Who is planning for 2022?

[Royal Consort]

So jealous we re still locked in in WA.

Did you find your experience was still 'magical' or the mask wearing and fear of catching something spoiled it?
Also was travel insurance did you have?did it cover your medical and hotel expenses if you got covid overseas?

One thing we realised in the US is how utterly obsessed Australia is with covid. People are getting on with it and living their lives and taking sensible precautions. There was almost as much magic as always. We made the deliberate choice not to worry about covid as we really needed the break and quite frankly I am so fatigued with the thing I dont have the energy to care. We modified our behaviour with N95 masks both inside and outside, ate outside, and we avoided crowds by not attending parades and fireworks. I feel utterly refreshed and a bit more human from the experience. We are booked for WDW in May.

We insured the trip with Covermore which covered covid and quarantine expenses. I am pleased we went and the fear of international travel is completely eliminated for me.

 

[aussiecookfamily]

One thing we realised in the US is how utterly obsessed Australia is with covid. People are getting on with it and living their lives and taking sensible precautions. There was almost as much magic as always. We made the deliberate choice not to worry about covid as we really needed the break and quite frankly I am so fatigued with the thing I dont have the energy to care. We modified our behaviour with N95 masks both inside and outside, ate outside, and we avoided crowds by not attending parades and fireworks. I feel utterly refreshed and a bit more human from the experience. We are booked for WDW in May.

We insured the trip with Covermore which covered covid and quarantine expenses. I am pleased we went and the fear of international travel is completely eliminated for me.

This makes me so happy to read - I so need this trip. We are booked for WDW in November, but I am planning on this week at DL/DCA in January to be magical. We also insured with Covermore, seemed to have good coverage at a good price.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

Yeah it's great to hear!only thing with covermore is that they don't cover cruises and I was really keen on a Disney Cruise I guess I will have to wait.

 

[BecBennett]

Still a little nervous about having to secure a COVID test result within 1 day of flying (USA requirement) - but hoping all the testing centers quiet down a little (but maybe I am delusional).

Where are you flying from? Sydney Airport has a testing clinic and they can get the results back to you super quickly. I think the tests are $79.

Editing to add - looks like the testing if available at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and you can do it up to 24 hours before your flight
https://www.histopath.com.au/

 

[aussiecookfamily]

Where are you flying from? Sydney Airport has a testing clinic and they can get the results back to you super quickly. I think the tests are $79.

Editing to add - looks like the testing if available at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and you can do it up to 24 hours before your flight
https://www.histopath.com.au/

Thanks for this information - exactly what I have been searching for.

 

[SnowWhite09]

One thing we realised in the US is how utterly obsessed Australia is with covid. People are getting on with it and living their lives and taking sensible precautions. There was almost as much magic as always. We made the deliberate choice not to worry about covid as we really needed the break and quite frankly I am so fatigued with the thing I dont have the energy to care. We modified our behaviour with N95 masks both inside and outside, ate outside, and we avoided crowds by not attending parades and fireworks. I feel utterly refreshed and a bit more human from the experience. We are booked for WDW in May.

We insured the trip with Covermore which covered covid and quarantine expenses. I am pleased we went and the fear of international travel is completely eliminated for me.

This is so great - glad you had a great time and thank you for posting this information!

Where are you flying from? Sydney Airport has a testing clinic and they can get the results back to you super quickly. I think the tests are $79.

Editing to add - looks like the testing if available at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and you can do it up to 24 hours before your flight
https://www.histopath.com.au/

This is so helpful - thank you for posting!

 

[JMagic]

We have our first trip since 2018 booked for March 27 through April 25th. Flying Hawaii airlines so we can do a week at Aulani on the way back. Using our DVC Points, we are staying at copper creek and animal kingdom lodge and doing a short trip in the starcruiser. Can’t wait! Our only concern now is making sure we get that negative test 24 hours before departure into the states…already nervous for that….

 

[Cedric Rose]

We have our first trip since 2018 booked for March 27 through April 25th. Flying Hawaii airlines so we can do a week at Aulani on the way back. Using our DVC Points, we are staying at copper creek and animal kingdom lodge and doing a short trip in the starcruiser. Can’t wait! Our only concern now is making sure we get that negative test 24 hours before departure into the states…already nervous for that….

We’re planning to go to DL in Oct and the testing is the only thing that bothers me, hopefully it will get dropped. The UK made the announcement today they are dispersing with it.

 

[aussiecookfamily]

Well after starting this thread over 4 months ago (and booking our DVC VGC accommodation 11 months ago), we have finally had our first day in Disneyland. Our biggest stress ended up being passing the COVID test 24 hours out, but we diligently wore our P2 masks for 2 weeks leading into the trip and thankfully all got a negative result, so rushed home and finalised packing. One slight panic when Qantas baulked at our CDC approved Rapid Anitgen Test, but after a few minutes the check in agent gave us the all clear.

Fabulous first day, in the low crowds we decided to try without Genie+, and doing rope drop we hit all the big rides in the first 2 hours - Space, Matterhorn, Indy, PoC, Thunder and Haunted, unfortunately Splash is down . After lunch we park hopped to DCA and did Radiator single rider (10 mins). Spent a couple of hours back in the room in the afternoon when jet lag hit then headed back to Disneyland. Just before 7pm we noticed that RoR was down to 35mins, so sprinted over there, and only waited 15 mins, but by the time we got out it was up to 60mins. So all in all a great day.

Happy to answer any questions, so great to be back in our happy place.

 

[rebelbuddhist]

Put a reservation for our 2022 Annual trip in late December (17th-31st). We figure everything will be back to normal OR the world will be utterly destroyed by that time.

 

[Disneytrippin']

I have my entire 11 night stay booked and planned out for Nov-Dec this year. There are 9 of us going and I just bought airfare one way as soon as it opened up. I booked our 11 night stay, We bought or park passes too, I made a dining list and complete budget and now just waiting to buy the airfare back.

So, don't be thinking its too early.

 

[masterpabu]

Well after starting this thread over 4 months ago (and booking our DVC VGC accommodation 11 months ago), we have finally had our first day in Disneyland. Our biggest stress ended up being passing the COVID test 24 hours out, but we diligently wore our P2 masks for 2 weeks leading into the trip and thankfully all got a negative result, so rushed home and finalised packing. One slight panic when Qantas baulked at our CDC approved Rapid Anitgen Test, but after a few minutes the check in agent gave us the all clear.

Fabulous first day, in the low crowds we decided to try without Genie+, and doing rope drop we hit all the big rides in the first 2 hours - Space, Matterhorn, Indy, PoC, Thunder and Haunted, unfortunately Splash is down . After lunch we park hopped to DCA and did Radiator single rider (10 mins). Spent a couple of hours back in the room in the afternoon when jet lag hit then headed back to Disneyland. Just before 7pm we noticed that RoR was down to 35mins, so sprinted over there, and only waited 15 mins, but by the time we got out it was up to 60mins. So all in all a great day.

Happy to answer any questions, so great to be back in our happy place.

So nice to hear that you had such a good first day! 15 mins for RoR is crazy! I can only hope we'll be that lucky too
How full was your flight?

 

[aussiecookfamily]

We flew Qantas and did a points upgrade to Business which was totally full (mind you that still gives you plenty of distance from others). Judging by the amount of people at baggage claims I would think economy was around 1/3 of capacity. They kept announcing that even though there were lots of spare seats for COVID reasons people weren't allowed to move seats.

 

[masterpabu]

That's not too bad then, at least it's good for economy and not being entirely packed like sardines (yet)

And even better you got to have a more comfortable flight! I remember when they reopened flights and award seating people scrambled for them, in hindsight I should have booked as soon as I saw them available too oops

 

[ozliz]

One thing we realised in the US is how utterly obsessed Australia is with covid. People are getting on with it and living their lives and taking sensible precautions. There was almost as much magic as always. We made the deliberate choice not to worry about covid as we really needed the break and quite frankly I am so fatigued with the thing I dont have the energy to care. We modified our behaviour with N95 masks both inside and outside, ate outside, and we avoided crowds by not attending parades and fireworks. I feel utterly refreshed and a bit more human from the experience. We are booked for WDW in May.

We insured the trip with Covermore which covered covid and quarantine expenses. I am pleased we went and the fear of international travel is completely eliminated for me.

I just got my booster last week and really struggling now as 2022 was going to be my next trip. I’m really tempted to plan for early 2023 but it’s so hard to know what might change in the future. With borders open and travel insurance looking realistic again most of the barriers are easing. The one thing I haven’t been able to find out online is what to do if you catch covid in Orlando. I assume you need to isolate in a hotel until you recover but are Disney hotels happy for you to do this? Are other Orlando hotels OK with that and how would you take a taxi/Uber to wherever you’ve found to isolate without making the driver sick? I like all my contingencies and logistics worked out and I can’t see a lot of what to do in this instance.

 

[cindernat]

Hi everyone,

We're an Australian family and we are driving Route 66 in June/July 2022. As the trip ends in LA, we thought we can't miss the opportunity to visit DL (only been once in 2015) and we definitely want to see the new Galaxy's Edge. We thought we might splurge and stay at the Grand Californian as it's only going to be 1 night.

I was a bit concerned to see that international travellers can't purchase the Travel Protection Plan, AND that if you cancel within 30 days you lose everything. With the uncertainty of Covid, that's a very long time frame to have to cancel before. In fact we would have to cancel before we've even left for our trip. I went ahead with the booking (just paid the $200 deposit) but it's got me nervous. 1 night at GC (cheapest room) with park tickets for 3 and Genie+ is about US$1800. Yikes.

We will of course be taking out a local travel insurance policy (one that includes Covid cover), and I GUESS that would cover it!

 

[BecBennett]

The local travel insurance should cover it. Just curious though, if you're within the 30 days is there a penalty to change when your stay is? In other words could you just move your reservation a couple of months down the track and then cancel it?

 

[cindernat]

The local travel insurance should cover it. Just curious though, if you're within the 30 days is there a penalty to change when your stay is? In other words could you just move your reservation a couple of months down the track and then cancel it?

Good question. Something to ask them I guess! I like the way you think. But knowing Disney, they would have thought of that ...

 

[BecBennett]

From memory this is the way to get around cancelling a dining reservation within 24 hours.

 

[JMagic]

Multiple websites this week state that the travel industry is pressuring the CDC to drop testing requirements! Please please please do this! I want this anxiety over a last minute positive to go away! We leave in 6 weeks!