Moving a DLR Trip to Walt Disney World- Let’s Talk!

[bassgirl]

Ugh. Alaska just changed our non stop flight to one with a layover. And it’s only a 55 minute layover and we have to change planes. It’s making me really nervous we won’t make our connecting flight!! Now debating to change to leaving to the day before. So frustrating!

Yeah, when I finally do pull the trigger, I already planned on traveling one Monday and start going to the parks on Tuesday. I figured if we are taking such a long trip from Washington state (kids first plane trip too) that will be adventure enough for one day. We would just head to Pop Century and chill out, walk around Pop and be able to get a good nights sleep before the big day.

 

[jrsharp21]

As someone who did a red eye to Orlando and went to the parks the same day as arrival, yes the time change is BRUTAL! lol

I have done this several times when I lived in California. Left Sacramento at 12:30am, layover in Houston, and get into Orlando around 8:30am. Got to my hotel around 10am. Parked the car and took a bus over to the parks. Around 4pm, fell asleep in Country Bears. Woke up as the last people were exiting. LOL.

 

[Jaina]

@Jaina, how is WDW? I hope you’re having a wonderful time!!

Thanks! It has been a whirlwind, and my feet are tired! (75k steps in 3 days!) I am headed home and I’m already working on my trip report while it’s fresh in my head. Hopefully I can get it all within a week or two so it can be helpful to those about to go. Best advice I didn’t follow: don’t rent a car. Best advice I did follow: find a way to get to each park as early as possible, even if it means Lyfting to the Speedway for HS and doing a mobile order at the Contemporary and walking over to the MK! Most important items we packed in: an umbrella, (for sun more than rain), lots of mask changes (because ours got soaked with sweat), good shoes, and lots of extra snacks. (And patience!) We tried to just have a good attitude the whole time, and had a great trip, getting to do everything we wanted!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... We tried to just have a good attitude the whole time, and had a great trip, getting to do everything we wanted!

So glad to hear this! Looking forward to your trip report.

 

[ten6mom]

Or DFW! That airport is notorious for dropping you off in one terminal, and your connecting flight 2 terminals away via the sky train. If you go through there, give yourself at least 1.5-2 hours.

Ohhh don't tell me that! American so helpfully changed my (formerly nonstop) return flight to have a plane change in DFW! On paper, I have about an hour and a half. We shall see how it goes...

 

[theluckyrabbit]

This is interesting:

https://insidethemagic.net/2020/10/...ail&utm_term=0_a98380eccc-cb4967da87-96199085

 

[VandVsmama]

This is interesting:

https://insidethemagic.net/2020/10/...ail&utm_term=0_a98380eccc-cb4967da87-96199085

It definitely is interesting. I have a few thoughts about this:

1. I don't think it's cause for panic quite yet. Getting some sort of comprehensive system like that in place will take months.
2. Go look at some of the Tripadvisor forums posts about this system in Hawaii. The implementation of it has been a nightmare, with thousands of travelers stuck for days in a quarantine limbo because the state decided that someone had to manually review the traveler's application.
3. This would definitely add to the cost of travel.
4. I don't think that it would increase international or domestic travel as much as travel industry people think it would. Rather, I think that the result would be that a lot more people, at least in the US, would end up taking road trips instead of deal with all of this hassle.
5. For anybody who's going to WDW in the next several months, I don't think you need to freak out about this.

 

[bassgirl]

Pardon my pun but I don't think this will fly. Waaaay too many cooks in the kitchen on this one. My thought is that it would hurt the airline industry even more. They are already in a world of hurt as it is. Could you imagine the kind of lawsuits that might come from such a thing? Anyway, I hope it doesn't go there.

 

[VandVsmama]

Pardon my pun but I don't think this will fly. Waaaay too many cooks in the kitchen on this one. My thought is that it would hurt the airline industry even more. They are already in a world of hurt as it is. Could you imagine the kind of lawsuits that might come from such a thing? Anyway, I hope it doesn't go there.

Hawaii started their testing program on 10/15. So far, how it's been working is:

1. Before your trip, you go onto a state of HI website and create a profile for each person in your travel party. You enter your travel dates, airline info, where you're staying.
2. 72 hours before your plane lands in Hawaii, you go to a state of Hawaii approved "testing partner" like CVS or Walgreens (although apparently not all CVS & Walgreens in every state offer the specific test that HI requires) and get a specific type of COVID-19 test.
3. The state-approved testing partner, in an ideal world, emails you a copy of your test results before you get on the plane.
4. You create a PDF (must be a PDF, not just a screen shot, not a picture) of the FIRST page of the test results (where it says 'negative') and you upload that file to your online account you created previously on the state of HI's website.
5. You also print out a copy to bring with you in person.
6. HI sends you a QR code.
7. Fly to Hawaii, then stand in upwards of a 2 hr line to be screened.
8. If the planets align properly, then your request/application is marked in their computer system as automatically approved.
9. Otherwise, if it gets marked as "manual review," then you go into Tourist Purgatory for maybe a few hours, maybe a few days, or if you're really unlucky, for the entire duration of your trip.
10. If your application gets approved at the airport, then they give you a new piece of paper which allows you to now go rent your rental car that you booked ahead of time. No approval paperwork? Then no rental car for you. You take Uber or Lyft to a state of Hawaii-approved quarantine hotel. You do not get to stop to pick up groceries. You do not get to stop at a restaurant to pick up a to go order.
11. At the quarantine hotel (which YOU are paying for, not the state), you are informed that if you even go out on the balcony/patio/lanai, then you can get arrested. And they tell you that hotel personnel are monitoring all of the guests.
12. Let's say that YOUR test results came back negative but the testing partner lost your traveling companion(s)' test. What happens in that case? You all quarantine indoors for the entire trip.
13. But what about all the money you spent on that awesome VRBO or AirBNB place and they don't have a refund policy which will allow you to get any of your money back in this situation? Sucks to be you. You are out of luck.
14. Oh...and those tests you have to test 72 hours before you fly? Cost per person ranges from $140-$200. Children required to get them, too, but many testing partners approved by HI won't do the tests on children...which means that you have to get it prescribed by a doctor....and in many areas, they won't test kids unless there's a medical reason to (and going on a vacation isn't one of those reasons).

What could go wrong, right?

 

[bassgirl]

Hawaii started their testing program on 10/15. So far, how it's been working is:

1. Before your trip, you go onto a state of HI website and create a profile for each person in your travel party. You enter your travel dates, airline info, where you're staying.
2. 72 hours before your plane lands in Hawaii, you go to a state of Hawaii approved "testing partner" like CVS or Walgreens (although apparently not all CVS & Walgreens in every state offer the specific test that HI requires) and get a specific type of COVID-19 test.
3. The state-approved testing partner, in an ideal world, emails you a copy of your test results before you get on the plane.
4. You create a PDF (must be a PDF, not just a screen shot, not a picture) of the FIRST page of the test results (where it says 'negative') and you upload that file to your online account you created previously on the state of HI's website.
5. You also print out a copy to bring with you in person.
6. HI sends you a QR code.
7. Fly to Hawaii, then stand in upwards of a 2 hr line to be screened.
8. If the planets align properly, then your request/application is marked in their computer system as automatically approved.
9. Otherwise, if it gets marked as "manual review," then you go into Tourist Purgatory for maybe a few hours, maybe a few days, or if you're really unlucky, for the entire duration of your trip.
10. If your application gets approved at the airport, then they give you a new piece of paper which allows you to now go rent your rental car that you booked ahead of time. No approval paperwork? Then no rental car for you. You take Uber or Lyft to a state of Hawaii-approved quarantine hotel. You do not get to stop to pick up groceries. You do not get to stop at a restaurant to pick up a to go order.
11. At the quarantine hotel (which YOU are paying for, not the state), you are informed that if you even go out on the balcony/patio/lanai, then you can get arrested. And they tell you that hotel personnel are monitoring all of the guests.
12. Let's say that YOUR test results came back negative but the testing partner lost your traveling companion(s)' test. What happens in that case? You all quarantine indoors for the entire trip.
13. But what about all the money you spent on that awesome VRBO or AirBNB place and they don't have a refund policy which will allow you to get any of your money back in this situation? Sucks to be you. You are out of luck.
14. Oh...and those tests you have to test 72 hours before you fly? Cost per person ranges from $140-$200. Children required to get them, too, but many testing partners approved by HI won't do the tests on children...which means that you have to get it prescribed by a doctor....and in many areas, they won't test kids unless there's a medical reason to (and going on a vacation isn't one of those reasons).

What could go wrong, right?

All I can say is.......That just sounds HORRID!!!!! and NO THANK YOU!!!! That is NOT for me!! I had no idea. YUCK!!

 

[VandVsmama]

All I can say is.......That just sounds HORRID!!!!! and NO THANK YOU!!!! That is NOT for me!! I had no idea. YUCK!!

I agree! It does sound pretty horrid. We WERE going to go to Hawaii on vacation next March, but with their current "here's how to avoid a 14-day quarantine system," we thought, "FORGET IT!" and we cancelled. The trip was to be with my sister...who is still planning on going...she doesn't want to have to move her VRBO rental yet again. She's still holding out hope that in 4 months from now, somehow the state of Hawaii will somehow magically scrap their entire expensive system that they spent 7 months setting up.

Bleh. No thanks. I'd be surprised if this system was set up in Florida. I don't think we have anything to worry about.

 

[bassgirl]

I agree! It does sound pretty horrid. We WERE going to go to Hawaii on vacation next March, but with their current "here's how to avoid a 14-day quarantine system," we thought, "FORGET IT!" and we cancelled. The trip was to be with my sister...who is still planning on going...she doesn't want to have to move her VRBO rental yet again. She's still holding out hope that in 4 months from now, somehow the state of Hawaii will somehow magically scrap their entire expensive system that they spent 7 months setting up.

Bleh. No thanks. I'd be surprised if this system was set up in Florida. I don't think we have anything to worry about.

It almost sounds like their sneaky way of keeping people off the islands. You know, make them jump through a million hoops just to take a little vacation. Also, yes, I don't think Florida would want to go that far. They seem to want to keep as many people employed as possible in their state and if they started that sort of thing, people would just not go to their state and pick another one for their trip. And, then the domino effect. People don't show up. More businesses close and more people lose jobs. I don't know. Just a guess.

 

[Jaina]

It almost sounds like their sneaky way of keeping people off the islands. You know, make them jump through a million hoops just to take a little vacation. Also, yes, I don't think Florida would want to go that far. They seem to want to keep as many people employed as possible in their state and if they started that sort of thing, people would just not go to their state and pick another one for their trip. And, then the domino effect. People don't show up. More businesses close and more people lose jobs. I don't know. Just a guess.

But California would be all over that system, if they could be... you know it's true!

 

[bassgirl]

But California would be all over that system, if they could be... you know it's true!

Sara, I'm with you there 100%! I wouldn't put it past California for one minute to try something like that. Disneyland needs to bring back Tower of Terror because it seems to me like California is definitely living in the Twilight Zone right now. So weird.

 

[midnight star]

My friend is on her way to Hawaii right now and got tested (negative result). She said so far it’s been fine, but she hasn’t landed yet so hopefully things go smooth lol

 

[amyg1975]

My friend is on her way to Hawaii right now and got tested (negative result). She said so far it’s been fine, but she hasn’t landed yet so hopefully things go smooth lol

Ooh, please report back.

 

[midnight star]

Ooh, please report back.

I will ask her! She may also stop by Aulani so I told her to please let me know how it is. I’ll put info for that on the Aulani thread that was started a few weeks ago.

 

[Lumpy1106]

As someone who did a red eye to Orlando and went to the parks the same day as arrival, yes the time change is BRUTAL! lol

We've done this - the key is you have to be absolutely militant about getting sleep on the plane. Still, it makes for a very long (but worthwhile) day.

 

[midnight star]

We've done this - the key is you have to be absolutely militant about getting sleep on the plane. Still, it makes for a very long (but worthwhile) day.

Yep! I was able to sleep on the plane, but the jet lag eventually caught up to me around 4pm Orlando time.

 

[Jaina]

I started my trip report if you want to check it out here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/how-you-doin-east-coast-october-23-25-2020-ptr.3815252/ It starts towards the bottom of the first page!