Friendship Boats return to service at the EPCOT area resorts in November

You asked a question that doesn’t apply. Running boats doesn’t equal no maintenance in the parks. No biggie I get you too. ;)

was just getting to the trade off in dollars
probably stirring the pot unnecessarily
never happens around here Heh!

Boat Question. Boats from CR to WL and FW running?

Not at the moment.

Except the costs are or were shared between all the resorts around Crescent Lake, which there are 5 resorts plus two DVC resorts. And only YC, Swan and the villa resorts are open right now. Without the contribution from the remaining three resorts it makes the cost prohibitive.

I don’t think they’ll be back until at least one of the Port Orleans resorts re-opens.

But, But, But..... Port Orleans is a longer boat ride! Just Kidding. OKW has been open for a good while, you would think use most of the boats on account of Social Distancing, and give the Skippers some hours, Just Saying.

I suspect the cost of the boats is shared between all 3 resorts on the river, and only OKW is open.

Friendship Boats return to service at the EPCOT area resorts in November
https://www.wdwmagic.com/transportation/friendship-cruisers/news/23oct2020-friendship-boats-return-to-service-in-november.htm

Depends.

If I were a normal guest going today rather than in two years and I were staying at the Swan or Dolphin, my vote would probably go towards the bunch of empty boats.

I mean, I'm paying for my experience in the here and now - not investing in the parks for your future enjoyment, right?

For the record, I'm not a normal guest and I also have no plans on visiting in 2020 so it's a moot point for me but I'm glad for the people who are, that an amenity which is surely baked into the cost of their room rather than their park ticket, is returning for them.

Good to see them returning. I have to wonder why now though, maybe the Dolphin is opening up or to relieve pressure on the Skyliner.

that's why there was some follow up discussion

you didn't answer the rest of my post

What were you told about the boat availability when you made your reservation??

Lol. The boats are coming back. I think that’s good news. Let’s just leave it at that.

Yeah, where you said he didn't answer the question so I thought I would. ;)

Disney in general is in a tough space, here. I don't fault them for cutbacks where they can get away with them right now but everything they cut makes the resort that much less appealing to the people they're struggling to bring in.

Aspects of the resort have been less than premium for a while already and yet they've been able to continue to demand premium pricing with people paying it. In a situation like this where on top of that, there are known major cutbacks to the guest experience in the form of reduced hours and entertainment, parades, fireworks, etc., it only gets harder and harder to continue trying to command that premium price.

Right now, more than ever, they need people paying that price, since even at peak, they can only allow a fraction of the guests in even if they get enough people to show up.

This situation though, is not the guests' responsibility to deal with nor should it be their concern.

So how does Disney deal with it?

I don't envy anyone in charge of that, right now.