continue to regress.

We knew before the July restart that we wouldn’t have fireworks or other night time events and that parades would be temporarily halted. Reasonable, for now.

But since July we have seen park hours regress, fewer restaurants reopening than I had thought, and still few to no shows to speak of. Now I saw that Ronto Roasters, a quick serve snack spot in Galaxy’s Edge inside Hollywood Studios is closing at 3pm everyday, as opposed to 8pm since the reopening. PizzaRizzo scales back to closing to 5pm as well.

Attendance at the parks is lighter, yes. Both due to the capacity limitations Disney has in place but I also think people are leaving earlier as there is just less to do without shows, fireworks, or parades. For those of us that do want to stay, do want to take advantage of the parks, more and more is being taken from us.

“But Ryan, these are unprecedented circumstances - you can’t blame WDW for having to change things around!?!”

Hopefully discussing how to take control back from Bob Chapek.

Sure. But last I checked, ticket prices haven’t dropped. My annual passes haven’t been partial refunded. The hotels aren’t suddenly 50% off.

When I was last in Hollywood Studios, I made it a point to get an on-the-way-out snack stop at Ronto Roasters to get one of the flagship food items. It was probably ~7pm when I did that, knowing the family was finished for the day and the parks were winding down. To anyone else that might just pop over to Galaxy’s Edge for that purpose, there will be only disappointment and questions of “why did I spend $4000 to bring my family here again?”

Every little nit in isolation feels minor. But it’s when you start to feel them one after another in succession that questions need to be raised.