OK, looks like I am at a small decision point here and I would love some liners thoughts…
I’ll start out by saying i don’t think there is a right or wrong answer, just a matter of what side I want to gamble on.
Currently we have a May 24 to May 31 trip booked with airfare through SW. I have stayed up on the flight decreases and keep rebooking. At this point, my flights are $20 pp from the min’s for that flight ($178 pp). SW has opened up the window to allow me to change to any date and any flight as long as i keep the same destination.
We also have a back-up trip for July 19 to 27 booked directly through Disney. There is also a possibility of a rebook through DVC, would aim for those same July dates, but nothing is a lock there.
So my dilemma is do I change my flights to my back-up date now to secure my sweet prices on my flights? The upside is I lock in the flight prices and save a ton of $/pts. The downside is if they do open prior to my dates, I would need to flip the flights back and what would be the price/availability.
At this point, I think the bigger possibility is they open this summer and July flights start to rise. Opening by May 24 seems like such a pipe dream at the moment.
What would you do? Would you swap flights now to lock in the lower cost forJuly?
I agree with you. I don’t believe WDW will reopen any time prior to June 1. I’d take the July dates.
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My family has a trip booked around the same time (May 19 - May 26). We are pretty sure it won’t be happening at this point.
I would swap for July to lock in the lower cost. I think it is unlikely that the parks will be operating in late May and, if they are, will likely be at a reduced capacity (no parades, fireworks, limited sit-down restaurant capacity).
There is also the issue of travel restrictions depending on where you live. 3 members of my family live in NY so they’s have to spend the entire vacation in quarantine at this point.
What would you lose by moving to July? Any sunk costs for May that you would lose? If none, I agree you are probably better off pushing your dates back.
For comparison, I am booked the first week of June, but I have a DVC rental that I can’t move so I’m just going to hold out hope that it is open. If it’s not, I’ll try to get refunds or move what I can, but will probably lose my DVC rental.
See… I can’t see what I’m losing that can’t regain… Say they do open in May, I would need to swap back to May flight, which is almost a lock that I could. Might be more expensive, but odds are in my favor… Right?
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Would you even need to swap back? Couldn’t you just keep the July reservation in either scenario?
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I wouldn’t unless David’s would still credit me for my rental… But if they are open, I am assuming I would be locked in still.
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Oh gotcha. So you are in the same boat as me with a DVC rental. You may want to go ahead and try moving your rental to July if it would make you feel better. You might not be able to get the same property or room type, but you’d have more luck now than later when everyone has to reschedule.
Tried to look into it, but David’s took the stance of we will contact you as we are dealing with the ones who are canceled now…
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I would think if WDW has soft opening in mid-may, you could, in theory, experience some really low wait times and crowds. Albeit, things would not all be open.
I would agree with Pete Werner (disunplugged) in that they can’t just turn on the parks at full capacity from one day to the next. Ordering food, rehiring any personnel, getting food back in stock, etc.
Also, once America re-opens, I don’t see flights jumping immediately back to the original prices.
That all being said, booking a “sure thing” in July, relieves most worries and you can start full up planning for that without “reservation”…
get it? reservation, lol.
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We went a ahead and moved flight to July. Keeping May DVC until they reach out and will see what they can do. At least at this time we have cheap flights for July and a back up hotel booked if we can’t use DVC.
Thanks for the thoughts e1
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Well, hope I was right on May, they have reduced flight in may and the return flight I had is showing as unavailable, so switching back may not be as easy as thought…still feel they will be closed on my May 24 date.
Ha Ha. Same thing happened to a SW flight I cancelled to Fort Myers. A day after i cancelled, the flight showed up as unavailable I think My family was the last one on that flight. I thought to myself darn! i made a rookie mistake If I had held on 1 more day could have gotten a refund for that leg of the trip. But I think that may not have been the case even though I should have waited until my flight was within 1/2 hour of departure to cancel.