LAST MINUTE OR NOT?

[mommajo143]

DH made the *mistake* of opennig the door to a family trip when I brought up possibly taking DS9 next year with his best friends and their mom. DH has been anti trip since mask mandates went into effect. He is a RN who wears a mask all day and is understandably exhausted; COVID fatigue doesnt even begin to capture what he is experiencing. Anyhow, now I have a dilemma ~ book a trip in the next 1-2 months before the mickey bar melts or wait for November / December timeframe...either way DS 13 and DS 9 will miss school (I can potentially enroll them in online classes short term but both are AP/GT kids who can pretty easily miss a week and not get too far behind). I love planning the trips but TBH I have NOT kept up with all the changes with the pandemic so having less time to plan and then have plans changed by evolving pandemic policies would probably be a good thing...thoughts???

 

[cjlong88]

Frequent last-minute planner here. Honestly, the only planning you need to worry about is park pass reservations and any ADRs you might want. With no FPs, it makes planning much simpler, and we have found that our last visit to the parks in August was certainly more spontaneous than usual.

I think January is still wide open in terms of park pass availability, so you will get your pick of the litter. While coveted ADRs may already be gone, there are many guests canceling their trips or making last minute changes, so I have found that it's pretty easy to pick up great last-minute reservations.

My main concern back in August was limiting my risk to exposure. We knew full well the weekend visit was going to increase our risk no matter what we did, but in the end it was worth it to us. So much so that we decided to do another quick weekend visit so we can hit the two parks we didn't see last time.

Regarding pandemic policies, I don't foresee big changes being made until the majority of the US population gets vaccinated, but I could very well be wrong. If you are all okay with the current policies, then I think you will be okay to visit in the next month or so and not experience earth shattering changes.

Good luck deciding! It's so hard making decisions during this pandemic -- I have a few of my own I'm still trying to figure out for our early February weekend trip.

 

[ars0525]

Is DH going to complain about having to wear a mask at Disney? If he's going to be unhappy how will that affect the rest of you & your vacation?

It's pretty easy to plan trips now. Park reservations & if you want any ADRs.

 

[calismic]

My husband is also in the medical field and wears a mask all day long. So my jaw hit the ground when he came to bed a few weeks ago and said "Let's go to Disney!" We now have a trip fully booked for the first week in February. He's convinced himself that wearing a mask in the parks is far better than wearing it at work! =) I only did my reservations for dining yesterday and was able to pretty much get everything we wanted (family of 4). So last minute is definitely doable and a lot less planning now that there are no FP and special events!

 

[macraven]

Last minute is working for me.

Booked everything, air, hotel, park passes, restaurants, rides, etc for Disney yesterday for a Jan 26 trip.

Usually I do my plans 11 months or more out.

 

[wdw&sonny]

As an RN, when will he get vaccinated? How will he feel if he is "safe" and the rest of you are not?

 

[duckygirl]

On Sunday I was able to book a BLT 1 bedroom Lake view for New Year's Eve thru Sunday the 3rd!! Was able to get park pass reservations as well. I have had a blast refreshing dining on the app and have been shocked by what I been able to get. We have been twice since COVID and feel safer at Disney than at home.