Is anyone considering postponing a trip?

[jimmymc]

I think my concern is getting sick while on the trip. I know that is a risk even pre-Covid, but just would stink to get like flu like symptoms, have to quarantine, and then be out all that money. I guess that's the risk though. Assume trip insurance would do nothing for that.

The is covid-specific insurance which would cover additional nights in a hotel if you had to quarantine, plus your new flight home. But nothing I know of refunds your trip money.

 

[tentaguasu]

If you don't mind sharing, what are you concerned about?

(Mods I hope this doesn't violate the policy, which I've read carefully. If it does, pull it down, but I'd really prefer not to be permabanned. I'm not offering an opinion about what's going on or what others should do, discussing medical information or statistics, or anything of that nature. I'm just sharing my thought process for making a decision for our family, in response to a direct question, which I think may be helpful to others in just hearing what another family has done. I think that falls within the "practical application" part of "COVID related discussion should be limited to actual policy and practical application, and NOT veer into opinion or debate.")

I'd happy to share in great detail, but I'm going to tread lightly here because I posted something a few days ago that violated the Covid discussion rules and got me hit with a "fine." (No complaints about our moderators. It was my bad, no excuses. I didn't check the rules closely enough before posting.)

In short, I'm concerned about changes in the health situation that are not yet fully understood. As I said, I expect that they will be more fully understood within a couple of weeks. If we had left a few weeks ago, I would have had enough information to make a decision (which I'd already made). If we were travelling a month from now, I'd know enough to make an educated choice. We all have different views, perspectives, and risk tolerances but -- for me and given my particular family dynamics -- travelling next week would have been too much unknown.

Unfortunately, we happened to almost perfectly hit the "not so sweet spot" of uncertainty right after a potential issue was identified and right before the experts have worked out what's actually going on.

Again, not looking to debate the point *at all*, just giving you a window into the thought process of a family that agonized over what to do. YMMV.

Fingers crossed for May!!

 

[jimmymc]

(Mods I hope this doesn't violate the policy, which I've read carefully. If it does, pull it down, but I'd really prefer not to be permabanned. I'm not offering an opinion about what's going on or what others should do, discussing medical information or statistics, or anything of that nature. I'm just sharing my thought process for making a decision for our family, in response to a direct question, which I think may be helpful to others in just hearing what another family has done. I think that falls within the "practical application" part of "COVID related discussion should be limited to actual policy and practical application, and NOT veer into opinion or debate.")

I'd happy to share in great detail, but I'm going to tread lightly here because I posted something a few days ago that violated the Covid discussion rules and got me hit with a "fine." (No complaints about our moderators. It was my bad, no excuses. I didn't check the rules closely enough before posting.)

In short, I'm concerned about changes in the health situation that are not yet fully understood. As I said, I expect that they will be more fully understood within a couple of weeks. If we had left a few weeks ago, I would have had enough information to make a decision (which I'd already made). If we were travelling a month from now, I'd know enough to make an educated choice. We all have different views, perspectives, and risk tolerances but -- for me and given my particular family dynamics -- travelling next week would have been too much unknown.

Unfortunately, we happened to almost perfectly hit the "not so sweet spot" of uncertainty right after a potential issue was identified and right before the experts have worked out what's actually going on.

Again, not looking to debate the point *at all*, just giving you a window into the thought process of a family that agonized over what to do. YMMV.

Fingers crossed for May!!

Thanks for the reply! I was just curious if it was that or the other changes to the parks. I've seen a lot of complaints about not understanding Genie+ and park reservations.

 

[tentaguasu]

Thanks for the reply! I was just curious if it was that or the other changes to the parks. I've seen a lot of complaints about not understanding Genie+ and park reservations.

I'm not thrilled with Genie+, but for me, it is what it is. I was going to be there the first half of December, so I wasn't going to be fighting crowds. I expect I'll be annoyed with it, but it's not a deal breaker for me.

 

[denman007]

I'm not thrilled with Genie+, but for me, it is what it is. I was going to be there the first half of December, so I wasn't going to be fighting crowds. I expect I'll be annoyed with it, but it's not a deal breaker for me.

Did you leave yet for your trip?

I had friends that returned a few days ago and they said it's not the same. Limited staff, limited dinner menus, rides breaking down more. They didn't use Genie+.

I am thinking to postpone to 2022 same time and hopefully things will get better.

I did just save $250 total (in points) on the air fare because the price dropped as I simply did a quick change.

 

[kathy884]

(Mods I hope this doesn't violate the policy, which I've read carefully. If it does, pull it down, but I'd really prefer not to be permabanned. I'm not offering an opinion about what's going on or what others should do, discussing medical information or statistics, or anything of that nature. I'm just sharing my thought process for making a decision for our family, in response to a direct question, which I think may be helpful to others in just hearing what another family has done. I think that falls within the "practical application" part of "COVID related discussion should be limited to actual policy and practical application, and NOT veer into opinion or debate.")

I'd happy to share in great detail, but I'm going to tread lightly here because I posted something a few days ago that violated the Covid discussion rules and got me hit with a "fine." (No complaints about our moderators. It was my bad, no excuses. I didn't check the rules closely enough before posting.)

In short, I'm concerned about changes in the health situation that are not yet fully understood. As I said, I expect that they will be more fully understood within a couple of weeks. If we had left a few weeks ago, I would have had enough information to make a decision (which I'd already made). If we were travelling a month from now, I'd know enough to make an educated choice. We all have different views, perspectives, and risk tolerances but -- for me and given my particular family dynamics -- travelling next week would have been too much unknown.

Unfortunately, we happened to almost perfectly hit the "not so sweet spot" of uncertainty right after a potential issue was identified and right before the experts have worked out what's actually going on.

Again, not looking to debate the point *at all*, just giving you a window into the thought process of a family that agonized over what to do. YMMV.

Fingers crossed for May!!

Your so right, that we are certainly still in a fluid situation. We have plans for March. We are staying at a great condo resort too, so even if we decide no on the parks, maybe we hang there and save park tickets for another time. I'm hoping we feel comfortable doing the parks too.

 

[Alexis56578]

We're still planning to go in May, but if the world catches even more on fire in the meantime, we will move to December.

 

[leeniewdw]

We just returned on Sunday after 2 nights at POP and in the parks. It's probably the most prolonged time we've had around so many people, so it was definitely weird. We don't dine inside (home or traveling) -- like I can count on 1 hand the number of times we've dined inside since March 2020. DH woke up with a sore throat on Monday and we did a rapid home test on Monday night which was negative. It seems like he's got a head cold now and we'll probably do another rapid test tonight as I've got a Drs appt tomorrow and don't want to go if he somehow is positive. I feel fine. We were both boosted 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. I'm not sure we would have gone w/o being boosted.

We have a tickets for live theater on Friday night and I sold those tickets. In part because we had such a very busy travel/WDW weekend last weekend, but also because we feel like we pushed our luck a little and would like to be a little more conservative as we approach Xmas.

On the whole we've been what I consider conservative this whole time, but I have a sister who would think we've been risky and friends who probably think we've been hermits, lol.

 

[mtrib]

So far we have not decided to delay our trip in 11 days. Watching Omicron carefully but thus far have decided we’re still going.

We’ve never been during a crazy busy time and I have a lot of anxiety about this trip. Most of my anxiety is about the crowds but not COVID related (that does make me a bit nervous but we are all boosted, healthy, and will wear high-quality masks).

I’m so used to being able to work the system to minimize our waits everywhere. I feel unprepared to do that this time. I have studied G+ as much as possible and have a very good handle on the system. But crowd level 10 is crowd level 10. Just trying to manage expectations and hope family is just happy to be there!

 

[leeniewdw]

I’m so used to being able to work the system to minimize our waits everywhere. I feel unprepared to do that this time. I have studied G+ as much as possible and have a very good handle on the system. But crowd level 10 is crowd level 10. Just trying to manage expectations and hope family is just happy to be there!

I think it ended up that the crowds were 4 or 5 of 10 for our 2 days (we did MK AH so not counting that, we didn't find that crowded at all, but we didn't attempt the parade or really care about our position for fireworks). I can't imagine EPCOT with a > 5 in the World Showcase. The lines for everything were so long. Then again it was a Saturday night but would not want to repeat that and will likely shuffle our plans for Feb to avoid a Saturday evening in EP for sure.

 

[jimmymc]

I think it ended up that the crowds were 4 or 5 of 10 for our 2 days (we did MK AH so not counting that, we didn't find that crowded at all, but we didn't attempt the parade or really care about our position for fireworks). I can't imagine EPCOT with a > 5 in the World Showcase. The lines for everything were so long. Then again it was a Saturday night but would not want to repeat that and will likely shuffle our plans for Feb to avoid a Saturday evening in EP for sure.

I can't imagine any Saturday night in Epcot as a 5/10, I think they are at least 7. I'm making it a point to avoid weekends there on future trips.

 

[leeniewdw]

That makes me feel better about how I "enjoyed" it on Saturday. And I might be making this up, but is the rating system based on crowd size or ride waits? Because the World Showcase would fall outside any actual measurement based on ride throughput!

(I actually looked up our last EPCOT evening in March 2020. It was predicated as a 10 of 10, and actual was 2 of 10. It was a Friday night vs Saturday, but it was also the same day/night that the closures were announced. The evening was lovely -- other than general anxiety about the Virus.)

 

[mtrib]

I think it ended up that the crowds were 4 or 5 of 10 for our 2 days (we did MK AH so not counting that, we didn't find that crowded at all, but we didn't attempt the parade or really care about our position for fireworks). I can't imagine EPCOT with a > 5 in the World Showcase. The lines for everything were so long. Then again it was a Saturday night but would not want to repeat that and will likely shuffle our plans for Feb to avoid a Saturday evening in EP for sure.

Yeah, I’m worried about WS with so much construction elsewhere. Good news is we have park hopper and are staying at BWV so we can bail or hop if we need to. Or maybe we’ll just ride Spaceship Earth over and over again. Or hang with the manatees.

 

[kevind2112]

So far we have not decided to delay our trip in 11 days. Watching Omicron carefully but thus far have decided we’re still going.

We’ve never been during a crazy busy time and I have a lot of anxiety about this trip. Most of my anxiety is about the crowds but not COVID related (that does make me a bit nervous but we are all boosted, healthy, and will wear high-quality masks).

I’m so used to being able to work the system to minimize our waits everywhere. I feel unprepared to do that this time. I have studied G+ as much as possible and have a very good handle on the system. But crowd level 10 is crowd level 10. Just trying to manage expectations and hope family is just happy to be there!

I feel like I could have written this. We leave on Dec. 23rd for a 9 night stay from the NorthEast. We are paid in full and are going, but are starting to get nervous about Omicron. We are fully vaxxed and boosted, so that makes us feel a little bit better. Plus we're definitely masking up whenever possible. We already expected it to be a nightmare crowd wise, so we're prepared for that. Good luck to all of us!

 

[wings91]

Won't go until masks are removed. I am responsible for my safety, not disney or anyone else.

 

[bsmcneil]

I have to admit that I'm starting to weigh whether or not to postpone my trip that's in about 6 weeks (taking two kids who will be fully vaxxed in a week, having had shot 2 last week). My hope is to know a bit more about omicron by then. I recognizie that having rented dvc points, my flexibility is less than I'd normally like - and; if I feel uncomfortable, I don't care about taking the L in terms of sunk costs. I realize it might've been foolish to think we'd be on a downward trend permanently post-vaccines - but siiiiiiigh!

I think the general consensus for my family is that at this point, we're philosophically okay with potential risks now that everyone's vaccinated which would theoretically help reduce the severity of covid if anyone does get it despite vaccination and masks - and I'm a terrible gambler. Once I'm pot committed, I'm pot committed and I'd be super annoyed to have worked so hard to get to this point with only for a positive to turn up now. So, that leaves me less likely to actually take the risks even if generally I *get* it.

 

[disney_bob]

Wife and I took the kids in August and November. Considering cancelling the January trip. Between the cost increases (incl. Genie+/LL, loss of ME), the increase of cases, and the apparent amount of people who don't follow public health policy because bad reasons - it's honestly just becoming too stressful. I found myself angry at Disney or at other people more than I was enjoying myself at the trip last month. I really didn't like it. All of us that are eligible to be vaxxed are but our youngest is under 5.

 

[mommy2mrb]

I feel like I could have written this. We leave on Dec. 23rd for a 9 night stay from the NorthEast. We are paid in full and are going, but are starting to get nervous about Omicron. We are fully vaxxed and boosted, so that makes us feel a little bit better. Plus we're definitely masking up whenever possible. We already expected it to be a nightmare crowd wise, so we're prepared for that. Good luck to all of us!

We are doing the same.
Will be taking every precaution and will do what we will comfortable doing.
Good luck!!

 

[neary]

We're still planning to go there on Dec. 19th for a one-week trip. I rented DVC points, and the plane tickets were (almost) free with airline miles that would expire worthless otherwise, so that's a big incentive to stay the course. But at this point, my 5-year-olds are fully vaccinated, I'm boosted, and it doesn't seem like fully vaccinated/ boosted people are getting very sick from Omicron? But I agree with the poster above who said that the issue is that we just don't have enough information to make well-informed decisions right now. It's the uncertainty of not knowing exactly how dangerous (or not) the variant might be that makes it a tough decision. The Genie+ stuff doesn't really bother me (my kids aren't tall enough to ride a lot of the most popular rides, so I don't even know if I'll bother with it). I might cancel some ADRs and order takeout instead, but that's about as much as I'm going to change my plans right now.

 

[shawthorne44]

...more than I was enjoying myself at the trip last month. I really didn't like it.

We need a hug smiley.