I can definitely resonate with this post. Booking our trip for April has certainly given me hope as we stay inside our safe bubble at home. Planning and reading give me a calm feeling. I get very sad thinking that we may have to cancel since we have a high risk family member. I am hoping they have a vaccine and at least they will have access to it before we go. That gives me hope. I also wonder if once school starts and if we are exposed and get it, I would feel safer going to DW as a celebration.
I will continue to plan our trip and figuring out what we can do there. I think at this point any trip will bring happiness even though I said if SAB is closed we wonāt go. Just going to a friendās pool yesterday brought happiness to the teens, which is hard sometimes!
Iām going to keep on planning and hoping for our April trip!
I resonate with this post too. My wife and I had a raging debate a couple of weeks ago about taking advantage of the special resort offer WDW has for annual pass holders in September (we didnāt). Finally she asked WHY would I even want to go now? Without even thinking I told her being there takes me back to the time I watched the Wonderful World of Color every Sunday night as a child (yes, Iām that old). For me itās an emotional attachment that brings back memories of great happiness.
Like many on this post, our next trip is planned for April 2021. Iāve been planning it since 2018. I booked rooms at 499 days out. Part of our stay is DVC and I walked a reservation for 2 months because itās a really really hard one to get (2 bdrm club level at Jambo). I started making some tentative touring plans (had to put them in 2020 because 2021 wasnāt even opened up yet in TP). Iāve been churning credit cards to earn points that will cover things like airfare, car rental, and the hotels. Iāve been maximizing the use of my Disney Visa in hopes to cover most of our food costs.
But now, Iām in a space where there is nothing else I can really do to move plans along any further. Disney isnāt selling APs at the moment, so I canāt even make park reservations (and our trip is more than 10 days, so I canāt just get a 10 day ticket and convert once Iām there). The rooms we have booked are all club level, but nobody knows what that is even going to look like next year. And FPsā¦thatās obviously a big question mark. Not to mention dining. And fireworks. And parades. And all the extra up charge events that Iām such a sucker for. Oh, and SAB. I booked at YC specifically because of SAB. If itās not open, Iād rather be at BWI. Oh yeah, but BWI doesnāt have an opening date yet.
What I am finding is that, even though I am still over the moon excited to go back to Disney, my real joy comes from the planning and anticipation. Everything about my trip seems up in the air. I canāt nail down any details. So I actually find myself more frustrated. I still love reading everyoneās trip reports. It does bring me joy to follow along and picture myself there too. But ultimately, I want to be picturing my trip, and there are just too many question marks to get that clear picture.
Wow, that was not meant to be a downer, Iām sorry. Itās just where I am with Disney right now. I still love Disney and canāt wait to be back, but the control freak in me wants answers about what itās going to be like to be back. And I understand that nobody knows and I donāt blame Disney at all for the lack of information. Iām just ready for some certainty.
My family actually has more fun on our road trips and cruises than Disney and we can do easily twice as much. But itās still someTHING Iām placing my hope in. Itās humbling to find out Iām so shallow.
Me too. Iāve found ways to be happy during the pandemic. There are many who have had it so much worse.
I donāt know that my reliance on Disney is a good thing - it simply āis.ā I believe in frugality, optimism, making do, family, and other principles that tell me if Disney ceased to exist, I could and would move on and find other ways to keep my mental health. And maybe I should be doing so anyway (although I think thereās nothing wrong with Disney per se). But Iād be lying if I didnāt say Disney occupies that space in my head and heart right now! And Iām glad it exists.
For me it is travel, family, travel, good food, travel, planning future trips and travel
And not only Disney. The more I research a particular destination, the more I am eager to go and see it in person
This reminds me of episode 5 of the Imagineering series which includes the earthquake in Japan. Imaigneer Daniel Jue brought me to tears with this clip:
But this is the quote I was really thinking of from Bob Weis: āI once asked John Hench what does all of this mean, whatās the deeper meaning of all this and he said the meaning of the parks is very simple, youāre going to be okay. By that he meant it doesnāt matter whatās happening in the world, it doesnāt matter how screwed up your life is, or whatever that might be. Itās reassurance that sense of comfort. That intangible is what we have to do.ā
My kids were laughing at me because I watched this episode with tears streaming down my face. It just felt like it was written in response to the pandemic and these uncertain times. It certainly resonated with me.
Iāve realized how important travel, especially international travel, is to me. If all the theme parks vanished Iād be sad, but Iāll be a lot more upset if flying to other continents continues to feel like an unwarranted risk.
Thereās the friends and family thing too. My brother lives in England and my closest childhood friend lives in Korea ā I hate not knowing when Iāll be able to see them. But zoom calls help on that front. Researching and planning for and then exploring new places doesnāt really have a substitute. At least thereās lots of Ontario and the rest of Canada we havenāt seen, so we actually do have a weekās vacation planned for 2 weeks from now. It wonāt be as culture shock-y as I enjoy, but it will be fun.
This had me bawling as well. Because it is dead on. Whatever is going on - personally, globally, whatever - when youāre in that bubble you are just reassured and for a little while everything actually IS okay, and you get the sense that all will be well.
Agreed - this is a great clip and the sentiment is so relevant! Iāve honestly been worried to revisit The Imagineering Story while the parks were closed because of the existential threat to the parks and how that will make me feel watching it. Even now with Disneyland still closed, Iām not sure how it would feel to watch it! (P.S. please oh please let Disneyland open safely soon!)
I donāt often post on the forum but this thread compelled me to, because I relate to everyoneās sentiments so much. Iām in therapy for anxiety, and one of the things my therapist encourages me to do for self care is to have things to look forward to. Having a Disney vacation to plan gives me that, plus something to focus my thoughts on, and something to calm me down. The anticipation of a Disney trip is a happiness that no other place seems to provide for me and my family, and all the planning that goes into it (or used to anyway) helps to build up that anticipation of all the joy and fun weāll have. Itās an amazing stress reliever, and to have that taken away has been a challenge to my mental health as well, even though I know weāre lucky in so many ways. Iām comforted to know that you guys feel this way tooā¦most of my friends and extended family donāt get it at all.
I could not have said this any better if I tried. For me itās not specifically WDW, but I need at least something. I currently have nothing. I sometimes wonder how much longer I can keep up with thisā¦