Can you even really plan for an October 2021 trip?

[tzeitel]

Heck, we are going in May and I have nothing to do other than wait until I can make our ADRs. Room is booked, tickets bought (from last May cancellation), flights booked, and parks booked (not that it took any real thought since crowd calendars are not a thing anymore).
Made a list of what ADRs I would like to make and a list for our Instacart order.

So many things could/will change by May (even more by the time you all go!) that it is hard to plan much.

 

[gharter]

Heck, we are going in May and I have nothing to do other than wait until I can make our ADRs. Room is booked, tickets bought (from last May cancellation), flights booked, and parks booked (not that it took any real thought since crowd calendars are not a thing anymore).
Made a list of what ADRs I would like to make and a list for our Instacart order.

So many things could/will change by May (even more by the time you all go!) that it is hard to plan much.

We are in the same situation for our April trip.
I expect a lot of changes between now and our trip (maybe just hoping).

 

[Rusty2rules]

Attach your reservation number to My Disney Experience and you will be able to make park reservations.

Wrong answer. No tickets = no ability to make park reservations.

 

[cpep42]

I'm going to Old Key West Resort for 9 weeks starting October 17th. I don't have an annual pass anymore so i'm just sitting on pins and needles wondering what's going to happen as far as replacing Annual Passes.

 

[FRANKTSJR]

I'm going to Old Key West Resort for 9 weeks starting October 17th. I don't have an annual pass anymore so i'm just sitting on pins and needles wondering what's going to happen as far as replacing Annual Passes.

9 weeks? Wow, wish I was you!

 

[zdad59]

I'd definitely recommend planning for your trip as soon as you can.

I'm headed down mid-September and I got a deluxe studio at the Beach Clubs Villas for $4200 with park tickets for my dates. It's a week after I booked and that same package is now $6175!

So if anything, I'd recommend monitoring the resort prices (especially if staying on property) and narrowing it down to a few places to focus on....

We’re going to be there in September as well. I, like others on the board, am an OCD planner. I even do laminated itineraries. I think I attached one from our last trip below. This time it should be different (easier??) with no fast passes to plan. But getting park reservations and dining plans set as soon as possible. Still going to be fun. This is also our first time going during Food and Wine Festival, so that’s something new too.

https://www.disboards.com/attachments/disney-itinerary-pdf.284190/

 

[Blondie58]

I'm am a huge planner when it comes to DW. I'm one of those crazy people who makes a binder each trip (every 4 years) with hotel info, restaurant info, menus, FP times, etc. With all of the changes due to Covid though, I'm not sure how to even start to plan. Is there anything I can do other than make reservations for each park?

We too are going to WDW this fall. We have booked our rooms and air flights. We have discussed of old favorites for dining and new places we wish to try. We have picked park days but fingers crossed that may be a mute point by fall. If tours are reinstated, we have picked two we would like to do. We left an open day for the spa. We have rank ordered fast pass selections for each day and hope this convenience returns. Our planning spreadsheet looks like it always has with some questions left to complete as things change. Just "old" planning ways and discussions have given us some much needed planning fun. Have fun.

 

[Sherlee]

Quoting OP: Is there anything I can do other than make reservations for each park? Answer: Work on your Halloween costumes (with the slight hope of a return of MNSSHP).
I have re-booked our hotel, flights, and tickets from our cancelled October 2020 trip, and have added our park reservations. I had also started working on our Dory and Nemo costumes before COVID hit. I was excited to find matching masks on Etsy last week. I am trying to remain optimistic through these trying times.

 

[bookgirl2632]

I have room reservations for Pop and Yacht Club, doing our first split stay. It is mid-October,just after Columbus Day. I have still been hesitant to buy our tickets though. If I buy them, will it be easy to switch them to different dates in case our plans change? I’m pretty sure we won’t postpone, but I’m having trouble pulling the trigger on tickets.

 

[jeffmw]

I'm also going in October. Made resort reservations and got tickets. Made park reservations.

But other than that, there's nothing to do. It's depressing because the best thing about these vacations is the build-up and having something to look forward to for months. Meanwhile, we're still on the fence as to whether we're even going to go. With so little information about the roadmap back to 'normal' it's impossible to know what things will be like in October and if it'll be worth it. At some point, probably by summer, we're going to need to make the call one way or the other based on what we think is going to be back by then (restaurants, shows, parades, fireworks, FP+, etc.)

I found cheap plane tickets last week and didn't even book them because they were on Frontier -- and despite being 'refundable' Frontier is so awful and sketchy that I really have no interest in the pursuit or ownership of a Frontier flight credit that probably is only good for three weeks and only valid on Tuesday morning flights to Alaska.

This is what sucks, honestly. Even after cancelling our Disney trip last year, we can't really even be excited about going this year because there are so many unknowns. There could be a delay in reopening things and we won't go. If Disney relaunches FP+ and it's some villainous paid option, we probably won't even go either.

Blah.

 

[Rusty2rules]

I'm also going in October. Made resort reservations and got tickets. Made park reservations.

But other than that, there's nothing to do. It's depressing because the best thing about these vacations is the build-up and having something to look forward to for months. Meanwhile, we're still on the fence as to whether we're even going to go. With so little information about the roadmap back to 'normal' it's impossible to know what things will be like in October and if it'll be worth it. At some point, probably by summer, we're going to need to make the call one way or the other based on what we think is going to be back by then (restaurants, shows, parades, fireworks, FP+, etc.)

I found cheap plane tickets last week and didn't even book them because they were on Frontier -- and despite being 'refundable' Frontier is so awful and sketchy that I really have no interest in the pursuit or ownership of a Frontier flight credit that probably is only good for three weeks and only valid on Tuesday morning flights to Alaska.

This is what sucks, honestly. Even after cancelling our Disney trip last year, we can't really even be excited about going this year because there are so many unknowns. There could be a delay in reopening things and we won't go. If Disney relaunches FP+ and it's some villainous paid option, we probably won't even go either.

Blah.

How do you really feel about Frontier?

 

[MomOTwins]

We are going in March and I still feel like I haven't properly planned yet because I expect I will need to rebook dining and change our park passes once they come out with park hours. I thought I had resort booked but then then they announced they were closing the splash pad at Poly so I rebooked that too and will most likely rebook it again later as I am not loving our current plans. I just had to rebook our flights last week to because Southwest changed the flight time on us.

Ugh, 2021 is just 2020 all over again.

 

[Three cats]

I'm also going in October. Made resort reservations and got tickets. Made park reservations.

But other than that, there's nothing to do. It's depressing because the best thing about these vacations is the build-up and having something to look forward to for months. Meanwhile, we're still on the fence as to whether we're even going to go. With so little information about the roadmap back to 'normal' it's impossible to know what things will be like in October and if it'll be worth it. At some point, probably by summer, we're going to need to make the call one way or the other based on what we think is going to be back by then (restaurants, shows, parades, fireworks, FP+, etc.)

I found cheap plane tickets last week and didn't even book them because they were on Frontier -- and despite being 'refundable' Frontier is so awful and sketchy that I really have no interest in the pursuit or ownership of a Frontier flight credit that probably is only good for three weeks and only valid on Tuesday morning flights to Alaska.

This is what sucks, honestly. Even after cancelling our Disney trip last year, we can't really even be excited about going this year because there are so many unknowns. There could be a delay in reopening things and we won't go. If Disney relaunches FP+ and it's some villainous paid option, we probably won't even go either.

Blah.

I totally agree. So hard to even get excited about going with all the unknowns.

 

[GrtDisGuy]

Our approach - plan as much as you can - and then stay flexible. Go with whatever happens. In Disney, away from the home, nice weather, Mickey and friends. Sure it won’t be like before. But still fantastic!

 

[WonderWoman28]

Totally off topic, but since you brought it up, IMO the only way FP comes back is as a paid add-on. I think as we knew it is gone. Just a hunch.

I hope not! One thing that keeps me from Universal is that you have to pay extra for express passes. The amount you have to pay to see all of Harry Potter (both parks), get express passes to get on popular rides just never seems ideal to me.