I have a two-week vacation starting at the end of May, including a 4-night Bahamas cruise with DCL, followed by a week at BC through David’s DVC. Our cruise qualifies for postponement under Disney’s policy for cruises sailing before May 31st, and we can reschedule up to the day before for any cruise within a year. We can’t cancel our DCV rental and our insurance will only pay if we ourselves get sick (or a family member dies ). So we plan to go to the WDW portion of our trip regardless unless the entire WDW resort is literally closed to visitors.
Choices:
Postpone the cruise now and book WDW for an extra week instead
Wait as long as possible before deciding, then postpone cruise and book WDW for the extra week only if it makes sense; make last minute hotel and ticket arrangements
Book a backup WDW package now (to take advantage of 60 day FP) but don’t postpone the cruise unless and until it becomes necessary; cancel package before 30-day mark if cruise is still a go. (Could still use option 2 at the last minute if needed.)
The problem with option 2 is that my Fastpass day is about 20 days from now assuming the earlier date. If I’m going to switch, I’ll miss out on some great FP if I wait too long.
The problem with option 3 is that if I keep the new package, I wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the lower pricing for adding more days to my existing tickets - I’d be starting back with a new 4-day ticket for each person. It seems like this is a situation where the “leading reservation” research may actually be applicable to me.
Questions:
If I book a placeholder package now, get my 60-day FP reservations, and decide I want to postpone my cruise sometime before the 30-day Mark, if I extend my existing tickets and cancel the package, will my FPP transfer to my existing extended tickets? Or will they disappear when I cancel the package?
If I postpone my cruise, I may want to choose a San Diego itinerary so I don’t have to buy expensive plane tickets (and so I won’t find myself justifying another WDW trip less than 12 months from now. ) Anyone done a San Diego itinerary? Any thoughts or recommendations?
I would just do option 2. We have no idea what is going to happen. It’s like planning for the entire hurricane season without an actual hurricane in the forecast.
If the COVID gets that much worse, I can’t imagine WDW being any better off than a cruise. So if you’re not too afraid to go to WDW, the. I’d say go on the cruise.
Worse case, you extend your package and take advantage of the extended day ticket savings… get whatever FPP are available and can rely on same day drops for the tier ones.
Do you have kids? If so, how old? DD is at UC San Diego for her last quarter. We have gone often while she has been there. And we have been to SD a number of times when the kids were growing up. Will provide some thoughts tomorrow. Going to bed. Darn daylight savings time. Gonna be a rough week to get used to it.
Yep I have four kids under age 9. I’m thinking if we postpone our cruise, we will sail out of San Diego since it’s a 6 hour drive. But I’m not sure what the destinations and lengths are. Haven’t done any research yet.
You already have a week at BC to take advantage of great FPs. The flexibility of last-minute booking is more valuable then the advantage of an extra 4 days of pre-booked FPs.
You can have a lot of fun in these extra days without any fear of missing out, because you know that later you will get to the planned part of your vacation.
Maybe you can play the bus lottery (go on the first bus that stops), go character hunting, spend a lot of time at the pool, play all the interactive games. Or discover just how well you can do with Same day drops.
If you get to the situation of “Help, I have 4 unexpected days at WDW!”, you know where to ask
I would go with option 3 myself. You can always cancel after you book up to 30 days with no penalty.
The cruise industry is going to take a real hit, especially princess cruises, with COVID-9. My family is considering cancelling our WDW trip as well. But we’ve got 8 more days to decide… Right now we’re leaning towards going.
No way I would get on a cruise ship anytime soon, especially with 4 young kids. Can you imagine having them confined to a cabin for any length of time? Or being quarantined in some questionable hotel or other facility for two weeks after that? I would definitely go with option one. What is your ticket situation? Is it feasible to add extra days to your tickets? And if you went for two weeks at WDW would 10 day tickets be enough or would you want two 7-day tickets anyway? I might also consider an option 4 which would be looking for a cheap flight to take out right before your DVC rental starts, some flight prices are already starting to plummet. Or just asking the airline if you can move your flight to FL to a different day.
Wait until your deadline - don’t worry about making a backup WDW reservation based on Fastpass (an enjoyable WDW vacation is possible even without the handful of rides you need fastpass for). Once it’s time to poop or get off the pot make your decision. If there are factors that require you to make a decision further out than that I would say make other vacation plans that don’t involve crowded confines spaces (national parks, cabin in the woods, etc.).
I’m also voting for option 2 because, who knows what the situation will be at that time…and, even if you did have to scramble and throw together a last minute WDW add on portion to your trip…let’s be realistic, you are an Uber-liner, it will end up being your Sistine Chapel, a testament to your skills.
We’re in a similar boat. We’re cruising 5/16-5/23 out of Orlando but not planning on any DW time. We already have flights there… we’re strongly considering cancelling the cruise and doing DW instead. I’m not worried about COVID but I am worried about being quarantined on a cruise ship with a toddler and baby.
I’m in a similar situation during June. My final payment is not due to April 1st. I am going to wait to make the payment and see what happens. A cruise credit is nice, but who know what is going happen this year and if I’ll be able to squeeze a cruise in. I’ve got three weeks to decide at this point.
We currently have 5-day PH tickets and I would add 4 days to make 9-day tickets (and possibly add the Plus option so we could check out a water park). We have a resort day and a UOR day so total 11 days plus two travel days. If we do extend, I might snag a 10th day since it’s so cheap at that point.
If I had 7 days at WDW already + 4 days around Orlando to replace a cruise, I would probably look for good food, beach, water parks and relaxing, instead of more WDW days.
I don’t know, it would be so nice to be able to relax a little and take the parks at a slower pace for once! I feel like I’m always rushing to get each park done in one day. I do love the beach, but a beach vacation for me has to be far away from Disney or I’m always wishing I could go there.
). So we plan to go to the WDW portion of our trip regardless unless the entire WDW resort is literally closed to visitors.
) Anyone done a San Diego itinerary? Any thoughts or recommendations?
