I read somewhere that 18% or so of Disney World visitors are from out of the country. I assume at least some of those folks have canceled trips and we haven’t seen a drop in numbers yet because the trips are later. Add to that the day trippers who may just skip it, and I think we’ll see a drop.
I know one family who will definitely be there in the beginning of April and if Disney is a empty windswept dystopia I don’t care we’ll have fun anyway. I didn’t work my planning fingers to the bone just to have some measly virus ruin everything.
This is exactly why we have a floor-and-upside strategy for our early retirement. Not losing one bit of sleep over this. DH is supposed to quit Jan 1. The only problem is selling the big house, but people might be looking for property in the boonies before this is all over
Yes, this. I know of two families that canceled international travel due to possible pandemic for spring break travel and rescheduled to Disney. Those people may cancel out the AP locals that stay home.
We were supposed to be going in two weeks and we are cancelling/rescheduling to early summer. There’s just too much unknown right now as it unfolds quickly. We are all disappointed but know ourselves well enough to know that we won’t have a good time if we are worried about getting stuck in Florida or government mandated park closures.
The latter probably sounds crazy but I’m also shocked they’re still operating Euro Disney while the standing order is to prevent gatherings >5,000 people… The lourve closed.
Anyway, I’ll be dumping some pretty good fast passes soon and openly weeping while doing so.
The 5,000 people ban is only for indoor gatherings.
Disney owns Paris Disneyland (but isn’t majority owner of any of the 3 Asia parks) and my guess is will not close parks unless explicitly mandated to do so.
We have a trip in April, and as long as Disney is open, we will be there! If crowds are lower because of this, that’s a bonus.
The good news is mortality rate for 0-9 year olds is literally 0% (no reported deaths). So I don’t feel irresponsible for taking my kids there in the midst of all this, as long as there are no direct closures or increased health threats otherwise.
It’s 3/15 - 3/20 (excluding Tuesday). The only great things in there are a morning TSMM, MFSR, Star Tours set for Monday and evening MFSR for Thursday. I was staying off-site so no 7DMT or anything as those were long gone.
I’m very disappointed, but I’ll post here when the passes are dumped.
We were also supposed to go there in two weeks but now planning to reschedule it to summer or fall. Do you know if there are any charges or penalty on rescheduling Disney tickets other than paying extra price difference ?
Depends who you bought the tickets from. If I recall correctly, e-tickets purchased from AAA are non refundable, while Undercover tourist has a very generous refund policy for physical tickets (5% restocking fee). If you bought directly from Disney I’m sure you can modify them and just pay the difference.
For every person who cancels their trip due to coronavirus fears, there will be someone who thinks a trip to WDW will be a great idea because they believe the parks will be empty because of coronavirus fears. I wouldn’t expect the CL to be effected by this in the short term and very unlikely this summer, either, as viruses tend to spread slower in warm weather.
Fingers crossed for this. I have a trip to Disneyland Paris in May and will be heartbroken if its closed, probably more so than anything else on the trip! I know a lot can change in 2 months though, so not getting too wrapped up in worrying just yet.
We will be there first week of April. I expect crowds to be unchanged. We are considering driving instead of flying only because our home airport is the busiest one in the world and is a germ magnet. We have the ability to change flights without issues (flying SW) and we are close enough that we can drive (7hrs with adults only, usually 11hrs with the kids in tow). DH and I hate driving beyond two hours since it’s never relaxing for us so we’ll make the call when we get closer. 31 days and counting.
Geez Louise that’s a big difference! When I drive with my kids I usually add one hour per meal, so a 7-hour drive is about 8 hours. Maybe 9 if we decide to stop twice, but usually that short we make it in one go. Do you have kids with special needs or other considerations?
No, they just hate the car a lot. The 8yo is fine, but the 5yo never uses the bathroom when we tell him to because he says he doesn’t need to go…until we are two miles down the highway. Then we stop a million times because he drinks tons of water. The 19 month old screams in his car seat for most of the ride. He spent two hours screaming “mommy, out” when we drove from Atlanta to Huntsville in January. Last year, we drove from Atlanta to Nashville and what should have been a 4+ hour ride turned into 7hrs because of the bathroom issue and the baby continuously screaming. This is why my DH has sworn off driving trips for a while. We only do the shorter drives because of tournaments, not for pleasure.
Yeah, our car trips when the kids were young probably had the same ratios. Just cuz kids.
We’ve frequently done cross country road trips with our kids since they were itty bitty (ex, TX to FL, MN/Canada, WY…).
Ok, this may sound crazy but sometimes a mom’s gotta do what a mom has to do. When our twins were little and melted down, I’d contort to reach backwards from the front seat and give them foot massages. It was the ONLY thing that would calm either of them down. Sometimes for hours.
(And if that sounds crazy…at 20 months they refused to sleep with us or each other. We were the crazy people that camped across multiple Colorado national parks with 2 pack n plays in our tent!)
It does get better! (Our kids are now 18, 15, and twin 10s and are GREAT travelers. They were an absolute joy at WDW in January with RDs, late nights, and my crazy TPs.)
If you are looking to keep the tickets and just change the dates, they will charge you the difference if the new date price is higher, but no refund if the new price is lower. But otherwise no penalty or fee.
Me too, we have a short DLP visit tacked onto our France tour in June. Will be disappointing if it is closed, but at least our DLP portion is refundable and we can find other things to do in Paris if need be. Would just be an excuse to go back sooner than later!
Not losing one bit of sleep over this. DH is supposed to quit Jan 1. The only problem is selling the big house, but people might be looking for property in the boonies before this is all over 