December 2020 - keep or cancel?

[discott71]

We are still a Go-for-Go for our Dec. 9th trip!! DH was on the fence for a while but he's ok with it now - I told him that he stays as safe as he can while he's at work in the hospitals and I stay as safe as I can when I'm out shopping (I telework full time at home now) and we'll stay as safe as we can while we're there in 9 days!

We went as an adult-only trip in Oct and it was great and DH was completely pleased with how Disney was handling things but he was most concerned with our flights but was OK after we took them. This trip we have direct flights and we'll be sporting our N95 masks and touching nothing that I haven't wiped down with a chlorox wipe first! We hand sanitized all over the parks and kept away from folks as we could and felt that the mask wearing compliance was pretty good, especially better than my local Wal-Mart!

This trip is our DS's makeup graduation trip that was cancelled from June and he's ready to go too - and I mean, this kid never leaves the house....it's like quarantine was right up his alley!

We chose to have a socially distanced Thanksgiving this year and saw no family or friends and we know we're safe and since Thanksgiving is 14 days from when we leave, my thoughts are some people who weren't as safe during the holidays might end up sick (and would have to cancel their own trips) ... ..but we didn't want to chance it.

This is our first time at Christmas in Disney and we're super excited!!

How exciting! My daughter also graduated from high school in May and I completed my Executive MBA so this was also a celebratory trip for us as well. I just rescheduled for June 2021. Our son graduates from college in May so it will be one more reason to celebrate! We have seen the Christmas decorations during Thanksgiving on past trips and have attended MVMCP, but never been for Christmas week. That will have to wait now!

I hope you have a magical trip! Enjoy every minute!!

 

[discott71]

I am very much like you - I have pretty much every minute of our whole trip planned out. We just came back from being at WDW for thanksgiving week. We were expecting the worst for crowds but were pleasantly surprised with wait times. We had some ADR's planned. We were unsure of how we would feel dining indoors, but overall we felt fairly safe, but we did feel more comfortable eating outdoors.

We took things a little slower, we would watch the app and use our touring plans app to watch wait times. More often than not the posted wait times were inflated. If it said 60 minutes it was usually 40. May times wait times were listed as 25 minutes but the rides were walk ons. I am guessing they inflate the times incase you get caught with a cleaning cycle.

The buses were great. The drivers were good about assigning seating for parties. Most people complied with waiting for the driver to tell them their seats but we did see some people try and sneak in the side door that also opens. Wait times for buses weren't bad either (both coming and going to the parks. Maybe once we must have missed it and waited 20 minutes. They weren't crowded either, but we typically headed out to the parks and hour or 2 after opening and then would linger at the parks after close or would leave earlier than closing time.

If you are able I would go. With limited crowds you will never get another Christmas week like it ever. It felt very magical and the CM's were great. Like you we are not parade goers but we actually enjoyed the pop up calvicades. They are quick, you get to see the characters and then we can go about our plans. We did miss the fireworks but the castle projections are nice. Honestly i think without the fireworks it helps clear out the crowds in the last few hours of the parks being open. This is when we would just ride hop and get on many rides later in the evening vs the 60+ min waits during the day.

Coming from working in healthcare it was so nice to be in the disney bubble, to feel pretty safe and to see how much the CM's care about everyone complying. There were the few a-holes who were not complying but most people were. The CM's were great about correcting people - kids and adults alike. I'm sure they get sick of saying it all day long but it is what will keep that resort open.

So glad you had an enjoyable experience!

 

[bobbiwoz]

For 2021, we have 4th of July week & end of September/early Oct in place. Working on securing the annual after Thanksgiving trip.
...

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

We have July 1-8 booked...MAYBE...we can meet each other!!!

 

[4luv2cdisney]

We're heading to Disney World in two weeks and also had some hesitation in light of the COVID situation. Here's what we did:
1) We're not eating indoors. We cancelled all of our ADRs and just made new ADRs at Rose & Crown and Cityworks.
2) We're driving down instead of flying.
3) We shortened the trip from 9 nights to 5 nights and moved to Beach Club so that we can walk in to EPCOT (3 of our 6 park days)
4) We're going to avoid taking the monorail and buses.

It'll be a different trip for us for sure and should be much slower paced than our usual trips.

It doesn't eliminate the risks, but it seems that being masked and eating outside should reduce the risk to an acceptable level.

Also, not eating indoors.

We have cancellable flights, with days open on each on of our reservation dates (Sun-Fri) that would allow us to drive (however it is very long and very inconvenient) if we feel it's too unsafe to fly (still debating)

Leaning toward renting a car if we fly to skip DME and need for any bus on day we switch resorts.

We are staying 3 nights at BCV for our Epcot / HS days and then at CCV for MK (will take boat). Skipping AK this year.

In theory, I'd prefer to drive. However, I know how difficult driving 20 hours each way has been as we get older. Also, I"m not sure the number of rest stops, gas stations and fast food spots we'd have to visit makes a couple hours in an airport and a couple hours in a plane any worse. Tough decision for sure.

Looking at room availability for our dates daily. It's not looking impossible to just stay at 1 resort. Maybe we will skip the room change.

Also, considering booking the night before we fly in so our room is empty for more than 24 hours before arrival. If not, we may at least double book the night of the resort switch so that that room is vacant the day before we stay in it. Again, not sure what to do.

The fact that I have to worry about all this is just kind of sucking the fun out of it and I am starting to wonder if this all will be more stress than fun.

 

[kevtlas]

We're currently overseas and decided to do our traveling here until we return to the states, but my sister and her family have been several times since they opened back up and said aside from the masks (and less crowds), it didn't feel like less of trip to her.

 

[kboo]

Right there with you on this concern. Our plans are just for resort, no parks and limited restaurants — in 18 days. Sounds easy, right. Happy to just walk every day in different surroundings and be outside in warmer weather. I must have been delusional thinking this could go off without a hitch. Have lots 2019 points in this res. With NO interest in renting (exp. 8/31/21). My 20 years olds and husband are on fence about going and one was shamed by friend (ha, who is now on trip out West). At this point if we cancel, it will really be as the doom and gloom sets in. Stay safe all.

We are still a Go-for-Go for our Dec. 9th trip!! DH was on the fence for a while but he's ok with it now - I told him that he stays as safe as he can while he's at work in the hospitals and I stay as safe as I can when I'm out shopping (I telework full time at home now) and we'll stay as safe as we can while we're there in 9 days!

Coming from working in healthcare it was so nice to be in the disney bubble, to feel pretty safe and to see how much the CM's care about everyone complying. There were the few a-holes who were not complying but most people were. The CM's were great about correcting people - kids and adults alike. I'm sure they get sick of saying it all day long but it is what will keep that resort open.

Still reading and watching with interest. Having the conversation with DH this weekend - like many of you, everything is cancelable and at most we will lose a few points that were banked from 2018. It would be amazing to experience WDW at Christmas with such low crowds (we were there last Christmas). And DH works in healthcare, I work outside the home, one of my kids is in school 5 days a week and the other is 1-2 days in person. All masked, of course. The kids are on public transportation daily, as are DH and myself. We are in NYC, and we've done a little indoor dining here, and I have to say, the pictures of the indoor dining at WDW look safer and more distanced. And oddly, even though DH is the one with most contact with people and the one most comfortable with being around people (while masked) and the most comfrotable eating indoors, he's the one pumping the brakes on whether we should go. It's true, though, the hospital numbers don't look good, but he's also not expected to treat covid patients (not his specialty) until/unless it gets as bad as it was this spring.

 

[Disneykate605]

This trip is our DS's makeup graduation trip that was cancelled from June and he's ready to go too - and I mean, this kid never leaves the house....it's like quarantine was right up his alley!

This is so funny! I say the same thing about my sons! They are 19 & 16 and pretty much the only times they have left the house since March was to go to Disney! (We went in July & Thanksgiving week)

 

[keishashadow]

We have July 1-8 booked...MAYBE...we can meet each other!!!

Yes we’ve had more than our share of near misses

 

[hmsTigger]

The Levoit Core 300 filters a ~200 sq ft room 5 times per hour. That’s a little smaller than the average DVC studio, so ideally you’d either want two small purifiers or one larger one for a 2BR, but that would take up a lot of luggage space! As it is, mine takes up a carry on sized luggage.

If you wanted to bring one “small” purifier, you could leave it in the bedroom and close the door since that’s the room you’ll spend the most hours in sleeping.

I know the purifier probably sounds crazy to most people, but I figure why not do what you can to minimize risk where it’s possible!

Sounds like a great idea Could you send the link for the air purifier? How big is it? Thank you and Enjoy your trip.