I want to make a few comments here with a big disclaimer These are MY thoughts, feelings & opinions, I'm not wanting to centre anyone out, not wanting to point fingers or cast blame even though some of you might feel that way. I apologize up front if I come across as out of line.
First and foremost I think we all are aware that this is a forum that was developed to discuss going to Disney World for pleasure, plain and simple. No one came to this website without a desire to go to Disney, talk about all things related to Disney, chat with other Disney-loving people and in this Forum specifically with fellow Canadians who love Disney.
Enter COVID-19, and like everything else it has touched (and it has touched EVERYTHING for ALL of us), it removed some of the shine, the warmth, the connection, the magic. We've all had to learn to adapt to new ways of living and most of them aren't pleasant, not much about change is. We're coming up on a year since the first cases were announced in Canada (I'm fully aware because we came thru Pearson 2 days after the first case in Ontario and it was eerie to see the level of concern of the employees in the customs hall because we landed at the same time as 2 planes from China!!) and we're all tired, on edge and most of us are a tad angry as well.
The topic of this specific thread has always been, to me at least, the fact that come January 7th it will become harder for people to take quick trips for pleasure. It never entered my mind that we would end up needing to defend what we feel belongs under the heading of essential or non-essential travelling. I got more annoyed as the thread grew and people started expressing anger over how they felt it isn't fair that they would need to take time out of a long weekend Disney trip to find a testing site, pay for the test and then wait for the results. We even had someone ask about how you can find one at an AI resort in either Mexico or the Caribbean and how that's not a reasonable expectation. The fact that people actually asked where they can find a testing site while at Disney means they ARE travelling for non-essential reasons. Sorry, a trip to a theme park that you don't work at isn't necessary, nope, not one bit.
One last comment that I feel I have every right to make is hearing people say that they need to travel to Disney for mental health reasons which makes it essential, feels like a slap in the face and a kick in the gut when I am lying on the ground in agony. I have never hidden the fact that I deal with a mental health disorder, it's clearly stated in my signature, and as we've entered yet another lockdown in our province I've been handed one more month on my sentence as such. I have not been able to have what is literally life changing (and when we discovered it, life saving!) treatments since February 14th, 2020. I was getting them once a week and the hospital i needed to go to was the first to suffer a shut down and they've not opened the clinic back up, still. I'm at the point now where I will need to go daily for 6 weeks and that's not possible during lockdown. It doesn't matter that we've found another facility that has graciously agreed to offer me treatment even though we're outside of their catchment area, they're closed for outpatient treatments. These are essential medical treatments but I can't have them right now. I have zero sympathy for people who will need to get a test to return home from a quick jaunt for a vacation that they claim is for their mental health. Before we go to Disney I need to have a ton of "booster treatments" so that my mental health won't suffer while we're away, even though the trip is good for my mood!
Off my soap box, sorry again if I offended anyone. I personally don't think this thread should have moved into what's essential and what's not -- it's about needing to get tested before boarding a plane to come home, isn't it?? Doesn't matter why you need to be on said plane.
thank you, jacqueline.
