What will make you return to the parks?

[kimmar067]

COVID -19 already wiped through our family. Out of 9 of us, 8 got stick. The one that didn't probably has antibodies anyway. We will find out this week. We most likely brought it back from WDW, a couple of months ago since we don't go anywhere else.

Anyway, what didn't kill us, hopefully made us stronger. Can't wait to get back to our happy place!

....WOW! SO GLAD YOU ALL MADE IT THROUGH TO 'THE OTHER SIDE'!

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

...don't underestimate the fun of an "adults" WDW trip....of course, assuming it's Covid19-free.

My wife and I went on our honeymoon to WDW in 1996 and were planning another trip in 2021 for our 25th anniversary, so we are aware of how much fun adults can have at Disney ! We are going to postpone this trip for the near future. Maybe try again for our 30th.

 

[kimmar067]

My wife and I went on our honeymoon to WDW in 1996 and were planning another trip in 2021 for our 25th anniversary, so we are aware of how much fun adults can have at Disney ! We are going to postpone this trip for the near future. Maybe try again for our 30th.

...well, happy 'almost' 25th!

 

[kimmar067]

I’ll go when open. We have a trip booked for December 27..... I won’t be eating any buffets....

Great point! I never even considered a food situation like a buffet could be such a breeding ground for germies....boy, I'll sure miss Boma....

 

[HashberryOTG]

We have a Sept trip planned. I really can't say at this point if it will happen. I'd love to say I'll wait until they have some sort of working antibody test to know if you've had it or not. I don't know how realistic that is tho. They can test me to know if I have the flu, and I can act accordingly. I wouldn't be out running about if I had the flu, but I wouldn't care if it were a cold, I guess, is my thinking? Dunno. I think all the not knowing is starting to drive me a little batty, so I'll stop rambling.

Have another trip for Feb 21. Definitely going to that! Gonna need a garden fest trip next year also, since this year's had to be cancelled.

Also, agree with below post. Not paying that kind of $ for a reduced exp, and if I had to wear a mask in FL I think I'd suffocate to death.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Not until all is normal. No masks, no limited/reduced experiences, no testing. Everything has to be pre-coronavirus normal.

We just took 6 trips in 2 years. I'm good for a while.

 

[MrsBooch]

For people saying they won't go back to parks maybe ever, but definitely not without a vaccine - are you also not doing other things? Are you planning on sending your kids back to school? Going back to work eventually (given your situation)?

 

[kimmar067]

For people saying they won't go back to parks maybe ever, but definitely not without a vaccine - are you also not doing other things? Are you planning on sending your kids back to school? Going back to work eventually (given your situation)?

....hmmmm, interesting thought...we heard on the news this morning that 36 states have decided that students will not be going back to school for the rest of the school year. Unfortunately, I don't know which 36 states that includes....

 

[loves to dive]

I've mentioned this in some other thread, but since we already had a trip booked in Aug (Hotel, tickets, flights, ADRs, etc...) with the only thing left to deal with being FP+, if the parks are open by our trip (and that's the actual parks, not just the resorts and DS) then we'll be going for that trip, regardless of the reduced experience. Otherwise, if they're not open, then I'll see what our rebooking options are to minimize our financial losses since currently most of what we have is reschedulable, but not refundable.

However, if it wasn't for the fact that we've already done all this planning and cash outlay, if I was booking from scratch.... I wouldn't be booking at all. At least, not until I knew for a fact that the experience was back to full, normal operation. At that point in time, we'd probably be looking about 7-8 months out or so, our usual pre-booking window, so that we can get our ADRs, package deals, and whatnot like we normally do.



Normally we'd just take the dogs with us in the RV, and they love camping, but I've found that if we're going someplace that we expect we'll be away from the RV for long stretches at a time, then we just get them a babysitter instead of trying to do the boarding thing. It's basically a win all around. One of the nieces or nephews gets either a long week end (or a week long in some cases) break from their family and basically gets a house to themselves. We get somebody who watches both the house and the dogs, and the dogs are left in an environment where they feel safe and secure, by staying in their house. I know it feels odd to consider going RVing without the dogs, but if you can get them a babysitter, maybe give that a try for at least one trip, when you know it'll be unfair to them to be cooped up all day.

We have no family anywhere near us except my son, who has two dogs of his own and works, we live kind of out in the country so coming to stay at our house is out for him and sending our dog to stay all day with his two when he is work, won't work. She is very dependent on her humans. Since hubby has always worked from home is has rarely been left alone, even in our house for longer than 3 or 4 hours. I would love to get her a babysitter but not in the cards for us. We have been practicing social distancing long before it was a thing so while we know our neighbors on a nod and wave or even speak for a few minutes basis, we don't know any of them well enough to trust them to stay in our house while we are gone. All my nieces are grown adults and live at least 2 1/2 hours away from us with families and jobs, hubby's family are either all in south Ga. about 3 1/2 hours away or out of state. The ones that live in Ga. are all adults with families and jobs like mine. Thankfully, other than the one trip to WDW that hubby made, we rarely are away from the RV for any longer than going out to eat or to a wedding. Thus no diving for us. She goes everywhere else we go, walk on beaches, hiking, exploring towns, etc.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

We have a trip booked for late July. As long as they're open, we'll be there. The only thing that I think could make us cancel is if they said guests had to wear masks. That would really ruin it for us, plus, how do you swim with a mask? But I really don't believe WDW will mandate that when they reopen this summer, so we're in.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

....hmmmm, interesting thought...we heard on the news this morning that 36 states have decided that students will not be going back to school for the rest of the school year. Unfortunately, I don't know which 36 states that includes....

Right, but school will start in the fall way before a vaccine is available. I think that was the PP's point.

 

[jamescanuck2001]

Health and safety of my family comes first. If I can reasonably assess the risk to be comparable to other risks, such as death by lightning, car accident, meteor, nuclear plant meltdown, and the full Disney experience is available then I will go. Right now, without social distancing, the covid-19 risk is very high.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I’m expecting school to be online in the fall.

 

[Lilsia]

With my 2 kids @15 &18, I’m afraid our Disney trips are done for maybe ever. Any amusement park is going to be a giant cesspool of Covid regardless of efforts put in place. Until we have viable meds to treat and a proven vaccine, we will not return.

I'm from Omaha, and it looks like this came through here starting in December. There are many people saying that they had an "unknown" virus that has the same symptoms, down to the loss of taste. I have also seen news reports that say that it has been around and they traced it to Europe. We think my husband and daughter already had a mild version of it. I would go if the parks were open.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Universal sent out a survey, asking people what they would accept when their parks reopen. One of the choices was to test all guests for the virus, and they added that the test would take 15 minutes.

 

[epcotobsessed]

For people saying they won't go back to parks maybe ever, but definitely not without a vaccine - are you also not doing other things? Are you planning on sending your kids back to school? Going back to work eventually (given your situation)?

I absolutely will send my kids back to school if their schools are open in September. I pray that they will be.

 

[toonaspie]

Vaccine or no vaccine, I would rather wait until the parks return to some form of normalcy. All of these measures that Disney is considering don't seem like they will be logistically effective anyway. And it's not worth going for long distance folk if all the parks are not open and there are huge restrictions on entertainment/leisure.

I just don't see all of this working out the way Disney wants it to. I think people will feel a bit more confident about the situation once the Asia parks re-open (if they ever).

 

[stindall]

We aren't returning until 2022 when our son is 3, we felt that was a good age for a first trip and we'll be there after a good chunk of this construction. I'm going to assume as it's a while a way this will be over or there will be a vaccine!

 

[Kaadk]

We aren't returning until 2022 when our son is 3, we felt that was a good age for a first trip and we'll be there after a good chunk of this construction. I'm going to assume as it's a while a way this will be over or there will be a vaccine!

Off topic, but you might want to reconsider the 3 age. At 2, he’s still free. And if you think he’ll remember much at 3... we’ll, we went when my son was 5, 7 (DL), 8 and 9. At 11, he only remembers the trip from when he was 9 and the one when he was 8. He doesn’t remember going to DL at age 7 at all and blurs that with the other trips, and if I pointedly ask him about details of the trip when he was 5, he doesn’t have any. He knows he went, but that’s about it. It hurts a bit that he’s forgotten what we assumed would be cherished memories.

So, I’d recommend you hit Disney when he’s still 2, even if it’s only a few weeks before he turns 3, and at least it’ll be a little more cost effective for that trip. Then you can plan to hit Disney again when he’s older and has a better chance of prolonging those long term memories.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Off topic, but you might want to reconsider the 3 age. At 2, he’s still free. And if you think he’ll remember much at 3... we’ll, we went when my son was 5, 7 (DL), 8 and 9. At 11, he only remembers the trip from when he was 9 and the one when he was 8. He doesn’t remember going to DL at age 7 at all and blurs that with the other trips, and if I pointedly ask him about details of the trip when he was 5, he doesn’t have any. He knows he went, but that’s about it. It hurts a bit that he’s forgotten what we assumed would be cherished memories.

So, I’d recommend you hit Disney when he’s still 2, even if it’s only a few weeks before he turns 3, and at least it’ll be a little more cost effective for that trip. Then you can plan to hit Disney again when he’s older and has a better chance of prolonging those long term memories.

I agree that they won't remember at either 2 or 3. My son first went at 5 and he doesn't really remember it. But another consideration is that more 2 year-olds will be afraid of characters than 3 year-olds. Even face characters can be intimidating to the littlest ones. My son cried and cowered from Santa Claus until he was 3. So younger might not be better, even if it's free.