Finding the Silver Lining in All of This

These last few months have been absolutely nuts. Work has been so weird and hectic, and I don't think it's going back to 100% normal anytime this year.

I just need some sense of normalcy. Even if it's different and weird and not exactly how I want it, some Disney is better for my mental health than no Disney.

For me, I think it will be vey nice to be able to enter a Disney park without any semblance of a plan.
Where am I going to eat? Dunno. What am I going to ride? I can't tell you. When is the Festival of Fantasy Parade? There is no parade! Which hard ticket event(s) should I attend? There are none.
 
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These last few months have been absolutely nuts. Work has been so weird and hectic, and I don't think it's going back to 100% normal anytime this year. Personally, I'm thinking I'll be able to do everything that I need to do at work and in a non-crazy manner by March of next year.

I just need some sense of normalcy. Even if it's different and weird and not exactly how I want it, some Disney is better for my mental health than no Disney.

For me, I think it will be vey nice to be able to enter a Disney park without any semblance of a plan.
Where am I going to eat? Dunno. What am I going to ride? I can't tell you. When is the Festival of Fantasy Parade? There is no parade! Which hard ticket event(s) should I attend? There are none.

Embrace the freedom of a plan-less Disney trip! (I'm going to start a movement on here lol)
 
If I didn't have little princesses who would miss meeting other princesses I would have loved to go during this time - for all the silver lining reasons you mentioned.
Bonus for mid August and after: Halloween Party!

ETA: We have always been "wing it" type of people, so this would be a glorious experience for us!
 


If I didn't have little princesses who would miss meeting other princesses I would have loved to go during this time - for all the silver lining reasons you mentioned.
Bonus for mid August and after: Halloween Party!

ETA: We have always been "wing it" type of people, so this would be a glorious experience for us!
Yes, I can understand the princess thing. My girls are a little older now, so I think they will be ok without it. However, my 5 year old son is insisting he can still meet BB8 because, “he’s not a person, so he can’t spread coronavirus.” He will be ok though!
 
We are booked in December, and holding onto it for now. We won't make a final call until October at the earliest because SO MUCH can change. The only frustration I'm having is trying to find a centralized location with all the information. I see people mentioning values being moved to moderates etc, but I have no idea what all of this means.

My silver linings:

1) Low crowds - my husband hates crowds...which is why I picked December! Now it may even be less
2) We saved for this - we had the dining plan, so the money is already saved for us to pay for food. So when the time comes we can book where we want to be and just pay cash instead...since it's saved!
3) More choices in a day - yes, there are some things we want to do that might not be there (Jedi training, fantasmic, MVMCP), but we also won't be as tied due to no fastpasses and we will probably make less table service reservations because no DDP points to worry about.
4) IT'S NOT WORK!! - We've been so cooped up and no escape since we are working at home. This will give our little family a moment to breathe!!
 
There are many, many factors in all of this that are leading me to the unfortunate conclusion that cancelling my Sept trip is going to be the best decision for ME.

But I really do regret that we will probably miss the opportunity to have a more unscheduled trip but I really do regret that we will probably miss the opportunity to have a more relaxed, unscheduled trip, with a lack of reservations and FP’s to keep and possibly short wait times.
 


We are at BWV 7/12-21. I strangely still have some ADRs, but they will probably have to be changed or thrown out. I'm not really upset about these changes. I have been expecting them for a while. I am slightly apprehensive about all of the contact with others. We have been working from home since mid-March. I usually only leave the house once a week to grocery shop. I think it might be a bit of a culture shock. I usually don't mind crowds though. I am excited to finally get my hair cut. I decided to get a pretty short cut, so that I won't be touching my face at the parks or exercising to get hair out of my face. I might even dye it blue. I have always wanted blue hair. Has anyone else noticed how moist and supple their face is after wearing a mask in the heat :rotfl2: I know it's sweat, but it still makes my laugh lines (wrinkles) less noticeable. Also, I have to use less sunscreen with a mask. Looking forward to our first stay at Boardwalk Villas, where we will hopefully be DVC owners before our stay. I think it will be an interesting trip.
 
We‘ve made many trips and we try to do something new each time but it’s easy to get into a habit of doing certain attractions in a certain order. We are going in November and we are looking forward to tossing away the “This is the way we like to do it” and just allowing ourselves to wander away from any crowds. I think it might be fun to try some of the less popular things and maybe just enjoy “being” instead of doing. I often pretend I live in a Disney dream. Might as well do it on site.
 
OP thank you for this optimistic post! We’ve had our ups and downs during all this. We had:
-April trip to Disneyland for our teens first trip out there along with my dad who grew up there
- June trip as a resort only/visit our new niece trip (sister is literlly in labor right now)
-4th of July trip with two youngest teens and best friends
-October trip for DDs Sweet 16. (All she wanted was to attend MNSSHP (we’re near religious Christmas, Spring Break and 4th of July visitors)

Our silver lining is:
1. We get to go to Disneyland for Halloween for DDs birthday allowing my Nightmare Before Christmas obsessed kids and dad to see the overlay
2. We moved our 4th of July trip to later in the month, allowing us to visit BWV for the first time. (A dream of mine)
3. Hopeful for shorter wait times in the parks
4. We can just enjoy time with the teens without micromanaging time. (They won’t be home much longer!)
5. This rope dropping family will get to sleep in during vacation for once
6. Cleaner parks!
7. We get to be spontaneous- starting from throwing together our room from what was left of DVC inventory to meals to rides
8. We get to go to our happy place!
 
Thank you OP.

it really is okay for people to be disappointed but man it’s really hard to read someone of these posts. What a world we live in that during a world wide pandemic folks have outrage over theme park operations. I’m currently spending hours each day in meeting after meeting trying to figure out how we educate our children going forward so maybe I just have an extra dose of perspective.

I’m excited to go with my husband in October. The rides will still be there. I would encourage anyone to go watch some videos from Shanghai Disney. The magic is still there. I’m looking forward to walking down Main Street and seeing the castle. The music will still be there. The smells still there.
 
Thank you for this post, I have quite a few silver linings despite also having to cancel a Hawaii trip and a 3 week Japan/Korea trip, and a few DL trips in between. Mine are as follows:

1) Saved a boatload of money as everything has pretty much been refunded or never booked in the first place
2) Our usual weekends out turned into weekends in, and I got a lot of house work done
3) Household dining out expenses went to practically zero for a while, and take-out options were plentiful
4) We elected to pull our kid from school for the coming year and do home school, where we've discovered that a) home school has advanced quite a bit since I was a kid and b) that saves us $1400/mo in tuition.
5) I'm considered an essential worker, so our days have have had the same flow to them pre-covid. The only big change is that DD6 is home all day (that's been nice, too), DW is already WFH.

I fully acknowledge we've been super lucky these last few months, we've had a lot of small business owner friends and other friends really struggle with revenue drops and transitioning to WFH.

In terms of Disney, since DL is pretty much done with 60 day dining reservations (if any) and no advanced planning aside from the usual airfare/hotel/car rental, we haven't been impacted as much as travelers to WDW where the planning is on a different level of intensity. I have some exposure to loss of DVC points, but the recent extension of expiration might negate this.

All in all, the last three months have increased our appreciation for the parks and their experiences, so we can't wait to get back. We've grown closer as a family, and I've gotten to do a lot of posting here on the DISboards, meeting a whole bunch of really nice people getting through this closure in the process.
 
I'd like to say this... This year marks the 15th anniversary of my Aunt dying. She died way too young of cancer. She was the first to take me to Disney (year after year). The silver lining is that I'll be able to go on HM, which I cried hysterically on the first time, and went on it twice, because the second time, I loved it and she gave me Starburst to eat the whole way through.

We never stayed on property... we would stay at the Best Western on International Drive and eat at Jake's (a diner). I demanded it because I loved it.

This is dedicated to Alice Gandolfo... I never would have my love of Disney if not for her.
 
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this post was refreshing to read. We all need some positivity in this new world we are ALL experiencing. You can definitely tell the people that can easily adapt to challenging scenarios and those who have difficulty to change. Being open and flexible has its benefits in life. Disney is not going anywhere!

I am looking forward to exclusive access to the Parks with lower attendance... however I am scheduled to visit during the 50th so I am sure there will be crowds but maybe not as originally anticipated.... maybe?!?!
 
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I don't have a trip planned so I am thankful I don't have to go through the stress of having a Disney trip cancelled. BUT I did have my once in a lifetime Italy trip cancelled due to COVID and bc of having young kids, unable to reschedule so I understand people's frustrations.

My silver lining is that I'm thankful to see Disney at least open after being shut for so long. It will bring me joy to see other people enjoy it even if I am not there.

I wouldn't mind following along with restrictions and see if they release required mask use, but the borders still haven't opened allowing international travel. It may be nice to get in to Disney before heavier crowds from international travel starts up again.
 

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