What should I be doing? (trip planned for June 2021)

[shelbel95]

We had a trip planned for last June, which was cancelled.... we are fortunate enough to be able to rebook the trip for this coming June.

However, I'm not sure what (if any) kind of planning we should be doing right now in light of the changes. We're used to booking dining 180 days out and fast passes 90 days out and letting those be a (flexible) guide to our vacation and which parks we visited on which days, etc. But since we can't book dining until 60 days out (right?) and fast passes are not in place right now, the only thing we can do right now is book our park days, I think.

I'm curious to hear what others have been doing/researching to prepare for their trip in this "new" environment and what kind of considerations go into which parks you choose. Thanks!

 

[cgattis]

I think that’s all we can do right now (we’re booked for May). My main consideration was just booking myself enough HS days (3 of my 7) to have the max shot at the SW rides and MMRR (none of which we’ve ever done). I probably should’ve avoided MK on a Sunday but I already has HS as my first day; couldn’t wait any longer for MK!

I think we can start watching for threads on hopping reports and how/if that affects opening/closing hour crowds (we don’t plan to hop though). I think we can watch transportation threads on most efficient ways to get to each park at rope drop. And I think we can also watch for additional dining options to open back up, to have a better handle on what ADRs we will want.

Any other ideas?

 

[corn princess]

Yep we just got back from a December trip and are going again in June. It's a very different world because there is so little to do until 60 days before! Once I had my park reservation made, I spent a lot of time making my touring plans and figuring out what dining I was hoping for but that's about all you have to do

 

[Kelly014]

Watch Disney+. Scour disboards for updated info. Second guess your scheduled park days. Cross your fingers and toes that things are good enough for no masks in the Florida heat.

Really though, we are planning on a July trip. I plan out a meal schedule when we go so this time I will do the same based on my preferred restaurants. When the time gets closer, I’ll adjust based on what’s open. I also like to plan out non ride things to do. There’s so much to see and even though we’ve been several times there are little things we miss or don’t do every time. Again, I’ll plan based on everything being open and then adjust closer to when we go.

I will also be day dreaming of a Lapu Lapu by the volcano pool...

 

[corn princess]

Watch Disney+. Scour disboards for updated info. Second guess your scheduled park days. Cross your fingers and toes that things are good enough for no masks in the Florida heat.

Really though, we are planning on a July trip. I plan out a meal schedule when we go so this time I will do the same based on my preferred restaurants. When the time gets closer, I’ll adjust based on what’s open. I also like to plan out non ride things to do. There’s so much to see and even though we’ve been several times there are little things we miss or don’t do every time. Again, I’ll plan based on everything being open and then adjust closer to when we go.

I will also be day dreaming of a Lapu Lapu by the volcano pool...

Yes on second guessing your scheduled park days

 

[whitney37354]

I'm in the same situation. There is nothing I can do at this point except decide whether or not we want to pay for Magic Bands. We booked for Poly and have already gotten an e-mail that we will be contacted 30 days before our trip to find out where we've been moved to. I can't even research our hotel at this point. Here's hoping for a good trip for all of us!

 

[tlmadden73]

We had a trip planned for last June, which was cancelled.... we are fortunate enough to be able to rebook the trip for this coming June.

However, I'm not sure what (if any) kind of planning we should be doing right now in light of the changes. We're used to booking dining 180 days out and fast passes 90 days out and letting those be a (flexible) guide to our vacation and which parks we visited on which days, etc. But since we can't book dining until 60 days out (right?) and fast passes are not in place right now, the only thing we can do right now is book our park days, I think.

I'm curious to hear what others have been doing/researching to prepare for their trip in this "new" environment and what kind of considerations go into which parks you choose. Thanks!

Honestly .. because COVID (and things getting cancelled so much) .. I haven't looked forward to my next trip and haven't done much planning. I 2 weeks away from a rescheduled trip (from June 2020) .. and I still am nto very excited and honestly still debating if I think it is "worth" going.

WIth so much changed (and changing) .. not sure how much effort you can put into planning besides maybe what ADRs you will want.

Honestly, it is a bit refreshing. The parks are like the olden days -- where (beside making a park reservation) .. you just roll up to the parks and go to which rides you want .. no worry about FP schedules since everything is standby.

 

[jimim]

you still have to prebook parks right? when you get you r park tickets and room right? i forgot about this. I have a june trip booked and haven't looked at it. i don't have tickets either cause i'm waiting to see if season passes go back online.

 

[corn princess]

you still have to prebook parks right? when you get you r park tickets and room right? i forgot about this. I have a june trip booked and haven't looked at it. i don't have tickets either cause i'm waiting to see if season passes go back online.

Yep you do still need to make a park reservation!

 

[cgattis]

I'm in the same situation. There is nothing I can do at this point except decide whether or not we want to pay for Magic Bands. We booked for Poly and have already gotten an e-mail that we will be contacted 30 days before our trip to find out where we've been moved to. I can't even research our hotel at this point. Here's hoping for a good trip for all of us!

Well that does add a level of complexity, doesn’t it?? Hopefully you’ll get a really great room wherever you get moved!

And just wanted to say HEY from TN too (recognized that number)!

 

[jimim]

Yep you do still need to make a park reservation!

ya i figured. im going to cx june if season passes don't go up again. i don't feel like calling and begging for them and being on hold for 3 hrs. they beat me down for good with just trying to get my refund since april.
they win i give up at this point.

 

[shelbel95]

I'm in the same situation. There is nothing I can do at this point except decide whether or not we want to pay for Magic Bands. We booked for Poly and have already gotten an e-mail that we will be contacted 30 days before our trip to find out where we've been moved to. I can't even research our hotel at this point. Here's hoping for a good trip for all of us!

We are also booked at Polynesian, but with DVC (we rented points) and it appears from emails we've received from Disney that we will still be there... although, not everything will be open. So, yes, we're feeling a bit of the uncertainty there too not knowing exactly what to expect. But if 2020 has prepared us for anything, it's to go with the flow as much as possible!

 

[shelbel95]

Watch Disney+. Scour disboards for updated info. Second guess your scheduled park days. Cross your fingers and toes that things are good enough for no masks in the Florida heat.

Really though, we are planning on a July trip. I plan out a meal schedule when we go so this time I will do the same based on my preferred restaurants. When the time gets closer, I’ll adjust based on what’s open. I also like to plan out non ride things to do. There’s so much to see and even though we’ve been several times there are little things we miss or don’t do every time. Again, I’ll plan based on everything being open and then adjust closer to when we go.

I will also be day dreaming of a Lapu Lapu by the volcano pool...

Oh, the second guessing.... eek! Do you know if it's a pain to switch your park days if you make reservations and then change your mind? Or is it best to just do it once and leave it locked in? We are very much of the "tinkering" type of Disney vacationers where we will move around dining and/or fast pass reservations leading up to and during our vacation.

 

[sethschroeder]

I'm curious to hear what others have been doing/researching to prepare for their trip in this "new" environment and what kind of considerations go into which parks you choose.

I love the new system, wish dining was pushed back to 30 days out and hope FP+ returns at 30 days out as well.

Basically right now just keep reading up on restaurants, making your list, checking it twice. You can also watch a bunch of Disney YouTube content just for the fun of it.

The only other thing is just keep periodically checking the park reservations page to make sure days don't start booking up. When they start booking up for Annual Pass you want to make sure to lock in some date (by then the strategy might have changed on what to do so just wait. I wouldn't worry about park passes until about 35 days out when you are going to start doing dining reservations.

 

[sethschroeder]

Do you know if it's a pain to switch your park days if you make reservations and then change your mind? Or is it best to just do it once and leave it locked in?

No issues with switching parks, now with no FP+ you can even easily do it the morning of if their is availability just keep checking the availability calendar as your time gets closer to see how the parks get reserved and which if any get to capacity (HS likely but maybe nothing else).

Right now pretty much only HS is filling up so all my AK days are actually booked at HS days to give me more shots at making sure I get a boarding pass at least once over our 10 days. All my Epcot time will be evenings as well where we park hop there and plan on 1 or 2 rides along with dinner in Epcot most nights (either sit-down, QS, or festival of arts).

 

[corn princess]

I love the new system, wish dining was pushed back to 30 days out and hope FP+ returns at 30 days out as well.

Basically right now just keep reading up on restaurants, making your list, checking it twice. You can also watch a bunch of Disney YouTube content just for the fun of it.

The only other thing is just keep periodically checking the park reservations page to make sure days don't start booking up. When they start booking up for Annual Pass you want to make sure to lock in some date (by then the strategy might have changed on what to do so just wait. I wouldn't worry about park passes until about 35 days out when you are going to start doing dining reservations.

I really enjoyed our last trip without fast passes or having to over plan everything! It was a nice change of pace!

 

[Joysnote]

Oh, the second guessing.... eek! Do you know if it's a pain to switch your park days if you make reservations and then change your mind? Or is it best to just do it once and leave it locked in? We are very much of the "tinkering" type of Disney vacationers where we will move around dining and/or fast pass reservations leading up to and during our vacation.

I don't think it is a pain, but you may want to reserve the more popular park, Hollywood Studios ASAP and then you can switch over, mainly it is one filling fastest, following by Magic Kingdom. then one you make you dining go back and make sure you have the parks you want for the right days.

That is what I do.

 

[DisLiss]

Honestly, I'm pretty sure we're going to cancel our June 2021 trip. When we cancelled our August/September 2020 trip, we re-booked for this coming June, but I'm still not sure it's worth it for us. But I do agree that it feels so odd to just book a trip and then forget about it until so much closer to the actual trip dates.

I do really think we'll wind up rescheduling again, and I hope that once we do we can start to work up some excitement, but we probably won't even try to make any plans from far out because after 2020 I'm at a point of not taking changes in plans as well as I used to, LOL!

 

[tlmadden73]

Honestly .. because COVID (and things getting cancelled so much) .. I haven't looked forward to my next trip and haven't done much planning. I 2 weeks away from a rescheduled trip (from June 2020) .. and I still am nto very excited and honestly still debating if I think it is "worth" going.

WIth so much changed (and changing) .. not sure how much effort you can put into planning besides maybe what ADRs you will want.

Honestly, it is a bit refreshing. The parks are like the olden days -- where (beside making a park reservation) .. you just roll up to the parks and go to which rides you want .. no worry about FP schedules since everything is standby.

Just an update -- I am probably going to cancel my January trip ... as the date gets closer things aren't as "normal" as I was hoping when I booked the trip back in June. I'll probably kick the can down the road 3 months and try for an end of April trip so it isn't so too hot .. and past the typical Spring Break time .. but before Summer starts.

I just want "more value" from my next trip if I am going to be paying even more (even after discounts) for a resort room than I did in 2019. I also just want more of the Magic back .. especially for my daughter who is in that perfect "Princess" age. While I am okay going with masks and social distancing, I would like more "back" before I go again.

I have my doubts that even April we'll be there. And I want to be sure I activate my AP for a year of somewhat "normal" and not a year of masks/social distancing, no M&Gs, no fireworks, limited dining, limited capacity .. etc. I don't think Jan. 2021-Jan. 2022 will be a good year to go multiple times, so the later I delay my next trip . .the more value my AP will be.