Should I cancel, modify, etc.....

[Smrtalec33]

Thanks. How long was your stay?

We were at Disney for 8 days (6 park days) and then Universal 3 (2 park days).

 

[godfather927]

I'm nervous with our upcoming trip too. But there keep being Covid cases in my son's preschool class and if we're going to get Covid then I'd prefer it to be after Disney not everyday life. I'm just hoping we make it through our week long trip before getting sick.

Yeah this was my biggest worry more than anything. It's not so much dreading the disease itself as it is dreading the potential disruption it can cause on a trip you've been planning for so long and have spent so much money on. Heck we were pretty upset when my youngest caught a non-covid bug early in our trip because she got to miss out on stuff she really wanted to do at MK and AK. She recovered just fine from the illness, but even now she's still bummed out about missing out on things for those two days.

 

[Mickeymoosea]

Yeah this was my biggest worry more than anything. It's not so much dreading the disease itself as it is dreading the potential disruption it can cause on a trip you've been planning for so long and have spent so much money on. Heck we were pretty upset when my youngest caught a non-covid bug early in our trip because she got to miss out on stuff she really wanted to do at MK and AK. She recovered just fine from the illness, but even now she's still bummed out about missing out on things for those two days.

I have to admit that too. I won't say I'm more worried about that. I don't want anyone in my family to get sick period especially with covid but the idea of our vacation being ruined by it is depressing. We've been counting the days.
This trip is more expensive than any other I've ever been on. Every other post is how so and so got covid or food poisoning. I'm getting major cold feet because we are at the mercy of being in the wrong place at the wrong time or eating the wrong thing lol. I felt a little safer in prior trips because everyone was forced to take some precaution. I get why those precautions were lifted but now we're on our own and I didn't anticipate getting anxious like this at the last minute.

 

[Anna131517]

If you’re very covid cautious you may not want to go until you’re more comfortable. I got COVID on our April trip. And no, it wasn’t mild. Two weeks of being extremely I’ll (luckily not hospitalized) and I’m still not back to normal. It’s just so crowded and there are basically no precautions. I don’t know how you can avoid exposure there. Also, Disney World was honestly not as fun this trip. I told DH we’re not going back until they get rid of or change Genie+.

 

[Neener16]

We went for almost a week in April. I was actually more concerned about not getting infected right before we went so at least we could get there. I know that’s weird. Three of us have been vaccinated and boosted.
I have to say while we have course wore KN95 masks on the plane and in the airport, we were not as careful as the last time we went. We brought our own hand sanitizer and used it frequently. None of us got Covid or anything else. However, when my daughter got home, her husband started feeling sick the very next day. He had gone to a concert a few nights previous. So that’s where my daughter got Covid a few days after him. As someone else mentioned, it all depends on who you come in contact with, and if they do have it, what their viral load is. My vote would be to go, but only you can answer this question. Good luck!

 

[MAL44]

I am sorry - please let me rephrase my question: what do the other people you are going with say/feel? In times like these the group needs to be a team.

I go by myself

 

[Miffy]

Thank you for the comforting and honest responses. Our young child is not vaccinated and my husband hasn't been boosted but he got his initial series in September of last year. He'll be overdue but he doesn't want to get another one before our trip. He didn't like the side effects. Most of the people saying they got sick were vaccinated so I'm trying to prepare for all scenarios in my mind. Our chief concern would be getting sick in the first place and the secondary concern is having to isolate at the hotel. Also the obvious devastation of watching our expensive anticipated trip go down the drain. Then comes a new subset of other worries lol. What do you do for food if you're stuck at the hotel? Do they accommodate you? It's a lot to think about and I was hoping the masks alone would be adequate.

We are a masking family that respects what individuals choose to do but we felt like masks worked well for our 2020 trip and everything we've done since. My husband is a HCW and keeps avoiding covid even when co-workers test positive. I really thought masks worked. Cases were 15,000 a day in Florida when we went in 2020. They seem to be in the 4000-6000 range now. I don't know what to do but it feels good just to reason it all out. Thanks again.

We're here right now. My sister and I are both vaccinated and double-boosted. We both got the 2nd booster about 3 weeks ago. The effectiveness supposedly kicks in about 2 weeks after the jab.

We were here in May and December 2021 and March 2022. There's a big difference now from what it was like then. For one thing, masks are no longer required on transportation (like airplanes and WDW buses). Very very few people are wearing masks on both airplanes and the WDW buses, and the buses are often packed.

Be prepared to get into elevators with unmasked people and to be in indoor queues with unmasked people you will be standing inches away from.

As others have mentioned, there are zero precautionary measures in place here. There are still some hand-sanitizing stations here and there that are kept loaded, but we always have our own hand sanitizer with us.

We are still wearing our KN94 masks always in public indoor settings (the resort, the ride queues, the rides, the various sorts of transportation). No one says anything about it--if that's one of your concerns.

We feel sorta safe. Last May we felt completely safe--that was back when no one knew that there'd be so many variants, etc., and when being vaccinated was a huge help. Now, it's a risk, definitely.

My concern with your situation is that you said your husband doesn't want to get the booster. From how I read your post, it seems he hasn't had even the first booster. The vaccines' potency starts wearing off at 4 months and by the 6-month mark you are playing with fire. I cannot dispense medical advice, so I will say no more here.

Should you cancel your trip? That is totally up to you. Will you feel safe here? That's also up to you.

I don't know if my post helped, but I hope that it did.

And, btw, it is broiling hot here right now!

 

[Lorna7]

Hi. We have a trip planned for early next month and I'm getting serious covid jitters. We went in 8/2020 and it was one of the best trips ever. I felt so safe and we were so grateful for the opportunity to walk on popular rides with no wait. Most people seem to be sharing only happy trip reports but I'm still seeing a lot of people saying they tested positive after their vacation. We booked when everything seemed stable. I figured we must be doing good if all schools are removing mask mandates. We are spending so much money and it breaks my heart that we might spend any part of it sick. I worry about covid complications too of course. We have been lucky to avoid it thus far.

We will be bringing KN95 masks but were hoping to be more relaxed about wearing them. Someone said they got covid despite an N95 everywhere. I think that's what really killed that last shred of hope for me. It's unavoidable apparently. Then I'm hearing of food poisoning and norovirus at the resort too.

I don't know what to do. I feel guilty for booking this at a bad time. I just wonder if we can have a good time and be safe somehow. I can't tell if the people talking about sickness are the minority or not. I see people taking their tiny babies and toddlers maskless having the time of their lives. I'm very jealous of that attitude. Any advice would be so needed. Thank you. Please be as kind as you can.

Hi,
I have a little FYI to share about N95 masks - and I only know this as a nurse told me.... A N95 mask has to be properly fitted. Each person has to go to someone who knows how to do this and have a fitting done to each one's individual face - otherwise it's just a regular mask. When the N95 masks became available awhile ago now, where I live, the nurses had to go into the hospital and each one have a fitting done. This nurse told me she even had to have it re-fitted because it wasn't sitting correctly on her face. So, I wonder how many people out there that are wearing N95 masks thinking they have N95 protection and don't because they didn't have a proper fitting done? Hope I didn't freak anyone out, but I wanted to share what I know.

 

[iwannabdduck]

If this is of any value for you, here is my $.02. The wife & I just got back from a 4-night stay at the Poly last week. So far, no illness. But we are double boosted, for what value that provides. However, as others have said, it is stunningly crowded now, and covid precautions are like the movie, Gone with the Wind. We came in close contact with more people in one day at WDW than I have in the previous 365 days combined. When we wore masks on the monorail, we were usually the only ones doing so. Some others did, but most did not. Ironically the places I felt the most safe were at the sit down restaurants (with the notable exception of C Palace). I was amazed to see a third to a half of all the tables unoccupied given how hard it was to get ADR's in the first place. That includes Topolinos, Sanaa, Kona, SH71, A&C, & GF Cafe. Good luck with your decision making.

 

[cmarsh31]

You need to be ok with getting Covid. If you are, go and have a ball. If you are not ok getting Covid, don’t go. Will it be any better on the future? Nobody knows. Maybe or maybe this is the as good as it gets.

If you feel safe with distance from people and masks- you do you mask wise but do know there is 0 distancing in the park and you will be packed in with mostly maskless people in lines, etc. If that is going to stress you out, don’t go until you are ready for it. Vacay should not be stressful.

As for the food sickness- eh, can happen anywhere. I did get my first case Disney Property food poisoning in Feb so it is possible they’re slacking in food safety more than they used to but I wouldn’t let that scare me off.

This. Everything you do, every day, exposes you to covid. I've flown to Disney (many timesl, Yellowstone, California, and sailed on DCL since 2020. I got covid at school/work in November. My son got it this week, either from my ILs or his school. BUT if you're worried, and that is going to impact your trip, it may not be the time to travel for you.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

This is my opinion and I’m not an infectious disease expert. But I feel that most of the US is migrating toward treating COVID as endemic. It‘s always going to be around. That means there will NEVER be 0 risk of getting it. I know where I live they are seeing way more influenza and norovirus. As a family we have accepted the risk that we may get sick with anything if we go out in public, but since the risk of a terrible outcome is lower now we are going to live. I’m honestly more concerned about the liver issues in kids at this point.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

This is just to add that as someone fully vaccinated and one booster six months ago...Covid is leveling me. My daughter brought it home from school and I haven't been out of bed for three days. Paxlovid is helping but if you aren't lucky enough to get mild symptoms it is still debilitating and you will be bound to your hotel room.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Please keep discussion on topic to Disney trips.

Off topic posts will be deleted.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I think you nailed it. Accepting the possibility and hoping for the best will make it feel extra good if we don't get it lol.

I've been hearing about this "Disney stomach bug" since January so it seems more likely to be a mix of different things going on. The food supply chain can't be that bad all the time at Disney, can it? Hahahaha. There's no perfect time to go if this same bug seems to transcend time lol.

Disney "bugs" have pretty much been a thing since Disney came in to existence. As in, people get home and get sick and assume it's from Disney. More likely it's from being overly tired and causing the immune system to weaken, not from some massive amount of bug at Disney, though of course, more people does always mean more possible exposure to anything.

Point is, folks coming home from Disney sick is nothing new. You either worry about it or you go and don't.

I can tell you the hundreds of days I've traveled the past 2 years. Flights, hotel stays, theme parks, stadiums full of people. We've not stopped going or doing once. Even when the shut downs were at their peaks we were still out and doing wherever things were open. We've taken full advantage of lower crowds on flights and hotels to get out and go places, trying to spread out some tourism dollars when it's been so sorely lacking for some areas. We've not even gotten as much as a sniffle in all our days of travel. We've reach the point now that we are certain we've had exposure many times. Why we've never gotten it I can't say, even before vaccines we didn't get sick. When at the same time, I know others who have kept as isolated as they possibly can and have still gotten sick. There's just little explanation I think.

Does that mean anything to alleviate your worries? Not likely. Some people are just more concerned about it than others. I do think that at this point, you need to find a way to mitigate your worries as much as you can because it's just not going any where. If you are otherwise without risk, you have to weigh the odds of remaining isolated or resuming normal activities. Find a way to live with this new "normal" as they say.

 

[danceintherain]

Only you can decide your comfort level. We got COVID the first time after months of DH being the only person to leave the house for the most part.
The second time, one of our unvaccinated children probably picked it up at school.
We have traveled a bit, but the first time any of us got on a plane since July 2019 was last week.
I will say the symptoms weren't as bad the second time, after I got vaxxed. The unvaxxed kids didn't get as sick that time either. I have no idea if that was due to the particular variant or lingering immunity from the first time.

But, the first time, COVID was pretty much the only sickness we had at all for a year, since DH was the only one leaving the house. This year we've been sick pretty much constantly since October, when our local district stopped requiring masks. It surged again after the kids didn't have to wear a mask on the buses anymore.

In any case, sickness on vacation is a pretty common reality and message boards always lean towards the "complaint" side because people like to complain more than they like to talk about positive things. I knew there was some risk associated with traveling to DLR earlier this week. But, the only way to avoid all risk would be to stay home and make the rest of the household stay home. We tried that, and still got COVID for Christmas 2020, so I kind of lost all motivation to go the extra mile to avoid it and/or protect others from it.
You just have to decide how much risk you're willing to tolerate.

 

[glocon]

OP- you should cancel or modify if you don’t think you can have a good time on vacation due to worrying. Save the expensive vacation for when you can truly enjoy it.

Maybe take baby steps and work up to an expensive vacation. Start with day trips then move on to a weekend trip, start with not so crowded places and move up to crowds to see what your tolerance level is.

There is no doubt you will be in crowded areas multiple times while at wdw (transportation, lines, congested areas). A wdw vacation is too special to waste time worrying about covid. It’s a valid concern and you just have to move at your own pace regarding accepting exposure to it. It’s here to stay, and you just have to give yourself time to adjust to living with it. Everyone’s stress level is different with it and you just have to figure out how you and your family will adjust.

I hope you can vacation soon and enjoy yourselves!

 

[smwisc]

Hi. We have a trip planned for early next month and I'm getting serious covid jitters. We went in 8/2020 and it was one of the best trips ever. I felt so safe and we were so grateful for the opportunity to walk on popular rides with no wait. Most people seem to be sharing only happy trip reports but I'm still seeing a lot of people saying they tested positive after their vacation. We booked when everything seemed stable. I figured we must be doing good if all schools are removing mask mandates. We are spending so much money and it breaks my heart that we might spend any part of it sick. I worry about covid complications too of course. We have been lucky to avoid it thus far.

We will be bringing KN95 masks but were hoping to be more relaxed about wearing them. Someone said they got covid despite an N95 everywhere. I think that's what really killed that last shred of hope for me. It's unavoidable apparently. Then I'm hearing of food poisoning and norovirus at the resort too.

I don't know what to do. I feel guilty for booking this at a bad time. I just wonder if we can have a good time and be safe somehow. I can't tell if the people talking about sickness are the minority or not. I see people taking their tiny babies and toddlers maskless having the time of their lives. I'm very jealous of that attitude. Any advice would be so needed. Thank you. Please be as kind as you can.

So, first of all, don't feel guilty. Trying to navigate this ever-changing situation is ridiculously hard (unless you just throw all caution to the wind), and reasonable people can arrive at different conclusions about what is or isn't the right decision. And you can make a good, well-thought-out decision, and then things change.

We went during the last week of July 2021. During the months leading up to our trip, things were looking good! Case rates were falling, all but our youngest was vaccinated, restrictions were being lifted . . . and then Delta. The warning signs were there a week or so before our trip, and it really exploded while we were there. We were fine, no one got Covid, we had a good time - but not gonna lie, it was very stressful for me. So think honestly about how you will react to that stress and emotion.

Agree with others that you have to accept you could get Covid. As you could doing almost anything! So make that part of your calculation, and try to figure out if you can live with it. Both mentally, and whatever financial and logistics that entails. And if you can, then take the precautions you can, but try not to feel like you've failed if you do get it, and don't try to figure out how likely it is based on stories on the internet. You might get Covid, you can reduce the risk through decisions you make - that's about the extent of it. AND - if you decide to take the risk based on your own circumstances and risk tolerance - that's a reasonable decision to make at this juncture. AS IS deciding it exceeds your risk tolerance, or that you just don't want to deal with the stress.

 

[Jennasis]

Lots of people with "allergies" at WDW.

Two nights ago we were getting ready to go out to dinner at DS and we heard someone hacking up a lung in the hallway. It was BAD. For about 20 minutes straight she coughed liked she was dying...to the point she heaved a few times. We stayed in our room an extra half hour just to let the air clear before leaving.

People coughed and sneezed all around us, sometimes into their hand or elbow and most often not.

We wore masks indoors and in all crowded outside space. It was all we could do. Nobody gave us any grief. So far we all feel ok.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

I just came back from a May 3-5 trip, and agree with assessments that few guests or CMs wear masks (more CMs, as a percentage, than guests wear them, but still under 25%, I'd say, although I was glad to note that those in truly indoor/interior jobs were more likely to be masked). I found there to be plenty of hand sanitizer stations once I knew to look for them, esp placed as you exit rides, i.e. touchpoint madness zones, but I still had a couple times where I just used the one in my bag as more immediate/convenient. I was pleased to find that all the machines worked when I waved my hand under them and that they always had sanitizer. Definitely not always my experience at home.
You will be close to people who do not try to leave space, nor do they mask. Consider rideshare to the parks as a way to at least avoid a couple instances of being shoulder to shoulder.
Don't underestimate how the heat (and your sweat) will affect your will to be vigilant with masks. Or the will of those in your party. My friend and I wear masks at work and shopping. All the time. For the past two years. But we came from a place 20-30F degrees cooler than Orlando at this time of year, and the sudden switch was harsh. I was glad to not have kids on this trip who might complain or need reminders as you are constantly switching from indoors to outdoors, from outdoors but tightly packed to outdoors with reasonable space.

In your case, my opinion is I would not go until and unless I could get my DH boosted and my kid vaxxed. That's my take. You want every obstacle you can put in place between you and Covid that is readily available.
You encounter So Many, Many More People in a day at the parks than you do in regular life. Simple statistics will tell you that you will spend some time at some point less than six feet away from someone who is positive whether they know it or not, that you will touch a handrail, a lap belt, a table that was touched recently by someone positive, that you will be in an indoor space where one or more positive people are or were recently breathing maskless.

 

[Mickeymoosea]

We have decided to go and take precautions as much as we possibly can. Our son is looking forward to this so much and we've had a hard year. I will be so sad sitting at home missing out. The truth is that most kids are getting it from daycare or school. We've been lucky and we are going to be careful. I appreciate your kind consideration. We've been looking at positive trip reports. There are so many and it's inspiring!!