Due to the Omicron variant and workers being sent home, upcoming projects underway at Walt Disney World Resort may struggle to hit their deadlines once again. Construction crews for both Tron and Cosmic Rewind are reportedly having difficulty maintaining the schedule. This is after the attractions were previously hit with delays after the original onset of the pandemic.
The rapid progress that had been made recently on the facade for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind seems to have come to a halt 🧐 pic.twitter.com/G9PYEhB1A8
— WDW News Today (@WDWNT) January 3, 2022
I am told by sources that the CDC looking to possibly implement an additional five-day testing requirement to come off of isolation is leading some companies associated with Disney to prepare for extensive outages. One thing that does not seem to be true is the rumor that Disney World maintenance workers are calling out sick at a rate which is effecting ride up-time. Although you might see Rock’n Roller Coaster down more often than not at the moment, it does not seem related to the pandemic. Nor should the upcoming refurbishment of Expedition Everest, without fixing the yeti, be seen as pandemic-related. It’s just about money.
Some attractions that could see their opening dates slip due to Omicron are Tron, Cosmic Rewind, and Moana’s Journey of Water. A major Splash Mountain refurbishment has already been sidelined for years and has nothing to do with the pandemic.
It may also be that Disney has to shutter some current attractions for a few weeks if Omicron crashes through the cast member population and the CDC change goes through. Currently, Disney World has a policy that only requires five-day isolation… but tests can return positive for up to fifteen days. That could mean far longer durations of quarantine for workers. Even if Disney Parks were to skirt that testing requirement, their third party construction crews would be unlikely to follow suit. Luckily, predictions are that Omicron will peak in mid-January… so hopefully this will be in the rear view mirror within just a couple of months.
Let me know in the comments below if you’re planning future trips around new attractions. Would you delay your planned vacation at Walt Disney World if either Cosmic Rewind or Tron are delayed?
I was hoping to get back to Disney this April… We try to get over there every other year, or so, but we were hoping the politics of the plandemic would run its course. I’ve no interest in going if you have to wear a mask everywhere, and I’m certainly not going to be carrying vaccine papers around for the Stasi to check.
Same!