I give up - going to pack it in for now

We had 2 trips planned and bailed on both. We were supposed to be there this month for AAU Volleyball and a grad present for my son. We also were planning at 25th anniversary trip, just my wife and I, for August 2021 as we were at WDW in Aug 1996 for our honeymoon. Both are done for. Not going for various reasons, but one of the main reasons is I have been over a dozen times and everything about going right now would make it the absolute worst trip ever when comparing to others, so why waste the money. Disney is going to go overboard with caution, which is their choice, but that also means I have a choice of not going, which I made. When I read that WDW would have marauding groups of "social distancing policy" wandering around, that was the last straw. AAU volleyball got cancelled, so that put the nail into that coffin for us and I am bailing on WDW for the foreseeable future too, they are crazy with what they are doing right now. My vent is over
 
This was our first year getting AP's in a long time. It has not been a good year. First, I had a stroke two weeks before our September trip, spring break got cancelled and now our summer got cancelled. The only positive here is that we honestly live close enough that we can day trip it. It's a long day (1.5 hours each way) but we have done it.

We are sitting on reservations for the first week of October. If they don't get rid of the mask requirement, then we will be cancelling. There is absolutely no way the 4 year old autistic boy is going to cooperate with the mask.

Legoland isn't making their guests wear masks. So I don't know. I just want to know when my AP's are good till now and when the mini golf course will open.
 
I'm with you. Paying the same amount for less benefits. Nah. And to think they expect families to be able to take vacations on a whim based on a probably buggy reservation system. SUPER PASS.
It is like 95 here in Minnesota today. The humidity is high. We sat on our deck for 5 min. And had to go in. There is no way I would be able to wear a mask for any length of time in this kind of heat. I’m sure people who live in Florida are more use to this kind of heat, but I can not breath with the mask on. Also to much taken away. So sad.
 
It was with a very heavy heart that I cancelled a sisters trip for the week after Thanksgiving. We had a split stay with Pop Century and POFQ and were planning for 8 days and WDW and 2 visiting Universal. We are all in our 60’s and two of us are immunocompromised and one has asthma. It is a bit risky, to be sure. Two of us are from Canada and who knows if we will to travel internationally or not. Plus, we may not be able to get health insurance that would cover us if we got covid. We will try for next year.

As for the limited experience, we don’t do meet and greets, character dining or parades. I would miss the night time entertainment. No ADR’s are not much of a problem as we only do 2 - 4 in a trip.

If we lived closer and did not have to worry about borders and air travel, we would probably go and just have lower expectations. Pixie dust to everyone who does go!
pixiedust:
 


I agree.. we are 99.9% sure we are cancelling too... supposed to arrive on 7/24.. ugh.. just too much money for at least 50% experience..
 
What people fail to realize, lower crowds do not correlate to shorter lines or shorter wait times. Disney will be staffing accordingly and most rides are going to be running at reduced capacities. They do this all the time, and I would not anticipate anything less during this phase of their opening either. Less people riding a ride at 40% capacity is not better than a 9 or 10 park day with the ride running at 100% capacity.
This. I would be tempted to go anyway, except THIS. Less people does not always equal shorter waits. And I think this is one of those times.
 
We had 2 trips planned and bailed on both. We were supposed to be there this month for AAU Volleyball and a grad present for my son. We also were planning at 25th anniversary trip, just my wife and I, for August 2021 as we were at WDW in Aug 1996 for our honeymoon. Both are done for. Not going for various reasons, but one of the main reasons is I have been over a dozen times and everything about going right now would make it the absolute worst trip ever when comparing to others, so why waste the money. Disney is going to go overboard with caution, which is their choice, but that also means I have a choice of not going, which I made. When I read that WDW would have marauding groups of "social distancing policy" wandering around, that was the last straw. AAU volleyball got cancelled, so that put the nail into that coffin for us and I am bailing on WDW for the foreseeable future too, they are crazy with what they are doing right now. My vent is over

That was one big thing that stuck out to us as well. It seems like they're not even really trying to find ways to be open, have as much as they can open/doable in a safe way. I feel like they're basically using safetu as an excuse to not have things opened etc. Park hrs. and the lack of opening water parks are both huge things that jump out as not even trying. They really haven't announced much else, but there's no reason that they couldn't have shows, have basically all attractions going, have a hands off character pics and dining etc. We'll see what finally comes out but it kinda seems like they're mad they're even opening so they aren't trying to find ways to make it as enjoyable as can be safely. I'm hoping it starts turning around.
 


This has been a really good thread with mostly measured and reasonable reactions. I really feel for everyone who had trips planned this year, waited it out for news during the lockdowns, and are now disappointed to decide that a trip this year isnt worth it to them. I consider myself very lucky that I did not have a trip planned-- even before Covid we had been eyeing 2021 as our next WDW trip, and now who knows even then what it will look like. As a meticulous trip planner myself, I really sympathize with those who spent alot of time and effort now wasted.

Although most of the reactions here seem to make a lot of sense, and while I certainly understand frustration and a need to vent, I'd encourage people not to allow Disney's reopening decisions and policies to taint their view about future trips post-Covid-restrictions (whenever that is). Call me an apologist if you like.

Re: masks-- I completely understand if the mask requirement is a deal-breaker for folks, it would be for me too. From Disney perspective, they NEED to impose this restriction based on what we know about the virus. Summer Florida heat poses immense challenges as some have pointed out-- it's my hope that they have more medical staff on-hand and make free-water extremely easy to access.

Re: Disney mgmt and their decisions/motives-- these decisions are not geared towards short or even midterm profits, in the traditional sense. They are not using this as an "excuse" to keep things closed-- the Disney profit machine really wants full parks, full hotels, and a system humming at full speed so that they can GROW their opportunity for profit. That is not possible right now. They are in a NO WIN situation here, as countless businesses are right now. From a business perspective, I am 99.99% sure that their decisions are motivated towards avoiding a major outbreak of Covid cases being linked to Disney world. If such a thing were to happen, they honestly would be in real, real, real trouble longterm. They, unfortunately, knew that they would NEED to disappoint and potentially upset many customers. Please keep this in mind.

As an observer who has not experienced the moving goalposts (changing promos/terms, cancelled plans, etc), I think they could have done better and probably should not have extended offers after the closing that they were not confident they could honor. That has, understandably, created some ill will here. As an individual, feel free to vent, as you should, but take it as an opportunity to channel your hard-earned money into something else you value, or to save for the future.

Again, if it were me, I'd be extremely frustrated and disappointed also. Let's hope we get back close to normal at some point.
 
I'm still planning on going in October. My dealbreakers are, Fort Wilderness quiet pool closed, 'Ohana closed, Cape May Cafe closed, and Trails End closed. Of course they have cancelled the ADRs I had for those places. I'll see what there is to see 60 days out. If I can't get new reservations for my stay I'll cancel. The main reason for us going then, well two actually, is to see how the folks have decorated their sites for Halloween, and to participate in the big DISmeet planned for that time. If Fort Wilderness is empty of decorations, we'll cancel.
Don't really care about the parks as they are really of no interest to us at this stage and we weren't going anyway.
 
I'm honestly curious as to what any of you would prefer Disney had done? If anything non-business-as-usual is a deal breaker for you, would you prefer that they just stay completely closed until Covid-19 is completely eradicated? Several posts here trash talking Disney and Chapek like they're doing this on purpose to hurt you or anger their customers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Disney, along with all the other amusement park companies, are in a no-win situation right now. They have to open up for business so they can get their employees back to work and attempt to make some profit again. But the requirements made by the United States and the state of Florida to combat the virus gives them restrictions that they have to adhere to. I think Disney was smart to wait an extra month after Universal/Sea World/etc to open so they can see what works and doesn't in those cases and adjust accordingly.
 
I'm honestly curious as to what any of you would prefer Disney had done? If anything non-business-as-usual is a deal breaker for you, would you prefer that they just stay completely closed until Covid-19 is completely eradicated? Several posts here trash talking Disney and Chapek like they're doing this on purpose to hurt you or anger their customers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Disney, along with all the other amusement park companies, are in a no-win situation right now. They have to open up for business so they can get their employees back to work and attempt to make some profit again. But the requirements made by the United States and the state of Florida to combat the virus gives them restrictions that they have to adhere to. I think Disney was smart to wait an extra month after Universal/Sea World/etc to open so they can see what works and doesn't in those cases and adjust accordingly.
Since you asked, I don't know about anyone else but I don't expect them to do anything one way or another. In fact, I really don't care. I'm just sitting back and watching how things unroll. There really aren't any "requirements" from the feds or the state, they are suggestions. I live in a part of Florida that hasn't ever had mandatory mask requirements. They have requested social distancing of 6' which most people have kind of adhered to. Stores have marked their isles to one way, which most people have not adhered to. Not from defiance I don't think, just because they don't pay attention. My county hasn't had huge numbers of COVID cases. I'm only one over from Disney property. I figure that this is a discussion board and folks will discuss based on personal opinions and how they view life and how it should treat them. I usually just sit back and watch the show but I have skin in this game and I happen to be bored at the moment.
 
The simple fact that WDW insisted on cutting our DPs was a bit heartless in my opinion as it did not effect anything outside of their revenue.

I disagree, as I think it also plays into restaurant capacity quite a lot. However, I am still very bummed about it, because it was a really nice savings for us when we snagged the deal and I hate that we had to lose it.

Plus, there have been some food price increases lately, so now our food will cost even more than I had figured it out to be back when I was trying to get the free dining deal. So, if we do opt to go this year, that will be the one thing I will definitely still feel disappointed about. Free food was one of the things I was loving about this trip as we had been planning it.
 
I have been trying to avoid posting and visiting here becuase I KNOW it will anly add to my frustration of knowing -that at least my family- wont be going anytime soon to WDW or DL, for at leats 2 years.
 
We are giving in and cancelling our October trip. It was supposed to take place in May, and then we moved it to October. Now, there is just too much unknown. How many people will get in and will we be able to get into the park we want? No character meals. How long will the parks be open? Transportation will work how? I just cancelled the part I had booked and sis will have to cancel what she had booked.

The plan now is to rent a cabin in Tennessee for 5-7 days. Which sounds much better than a disorganized Disney trip.
 
Oh and to wear a mask all day in Orlando July heat. That alone should be a pass.
I know there are people still itching to go and will enjoy the cheapened experience, but I think I am done until this looks more like the old normal, no matter how long that takes.


No water parks
No EMH
No Park Hopping
Reduced Hours
No Parades
No Fireworks
No shows
No Fast Pass+ (Well this one might actually be a good thing)
Reduced transportation

It's pretty hard to defend. They've completely botched this reopening. We still plan to go in August, but I guess that all depends on which parks we're "allowed" to reserve at this point.
 
It's pretty hard to defend. They've completely botched this reopening. We still plan to go in August, but I guess that all depends on which parks we're "allowed" to reserve at this point.

I think it is easy to defend. This is all new. No date is set where we all know everything will be fine and dandy, and we can go back to "normal". If you give people info too quickly and it changes, people will get mad. If you don't give out info people will get mad. There is no way to know how all of this change is going to work until the parks actually open. And things will probably still need to be changed at that point.

If they tell people everything is cancelled, and then open stuff back up, people will be happy. If they leave everything open and then have to close or cancel things, people will be furious.

There is no way to really win in this situation.
 
Still love Disney parks and resorts but we have already scrapped plans for summer ‘21. I’m sure things will be mostly back to normal by then but I don’t even want to start planning until there is a clearer picture.
 
Still love Disney parks and resorts but we have already scrapped plans for summer ‘21. I’m sure things will be mostly back to normal by then but I don’t even want to start planning until there is a clearer picture.

I am also and still hopeull for a 2021 vacation, but will all depende on how things are by them+n
 
Still love Disney parks and resorts but we have already scrapped plans for summer ‘21. I’m sure things will be mostly back to normal by then but I don’t even want to start planning until there is a clearer picture.
I am also and still hopeull for a 2021 vacation, but will all depende on how things are by them+n

We're hoping for 2021 too. I'm not booking anything until I see how things play out over the next 6 months or so.
 
I'm going for Oct 1, 2021. Unless Disney shuts down their 50 celebration I will be there.
 

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