Hawaii Open Again, California Theme Park News and More COVID Updates

Hawaii visitors can celebrate once again as Hawaii has relaxed its 14-day COVID quarantine mandate. The state had been essentially closed to visitors since March until instituting new requirements last week – which allows Hawaii timeshare owners and other visitors to skip the quarantine by producing a negative COVID test.

Visitors looking to skip the 14-day quarantine (which presumably is nearly everyone going to Hawaii) are required to take a specific type of COVID test from an approved provider no more than 72 hours before arrival. Keep in mind this is only for U.S. citizens and residents, as international visitors are still banned from traveling to Hawaii. Details regarding the new testing requirements can be seen by clicking here.

While this impacts visitors entering the state, the new policy is designed for travelers entering into Honolulu and not all Hawaiian islands have agreed to this one-test policy. Visitors landing in Honolulu and flying on to the Big Island of Hawaii also require a second COVID test to be taken upon arrival at their airport on the Big Island. The islands of Maui and Kauai are offering a second COVID test 72 hours after arrival, but those tests are voluntary to visitors.  

Keep in mind that anyone traveling to Hawaii and not adhering to the pre-test plan will be required to quarantine for 14 days. A good recap of the details is available here.

California Theme Park Details 

Officials in California have announced guidelines for theme parks to reopen in the Golden State. Unfortunately, that does not bode well for Disneyland or the other large theme parks in the state.

California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly today announced that in order for larger theme parks above 15,000 capacity to reopen, the park’s home county must be at a Tier 4 Yellow status according to the state’s color-coded system.

The problem is that Orange County, which is where Disneyland is located, is currently at Tier 2 Red status. With a population of just under 3.2 million people, Orange County would need to be at 32 or fewer daily COVID cases to be at Yellow. Today they sit at 203 daily cases.

Ghaly admitted that it takes three to four weeks for new information to be processed. Given that Orange County needs to jump two levels, it could be the end of November before Disney officials have an idea when they can reopen Disneyland.

Disney officials had been optimistic about reopening Disneyland in July to coincide with the reopening of Disney World in Orlando. However, state and local officials nixed the idea as COVID cases continued to increase in California.

Disney has not commented as of the time of this writing, but this development has to be disappointing for Disney timeshare owners and Disney fans looking to get back to the California parks.

Canada Remains Closed

The land border between Canada and the United States will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least November 21. The closure was to expire tomorrow but Canadian officials have announced an extension of the restrictions for another month.

The announcement comes after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voiced his concern last week about the COVID case numbers in the U.S. Canada is also in the midst of a second wave of cases, with over 32,000 additional cases and 273 deaths reported in the last two weeks.

Canada timeshare resorts are surely hoping that the closure will be lifted in time for the beginning of the ski season, as Americans are currently banned from entering the country.

Good News for Air Travel

Airline travel in the U.S. exceeded one million travelers in a single day for the first time since mid-March, continuing an upward trend in air travel.

TSA officials reported screening 1.03 million passengers this past Sunday, which is the largest number of flyers since March 16. While this is still 60 percent below the number of flyers on the same day last year, it is 10 times above the record daily low number from April.

Timeshare Resort Openings

Here is the latest timeshare resort information:

Bluegreen Vacations – All Bluegreen resorts are now open. Bluegreen has transitioned its information to highlight amenity details for each resort, so for details please go to https://www.bluegreenowner.com/featured/travel-advisory/amenities.

Capital Vacations – No changes here from last week. Coral Sands resort is still closed as Grand Cayman is open only to returning citizens and residents. Sea Palace in St. Maarten is saying that owners must produce a negative COVID test prior to checking in, even though the resort is still showing as closed on the Capital Vacations website.

All US-based Capital Vacations timeshare resorts remain open, so for further details about any of the Capital resorts please click onto https://www.capitalvacations.com/covid.php.

Club Wyndham – All U.S. Wyndham timeshares are open, with the exception of Makai Club and Makai Club Cottage which will open on November 1. For more information please go to https://clubwyndham.wyndhamdestinations.com/us/en/covid-19-information/list-of-impacted-resorts.

Diamond Resorts – Alhambra Villas in Kissimmee remains on schedule to reopen on October 29. All other US-based Diamond timeshare resorts are open, so please go to https://www.diamondresorts.com/covid-19-update for further information.

Disney Vacation Club – Aulani is still set to reopen on November 1, while today’s earlier announcement presumably means Grand Californian will remain closed for the foreseeable future. All other Disney timeshare resorts are open, so for more information please visit https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/.

Divi Resorts – Divi Flamingo Beach Resort remains closed until at least November 1 due to government COVID protocols restricting travel into Bonaire. Divi Southwinds Beach Resort in Barbados is expected to reopen on October 31, while Divi timeshares in St. Maarten and Aruba remain open. Divi Carina Bay in St Croix is closed for renovations. Please click on https://www.diviresorts.com/news.htm for further details.

Grand Pacific Resorts – All Grand Pacific resorts are open, so please visit https://grandpacificresorts.com/resort-reopening-updates/ for more details.

Hilton Grand Vacations – No changes from last week as Kings' Land by Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the Big Island of Hawaii still shows a November 3 reopening date. Otherwise, the remaining resorts showing as closed are the other five Hilton timeshare resorts in Hawaii, The Quin Central Park by Hilton Club, The Hilton Club – New York, the Residences by Hilton Club and Hilton Grand Vacations Chicago Downtown/Magnificent Mile. The rest of the U.S.-based Hilton timeshares are open, so please visit https://www.hiltongrandvacations.com/en/travel-alert for more details.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations – all Holiday Inn Club Vacations resorts are open. Click on https://holidayinnclub.com/safe-travels/resort-updates for details regarding COVID protocols at the individual resorts.

Marriott Vacation Club –Marriott’s Waikoloa Ocean Club is now open thanks to the relaxing of Hawaii COVID restrictions. Marriott Vacation Club Pulse San Francisco and Marriott Vacation Club Pulse New York City both remain closed. All other U.S.-based Marriott timeshare resorts are open. For the latest details please visit https://hub.vacationclub.com/brands/marriott-vacation-club/.

Vistana Signature Experiences – all Westin timeshares and Sheraton timeshare resorts remain open as well as Harborside Resort at Atlantis. For Sheraton information please visit https://hub.vacationclub.com/brands/sheraton-vacation-club/ and for Westin details please go to https://hub.vacationclub.com/brands/westin-vacation-club/.

Westgate Resorts – Westgate has now removed the reopening dates for Westgate Leisure Resort, Westgate Blue Tree Resort and Westgate Towers Resort, effectively closing those resorts for the foreseeable future. Westgate Palace Resort still lists a reopening date of December 21. Westgate New York Grand Central and Westgate Tunica Resort are closed with no announced reopening date. All other Westgate timeshare resorts are open. Please go to https://www.westgateresorts.com/coronavirus-travel-advisory/ for more details.

WorldMark – WorldMark Hawaii timeshare resorts are open with the exceptions of Makai Club and Makai Club Cottage, which are planned to reopen on November 1, and WorldMark Kona reopening on November 30. WorldMark San Francisco is not taking new reservations for stays prior to February 21, 2021. All other resorts in the WorldMark timeshare network are open. Please visit https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/news/covid19_impacted_resorts.shtml for more info.