August 2020 Reservations-still going?

[sixcats]

We finally gave up and moved our end of August trip(rescheduled from a May) today. We moved it to January. I was kind of looking forward to a quieter, less busy trip. I was not looking forward to the heat. My daughter works in a special education school and they have not decided if they are going back to in person teaching. There is no way she would put the children at risk. We would not be back in time for her to do the full 14 day quarantine.

 

[Cliz155]

We are set to leave this Saturday, but we still haven't decided what to do. I flip-flop every few days. Right now I'm leaning toward going, but I just found out that the school I work at may require a two week quarantine for a workshop I'm attending after our trip. If so, that means we aren't going. I just want to know what we're doing. I've been so stressed this last month wondering whether or not we'll go. I haven't even started packing yet. I really need some Disney in my life right now, especially after all the stress of teaching remote at the end of last school year, and now the upcoming first quarter remote as well.

 

[Spazz2k]

We are going for a weekend trip August 14th, but haven't decided where to stay yet. As Florida residents I usually make last minute reservations at one of the hotels. We do our park time in small doses when it is hot and crowded...I think the parks will be busier than they are now because gold AP start on the 7th. With that said, if it is uncomfortable, it will turn into pool and relaxation time. The strangest part for us is the park reservation thing...we are so used to just deciding on the fly what we feel like doing....but now, now so much. Made park reservations for studios and AK with hopes of short ride times for those normally long wait rides.

As far as waiting if it were my 1st time to Disney...I look at it differently than probably most. Under normal circumstances if you told me I can go to the parks with little wait times but no fireworks or you can go with large crowds and fireworks....I would take low crowds and little wait time every single time. I'm sorry but Disney can be exhausting when it is packed, especially with little ones. Just my 2 cents.

 

[oceanmarina]

Hi all,

We are currently scheduled for last week of August, because I work in NY, the Florida quarantine will not allow me to go to work for two weeks - no way I can miss work so I have to cancel.

I called Disney this morning - they said that my discount would only be good for 2020 (I had originally booked a bouncback during our stay in 8/2019.) I have no vacation time for the rest of this year so I can't move it to 2020.

Has anyone had any luck getting their discount moved to summer of 2021?

Part of the problem might be I had a bounceback for a 1 bedroom villa - and as i'm not a DVC member the villas are not out yet for summer 2021.

Thanks for any help with this, Marina So sad to be cancelling our trip!!

 

[Jen81NYC]

As far as waiting if it were my 1st time to Disney...I look at it differently than probably most. Under normal circumstances if you told me I can go to the parks with little wait times but no fireworks or you can go with large crowds and fireworks....I would take low crowds and little wait time every single time. I'm sorry but Disney can be exhausting when it is packed, especially with little ones. Just my 2 cents.

As someone who postponed the kids’ first trip to Disney, this is probably true *if* there was no pandemic. So for me at least, it isn’t “go to the parks with less bells and whistles but low waits” vs “crowded full experience” but rather “do I want society, especially schools, back to normal as soon as possible” vs “Do I want to travel to a high COVID area when the US is clearly struggling more than almost all countries?” If COVID wasn’t a factor, I’d of course love the low waits!

 

[solstice621]

We do our park time in small doses when it is hot and crowded...I think the parks will be busier than they are now because gold AP start on the 7th. With that said, if it is uncomfortable, it will turn into pool and relaxation time.

 

[solstice621]

Sorry I hit send before I asked the question lol....what do you mean by the Gold AP on the 7th?

 

[Spazz2k]

Sorry I hit send before I asked the question lol....what do you mean by the Gold AP on the 7th?

Woops I meant silver passes...block out ends on the 7th, meaning a whole bunch of AP holders will be able to use their passes at that point. Explains why the 8th is showing all parks sold out for that day for AP ticket holders.

 

[Spazz2k]

As someone who postponed the kids’ first trip to Disney, this is probably true *if* there was no pandemic. So for me at least, it isn’t “go to the parks with less bells and whistles but low waits” vs “crowded full experience” but rather “do I want society, especially schools, back to normal as soon as possible” vs “Do I want to travel to a high COVID area when the US is clearly struggling more than almost all countries?” If COVID wasn’t a factor, I’d of course love the low waits!

Correct, in an ideal non covid situation, same holds true for me. Just given a choice of low crowds vs no fireworks, easy for me. I wouldn't postpone because lack of fireworks...but postponing for covid, I understand...

 

[loveDisneyinTN]

I had 3 trips cancelled on me due to the shut down. Instead of taking my family (3 kids), I am instead doing a trip with my sister! We are going July 29-2nd and I can't wait!

I am an AP holder and not having been able to go since Feb has been awful. I am very much looking forward to going without the stress of FP+ and long lines. I know the heat and masks won't be ideal, but I am more than happy to give it a shot!

 

[MischaOz]

My daughter and I are going to be in Orlando August 6-10. I have mixed feelings about this trip because...we’re going to Seaworld, not Disney! . My daughter is 8 and she has been to WDW 9 times and DL twice, and she is wants to do something different this trip. She loves animals and swimming so we are also going to Discovery Cove. It is breaking my heart that we will be so close to WDW and not going to the parks, but I just make a resort ADR or go to DS to get a little Disney fix. But, I am still really looking forward to this trip. We have done a mother/daughter Orlando trip the past few years and it is a special time for us. She had a really hard time being out of school and with the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming school year I think it will be good for us to get away before back to school.

 

[cjlong88]

We were wavering back and forth for what feels like an eternity and have finally decided to go forth with the trip. Will be there from 7/30 - 8/2 for a long weekend (only 8 days!!!). We have a strategy. Of course, things will happen on this trip and each situation will be different, but we want to be able to have a plan in how we respond.

Social distancing will be way more important to us than getting to any attraction first or jockeying for a good position in any queue. We are happy to allow others who might not hold this idea to simply move ahead of us. We will take things slow and just enjoy being at WDW -- we don't have to do or see it all on this trip. That idea in itself takes a huge amount of stress off of us. We are going to wash our hands quite frequently (...with soap...for at least 30 seconds). While hand sanitizer is fine, we know it's not as effective as washing our hands. Even so, we will still have lots of hand sanitizer on us and plan to use it when necessary. We are going to just focus on doing everything we can to minimize the risks while trying to enjoy ourselves.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Uhh...not to spike anyone's FOMO, but I got an e-mail from Touring Plans this AM. All crowd levels, all parks are 1 out of 10. I think we all knew that seeing the videos coming out of the parks, but still - I doubt we'll ever see that again outside of a hurricane week.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Uhh...not to spike anyone's FOMO, but I got an e-mail from Touring Plans this AM. All crowd levels, all parks are 1 out of 10. I think we all knew that seeing the videos coming out of the parks, but still - I doubt we'll ever see that again outside of a hurricane week.

Oy. This certainly makes things so appealing. Yesterday I was about 80% certain we were going on our early August trip. Today I’m back down to about 25% chance we go. I know we would take every precaution and quarantine on both ends... but the guilt over going is still very real! And the FOMO by not going (only because we are desperate for a sanity break) is also real.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Oy. This certainly makes things so appealing. Yesterday I was about 80% certain we were going on our early August trip. Today I’m back down to about 25% chance we go. I know we would take every precaution and quarantine on both ends... but the guilt over going is still very real! And the FOMO by not going (only because we are desperate for a sanity break) is also real.

You’re usually pretty confident/sure about things around here - I’m sorry you’re having troubles deciding what to do. It’s tough.

 

[DCLMP]

My daughter and I are going to be in Orlando August 6-10. I have mixed feelings about this trip because...we’re going to Seaworld, not Disney! . My daughter is 8 and she has been to WDW 9 times and DL twice, and she is wants to do something different this trip. She loves animals and swimming so we are also going to Discovery Cove. It is breaking my heart that we will be so close to WDW and not going to the parks, but I just make a resort ADR or go to DS to get a little Disney fix. But, I am still really looking forward to this trip. We have done a mother/daughter Orlando trip the past few years and it is a special time for us. She had a really hard time being out of school and with the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming school year I think it will be good for us to get away before back to school.

If it makes you feel any better we went to Sea World on our last trip and my kids loved it. My kids are teens though and they loved the coasters...me not so much. If your 8 year old is into coasters pack some Dramamine.

 

[MischaOz]

If it makes you feel any better we went to Sea World on our last trip and my kids loved it. My kids are teens though and they loved the coasters...me not so much. If your 8 year old is into coasters pack some Dramamine.

The Dramamine will be for me, not my daughter, lol. She is a coaster fiend and will ride over, and over, and over... She’s been on some big ones, including Wild Eagle at Dollywood. It was a happy day for me when she turned 7 and I could send her on RnR by herself!

 

[puffkin]

Social distancing will be way more important to us than getting to any attraction first or jockeying for a good position in any queue. We are happy to allow others who might not hold this idea to simply move ahead of us. We will take things slow and just enjoy being at WDW -- we don't have to do or see it all on this trip. That idea in itself takes a huge amount of stress off of us. We are going to wash our hands quite frequently (...with soap...for at least 30 seconds). While hand sanitizer is fine, we know it's not as effective as washing our hands. We will have hand sanitizer on us and plan to use it when necessary. We are going to just focus on doing everything we can to minimize the risks while trying to enjoy ourselves.

We leave next week, and we have continued to talk to and prep our kids for this. We will not force ourselves into situations that do not feel safe or rules are being neglected. We will turn around and go somewhere else. I already warned them that Disney Springs might be a no go (they want to go to the NBA store and they like T-Rex). I have not been encouraged by the reports coming out of there, but we will be there on a weeknight and the problems seem to be on the weekends, so I am not ruling it out completely. I just want them prepped mentally that we may show up and not stay if things aren't safe.

My DH watches one of the vloggers who has been since opening. He and his other v-logger friends are consistently walking on rides and they are nowhere near the app wait times. That makes it easier to let the kids know its ok to move somewhere else if there is an unsafe condition and to come back later. Lines shouldn't be an issue.

 

[koquinn]

It was a few days early, but just PIF for our 8/7 trip. Half of it was covered by my Disney rewards dollars since our cruise was canceled in March! That made it feel better for sure. Our magic bands are en route. I am definitely full on excited now. Hopefully DH comes on board soon, but he's always an anxious traveler and covid certainly hasn't made that better. I think we are well prepared for what is to come, and like others have said, are willing to redirect our plans if things don't seem as safe as we'd like.

 

[Epcot242]

I already warned them that Disney Springs might be a no go (they want to go to the NBA store and they like T-Rex). I have not been encouraged by the reports coming out of there, but we will be there on a weeknight and the problems seem to be on the weekends, so I am not ruling it out completely. I just want them prepped mentally that we may show up and not stay if things aren't safe.

We're concerned about this too. We have one tentative DS night on our itinerary. We're going to see how we feel about it at the time and decide from there, though I think we may skip. We also had a dinner reservation at the Boathouse (because they offer outdoor dining) but after reading so many negative reports about DS at night, I cancelled that and we're going to just do a lunch at DS instead. it stinks because the bars are so fun but we're hoping that midday will be less hectic and easier to just grab a table at Jock Lindsey's.