Nov/Dec 2021 POSSIBLY

[nikmasteed]

I'm more of a lurker here but wanted to post my own situation and thought process in case it resonates with anyone else in offering opinions/advice. While I've got a bit of everything below, my main goal right now is budgeting, so sorry if this is more suited to a different board. The resorts though in my mind are the main budgeting component. TIA for any thoughts.

Our family: Me, wife, two daughters (13 and 9 in late 2021)

Our only family trip to WDW was Aug 2018, a 10-night split stay at WL and AKL. We loved it, obviously, and have been loosely eying a return in 2021 even before the pandemic hit. For us, even though we like many need to watch our budget, deluxe is the way to go thus trips for us will always be at least 3 years apart. This is okay with us, we love Disney and WDW but are not superfans. What we determined during our last stay was that we enjoyed the extra-long stay at multiple resorts, but want to build in more resort time, and also want to add 2 days at Universal since our girls have since become MAJOR Harry Potter fans. We also could do without the August heat, and also want to experience a Christmas-themed WDW (not Christmas week, just Christmas season). So we're thinking arrival just before Thanksgiving to hedge the cost and crowds a bit. Finally, during a breakfast at Ohana, we got a small taste of the Poly-- wife and I looked at each other and said THIS is where we are staying next time.

The pandemic has made a late 2021 trip more of a question mark than a certainty, because the primary deal-breaker will be how "normal" it will be. It doesn't need to be 100% back to normal, but it probably needs to be like 95% normal. I know that no one here can predict how things will be-- I've read plenty of speculation but certainly welcome more of it here on this thread.

Overall, I've been tempted to reach out to a TA lately to get hopefully some more firm pricing to help us plan our savings/budgeting. I think what I'm finding is that discounts for that time period are not known yet, so I'm not sure a TA will really provide me much more precision than my own research on past rack rates and discounts, mixed in with further speculation. I.e. I'm assuming that any quotes I get right now will likely come down (at some point, after announcement of discounts). Fair assumption? I also feel like Poly refurb makes things a little unknown pricewise.

Loose structure of our "planned" next trip:
-Arrive probably the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, avoiding the single biggest travel day
- 5 or 6 nights at CBR (to defray cost of Poly being one of the pricier deluxe. Plus we like split stay)
- 5 or 6 nights at Poly
- 8 or 9 WDW Park days
- possibly 1 Waterpark day (I know many would skip
-1 or 2 days at Universal parks

Things that are probably dealbreakers:
- Fireworks must be back
- Character meets and character meals must be back
- Shows like Hoop de Doo and Spirit of Aloha, as well as shows in the parks
- All restaurants and indoor dining would need to be an option
- We are the opposite of anti-mask, but I think we'd skip if masks and social distancing were still 100% required all the time. We wouldn't mind wearing masks sometimes or in certain crowded situations. Just too much to worry about to make the vacation worth it for us. I recognize that even if everything else were back to "normal" this may still stick around for a while.
-Polynesian for half our stay
-relative normalcy at Universal-- i don't have a frame of reference really, last time I was there was 1993 I think! And I assume it will be more "normal" at Universal than at WDW
-late Nov/early Dec time frame. If 2021 doesn't work out, we will wait until 2022
-the return of the Christmas party is likely a dealbreaker, its one of the seasonal offerings we really want to experience

Things that are not dealbreakers for us:
- No single ride or attraction is a deal-breaker as long as in general the full normal offerings are back
- Theme park construction (ie Epcot)
- Whether buffets ever come back, as long as the general environment of most of the dining the way we knew it is maintained
- Status of park-hopping and/or need for park reservations. I can work with whatever the system is, and we don't hop
-That 1 day at a waterpark
-Carribean Beach (but the recent refurb was the reason it is the moderate most in the running)
-anything related to 50th anniversary, we could take it or leave it, not important to us but not a turnoff either
-disney dining plan. For us we eat where want to eat and when
-any potential vaccine requirements (would prefer to avoid debates on this topic here). If you want us to get shots to let us stay on your property, sure we'll get shots. My wife is a healthcare worker and is getting her first dose next week anyway.
-Crowd level expectations. If pandemic subsides to a level that meets our comfort/risk level, I don't care much whether crowds are low or high, we can deal with high crowds.

Also, I've considered renting DVC points for Poly, and may still, but I suspect its going to give much less flexibility. And my own perception is that we personally will just enjoy the resort side more than the villa side. Thoughts on this are welcome

So, sorry for the long post! But I suspect many of you will enjoy jumping in with your own thoughts. I'm really itching to dive deep into trip planning, as like many of you it gives me alot of enjoyment to plan! But I think ultimately I'm going to wait until news on the 2021 Christmas party before diving in. That might be one of the biggest indicators-- others agree? I also really am not that into the idea of booking something and then later rescheduling by a whole year, I'd rather just avoid leaving a booking in purgatory.

Thanks all!

 

[happymommy]

Hi! I can answer (sort of) some items. Doing Universal, I’d start there and stay at least one night at one of their resorts which give you front of the line access. I’ve heard it’s definitely worth it to get the most done. Thanksgiving is a busy time, so honestly if it were me, I’d go right after though.

We don’t know when any shows will return, as the cast members have been furloughed. I wouldn’t count on many shows being back next year, but I don’t have any insight. That is one part of a Disney trip I always liked (Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo, etc). I do think fireworks will be back much sooner. The performers for the shows will have to be rehired, maybe they will change the shows around, but we don’t know when.

If shows are really important, I’d hold off on making any real plans yet. I am not personally planning on next year, but that’s more due to our timeshare trips that we’ll be taking late next year already (using some time we didn’t use this year), so I’ve got too much going on anyway.

Happy holidays!

 

[Shellyred8]

Just a few of my thoughts...
Since the Poly hotel side is currently under refurb, we don't know what the rooms will look like. On the DVC side, the rooms are pretty good. There is one full bath and a second bathroom with a shower and a sink. This might come in handy with 2 daughters.

If you are keeping an eye on your budget, I would recommend going the first couple of weeks right after Thanksgiving. Most everything will be more expensive during the Thanksgiving week.

Universal: If your girls like thrill rides, in addition to the Harry Potter stuff, I would perhaps recommend staying two nights at a Universal resort hotel. Then you can do 2 or 3 days at Universal. This will give the girls some time to do an initial walk through of HP and see it all with fresh eyes. Then they would have an extra day to go back and take some time to really look into some of the fun details. They really did do a great job with the HP lands there. Also, if you want to do a water park during your trip, you might want to check out Volcano Bay while you are at Universal. Not sure of the pricing difference between that and the WDW water parks. Something to check into.

We like split stays too and I think your two choices are excellent! Being able to take the Skyliner from CBR to EP and HS is really quite awesome!

Happy planning!!!

 

[Imamom2]

I think we will see entertainment pick up around the 50th celebrations (as long as there is success in the fight against Covid). I am hoping we will see Not So Scary and Very Merry news in the spring. We are booked in BLT in November and there was not much available so if you are planning to go in the fall I would book now.

 

[maryj11]

I have already booked for December 2021. I was surprised that CBR had limited availability. We were only looking at 3 nights there though and it was for the first week in December. Checking CBR for 6 nights I seen standard and pool/water view were not available all through the month. They did have standard with the 5th sleeper the first week. I wanted pool/water view. It seems less is available with stays less then 3 nights.
Our other pick was Copper Creek Villas and it was only available the first few days of December. I checked the whole month for it. I read those go fast so I guess I’m lucky I got any.

 

[maryj11]

I think we will see entertainment pick up around the 50th celebrations (as long as there is success in the fight against Covid). I am hoping we will see Not So Scary and Very Merry news in the spring. We are booked in BLT in November and there was not much available so if you are planning to go in the fall I would book now.

I agree about booking now. I just booked the first week in December . I was surprised all room categories were not available.
I had to change our plans around a little because of availability.

 

[disny_luvr]

We enjoy longer stays, too, and usually split our time between two resorts. I can’t comment on all your thoughts - I’ve never been to Universal - but I do have some thoughts about the Poly and renting DVC.

We have rented DVC points twice and have enjoyed both of our DVC stays. We rented DVC points to stay at the Poly last summer, but with everything going on, we didn’t feel comfortable traveling. Thankfully, the lady we rented from refunded our money and she was able to rent the points out to someone else. One thing I learned from that experience - and mind you, it was a great experience; the lady I rented from was so helpful and really worked with us when we decided to cancel - is I will never rent again. Here’s why, unlike my experience, many others weren’t as lucky - many losing a lot of money because they couldn’t travel and the person they rented from didn’t refund their money. I learned really quickthat the risk involved is too great and it’s a risk I’m not willing to take anymore. Like you mentioned, you lose a lot of flexibility when you rent DVC.

The other thing I’m not crazy about when it comes to DVC is the bed situation. In most studios, you get one real bed and a sleeper sofa. Now that my boys are older (14-year-old twins), they don’t want to sleep on a sofa bed - they want a real bed and I can’t blame them!

I think renting DVC points is enticing to many, but it just isn’t for us anymore.

A few things about the Poly. It’s my absolute favorite resort. I’m so glad the resort side is getting a refurb because I think the rooms were in dire need of one. We don’t know much about the refurb but I guess the rooms are to take on a Moana theme. I hope the Moana theming is subtle. The resort itself is fabulous. We love the food choices - Capt Cook’s is my favorite QS; I love the pork nachos! The two pools are really nice, and being able to hop on the monorail to get to the MK or walking to the TTC to get a monorail to Epcot is so nice. I just love the theming of the resort and having the castle viewable from across the lagoon isn’t bad either.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

I've gotta be honest - I was in your camp when it came to "XYZ has to be back before I returned..." but as we watched the NYE countdown from past years and spent Christmas week, a week usually spent at Disney or traveling, at home... we decided that come hell or high water we're going back to Disney next year. Worse comes to worse we do a resort-heavy stay.

It's so hard to tell what it's going to be like. There's days I wake up and think "few more months and we're gonna get through this." and other days I think "how will they push the goal posts back next?"

 

[kwdw]

In terms of you comment about maybe wanting to do some budgeting, I recommend early Dec instead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Room costs will be lower.

Universal, especially if focused on WWOHP, can be done with a one day park to park pass, but I would recommend two days. Universal tends to have some interesting discounts sometimes, so you might consider a split stay WDW and Universal. I think Universal can be a three day adventure. Universal also now has a nice water park and a variety of resort choices. My niece on her first Harry Potter fan stage loved our split stay trip with WDW and Universal because she got the Disney she was familiar with and the Universal experience. Post on the Universal topics to learn more at there.

Depending on the weather, late November and December may be too cold for some at the water parks. So, if that is a want, reconsider your dates, maybe October 21, or wait until late March 22. But, a nice resort pool is often fun in Nov or Dec.

Given your wish list of normalcy, I would make sure everything you book is refundable or movable. Hence, I’d shy away from renting points for a DVC without a refund option. I’m not confident shows or character meet n greets will be back by fall 2021. I hope so, but I think that is still not a given for Fall 2021.

In general, you are talking about a relatively complex, longer stay trip with a lot of wants. You might get all of that by fall 2021, but you might not. I also view shows and character meets as a must-have at this point, so I’m not going to be planning a trip until we have restart date for shows. But, if desperation for a WDW trip (which I am not yet) hits me, I could possibly compromise on that. I guess I am saying that if you are planning a big trip in fall 2021, be happy with what exists NOW or be prepared to cancel or compromise.

 

[DebbieB]

At CBR, the lobby and food court were recently renovated but I don’t think the rooms were. I stayed there in early October, room did not look recent.

Update - I looked at the CBR thread, it was 2014.

 

[Dean Marino]

Deleted.