Our experience - testing requirements/air travel to U.S.

[PalmettoPath]

The FAQ on the website says if you have one. The insurance is optional. From previous accounts posted they weren't even asked for it.

Okay. Thanks. I just checked the Walgreen's website and for this week Weds and Thurs are already booked full at the locations relatively close to WDW (Vineland and one other). I didn't check further. I love the idea of the free tests, but this just feels too risky for me. We are paying for a house call to our WDW hotel room. It's pricey as they only do PCR tests, but I'd hate to be in a scramble position with no appts available. With my luck, that would happen. My brain hurts from this testing situation :0

 

[ellbell]

Okay. Thanks. I just checked the Walgreen's website and for this week Weds and Thurs are already booked full at the locations relatively close to WDW (Vineland and one other). I didn't check further. I love the idea of the free tests, but this just feels too risky for me. We are paying for a house call to our WDW hotel room. It's pricey as they only do PCR tests, but I'd hate to be in a scramble position with no appts available. With my luck, that would happen. My brain hurts from this testing situation :0

Who are you getting to do the housecall. I would love to have this on my list of options.

 

[2Lunds]

Regarding the 72 hour window for testing on the way back - when I spoke to Air Canada about this, and asked "what if we get it done 70 hours out, and our flight is delayed?" the rep said don't worry about that, we'd be fine. I haven't seen that written anywhere, but it makes sense, as delays are not the fault of the passenger.



Going on the Shoppers website seems to have London locations that do the $40- Rapid test:

https://covid-19.shoppersdrugmart.ca/en/testing/antigen-pcr/on
I hope it's OK I posted that. You'll need to call the location and book a time over the phone.

I can't believe this is available in every dinky little town in Ontario and Saskatchewan - but NO locations in MB. We have an international airport! What the heck?

 

[22Tink]

I can't believe this is available in every dinky little town in Ontario and Saskatchewan - but NO locations in MB. We have an international airport! What the heck?

None available in BC either and we also have an international airport. So frustrating, $129 per test is the cheapest I've found here.

 

[Safari23]

We flew into Pearson from the states today and it was relatively painless all things considered. We did the Walgreens test which was as quick as ever and just printed out the lab PDFs. We uploaded all the forms to the various apps (united arrivecan etc) and that was fairly simple (although it took forever for united to verify and I’m still not sure why they needed the stuff in the first place). Check in was smooth and when we connected onto our AC flight we just had to show the lab print outs again before boarding (in a separate line before going forward with boarding group). It did look like a number of people didn’t make the flight and it went from full to lots of seats, but I’m not sure why people were turned away. Anyway, on landing the nexus line was open and quick and we were home with our checked bags and COVID tests within an hour. Overall could have been much worse. Hope this helps!

TorontoMinnie - did you fly in from Orlando or L.A.? Did you have any children under 12 with you? And when you say you were home with bags and covid test, do you mean you were given a covid test to do at home for the adults? This is the part that changes Aug 9th I believe right? Vaccinated adults no longer have to test on arrival?

 

[fernandasuarez]

Okay. Thanks. I just checked the Walgreen's website and for this week Weds and Thurs are already booked full at the locations relatively close to WDW (Vineland and one other). I didn't check further. I love the idea of the free tests, but this just feels too risky for me. We are paying for a house call to our WDW hotel room. It's pricey as they only do PCR tests, but I'd hate to be in a scramble position with no appts available. With my luck, that would happen. My brain hurts from this testing situation :0

Who are you calling to do house call ?, I would love to use that option in my upcoming tri´p

 

[PalmettoPath]

Who are you getting to do the housecall. I would love to have this on my list of options.

The Medical Concierge. We have used them a few times over the years at WDW for other things.
http://www.themedicalconcierge.com

 

[PalmettoPath]

Who are you calling to do house call ?, I would love to use that option in my upcoming tri´p

The Medical Concierge. http://www.themedicalconcierge.com

 

[fernandasuarez]

This thread is so helpful!, I have been panicking with this whole testing situation (My trip is in September), I was afriad an Uber would not want to take us to a drive-through covid test, but I will try the Cab option as someone mentioned, has anyone done that already ?. Renting a car is not an option for us, so it has to be either Uber or Cab if thinking on the Walgreens option.

Other options I have been looking is to find a place close to WDW that does Testings with an appointment, one option was Adventhealth but I saw many reviews of people saying the waiting time was insane, hours long, even with appointment. So now I am looking at Fasttestnow or Urgentcare247

 

[ellbell]

The Medical Concierge. We have used them a few times over the years at WDW for other things.
http://www.themedicalconcierge.com

Thanks for the info!!!

 

[ellbell]

This thread is so helpful!, I have been panicking with this whole testing situation (My trip is in September), I was afriad an Uber would not want to take us to a drive-through covid test, but I will try the Cab option as someone mentioned, has anyone done that already ?. Renting a car is not an option for us, so it has to be either Uber or Cab if thinking on the Walgreens option.

Other options I have been looking is to find a place close to WDW that does Testings with an appointment, one option was Adventhealth but I saw many reviews of people saying the waiting time was insane, hours long, even with appointment. So now I am looking at Fasttestnow or Urgentcare247

I am also taking a cab because renting a car is not an option. I'll ve doing my test on Septmber 9th.

 

[ellbell]

The Medical Concierge. We have used them a few times over the years at WDW for other things.
http://www.themedicalconcierge.com

Sorry to bother again but I don't see the cost for in room testing. Approximately how much was it? I want to figure out if I should just do this to avoid the inconvenience of the free testing.

 

[fernandasuarez]

I am also taking a cab because renting a car is not an option. I'll ve doing my test on Septmber 9th.

I hope everything goes great with your Trip!

 

[PalmettoPath]

Sorry to bother again but I don't see the cost for in room testing. Approximately how much was it? I want to figure out if I should just do this to avoid the inconvenience of the free testing.

It's definitely not a budget solution, but for us the convenience of it all is worth it. I don't have it in front of me but it's somewhere around 1K for the three of us (house call, tests and courier to lab). These are PCR tests.

 

[ellbell]

It's definitely not a budget solution, but for us the convenience of it all is worth it. I don't have it in front of me but it's somewhere around 1K for the three of us (house call, tests and courier to lab). These are PCR tests.

Thank you that is helpful. I will keep it in mind. I'll most likely try for the Walgreens option but at least this is an option.

 

[spewey]

Good to have a back-up plan, as others have noted there don't seem to be any time slots available at the moment in the Orlando area for the Rapid ID Now Walgreens tests.

 

[jump00]

Sorry for asking this question….. can you get the NAAT less than 72 hours before your flight home? Everyone seems to be trying to hit the 72 hours exactly……….
Thanks

 

[spewey]

Most reports say you get the Walgreens NAAT test results by email in a few hours (that's what happened with us). Whether or not you can time the test 72 hours out of course depends on your flight time, and available appointments (the latest seem to be 4:45PM).

My family's flight was at 2:40PM on a Monday; I booked them 4:45PM on the Friday before, which is about 70 hours out. Could have done the Saturday or Sunday, but why wait ...

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I was just thinking for getting off a cruise ship, stay an extra night in the departure port city (i.e., Fort Lauderdale) and get your NAAT / Walgreens test done after leaving the ship. Fly out the next day. All this just in case the cruise lines stops giving out tests for passengers who need them.

What if we booked a walgreens test online, but then didn't need it and therefore not show up? No biggie to miss it?

Edit to add: When on the walgreens website, is there calendar or something where you can select a specific date three days out?

 

[spewey]

I was just thinking for getting off a cruise ship, stay an extra night in the departure port city (i.e., Fort Lauderdale) and get your NAAT / Walgreens test done after leaving the ship. Fly out the next day. All this just in case the cruise lines stops giving out tests for passengers who need them.

What if we booked a walgreens test online, but then didn't need it and therefore not show up? No biggie to miss it?

Edit to add: When on the walgreens website, is there calendar or something where you can select a specific date three days out?

Yep - a calendar of available appointments will show up at the end of the booking process. A list of all the locations nearby the Zip you entered in the search appear, and each will show "no" "some" or "many" appointments next to their address.

Very, very helpful. I strongly suggest trying it out in advance to get a feel - go through the questionnaire, etc to get a feel for it, just don't actually book of course