Taking a Break in 2019?

[PlutoTheDog89]

I'm sure I may get some slack for asking this, because a lot of people can't wait for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.

Background: We've been going for every Christmas (except 2011) since 2009. We love Disney during Christmas. We purchased an AP last April (Easter weekend), and went for Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, all while taking advantage of the 20% discount.

I won't say we're burnt out. We're not. I DO think it's becoming redundant, to an extent. During Christmas we tried spending more time at the resort. We had a nice trip, but as I mentioned in a previous post, it was soured by the family we traveled with.

So our plan is to try again. My sister and I are doing a quick weekend next week for Pro Bowl; I talked my family into "getting the most out of our APs before they expire" so we're going back for Easter, and we'll do one last trip for Christmas.

I see a lot of people looking forward to SW:GE on here, so I thought I'd go against the grain...

What's the overall feeling on skipping 2019? I'm not "in love" with Star Wars—I wasn't in love with Avatar and still enjoyed Pandora—but it's going to be chaotic. Not New Fantasyland crowded; not Pandora crowded; not Christmas crowded: I think it's going to be a new level of crowded. It's going to be not just Disney fans, but a TON of first timers looking to go.

And so, I think we'll personally skip in 2019. We may even skip 2020 and make our first trip back for the 50th. My parents celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2019, so we may do a trip abroad.

I'm interested in hearing everyone's thoughts. Will you be first in line to visit SW:GE, or will you be waiting for the novelty to wear off a bit?

 

[Klayfish]

You'll get no slack from me. We're in sort of the same boat. When we lived in PA, we saved and saved to try to go to WDW as often as we could. Since moving to GA a few years ago, we've bought APs twice and try to maximize them to the fullest and go whenever we can...2018 will be our 4th summer in a row with a 17 or 18 day trip. I love WDW to death. However, we have no plans to renew our AP. First, our wallet simply needs a break. Second, while I like Star Wars, "like" is as far as I'd go. Not in love with it by any stretch. We'd just as soon wait for the initial crush to pass in 2019, find somewhere different to go for summer vacation (and less expensive), then return in 2020.

I see nothing wrong with your plan.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

You'll get no slack from me. We're in sort of the same boat. When we lived in PA, we saved and saved to try to go to WDW as often as we could. Since moving to GA a few years ago, we've bought APs twice and try to maximize them to the fullest and go whenever we can...2018 will be our 4th summer in a row with a 17 or 18 day trip. I love WDW to death. However, we have no plans to renew our AP. First, our wallet simply needs a break. Second, while I like Star Wars, "like" is as far as I'd go. Not in love with it by any stretch. We'd just as soon wait for the initial crush to pass in 2019, find somewhere different to go for summer vacation (and less expensive), then return in 2020.

I see nothing wrong with your plan.

17 or 18-day trip? WHOAH. Not to change the conversation, but what are your days like? Are you in the parks all the time? Do you spend a lot of time at the resort?

 

[agame2323]

We'll back making a long awaited return to Disney this year. But the plan is to skip 2019 and allow all the kinks to get worked out for SW:GE. I LOVE Star Wars but I would rather wait until the 2nd phase is rolled out. I think we'll bounce back to Universal for 2019.

 

[agame2323]

17 or 18-day trip? WHOAH. Not to change the conversation, but what are your days like? Are you in the parks all the time? Do you spend a lot of time at the resort?

I agree. How do you do 18 days at WDW? You should be burnt out.

 

[mamaofsix]

We are planning a big trip the end of November / beginning of December this year (2018). Word is that the crowds might be less this year, as people will be pushing off their vacation until 2019 when Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opens. We'd rather avoid the crazy!

We love star wars, but are actually planning to wait until February 2022 the next time around. 3 1/2 years is a long time to wait between Disney vacations, but we're thinking that 2019-2021 will be insane with all of the new offerings and the 50th Anniversary. Would rather reap the benefits of all the updates they're doing for the 50th Anniversary the year AFTER and avoid the crowds

 

[belledreamer]

I totally agree with skipping 2019 and I wouldn't be surprised if we did the same. But mine would be more because of burnout and cost. And with 25+ trips under my belt, I definitely wouldn't mind trading Disney for some cruising instead for a while.

 

[gap2368]

I have a boss that has 3 sets of grand kids she buys an AP every other year and takes each set of grandchildren down with her. This works very well for my boss. Now I try to renew my pass every year

 

[emilymad]

We are planning on doing the same. We have a trip planned in April to get the most out of our APs but I think we will take a few years off. Availability at the resorts has already been on the rise plus general costs going up. We don't care enough about SW to deal with the cost and crowds.

 

[Klayfish]

17 or 18-day trip? WHOAH. Not to change the conversation, but what are your days like? Are you in the parks all the time? Do you spend a lot of time at the resort?

Nope, we don't burn out. But we're also not "commando" touring people either. Our 17 or 18 day trips sort of go like this...

We leave on a Tuesday or Wednesday after I get off work, drive down that night. I then work remote the rest of that week, so that's usually 8am to 4pm. We stay offsite exclusively, so DW and the kids will go to the grocery store on the first day, then the other days will go to the pool and hang out or just relax while I'm working. We hit the parks from 4pm to 9pm, roughly. Then on the weekend we'll spend a good part of the day in the parks. It could be a variety of things. Morning in a park, followed by going "home" and then back out to a park at night. Perhaps we'll go to a water park, could be anything. Then I'll work again Mon and Tue the following week. The rest, I take vacation days from work, which is typically Wed through the following Friday (8 days total). 4th of July is mixed in there somewhere, so that's a "free" day off work. So out of the 17 days, I typically work 4 of them and the rest are true vacation.

We are very much "wing it" people. We hit the parks pretty much every day, but how much and when really just depends on what we feel like. We never rope drop, so we'll sleep in until 8am. Get up, have breakfast at home, and head for the parks at 9:00am. Stay in the parks from 9:30am to 2:30pm and head home. From there, maybe we'll just go swimming and then go out for dessert (tons of places outside WDW). Maybe we'll go back to a park just for 2 hours. Maybe we'll just hang out in front of the TV. Maybe go shopping. Really depends. If we're tired, we'll sleep in even later and hang out at the house in the morning. We won't even get to the parks until 4pm and we'll stay until we're ready to leave...9pm, 10pm?? We'll mix in Disney Springs, water parks, touring resorts, etc... Usually we'll have at least one day where we spend the day at Daytona Beach. If we're not tired, we'll do a few rides in a park that night. If we're tired, we just go home.

So no, we really don't burn out. We tour WDW somewhat different than most. Very minimal "planning", no ADRs, no rope drops, no commando days, no set schedules. We're there to relax, have fun as a family and just do what we feel. Honestly, I think that's key to not burning out. No plans, no stress, no pressure, not doing the same thing over and over (we do hit each park at least 4 or 5 times, but mix it up).

 

[Ds4angels]

We are going this Aug and then I doubt we'll be back before 2020. I do like Star Wars, but time think it's going to be a whole different world of people there. Not bad, just different. Hoping to see how it shakes out

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

Nope, we don't burn out. But we're also not "commando" touring people either. Our 17 or 18 day trips sort of go like this...

We leave on a Tuesday or Wednesday after I get off work, drive down that night. I then work remote the rest of that week, so that's usually 8am to 4pm. We stay offsite exclusively, so DW and the kids will go to the grocery store on the first day, then the other days will go to the pool and hang out or just relax while I'm working. We hit the parks from 4pm to 9pm, roughly. Then on the weekend we'll spend a good part of the day in the parks. It could be a variety of things. Morning in a park, followed by going "home" and then back out to a park at night. Perhaps we'll go to a water park, could be anything. Then I'll work again Mon and Tue the following week. The rest, I take vacation days from work, which is typically Wed through the following Friday (8 days total). 4th of July is mixed in there somewhere, so that's a "free" day off work. So out of the 17 days, I typically work 4 of them and the rest are true vacation.

We are very much "wing it" people. We hit the parks pretty much every day, but how much and when really just depends on what we feel like. We never rope drop, so we'll sleep in until 8am. Get up, have breakfast at home, and head for the parks at 9:00am. Stay in the parks from 9:30am to 2:30pm and head home. From there, maybe we'll just go swimming and then go out for dessert (tons of places outside WDW). Maybe we'll go back to a park just for 2 hours. Maybe we'll just hang out. Really depends. If we're tired, we'll sleep in even later and hang out at the house in the morning. We won't even get to the parks until 4pm and we'll stay until we're ready to leave...9pm, 10pm?? We'll mix in Disney Springs, water parks, touring resorts, etc... Usually we'll have at least one day where we spend the day at Daytona Beach. If we're not tired, we'll do a few rides in a park that night. If we're tired, we just go home.

So no, we really don't burn out. We tour WDW somewhat different than most. Very minimal "planning", no ADRs, no rope drops, no set schedules. We're there to relax, have fun as a family and just do what we feel. Honestly, I think that's key to not burning out. No plans, no stress, no pressure, not doing the same thing over and over (we do hit each park at least 4 or 5 times, but mix it up).

Good for you. As a travel junkie who just started at a new company with a "get your work done and I won't ask question" management style, I really wanna start parlaying working from home and trips more often now. That sounds like a blast.

 

[kitkat4622]

Not alone. We are going April 19-28th this year and have no plans to return until 2020 (possibly the Fall) next year our plan is a tropical island vacation

 

[Klayfish]

Good for you. As a travel junkie who just started at a new company with a "get your work done and I won't ask question" management style, I really wanna start parlaying working from home and trips more often now. That sounds like a blast.

It is, believe me. DW works for the same school district the kids attend, so they have 8 weeks off in the summer. The only reason we don't stay an entire month is because of my job. I've debated pushing it to see if I can work remote for 2 weeks, then take 2 weeks vacation...

 

[melana]

No slack from me either. We are going to WDW in December 2018 for what will probably be our last until at least 2020 or even 2021.
We usually go two years in a row and taken a few years off, then go again. I am super excited about Star Wars at HS but I am sure it is gonna be super crowded when it opens.
My niece graduated High school in 2019 and she wants to do a cruise or go to New York and New Orleans. So that is our plan for that year.

 

[rchampagne]

I'm in agreement as well. We've been to Disney for 4 years straight, including next August. but I've already said that we're taking a break for a year or two, and not going in 2019. After seeing how crazy Pandora has been... I just can't imagine how much worse SW:GE is going to be.

 

[PSUGuy]

Once a year for 9 - 10 days works for us. By the time we're up to the FP+ window we're chomping at the bit to get there and by the time we get to the Rose&Crown, always our first 'ride', we feel like we're still there from our last trip. Once we did 11 park days and decided that was too much, the last day or 2 it felt like a job.

Bill From PA

 

[loves to dive]

I've been going to WDW since 1983, for a while it was every other year since I was a single mother with a toddler (he was just shy of 3 when we started going) and it took me two years to save. Back then the only on site resorts were the deluxe MK resorts so that was where we stayed since a single mom with a toddler needed the easiest way to do it. For the last 5 or 6 years I have been going at least twice a year. My son started going once a year around that time. The last few years I've gone 3 or 4 times, I've had an AP for about 4 or 5 years. I'm semi-retired now so finances will probably dictate how often I go but I know I'll go at least twice a year but might have to step down to a moderate for the entire trip at least one of those trips. I don't plan on skipping any years but I don't go for the rides that much any more and like Klayfish, our style is pretty relaxed. We go in the mornings when we are up and ready, that might be rope drop especially if I'm solo, might be 10 am if my son is with me. We usually just hop on the first park bus to come and make FPs while on the bus or go stand by and FPs while in line. We don't mind standing in lines, we stood in line for FOP in August for about 95 min. Since our style is so loose and not that ride concentrated it allows us that freedom since we rarely have anything planned. We book ADRs for the night while walking around in the afternoon and because we have APs or in my son's case PHs, where we book them just doesn't matter. The last two years we have gone the week before Christmas and it's been crowded, doesn't bother us, we just spend more time eating, drinking refreshing adult beverages and taking in the sites.

 

[agame2323]

We are planning a big trip the end of November / beginning of December this year (2018). Word is that the crowds might be less this year, as people will be pushing off their vacation until 2019 when Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opens. We'd rather avoid the crazy!

We love star wars, but are actually planning to wait until February 2022 the next time around. 3 1/2 years is a long time to wait between Disney vacations, but we're thinking that 2019-2021 will be insane with all of the new offerings and the 50th Anniversary. Would rather reap the benefits of all the updates they're doing for the 50th Anniversary the year AFTER and avoid the crowds

This is actually a pretty good idea. Like I said... we're making one last trip before it get crazy. This year we'll do Food and Wine and maybe MVMCP. After that, it's back to US!

 

[kiramay]

Due to family/school schedules, we’re going over Christmas break December 2019. I’d prefer to have waited to like February 2020 but I can’t pull the kids out of high school. I’m anticipating huge crowds so we’re planning at least 8 days (24 fastpasses).