Has anyone else been told to keep their reservation?

[nkereina]

I have no idea about May, but I don't think Disney would have started rebooking their guests that were forced to cancel starting June 1st under the free dining offer if there was a good chance they would have to cancel a second time. That would be a huge headache for Disney. I have no inside info, this is just a hunch. I assume Disney gets inside info from the government since they are basically their own city.

The thing is that the government doesn't even know. They have models, projections, educated guesses from people who study this, but it all depends on how things transpire. I agree with you that the fact their re-booking promotion runs starting June 1st is promising, but it will be interesting to see what happens as it gets closer. Listening to the Dis Unplugged podcast yesterday, Pete Werner is of the opinion that Disney will re-open in phases - whether that be limited attractions, limited food service, etc. remains to be seen, but he doesn't see how they can go from being closed to instantly fully re-opened, especially when all the supply chains have been disrupted. So if they do open in June, it may still be a while before they return to normalcy.

 

[karen4546]

You can book those without hotel reservations.




As long as you realize that this is a decision you’re making that could cost you your ability to bank if you cancel later.

Like I said my deadline to bank the 2019 points was March 31. So it has cost me the ability to bank them. By IT I mean MY DECISION.
OP I made the decision not to cancel. I hope we don’t get canceled but if we do then I have more trips already on the books for September and December . Fingers still crossed that the tides changes soon.

 

[Elle23]

I’m scheduled for June 1-8, and I’m not cancelling unless Disney cancels. They are the ones that offered free dining for me to schedule my trip at this time.

 

[disneyguy87]

The CM is presumably receiving commission on your booking, so naturally they want you to keep it at least until an announcement is made closer to your travel dates. Its in Disney's best interest to keep all reservations at this point so I can't see any CM recommending you change it, frankly.

I've read elsewhere that WDW has cancelled several special events like After Hours into May. Given that the free dining re-booking offer starts in June, the President is using early June as the current estimator for "normalcy", and the fact that the apex is expected to hit in NYC within a week (which is two weeks ahead of the rest of the country), I would say May is not looking good. We had re-scheduled our April trip to late May and were able to get all the ADRs and FPs we wanted. But, last week, we decided to move our May trip to October, and will just re-do everything at the 180 day ADR mark and the 60 day FP+ mark.

Excellent to know thank you!

 

[fla4fun]

I have a mid May stay booked and a backup stay in mid June booked, and then a late August trip I booked last year, and a December trip I booked last year. I am not canceling May or June until necessary although I don’t think either one is really feasible. They are both room only, so I am not going to be getting huge refunds. August and December are fully paid, so I hope those work out. I don’t know what I will do with my unused vacation days though if May or June don’t work out. I already cancelled my March vacation, so I have to figure out when to take those as well. Our PTO is use it or lose it by calendar year, and coworkers have had to cancel trips as well.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

The thing is that the government doesn't even know. They have models, projections, educated guesses from people who study this, but it all depends on how things transpire. I agree with you that the fact their re-booking promotion runs starting June 1st is promising, but it will be interesting to see what happens as it gets closer. Listening to the Dis Unplugged podcast yesterday, Pete Werner is of the opinion that Disney will re-open in phases - whether that be limited attractions, limited food service, etc. remains to be seen, but he doesn't see how they can go from being closed to instantly fully re-opened, especially when all the supply chains have been disrupted. So if they do open in June, it may still be a while before they return to normalcy.

Yes, this. This situation is unprecedented in modern times. If anyone really knew a definitive date, they would tell us. Absolutely everyone wants the economy to open again, but not at the expense of a resurgence of infections.

 

[Nohal]

I have a trip booked may 27- June 2 which I will probably cancel. Even if Disney opens I won’t feel comfortable going. Plus southwest really made a mess of my reservations. They rebooked me for 2 days before my Disney reservation. I also am booked for the end of August and am hoping I’ll be able to go then.

 

[Dug720]

I’ve been told by my husband to keep our July trip. I’m not even sure about that, but am really hoping that we can go. My daughter will be so upset and she’s only 4, so it’s not like she’ll really understand.

I've got a trip July 18-23 scheduled. I asked the owner of the travel agency I use (she was fine with it and got why I didn't want to bug my TA since she's dealing with so much right now) if she thought I should keep it or change to a cruise out of NJ to Bermuda. My thinking being yes, the cruise might get cancelled, but they are giving 125% future cruise credit when they cancel the sailings AND the TA gets commission on what was booked for the summer as well - whereas if I have to cancel Disney, she would just be out the commission as I have enough stuff planned through 2021 I do not know when I'll get back to Disney. My friend (who owns the agency) said that she is feeling very confident about July and even June. She recommended I wait about a month (so it would be the latter part of April from when we talked) and see what way the wind was blowing at that point. I'm really hoping she's right as I suspect the cruise "option" will be cancelled by then if it's going to be. AND I really want to be at Disney for my birthday!

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

We had reservations for late Mat/early June,and they fell apart with the airline cancelling our flights and us having to cancel the rest of the trip, which was the first (and only!) trip I'd booked through 3rd party vendors, because I was sure last fall that nothing could keep us from going...

I've rescheduled our trip directly with Disney for the last week of July. And at this point I do really believe that it will happen, and that Disney World will be fully functional while we're there.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

CMs are being encouraged to avoid any refunds if possible. Even if it is likely to become a refund, treasury float is revenue in the meantime.

 

[disneyguy87]

Thanks everyone all feedback so far has been very helpful. I've made a few ADRs to possibly build a later trip around and I will update if that strategy worked for me for anyone following along / curious. Of course, I can't have all our FP+ reservations until I re-book a trip. I've thought about putting a down payment on a trip but money is tight right now considering the global situation we are in.

Right now I have plans for either a summer or Holiday trip and will be watching out for updates over the next couple of weeks to help me determine what we ultimately decide to do.

If anyone else has feedback shared from CM's about their trips (hold or re-book) I'm interested!

 

[MomOTwins]

We had an end-of-May trip and a CM said I made the right call. They don't know--everyone is just guessing.

If it does open in May, expect significant modifications to experiences. E.g., in the last the few days before they closed, face character dining was significantly altered (no tableside interactions).

 

[bumbershoot]

I’ve been told by my husband to keep our July trip. I’m not even sure about that, but am really hoping that we can go. My daughter will be so upset and she’s only 4, so it’s not like she’ll really understand.

At 4, her sense of time passing is likely fairly questionable. Just don’t focus on teaching her the months right now, and don’t make a countdown chain. Or make a really really long countdown chain that could take you to September or so if needed. Just focus on teaching her other things during this time.

 

[meremac]

No, I've had the opposite experience when cancelling multiple May reservations.

 

[Jacq7414]

At 4, her sense of time passing is likely fairly questionable. Just don’t focus on teaching her the months right now, and don’t make a countdown chain. Or make a really really long countdown chain that could take you to September or so if needed. Just focus on teaching her other things during this time.

Unfortunately I’m stuck to a teacher schedule. The next time we could feasibly go is MAYBE February break. But we have a Disney cruise booked for April 2021, so that is more than likely too close of a vacation for my husband to take. So it would be more than a year away. She’d definitely understand

 

[Darklord77]

I just really hope anyone planing to come to Orlando anytime in May should really reconsider for this one FOR areal reason. There has been a number of forecasts showing the Apex of the Coronavirus will hit Florida beginning on May 3rd and lasting / weeks. During this time the daily death toll in Florida will reach about 170-180 deaths a day.

The IHME model is the main projecting model used by the government for COVID-19 response. This model's projections have consistently been lowering the future death rate each day and moving up the date for peak number of deaths. The peak in Florida is now projected as April 21st. Give it a few more days and it will probably be April 17 or something. The total death projections last week were 100,000-240,000. They are now projecting for 60,000. At what point will the cure become worse than the problem? Do I think Disney should open May 19? Probably not. Should they close for 18 months? Definitely not!

 

[Sarahslay]

The IHME model is the main projecting model used by the government for COVID-19 response. This model's projections have consistently been lowering the future death rate each day and moving up the date for peak number of deaths. The peak in Florida is now projected as April 21st. Give it a few more days and it will probably be April 17 or something. The total death projections last week were 100,000-240,000. They are now projecting for 60,000. At what point will the cure become worse than the problem? Do I think Disney should open May 19? Probably not. Should they close for 18 months? Definitely not!

Plus, every model I've seen has this thing tapering off around the same time which happens to be June 1. That is if we social distance or not, so I'm sure that's what Disney is pulling from. The world can't stay closed for years until we have a vaccine, people just need to be mindful and those who are at a higher risk need to be more careful. Even if I didn't have a trip coming up this July I would feel the same way, we can't stay closed up forever in fear, if we do we'll have a worse situation facing us with the economy than we ever did with the virus. If people are scared they shouldn't go to Disney. If they have pre-existing conditions which could cause issues with the virus maybe they should consider postponing their trip, but for the rest of the world has to be able to function. I already wash my hands like crazy, and always have hand sanitizer in my bag, when I'm at WDW so this isn't going to change how I function at the parks (of course, I have also already had the virus due to being in the healthcare industry so that might have something to do with my way of thinking).

 

[kelsum01]

I agree with those saying that the numbers released today are SIGNIFICANTLY lower than originally projected. 60,000 deaths is 90% of what they originally said. We need to figure out how to open for business again, in a responsible way. Disney isn't stupid. They'll figure out a way to be open in a way that makes them profitable but also keep their guests safe. People WANT things to get back to normal. They WANT to travel and celebrate with their families. Disney knows there will be a huge demand for this sooner rather than later. We are scheduled to arrive on 6/8 to celebrate our son's 18th birthday and our last family trip before he leaves for college in the fall. I fully expect to be there and I can easily say this is the most excited I've ever been to go to Disney, and I've been there 25+ times.

 

[rjb123]

I would expect there are more families dealing with life and deaths situations outside those hospitalized for Covid. All life and death situations are important. Covid is not the only physical health and safety need that is tenuous right now.

edited to see bolded

No idea is this is accurate but maybe it will give you some hope if you type in your state. June peak sounds crazy... http://covid19.healthdata.org/projections

I honestly don't understand why some of the governors are saying what they are - it literally flies in the face of the data that the federal government is using! For example, in North Carolina, our governor said that we would have our peak in mid to end of May- but this site (used by pretty much everyone from what I understand on the federal level) is saying it will be in the next 7 days. And frankly, our numbers are not showing the crazy numbers they are telling us here locally. For example, in our area (Charlotte) we had only 3 (yes THREE) tests per day until about two weeks ago! So literally there were THREE tests a day given for the entire Charlotte area (which, if you are not aware, is a large city). So common sense would tell us that now with lots of tests being done (and getting back in a day on average) that we won't hit the "overwhelmed" peak they are planning for. I am just not seeing it! My friend who is a nurse in the largest hospital in the city is saying the ED is literally empty- they are sending staff home and beds are sitting empty. other are very few COVID patients admitted. I think that there are under 200 in the county who are hospitalized and there are several major hospitals located in the county (approx 7 by my count). They were planning a huge 3000 bed hospital at UNCC and have now changed it to a smaller 600 ( pretty sure that is the number) bed in center city. I think that some of these local folks are either not receiving good data, or different data from the federal govt, or something but it just seems incongruent with the numbers in our area.

 

[C&Jx2]

I was chatting with an online cast member and she said to keep my June 20 reservation. I don’t know if that’s because they’re more concerned with cancelling and rescheduling more recent trips or what? But that’s what she said.