We were among those whose trip got cancelled. We were supposed to leave out Saturday. That being said, I need to reschedule everything pretty quickly (tomorrow). We were debating rescheduling for the last week of May, after school is out, or the 1st or 2nd week of July. My worry with July is that it will be too hot. My worry with May is that I’m afraid a LOT of people will reschedule for that same week due to school schedules. Thoughts?
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We have gone to WDW during May/early June and July. We really had to change how we toured and lowered our expectations when it came to how much we could do each day. Our trip emphasized short
morning times in the parks (3-4 hours) followed by time at the pools and a nap during the day, and another 3-4 hours in the parks at the end of each day. We also built in time for waterparks, which my kids would say is their favorite memory.
We’ve only gone during Spring Break, so CL 9s and 10s. We’re used to the bigger crowds, but I know that not all 10s are equal, and I’m afraid COVID19 will change the way the crowd levels look from here on out as people reschedule. I should also mention we’re not going with kids
Consider the impact that extended school schedules could have if school is canceled for several weeks like they are here.
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That is a really good point. I had not even considered extended school schedules.
I don’t know that historical crowd patterns will be much help this summer. Everything is entirely dependent on how long they Close the World ™ for and how badly the country is impacted by the disease. I have a trip end of May so I hope everything is back to normal by then but chances are some aspects will still be impacted.
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Kinda in limbo here. Scheduled last week of May, but kids are out of school for 3 weeks. Trying to go with learning bags, but who knows if they will extend the year or not… Ugh, so many unknowns.
Based on the last couple of years, end of May would probably be busier than July.
My limited personal experience with this agrees: My late June trip in 2017 was low crowds compared to my late May 2019 trip (which was manageable, but definitely more people around, fewer day-of FPs available, longer wait times mid day, (but longer park hours over Memorial Day weekend which helps to spread people out if you go early or stay late).
As @Jeff_AZ said, historical crowd patterns aren’t going to be much help in the upcoming months.
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It will be VERY hot in July. However, with less crowds, you can move around the park easier. Be sure to build in time for breaks or dining indoors.
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I’d be worried this isn’t over yet by May so I’m that regard July is the safer but hotter bet.
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May is lovely weather. We often have done mid-May.
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May is lovely weather. July is hotter. Honestly - if you can push to Sept that would be ideal.
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IMHO I wouldn’t count on the school year being extended. That would cause a lingering economic effect on the travel industry. I think that is something our public officials would take into consideration.
I really feel strong empathy for those that have to reschedule because of this. If there is anything I can do to help you or anyone having to reschedule, I’d be happy to (but what can I do? I don’t know, lol!).
We also have a trip scheduled for end of May, first of June. I have also wondered if the crowds will be awful because of those rescheduling or if they will push further because of school rescheduling.
We have crazy heat in Oklahoma from July to October, just not the same intensity, so I do worry how the kids would handle the heat in Florida in July.
I’m trying not to make crazy reaction decisions right now and wait until the middle of April to decide.
Something to keep in mind with rescheduling too soon is availability of ADRs and FPs. I just booked a backup trip for late May and some ADRs I had in my original plans were not available. Some people may already have thought of this and are pushing further out into June or the fall.
Unfortunately for us planners, there is absolutely no way to predict how crowds are going to be affected by this. So the timelines of our TPs will be less useful. What I mean is TP.com may have predicted a CL of 5, but it could end up being a 1 or 10 depending on how people cancel/rebook. This difference in predicted/actual could dramatically affect the TPs we create and rely on for timing our daily plans. 
I was talking about this with others and at this point, since our closures were government mandated people are saying they won’t push the school year. That may vary by stare and whether it was mandated or not.
I’m even worried if this will still be going on in June. My beach house owner said I would need to cancel soon but I’m set on going but we just don’t know what the situation will be like.
@Flutegarden Giving a lot of opinions here which I don’t typically like to weigh in on speculation, but I think you will be good in June. These efforts are extensively precautionary so that we can resolve the issue. If we are still mitigating the risk in June, then we will have greater economic concerns to deal with that will really start to affect our way of life. We have Disney planned for April 25. We are holding course unless our public officials, airline, or Disney tell us otherwise. Again, I want to state this is totally my opinion, so please everyone reading, take it or leave it.
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I’m still hoping I don’t have to cancel (April 17) … if I do, I’d likely have to push out to July. My AP was set to expire July 1 - but since Disney is extending, I’d have until Mid-July. I went first week of July last year, yes its stinking hot; but we still enjoyed ourselves.
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I agree with you on all of that. We’ve decided on end of May (for a multitude of reasons). I only had 2 ADRs from my March trip. I booked the new ADRs just now, one of which might actually be a better time (depending on my plans) and one of which I’ll have to cancel if I can’t modify to a better time. It doesn’t hurt my feelings too much on that one, so that’s fine. I’m just back in the same boat with FPP though, I’ll have to redo all my FPP in April. That stinks, but maybe this time I’ll be able to get a Tier 1 FPP in HS? Who knows?
Extended school year is a neat thought for my new vacation plans (lower crowds), but you’re right, it could very easily go the other way and everyone reschedule for the same time as we do. I’m not worried about the virus in May, because like @BoPeepPrincess said, we’ll have bigger worries than our vacations at that point if we’re still fighting it to the point that WDW is still shut down.