Anniversary Trip Derailed (Oct) - bring forward or push it back?

[Minkishly]

My husband and I were planning a big, long anniversary trip (this one's really special) this year. We have to travel 10 000 miles to Disney World, so this was going to be The Trip.

Initially, my plan was to have it in early Dec (first 2 weeks) but until just.. now, people were speculating that SWGE was likely to open in Nov. So I moved the whole trip to Mid - Late Oct, thinking that there was a fair chance we would be safe. And at least we'd get to experience Halloween with slightly better weather than Sept. Right?

And now it's opening so much earlier than expected. I'm thinking that we'll probably be cancelling our Oct trip. Thing is, I feel kinda safe in knowing that at least we've got the room of our choice (POP, staying for about 2 weeks). I haven't checked on room vacancies, so I don't know how crazy the situation is yet.

I'm looking at 2 options:

1. Bring it Forward

I'm thinking of going in early August, probably the first 2 weeks. At this point, I'd feel a little bummed knowing that we missed out on free dining (on purpose, I might add) and the ADR window has been opened so we wouldn't benefit from the on-site benefits. On the bright side, it'll probably be the lowest crowds that we'd ever get to experience.

Any earlier than August would be a little rushed for us, considering that we'd have to plan the trip from scratch.


2. Push it back

My second option is to delay the trip to early 2020. I'm thinking maybe Jan or Feb (I don't even know which would be the better option). Or March? I don't even know what the schedule for that time of the year is like. Crowds are definitely going to be much higher than August, but at least the weather will be nice and cold (we hate the heat, love the cold). And maybe after a few months, things will be less crazy than it would be in October. We'd miss Halloween and Christmas though. :<

My biggest worry is that since SWGE might be opening in phases, Phase 2 would suckerpunch us in the nose and open in Dec or something. Then I'd be back where I started.

Although I guess at least I'd have way more time to make plans (can you tell that I like making plans?).

--

A trip to Disney for us is pretty high stakes. Just the airfare alone tags on about $2k more to the overall costs. I'd really appreciate some much needed advice!

(And if you want to cry about your derailed trips, I'm totally up for that as well!)

 

[samantha3590]

I would say go in January or February 2020 since you like cool weather. Just don’t go marathon weekend! Crowds will still be higher than normal but we can expect that from now on pretty much!

 

[Minkishly]

I would say go in January or February 2020 since you like cool weather. Just don’t go marathon weekend! Crowds will still be higher than normal but we can expect that from now on pretty much!

Thanks Samantha! We do like low crowds and cool weather in equal measure! Too bad they're mutually exclusive for us now. (Assuming lower crowds are still a possibility in early Aug.)

Honestly, I feel like high crowds are tolerable as long as it's not Christmas week levels. Hopefully it won't be *that* crowded in early 2020?

 

[wendow]

My husband and I were planning a big, long anniversary trip (this one's really special) this year. We have to travel 10 000 miles to Disney World, so this was going to be The Trip.

Initially, my plan was to have it in early Dec (first 2 weeks) but until just.. now, people were speculating that SWGE was likely to open in Nov. So I moved the whole trip to Mid - Late Oct, thinking that there was a fair chance we would be safe. And at least we'd get to experience Halloween with slightly better weather than Sept. Right?

And now it's opening so much earlier than expected. I'm thinking that we'll probably be cancelling our Oct trip. Thing is, I feel kinda safe in knowing that at least we've got the room of our choice (POP, staying for about 2 weeks). I haven't checked on room vacancies, so I don't know how crazy the situation is yet.

I'm looking at 2 options:

1. Bring it Forward

I'm thinking of going in early August, probably the first 2 weeks. At this point, I'd feel a little bummed knowing that we missed out on free dining (on purpose, I might add) and the ADR window has been opened so we wouldn't benefit from the on-site benefits. On the bright side, it'll probably be the lowest crowds that we'd ever get to experience.

Any earlier than August would be a little rushed for us, considering that we'd have to plan the trip from scratch.


2. Push it back

My second option is to delay the trip to early 2020. I'm thinking maybe Jan or Feb (I don't even know which would be the better option). Or March? I don't even know what the schedule for that time of the year is like. Crowds are definitely going to be much higher than August, but at least the weather will be nice and cold (we hate the heat, love the cold). And maybe after a few months, things will be less crazy than it would be in October. We'd miss Halloween and Christmas though. :<

My biggest worry is that since SWGE might be opening in phases, Phase 2 would suckerpunch us in the nose and open in Dec or something. Then I'd be back where I started.

Although I guess at least I'd have way more time to make plans (can you tell that I like making plans?).

--

A trip to Disney for us is pretty high stakes. Just the airfare alone tags on about $2k more to the overall costs. I'd really appreciate some much needed advice!

(And if you want to cry about your derailed trips, I'm totally up for that as well!)

If you read other threads, it seems many are moving trips up to earlier in Aug. so you may get some higher than usual crowds and the heat. Most of the schools in the US go back by mid-Aug (other than the NE) and it's really not low season yet at WDW since many parents try to get in a last vacation before school starts. Late August has lower crowds if you could go say the two weeks before SWGE opens. Otherwise, I'd vote for Jan/Feb staying away from marathon weekends and President's Day weekend.

 

[bobbie68]

Hi I agree with above posters. I would move it to early 2020.

 

[glamdring269]

Just my opinion of course but I really think folks are over thinking this. Disney is always busy and will probably be even worse going forward. Go when you want to go and make a plan for the worst and hope for the best. The problem with trying to time all of this is that you still don't know when the next phase of SWGE is going to open. If you move your trip to early 2020, and they announce the next phase of SWGE is going to open in December, are you going to move it again?

 

[Kpitts17]

There's a few things to think about. Number one, if this is a big trip for you, do not book in August if that means missing your ADR window. If food and restaurants aren't important than ignore that. When we booked our ADR the exact hour it opened up on 180 days, we barely got a reservation for Crystal Palace and Be Our Guest. We looked later that day and they were all gone. Two, mid/late October is going to be busy no matter what with the Food and Wine festival, and the Halloween parties. If Halloween is your thing then definitely keep it. If Christmas is your thing definitely push it to December for that reason. usually the first week of December is notably less busy as it's right between Thanksgiving and Christmas when everyone else is going. As for January or February, the new art fest at Epcot is supposed to be amazing during that time, just keep in mind is renovation and closure season for Disney and rides like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain might be down for a week or two. There's no best decision and the poster above nailed it, everyone is overthinking it and Disney is always busy.

 

[sponica]

Honestly, mid to late October I would keep. But that's just me.

 

[yulilin3]

we have created a sticky for everyone to discuss how SWGE opening is affecting your reservation changes/cancellations, We would like for everyone to chat in this thread to keep the flow of the first page more concise and not have multiple threads open with people discussing change/cancellation of plans
thank you
https://www.disboards.com/threads/is-swge-impacting-your-trip-discuss-your-plans-here.3738638/