At what point do I give up?

Last night I spent a merry hour or so before I went to bed sketching out some rough plans for my August trip to WDW.

This morning I woke up and all I could think about was cancelling it.

You may well argue that there’s no point in cancelling it — well, rescheduling it — until there are no other options. I’m due to walk up Main Street in 81 days time, and a lot can happen in 81 days.

Well, can it, though? Here are the facts.

The UK’s vaccination programme has been a real success. I’m fully vaccinated — both shots and the last one was two weeks ago. I’m good to go. Except, you know, I got the AZ shot and none of them are 100%.

The trends in UK hospital admissions and deaths are down. We’re seeing under ten people a day dying of COVID, in a population of around 70 million.

But the trend in daily cases is up, and it’s rising steeply. Thanks to the Indian variant.

See for yourself:

Does the Indian variant really matter? Yes — it’s why France has just slammed the door in our faces. Well, they’ll let us in, but we have to quarantine for seven days upon arrival. And we have to quarantine for ten days on our return.

The US, of course, is still not letting us in and I’ve heard nothing to say that they’re even thinking about it. No doubt you’re worried about the Indian variant, too. Is Biden going to change US policy in the next two months?

From the UK’s perspective, the US is an amber list country, which means ten days quarantine when I get home, plus two COVID tests during those ten days — at my own expense. And a COVID test before I take the flight home — again at my own expense. The UK may reclassify the US as a green list country — so, no quarantine — but our government has said that there won’t be a whole lot of reclassification going on any time soon. They’ve been saying for a while now that we should not be expecting to take foreign holidays this summer. The green list is very short, and mostly includes countries that are not letting us anyway.

Then there’s the issue of whether visiting the US is wise right now. The impression I’m getting is that it’s back to business as usual. Crammed theme parks filled with people not wearing masks. Some people vaccinated, some people not.

What if I got COVID while I was there? Well, I’d be denied boarding, so I’d have to somehow extend my stay. And be in quarantine. My insurance will cover it, but that’s not a great situation to be in.

Having said all that, I’ve pretty much convinced myself that I should cancel the trip.

Yet, still — why not wait? Well, because of the costs associated with changing my flights. Virgin Atlantic are being pretty good about this, but if your new flights are more expensive, you have to pay the difference. I’ve already had to do this once. It’s a one-way ratchet. The longer I wait, the fewer the options in terms of dates and the higher the prices.

And then there’s the mental health aspect. I despise uncertainty. I’m beginning to have that feeling once again that I’d rather be certain that it’s not happening, than uncertain about whether or not it is.

Finally, if I do give up on August, I can firm up on alternative plans. I do actually have a UK hotel reservation in reserve and I may just go with that. Doesn’t look like DLP is going to be an option.

Anyhoo, here’s my point: What would you do?

Oh, I nearly forgot. If I do reschedule — when do I reschedule to? My initial thoughts were December — one of the quiet weeks early on in the month. But who knows what things will be like then? I keep hearing vague threats about a third wave. Do you really think all this will be over by then? And if not December, then we’re probably looking at August 2022. That’s two years and eight months after my last trip. And two years and two months after the next trip I was due to take — that’s what COVID will have cost me. Two years and two months of disappointment and frustration and uncertainty.

Can you see now why I genuinely hate so many of you. You’ve been booking and taking trips for nearly a year without so much as a second thought. And then posting jolly trip reports of what an awesome time you’ve been having. Meanwhile I’ve cancelled June 2020, October 2020, April 2021 and now, maybe, August 2021, with a return perhaps not for another year after that.

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I’ll be honest here - as someone who lives and takes care of people who struggle with the same uncertainties.
It feels to me like it’s creating more stress and harm than enjoyment. I personally would vote for cancelling. It would be better from a mental health perspective to plan for outings that are known to be possible than keep planning for trips that are so up in the air. I also do not see WDW as viable trip in the near future. Even if the US keeps opening things willy nilly, your country is not, and that’s what matters.

As far as when to move to? That’s harder. December is a lovely time to go, but I worry that it’s kind of around the corner from a planning perspective and may not come to fruition either, which would be more damaging, especially after coming off the past year of disappointment. August is far enough away that I really can’t see it not happening.

On a board full of enablers, I’m probably going to be the lone voice of dissent, but I do understand how much this is upsetting you.

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For what it’s worth, I empathize with you. As a Canadian, I pushed my April 2021 trip into April 2022 and I’m still wondering if that is far enough ahead for my country’s punitive quarantines to be over. By that time of course, the American public will have dropped any semblance of caution and churning out so much vaccine that they can run clinics for their pets and imaginary friends, and every adult Canadian will be immunized if they want it.
But the quarantines are another matter altogether. And really play up to Canada’s deeply embedded anti-American neurosis.
No idea what it’ll take to get past that. Or when.
I think I’ll have to make my decision by Xmas and hope holiday travellers and snowbirds create the public pressure to lift the quarantines.
I think my next bound would be another year: clear to April 2023.
Hopefully, my youngest can experience WDW before she’s able to drive there herself.

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Another vote for cancelling. We leave soon and I’m having second thoughts. So much has not returned yet…WAT, DAH, Cirque du Soleil and new rides haven’t opened. I think it will be crazy in 2021-2022 so we would probably reschedule for December ‘22 or March ‘23. This trip is supposed to be a “thank you” and “I promise things are going to change” for my kid who has put up with so much crap during this pandemic. She wants to swim, go to the water parks, ride some rides and not hear another word about our school so likely going but bummed that so much won’t be open yet.
To not even know if you can come and to be facing quarantine even if vaccinated on top of all that would not be great. I also do not deal well with uncertainty I would rather have the answer and deal with it. After all of this I would say plan a vacation you know will happen. Is this the trip with your friends or was that one pushed out further?

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They pulled out some months ago. This is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip for them and we thought it would be better for them to get the full WDW experience. Their flight tickets are valid up to April 2023.

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I’m with the others above. We had January, May and August 2021 trips planned. We cancelled all of them primarily because of travel restrictions. The August heat in masks was also a factor. I got tired of getting my hopes up only for it to get cancelled by the seemingly never-ending restrictions. Our next one is scheduled for late January 2022.

I feel fairly confident about January. I think by then those who want to be vaccinated will be (at least in the US & Canada, which should mean travel restrictions between the two countries can be lifted). Boosters will be available like the seasonal flu shot. Will there be other restrictions? Possibly, but I don’t see them being as onerous as the ones currently in place. At some point we need to get back to something resembling normal.

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In that case I’d wait and have a blast with them!

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Developments have developed.

After writing my initial post, I felt a huge rush of relief as if I was doing the right thing.

So I then looked at other vacation options. Regular readers will know I was vacillating between the DCL UK cruise I’ve booked and one on a much bigger ship.

Well, now I have both.

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Of course you have. I hope you like cruising :joy:

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I would cancel. The worry and uncertainty is not worth it. I would save my money and book with your friends when you know you can go and can enjoy WDW to the fullest extent.

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Who wouldn’t? It looks awesome.

I have now done so.

I’m actually quite excited. For the first time in a long time.

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Cue “… For the first time in forever…”
No offense but please no video of you dancing through your house, :rofl:

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This is what I would say. I like booking vacations that will definitely happen. And if they do open, well then you can plan again! Cruises sound fun, I’ve never done one.

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I’ve already made it now.

And I can assure you that the nudity was very tasteful — and essential to the plot.

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I can’t tell you what to do, but I wanted to share your frustration. I live in the US, but far enough away that I don’t go all the time. Our last trip was May 2018. We have cancelled May 2020, October 2020, and May 2021. We are now booked for the week after Thanksgiving this year. I don’t think there will be a third wave here in the US. I am fully vaccinated with Pfizer, as is my DH. My 12 year olds will be fully vaccinated as well in 4 weeks. My 9 year old will be the only unvaccinated person in our family. (Hopefully his comes out in the fall). But I feel good about our current trip date. I think DW will be awfully close to normal and I think the US will be in good shape.

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I’m going in November/December. All I’ve done is booked a resort and made my theme park reservations. (We already had tickets from a prior trip). I’ve literally planned nothing else. Too much is changing too quickly to bother to read trip reports or look up information. I think a lot will have changed by the time my 60 days rolls around in late September. I’m going to start looking at ADRs at the end of summer. My concern with planning on going at that time at this point would be booking an on-site resort. I’ve been keeping an eye on it and it’s getting booked up.

Ha! Very artistic choice. :wink:

Interestingly, the Indian variant is already in the US, and has been for many weeks. But I think it won’t do much here since the vaccines we are using have been shown effective against it.

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The vaccines we’re using are also effective against it. The cases are mostly in those not yet eligible for a vaccine, mainly the under 30s, including the 5-18 age group.

And we are now getting warnings that numbers are rising exponentially, despite being very low. In other words, a third wave. :frowning:

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The US is vaccinating 12 years and older and has a higher percentage of the population vaccinated compared to the UK. The Indian variant seems to have shown up later in the US. So the expectation is that it won’t spread as it has in the UK. The UK variant seems to be the one that is spreading the most among unvaccinated individuals in the US at this point.

It sounds so stressful… not worth it. Time flies and “soon” enough you will be able to travel again without the hassle.

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