To Go or Not To Go

[SCDisneyfanatic]

For me, one of the concerns would be, "What happens if I/we need medical care while there?" While the risk is low, I'd like to know that if I got into a car accident, had a heart attack, a burst appendix, fell and hit my head, or any other mishap that I'd be able to receive hospital care in a timely manner. And with Fla. hospitals overflowing, I wouldn't feel comfortable.

Have lots of family and friends throughout Florida...rest assured that they accept all emergency medical situations. The only thing that may potentially be delayed are surgeries of choice.

 

[kendo43]

My family of 4 has a trip booked for November 26th - December 4th and me and my wife are thinking hard about cancelling. We live roughly 11 hours away and we usually try to take a Disney trip every other year or so. We last went in September of 2019, it was our kids first trips and everything went great. My kids are 7 and 5 so they cannot be vaccinated yet, me and my wife are fully vaccinated FYI. But even aside from covid we are having a hard time justifying going right now, between so much still being closed, really no extra perks for staying on site and the price. Our trip is fully paid for and spending money already set aside. We are booked at POP and between the resort/tickets/spending money it’s almost 7k. I just can’t get my ahead around spending that much for what seems like such a limited experience. Then add covid and it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Are we crazy for thinking of cancelling since our trip is still almost 4 months away?

 

[Neener16]

I don’t think it’s crazy, but there is just no way to predict what Disney will be like by then. My daughter went 2 weeks before we did, and it was different in just 2 weeks.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We are booked for November 2022 and are doing other trips in the meantime like we have always done. I can’t spend that kind of money on a half butt experience. We also don’t go every year so we want more things open and more experiences available. I also don’t want to deal with the stress of hoping that things will open before we go and then being disappointed that they don’t open or cancelling last minute. I figure the end of 2022 buys me some time.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I'm sure there are hundreds of families having the same conversation. Some will say you're crazy if you cancel. Some will say you're crazy if you go! You have to do what's comfortable for YOU. Some of the experience might be less than normal, and there are unknowns. You just have to determine how comfortable you are with the possibility of busy crowds, the potential for masks, and any other unknowns that might pop until then. Our family is scheduled for roughly the same time frame, and at this point we are still planning to go - but we'll monitor how safe we feel air travel, and time in Florida will be in December.

 

[kendo43]

We are booked for November 2022 and are doing other trips in the meantime like we have always done. I can’t spend that kind of money on a half butt experience. We also don’t go every year so we want more things open and more experiences available. I also don’t want to deal with the stress of hoping that things will open before we go and then being disappointed that they don’t open or cancelling last minute. I figure the end of 2022 buys me some time.

Yea it’s just tough to say, I know it’ll be different and I would assume cases would be way down in 4 months. But again take covid out of it and it still seems like a watered down experience for more money than we have ever spent.

 

[kendo43]

I'm sure there are hundreds of families having the same conversation. Some will say you're crazy if you cancel. Some will say you're crazy if you go! You have to do what's comfortable for YOU. Some of the experience might be less than normal, and there are unknowns. You just have to determine how comfortable you are with the possibility of busy crowds, the potential for masks, and any other unknowns that might pop until then. Our family is scheduled for roughly the same time frame, and at this point we are still planning to go - but we'll monitor how safe we feel air travel, and time in Florida will be in December.

Yea it’s our favorite trip we take because we all love Disney, just not sure we love it so much as to drop that much money on an experience that may not live up to expectations.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Yea it’s just tough to say, I know it’ll be different and I would assume cases would be way down in 4 months. But again take covid out of it and it still seems like a watered down experience for more money than we have ever spent.

Covid doesn’t even come into play for me since I’ve been traveling through this all. For me it’s the watered down experience for the price. I just can’t do it.

 

[CharissaOKC]

We are booked for the exact same dates! As of right now we are still planning and moving forward. We have decided to drive instead of flying which gives us a bit more flexibility. We also are not telling our oldest (7) about the trip in case we cancel. Just this week I told my husband I may book an alternative vacation just in case we decide to cancel but I am holding out hope we will go. Everyone’s situation is different!

 

[kendo43]

We are booked for the exact same dates! As of right now we are still planning and moving forward. We have decided to drive instead of flying which gives us a bit more flexibility. We also are not telling our oldest (7) about the trip in case we cancel. Just this week I told my husband I may book an alternative vacation just in case we decide to cancel but I am holding out hope we will go. Everyone’s situation is different!

Yea we booked about 4 months ago and made the mistake of telling our boys. We haven’t told them we don’t know if we are going or not. It seems silly to even think of cancelling this far out, I know we will wait awhile longer to see how things go before we decide one way or another though.

 

[kendo43]

Covid doesn’t even come into play for me since I’ve been traveling through this all. For me it’s the watered down experience for the price. I just can’t do it.

Yea I know and expect prices to go up over time as most things do, it just seems like as a family who can usually go every two years or so we don’t have to rush to go this year. Wait and see if it gets any better.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

We are DVC and AP holders, so it's a bit of a different conversation for us. We are also all fully vaxxed adults in my family. If I had young kids, and if I were paying oop for a trip, I don't think that I would be going this year at all. There's just too many unknowns. So much is still closed, and the crowds are so crazy right now.

 

[kendo43]

We are DVC and AP holders, so it's a bit of a different conversation for us. We are also all fully vaxxed adults in my family. If I had young kids, and if I were paying oop for a trip, I don't think that I would be going this year at all. There's just too many unknowns. So much is still closed, and the crowds are so crazy right now.

We have tried to just keep an eye on how things are and it seems like most are saying with so many things closed that it’s pushing people to more rides and making things seem way too crowded. With the kids not vaccinated and what seems like such a limited experience we are both leaning toward not going. Again it’s still 4 months away but it just doesn’t seem like it’s going to get much better with the 50th coming up and all that comes with the holidays.

 

[Marionnette]

My family of 4 has a trip booked for November 26th - December 4th and me and my wife are thinking hard about cancelling. We live roughly 11 hours away and we usually try to take a Disney trip every other year or so. We last went in September of 2019, it was our kids first trips and everything went great. My kids are 7 and 5 so they cannot be vaccinated yet, me and my wife are fully vaccinated FYI. But even aside from covid we are having a hard time justifying going right now, between so much still being closed, really no extra perks for staying on site and the price. Our trip is fully paid for and spending money already set aside. We are booked at POP and between the resort/tickets/spending money it’s almost 7k. I just can’t get my ahead around spending that much for what seems like such a limited experience. Then add covid and it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Are we crazy for thinking of cancelling since our trip is still almost 4 months away?

Our trip overlaps yours. We're only going because we have a meeting scheduled at Disney. For us, it's not the price tag (DVC, convention tickets). So we're going unless things go further downhill. In which case, one or two adults and the baby will stay home.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

We are DVC and AP holders, so it's a bit of a different conversation for us. We are also all fully vaxxed adults in my family. If I had young kids, and if I were paying oop for a trip, I don't think that I would be going this year at all. There's just too many unknowns. So much is still closed, and the crowds are so crazy right now.

We're DVC too. The last time we went was over NYE 2019 into early 2020. We do have a short trip planed beginning of October just to use points and we rented out the rest. I was feeling pretty good about going when Disney started opening things up but it now looks like there has been a step backwards. We're all vaccinated (me, husband and daughter 16) but there is still worry/concern. I agree with you, if I had young kids not vaccinated and paying out of pocket, I wouldn't go. Certainly paying a lot more for less at Disney.

 

[gharter]

I understand your concerns and they certainly make sense.
We were there in April, and while the trip was different, it was still very enjoyable.
We have another trip planned for October and have similar concerns. Luckily, we still have plenty of time to decide and by then many things will have changed.
By the time your trip comes around, I would expect most everything, if not everything will be open again. So far, by October 1, it looks like there is very little that will not have opened yet, and I'm sure there are still more announcements to come.
However, none of that makes up for the concern of your younger kids not being vaccinated yet, and most likely will not be by the time of your trip.

 

[kendo43]

I understand your concerns and they certainly make sense.
We were there in April, and while the trip was different, it was still very enjoyable.
We have another trip planned for October and have similar concerns. Luckily, we still have plenty of time to decide and by then many things will have changed.
By the time your trip comes around, I would expect most everything, if not everything will be open again. So far, by October 1, it looks like there is very little that will not have opened yet, and I'm sure there are still more announcements to come.
However, none of that makes up for the concern of your younger kids not being vaccinated yet, and most likely will not be by the time of your trip.

Yea that’s one of our biggest concerns, because if we go and by some chance either of them do get sick I would feel like the worst parent ever. I know they can just as easily get sick at the grocery store, but we can always reschedule a Disney trip. We took a beach trip in April and made sure we took all the precautions we could control and everything was great, but that’s nothing compared to the crowds at Disney during the holidays. Me and my wife have been several times the first week of December so the Christmas stuff isn’t something new to us but would be to the kids. But again still plenty of time before we have to make the decision.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

My family of 4 has a trip booked for November 26th - December 4th and me and my wife are thinking hard about cancelling. We live roughly 11 hours away and we usually try to take a Disney trip every other year or so. We last went in September of 2019, it was our kids first trips and everything went great. My kids are 7 and 5 so they cannot be vaccinated yet, me and my wife are fully vaccinated FYI. But even aside from covid we are having a hard time justifying going right now, between so much still being closed, really no extra perks for staying on site and the price. Our trip is fully paid for and spending money already set aside. We are booked at POP and between the resort/tickets/spending money it’s almost 7k. I just can’t get my ahead around spending that much for what seems like such a limited experience. Then add covid and it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Are we crazy for thinking of cancelling since our trip is still almost 4 months away?

The short answer is cancel. I'm a firm believer that if you head to a vacation with a negative mind set then there is a substantial likelihood you are not going to enjoy yourself. That isn't a knock on you personally. Your attitude (justified or not) makes a huge difference on how you value the money you are spending on vacation. Save the money for a different trip or find a smaller (less expensive?) trip that fits what you want and desire out of rest and relaxation. A lot of people force themselves to do certain things. By doing so, you are inviting disaster.

 

[DavidNYC]

I would NEVER take an unvaccinated child on a trip right now. News is starting to break about more variants on the horizon worse than Delta. This is not a grocery store trip where you're there for 30 minutes and have more control over who you're interacting with. Every scientist now is saying this is going to get worse before it gets better. If you need to make a decision now - seems an obvious one. If you have time - wait until you need to make the decision.

 

[Turksmom]

Last spring, it looked like it would be summer until the last eligible adults in PA would be vaccinated and fall until anyone under 16 would be. It changed very suddenly, and even my teens were fully vaxxed by the middle of June. The same could happen with younger age groups
Covid cases have gone through several spike/drop cycles, so it's hard to guess where those numbers will be in November.

I'm hopeful that Disney will continue to bring back and add new experiences with the anniversary celebration approaching. If you can wait to make a decision, I would.