April trips canceled by Disney?

[Tony the Tigger]

I have a trip booked 4/4-10 and all my plans and ADRs are still in my MDE account.

Well, duh - it’s Tuvalu! They’re prepping the castle. (I think they’re even repainting it.)

Everyone else is out!

 

[wishiwere@wdw]

Disney is cancelling from what I read in other places. They are receiving refunds and no prior notice as their plans are just "disappearing" from DME. My trip is booked through DVC, so I don't know if they give the owners notification or not.

DVC called us directly but I couldn’t answer and left a voicemail stating the steps they would take with our DVC reservation. This occurred about a week before check in though since we were on the earlier side of this whole ordeal. Essentially, we had the option of doing noting at all and it would automatically cancel and return the points. Not sure if this is still true however but as they stated, our points were returned. Keep watching your dashboard and checking emails and if you are really concerned, I would call because if they do reopen in some form in time for your trip, it may not be the trip you were hoping to take. Good luck!

For what it’s worth, keep in mind that Disney reaching out to cancel trips further out could be for a multitude of reasons. It’s very possible that a phased opening will occur. Meaning not all parks and resorts will be online on day 1. Essentially, the resort you happened to have booked may not be back right away. And guests may very well be upset if they didn’t cancel them and then find out one or more parks are closed, shows are dark and rides are closed when they had paid full price. Still lots more time to go but there is also a lot of moving parts in the early stages of planning still being figured out.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

My res for two nights at the end of April is still showing for now, but it’s obviously likely to get axed. Florida is in pretty bad shape vs. many states (and I live here.)

My thought was to let them cancel it rather than me doing it. For all we know, there could be some perk offered to reschedule.

I’m also seriously rethinking that “skip the annual pass and take our first cruise” plan.

 

[Tuvalu]

I am not a DVC member and the member I rented my March, now July, trip from said no refunds even if she gets her points back and can use them and/or resell them.

Did you book your July trip on your rented March points?

 

[Tuvalu]

Yes, that was the only option I had and she really didn't want to do it until Disney announced that they would be closed.

Thanks. I am in a similar situation for my early April trip.

 

[Rhinocerous]

Teachers in my state are not technically laid off yet and we are getting our full pay. I am already hearing murmurings in my state from lawmakers and stakeholders that teachers should get half-pay or be laid off since they are not "working." I am sure our situation will be reevaluated in April as it looks like schools will still be closed. Who knows. Thankfully, because of worry-wartness and being laid off a year in 2014 before I had tenure, I have savings and am not in as dire straits as some of my colleagues who live paycheck to paycheck (no judgement as I've been there in the past) or those staff members who are not getting paid (i.e. cooks, cleaners, substitutes, etc.). Teachers in my district have already set up a fund for those staff members who are not getitng paid to make sure they are taken care of until something else is arranged.

My wife is a teacher. Anyone who thinks they are not working right now isn't paying attention. She's working harder now than when she is in the classroom. And that was already pretty darned hard.

 

[wishiwere@wdw]

Missed the rented points aspect. That sucks .

 

[Herdman]

At some point there will be a spot where life gets back to "normal", sooner rather than later, or our entire economy will collapse worse than the Great Depression. At that point, know the risks, avoid situations that you shouldn't put yourself in based on your own health conditions, but businesses and operations will need to be back open for business. Not sure when that point will come, but these measures being taken now should lessen the timeframe. Based on what has happened in China when they had their first case and now they have no new ones, I'd guess it will sometime in early May, or about four months after we had our first case here. Maybe a little sooner since we closed the borders pretty quickly. Just my opinion on how I think things might go.

 

[Herdman]

I agree and I know that I am worrying about "first world problems." I'm a teacher and my husband is a school bus driver. We have restrictive schedules for vacations. I have a trip booked June 4-18 using rented DVC points. Thankfully, the owner emailed me yesterday and said she would refund my money if the trip gets cancelled. I already had to reschedule my March trip (I was supposed to leave today) to mid-July. That owner told me I would not get a refund under any circumstances. I am at least hoping that the July trip goes forward or I will be out of $1800 not to mention the airfare we paid for the two trips that are not getting refunded at this time. I am also lamenting my decision of buying APs that is looking more and more like we will only use once for a 8-night stay. So yes, I don't want to "get that through [my] thick skull already" and hope for the best. I guess I could accept the anxiety that is keeping me up nights over this since I have no control of the matter on top of managing students' anxiety about their routines being interrupted and if they are going to get "it," where they would get their meals from if not at home, and whether or not they will return to school this year at all. Trust me, I fully grasp there are more important things to worry about.

We have rented DVC points for our upcoming trip, also. Definitely leads to a little apprehension of how it will all work out.

 

[Chicagoshannon2]

It's OK to hope that your trip will happen. I think it's kind of rotten to just cancel people's trips without any sort of notification. I think most if not all of us realize that early April trips will not happen but it's still not cool when they are officially still stating April 1 the parks will be reopen.

We have a 2nd week of May trip planned (not Disney but still in the area) and we are holding out hope it will happen. Vacations are what people use to cope with stress and hard times. For those of us in quarantine the hope that we'll have somewhere to go when we get out is holding us together.

We are currently under shelter in place until April 7 which is a week longer than they first told us. I pray by then we have more data and these medications they are trying do their thing.

So let us hope, stop spreading false information and negativity. We aren't all going to die 99% of us will be alive when this is over and we need lives to go back to!

 

[The Nation]

Looks like Tampa is about to go into a "Shelter in Place" for 2 weeks. I just don't see anything returning to normal before April 15th.

That said... Disney opening again is going to be one epic event I don't want to miss!!

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Well I've said since last week that with the CDC recommending 8 weeks that Disney wasn't opening until mid May.
Not sure why they won't announce it yet they'll cancel a mid April race and now start cancelling reservations instead of contacting guests and telling them they need to cancel/rebook.

 

[icc2515]

I don't think July, but the beginning of June most likely. The problem is that you know it and I know it and a lot of other people know it, but for some reason Disney is having a very hard time figuring it out. At the very least they are gong to be closed until May 8th per the executive order. This is the order that closes all bars and restaurant except for carryout. I can't see Disney opening the theme parks without having restaurants open. I could have seen them opening the resorts, but definitely not without the restaurants and bars. The order is only for licensed 500 and 509 establishments and I am too lazy to look up if that includes Disney restaurants. If this order applies to Disney, it is really going to force their hand. My guess is that when the time comes Disney would love to open the resorts, restaurants, bars, and shops and then slowly open the parks. That is not going to happen until after May 8th. The real question is when will Disney put the hopeful off the hook and put out a new unrealistic open date like May 9th. We are less then 10 days away from Disney's proposed opening date and still no word. If you look at Disney's website they are opening April 1st.

 

[Piebald]

I think June is very realistic. Lets not forget this hasnt even began to scrape the barrel in the US, and Florida in particular has an extremely elderly population, lots of of young people still moving around and a large population in general. Disneyland is also near an epicenter as well. In about 2 weeks we will get a good picture of where this country is headed

 

[MattFrees71]

I wonder how crowded the parks will be the first few days it's reopened?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I wonder how crowded the parks will be the first few days it's reopened?

It'll be crowded for the first few days because of pent up demand from the AP/Vlogger crowd, but it won't stay that way for long.

Most people will be trying to get their lives back to normal before thinking about their next vacation.

 

[larryz]

I am not a DVC member and the member I rented my March, now July, trip from said no refunds even if she gets her points back and can use them and/or resell them.

I suppose that's a major risk in renting points directly from a DVC member rather than through an exchange...

 

[esskay]

Of course, you are right to some extent. I don't think July, but the beginning of June most likely. The problem is that you know it and I know it and a lot of other people know it, but for some reason Disney is having a very hard time figuring it out. At the very least they are gong to be closed until May 8th per the executive order. This is the order that closes all bars and restaurant except for carryout. I can't see Disney opening the theme parks without having restaurants open. I could have seen them opening the resorts, but definitely not without the restaurants and bars. The order is only for licensed 500 and 509 establishments and I am too lazy to look up if that includes Disney restaurants. If this order applies to Disney, it is really going to force their hand. My guess is that when the time comes Disney would love to open the resorts, restaurants, bars, and shops and then slowly open the parks. That is not going to happen until after May 8th. The real question is when will Disney put the hopeful off the hook and put out a new unrealistic open date like May 9th. We are less then 10 days away from Disney's proposed opening date and still no word. If you look at Disney's website they are opening April 1st.

Disney know full well. Like every business with a lot of customers, announcing all closures at once would mean even more chaos for their support staff. Better to do it in blocks as its not fair for the person in May to get through on the phone before the person who's trips in less than 10 days.

 

[MisterPenguin]

It's likely that all states will wind up with at least a two month lock down.

In NJ, we went from restrictions on groups of 50 to groups of 10 to stay put except for essential services.

Florida will soon follow NY, NJ, and CA.

And when the lock down is over, there will still likely be continuing restrictions going back to limiting large groups.

So... that's at least 3 months for WDW. At least.

Without hoarding, everyone should be planning for staying home for 3 months unless you work in an essential field.

So... yeah... Keep checking your April reservations. You'll see them canceled. And most likely, May's and June's, too.

 

[larryz]

It's likely that all states will wind up with at least a two month lock down.

In NJ, we went from restrictions on groups of 50 to groups of 10 to stay put except for essential services.

Florida will soon follow NY, NJ, and CA.

And when the lock down is over, there will still likely be continuing restrictions going back to limiting large groups.

So... that's at least 3 months for WDW. At least.

Without hoarding, everyone should be planning for staying home for 3 months unless you work in an essential field.

So... yeah... Keep checking your April reservations. You'll see them canceled. And most likely, May's and June's, too.

I blame ESPN.