While last year we helped you answer, “Should I even go to Disney World with all this construction?” Now we’re asking the same question for a much different reason.
Cinderella Castle Refurb
That’s right, friends! Remember all the waaay back to 2019 when our biggest concerns were whether or not Cinderella Castle would remain uncovered during its refurb?? Those were much SIMPLER times!
But we know many of you are searching for the answer to, “Is it even worth it to go to Disney World right now with all this uncertainty?” Don’t worry — we feel the added pressure of planning a Disney World trip right now, too! The struggle is REAL!
Villains Unite the Night
And while we can’t make this really tough decision FOR you, we CAN help you determine the best solution for you and your family! Let’s examine a few things that will help you make your decision!
It’s Unknown When the Parks Will Re-Open
Here’s one of the biggest hurdles you’ll have to make your mind leap over — how do you plan a trip to a place where you technically can’t even go right now?
Castle Lights
And while Disney World is accepting new reservations starting after June 1st, it hasn’t officially announced a re-opening date. So far, the parks are just closed “until further notice,” which for all we know could still be a while!
See what has to happen before Disney World reopens here!
You Should Plan a Trip If: It’s Not That Big of a Deal If You Don’t End Up Going
Because you can book a room at any Disney World resort starting June 1st, if you’re more open to changing your plans, you can go for it! You can book all your FastPasses and Advance Dining Reservations just like you normally would. And while it’s true we don’t know if Disney World will be open for you to use them or not, it doesn’t hurt anything if you want to go ahead and make plans!
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
If Disney World DOES extend its closure, you would receive a refund for your Disney World hotel and any tickets you already purchased will be extended. You won’t be out any money (be careful with buying tickets, though, and make sure you know all the current details with refunds and extensions), and you can rebook your trip at a later time. Just make sure you know your airline’s policy for refunds before purchasing airfare — or delay buying your flight until you know if the parks will be open!
Click here to learn more about how Disney has handled refunds during the closures!
It Might Be Best to Wait Until Next Year If: You Would Be Horribly Disappointed if You Didn’t Get to Go on Your Trip
If you’re risk-averse when getting your hopes up or have kids who would be crushed by the news their Disney trip just got canceled, you might want to think about 2021 instead — you know, just to be on the safe side.
Toy Story Land
Plus, that way, you’ll have plenty of time to do some research and watch lots of DFB videos to get you (and your tastebuds) prepared!
Need more help deciding between a 2020 or a 2021 Disney World trip? Click here!
What’s Your Current Comfort Level Around Big Groups?
Nobody really knows just yet if the parks will be crowded or not when they re-open, but many analysts seem to think it could be up to 2 years before the parks reach their full crowd capacity again.
Tower of Terror
Armed with the knowledge the parks’ capacity could be limited but you might still run into bigger groups of people than you’re used to these days, what should you do?
You Should Go If: You Feel Disney World and Crowd Levels Will Be Safe As Soon As It Reopens
We asked our readers if they would be comfortable returning to Disney World as soon as it reopens and the overwhelming majority said YES! Many felt Disney wouldn’t open until it was 100% safe for guests and Cast Members to return.
Magic Kingdom Crowds
In fact, many of you guys have already booked your trips and are looking forward to the parks being extra-sterilized after their long temporary closure — plenty of time to get them nice and sparkly clean!
It Might Be Best to Wait Until Next Year If: You Want To Give It a Little Time First
But while many of us are anxious to rush back, others might be more inclined to wait and see. Are you going to be too nervous being around a bunch of people right away? Perhaps you have someone in your group who is immunocompromised and that’s a concern for you? If so, you might make the choice to hold off — at least, for a little while — to see how the parks are operating. Is there lowered capacity? Are the enforced distancing and potential health screenings enough to make you feel comfortable?
it’s a small world
We know many of our readers’ hearts and brains might be at odds when it comes to deciding when to return to Disney World, so with that in mind, here are a few more considerations to keep in mind.
We Don’t Know If or What Modifications Disney World Will Be Making…Yet
Bob Iger has already hinted that Disney World is considering temperature screening guests when it reopens, but it’s unknown at this time the full extent of new protocols Disney will be implementing.
Disney World Bus
There are many potential options such as answering questionnaires about one’s health, temperature screenings, and maybe even rapid testing or showing proof of being vaccinated (once a vaccine exists); but nothing has been confirmed.
Recently we polled our readers and asked them if they would OK with temperature checks to enter the parks. Here’s what they said.
You Should Go If: You’ll Be Happy Just Being at Disney World Again Regardless Of A Potentially Different Experience
What if you had to wear a mask or Cast Members all wore masks? What if you had to provide personal information about your health? In addition to being around large groups of people again, how badly do you want to go to Disney World? Bad enough to give up some privacy?
Mickey Balloons
What if all areas and attractions in the parks weren’t open when you went? It’s possible that Disney World will reopen in phases like Shanghai Disneyland is doing. Would you still want to go if your favorite restaurant or attraction might not be open? Or if your experience with it is very different?
It Might Be Best to Wait Until Next Year If: You Need Disney World to Be Exactly How You Remember It
We can’t really sugarcoat this for you — Disney World might not be entirely how you remember it when it reopens. We’re still expecting it to be totally magical and AWESOME, but when you think about how much a trip to Disney World costs, it might not be that picturesque perfect trip you were originally willing to shell out big bucks on.
There will likely be a LOT more change than just the castle being painted.
Magic Kingdom
It’s very possible certain aspects and experiences will be modified when the parks reopen and it’s unclear right now what that may entail. There could be limited capacity; but to think “bigger picture” for a sec, entire lands or rides could be shut down due to an inability to practice social distancing in some areas of the parks.
Would you be majorly bummed if you went to Disney World and didn’t get to experience absolutely everything you wanted? If so, you might need to lay back for a while.
Click here to see why we think Virtual Queues might be a solution when Disney World reopens
We’re Missing Some Key Dates for Events
Another thing that you’ll need to work around is having potential events you might be looking forward to still very much up in the air for this year.
Epcot Food and Wine Festival
At this point in years past, Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival and Festival of the Holidays dates would have been announced along with dates and tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parties, which happen on select evenings through November and December at Magic Kingdom. This year, however, we’re still waiting on all of this info!
You Should Go If: You’re Comfortable Assuming When and If These Events Will Happen (Or Comfortable Missing Out!)
Since these festivals and events typically happen around the same dates from year-to-year at Disney World, you should be able to use last year’s dates as a frame of reference.
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Entrance
BUT, that’s not written in stone. We’re still waiting for information on all of these events and it’s still possible they may happen at a reduced capacity, for shorter time frames, or possibly not at all.
It Might Be Best to Wait Until Next Year If: You Would Like These Events and Dates Confirmed Ahead of Time
With so much disruption going on lately, you might want the added reassurance from Disney before you start planning your fall or winter trip!
Epcot’s Festival of the Holidays
And hey, we don’t blame you there! If you have your heart set on attending one of these special events, it’s probably wise to see if they’ll actually be happening! Otherwise, we think its a pretty safe bet to plan on enjoying them in 2021 instead!
Click here to see all the stuff we’re STILL waiting for Disney World to tell us about!
Some Special Offers Still Haven’t Been Announced
Disney World often releases a free Walt Disney World dining offer in April, but so far, we haven’t heard a peep. Many guests look forward to this promotion as it grants Disney Resort guests each an included Disney Dining Plan for free with the purchase of a vacation package. There is a current free dining promotion for guests who had to cancel their vacations when the parks closed, but that’s not available to everyone, and it’s the one we’re waiting for!
You Should Go If: You’re Cool With Not Getting Free Dining
If a 2020 Disney World Free Dining Promotion for the general public IS released after you’ve already booked your trip, you can usually cancel and re-book your vacation with free dining! No problemo!
Chicken Parm at Via Napoli
But even though Disney has made this offer in years past, it’s no guarantee they’ll do it this year! Especially with things being so different! So just be prepared. You might be “going it alone” without free dining and you’ll have to pay for your meals out-of-pocket instead!
Via Napoli
This may not be an issue if you were banking on scoring a room discount instead of free dining, so weigh your options and decide which offer might be better for you and your family.
It Might Be Best to Wait Until Next Year If: You Only Want to Go to Disney World When Free Dining is Available
Like we said above, if missing out on free dining is a Disney World deal-breaker for you and your budget, you’ll probably wanna hold off until there’s an official free dining offer released.
Mickey Bar Krispy Treat
But when that will happen is unclear at this time! We’ll be on the lookout for any special promotions and report back to ya as soon as we hear about them! Don’t forget to join our newsletter for the info IMMEDIATELY!
Port Orleans Riverside
As for deals available right now, there’s a special room discount going on where you can save as much as 25% on select rooms at Disney World resorts if you book by August 31st!
Read more about the Fun & Sun guest room discount here!
There’s definitely more to mull over this year than almost EVER before during these unprecedented times. And even though there are A LOT of factors to consider, here’s what it all boils down to: you get to do what’s right for your family. Don’t let anyone make you think otherwise. Spend some time figuring out how you feel about crowds, if you’ll be OK if your vacation gets postponed, if you won’t mind if certain rides are closed or events aren’t happening. Is now the time? It’s up to you.
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Thanks for this. For what it’s worth, I’m not sure how it’d be worth it to go there unless you were a local/DVC passholder and/or had enough money to be able to go more frequently than most guests can go there. While nothing has been finalized yet, reliable news reports have described many of the proposed measures. The average guest is not from Central FL and saves for years to go with a family. Saving and then spending all that money and then to be: unable to go to Epcot and the waterparks(all of which apparently will be closed upon reopening), not be able to ride the monorail, forced/strongly encouraged to wear a mask, not be able to interact with CM’s to check in, buy most items(including food), forced to stay 6 feet away from others, unable able to go into most (maybe even any?) “dark” rides, unable to experience pre-ride shows, waiting in very long lines (whether real or virtual) for the limited attractions that are available, having most amenities unavailable, being stuck if you’re uncomfortable with or unable to use self-service kiosks, not having fireworks, photopass, character interactions, parades, street performers, etc., very limited food options, not being able to go to a pool for an afternoon break, and many other examples, even if only half of these proposals materialize, would mean the entire experience is just not worth it. I don’t really understand what the point would be of going there with all these restrictions considering how expensive it is, the limited rides, entertainment and other options available to guests, and how unpleasant the experience would be. I suspect that Disney and the other parks will damage a lot of their brand equity if they subject guests to these restrictions and the guests leave feeling like they had a negative, wasted experience. At least it looks like Disney (unlike Universal) understands some of this and may limit admissions to annual passholders and/or locals at the beginning.
Thanks for the info. I think one of the ways Disney can open and “test the waters” would be to open up to Fl residents who are pass holders. That way, people won’t book unnecessary travel and possibly get terribly disappointed. There’s so many people making all kinds supposition. No one knows what Disney will do. There’s also an issue that people LOVE to sue. Disney, along with other companies, really don’t want to open themselves up to possible lawsuits. I would, however, like Disney to mail the passholder magnets to the annual passholders who missed out on them. We went on March before the closure and missed out on getting two magnets for the Flower and Garden festival.
One of our big drivers is the age of our youngest. He’s 9. If we wait until after his birthday to go, it’s going to be much more expensive.
My honeymoon is supposed to take place in Disneyworld starting July 11th but from what I’ve seen Disney is only accepting changes till June 30th. What should we do?? We are comfortable changing our wedding date but worried we won’t be able to change our honeymoon dates.
I promised myself Star Wars. I have a 40′ motorhome and stay at Fort Wilderness. We usually stay two weeks. We’ve been there at least 6 times in the last 10 year’s. Love. It!!!
We were originally booked for May 30. We cancelled and rebooked for Christmas. Basically moved it as far out as possible to see what the changes would be and how we would adapt. Here’s hoping we get to complete a somewhat normal trip.
I liked the points of your article and it gives me many factors to consider in order to make my own choice to go or not. Thank you
Plus to add to what Ted said, kids are free until they are 3! But can you handle telling your kid, no that’s closed or Elsa is not here today over and over.
There are a lot of pass holders in the state of Florida. Would it be so bad if Floridian got a chance to enjoy the park before the rest of the world?
Max, you might want to call Disney directly to explain your circumstances. They’ll be able to tell you what your options are.
We can not travel in our states NY
CT and NJ
I do not want to wear a mask all day
We moved our WDW vacation to April 2021
If the COVID-19 virus does not have a vaccine by then
We will go to WDW in 2022
Our Governor’s interrupt TV every morning with Caronavirus updates
I would rather stay healthy than see the Mouse
Bottom line is everyone will assess and decide whether the risks is worth it for themselves and their family. Given the current rules that will be in place, Phase 1 states 50% capacity, plus social distancing. I imagine the line would cue out and around even at 50% capacity. Plus those that are 65 and older are encouraged to stay away. Phase 2 is 75% with the same social distancing. That’s going to be even more difficult to enforce.
Additionally, the rosy picture that Florida’s governor is portraying is not what the numbers show. Florida has test about 1.7% of their estimated total population of 22M. Of those that were tested, 8.9% were positive. Extrapolating those numbers, if Florida were to test every person, 1.9M would likely have the virus. The current death rate is 3.5% of those testing positive which infers that 600,000 Floridians could die.
Lots of people (myself included) booker non-refundable travel and accommodation before Covid hit so, provided flights are flying and I’m allowed entry to the US, it’s either come and see what you can do or lose thousands of pounds.
@Max Larson — First: Congratulations!! on your upcoming marriage. May each day be happier than the day before. — Now to your question. I know people who have their wedding and then have their honeymoon a while later. Sometimes it’s due to work situations or the cost of the wedding didn’t leave enough money for the honeymoon they wanted so they save up for that and then go to their dream spot. I know of couples who just do a few days away and then have their real “honeymoon” later, and they’re happy they did it that way.
So I guess my suggestion is that you do what you want! Don’t be tied by what other people usually do. Do what puts a smile on your lips and laughter in your heart.
@Ralph
The problem with ‘what the numbers show’ is that with a novel virus, the data is ever changing and rapidly evolving. The death rate of 3.5% is highly questionable. If you account for unreported cases of C19 (asymptomatic people or people whose symptoms were so mild as to not report), the actual death rate could be much lower.
The more and more data that we get on this virus, the less dangerous it looks to non-vulnerable populations. As the data evolves, the strategies, tactics, and policies also have to evolve. The experts weren’t “wrong”. They have to base their decisions off of the data currently available. The early data was both limited (as is all early data) but also highly unreliable. Now I’m hoping that egos don’t get in the way. Widespread testing is still the key to protecting those vulnerable populations, but there really does need to be a shift toward getting back to some type of normalcy while making efforts to protect those vulnerable populations.
In addition, since the article’s context is this entire year, Oxford scientists say a vaccine may be widely available by September (source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-vaccine-oxford-university-scientists-september).
@Ted The numbers may be suspect it is the only data we have to work with. Look at the US as a whole, the numbers are actually worse. According to today’s numbers, the US is running 17.1% positive cases to tests. Those positive cases show 5.3% end up in death so the 3.5% may not be far off. You’re right about testing and the need for way more than what is currently being done. The US is woefully behind running about 42nd place on the number of tests per million. We’re 15th in deaths per million. If there is a bright spot, the US has about a third of the total cases but only a quarter of the deaths. Be and stay safe…
@margaret thank you for your kind words! We have our fingers crossed that this all blows over soon!
@SarahDFB We contacted Disney today. The situation seems to be slightly tricky due to having purchased our tickets from Undercover Tourist instead of directly from Disney but they said if we decided to reschedule or if it came to that, we should be able to put the money spent on those tickets towards a future date.
I’ve been going every year without fail for 7 years straight and I wanted to go this year . Unfortunately it will not happen.The mouse house is my happy place but I dont want to wear a mask(its incomfortable and hot in just the shortest time) I dont want it to b longer to ride the rides , I dont want to worry about crowds (I dont like crowds anyways but worrying about my health just ups it to something else entirely.vacations are to relax not have added worry..I will b going way later plus add the construction they are behind on..Its just not worth for me !
It would definitely be smart to open in phases as I think they previously were considering. Annual passholders and dvc members (who pay monthly and annual fees) should be allowed first at least until further notice or just passholders, dvc and FL residents. Once they test the waters with only those, they can make a better assumption as to when to open “Nationwide” for phase 2. Opening to other countries should without a doubt be a last resort for phase 3. It wouldn’t make sense to limit annual passholder and dvc entrance as some previously suggested because Disney would have to refund the money for the passes and months they aren’t able to use as they’re doing now and stop payments. It wouldn’t be fair to invest that money into something you are limited to using. It’s just not how things work. Obviously Disney is being flexible allowing everyone who has booked resorts and such to reschedule for a later date including myself. If you aren’t from FL, the least of the concerns at the present time is to want to travel to other states with other people from other places. It’s safer to reschedule until things are back to normal. I live in FL but I definitely will be making modifications to when I visit. Maybe not so many parks in one trip or limiting my time in the park instead of all day. The good news is this isn’t going to be forever, it’s just for now. Stay safe everyone and more importantly stay positive, it helps!
My wife & I are not going until there is a vaccine for covid 19 . I have to be careful because I have COPD
I have a question I can’t seem to find the answer. I have trip planned for September. (Planned before covid) we have tickets already to MNSSHP. They were about $200.
I will go still if we have temperature checks and have to wear mask. But I draw the line at no firework show, no parades, no character greetings/dinning & rides closed.
If we don’t go is there refunds on the special hard tickets?
Or can they be turned into a credit for future?
Mallori, you’ll need to contact Disney directly for that information, and I’m not sure they’ll have an answer for you at this time. Worth checking with them, though!
Mallori, Yes, you need to contact Disney. I suggest you do that right away — I called them about a membership matter and was told that I needed to talk to someone else (because that cast member didn’t have the answer) and that my question was being forwarded to the right people who would talk with me. I was told that it would take quite a while before I heard back because there’s such a backlog of calls. So, please don’t wait until the last minute!