Your right.
I would love to know if you wouldn’t mind answering.The only thing certain about the situation in Florida right now is the level of uncertainty. Seeing what’s going on and the (non) reaction of the majority of those around us, we’ve decided to cancel our weeklong Universal visit that was scheduled for Aug 1-8 and revert to a staycation instead. Like previous posters have mentioned it comes down to comfort level and we’re just not comfortable with indoor queues and scores of unvaccinated visitors. Stress on vacation is not much of a vacation so we’ll just have to save it for another time.
Honestly, masks required indoors (with consistent enforcement and SOME attempt at social distancing) could potentially have been a game changer for us. As a fully vaccinated family knowing the unvaccinated (and everyone else) were at least masking up would have eased some of our concerns. We discussed as a family the possibility that the rules could change before Aug 1, but at this point we’d be right in the middle of a policy shift that I’m sure will result in rising tempers and confrontations. Not something I want my kids to be in the middle of, and given our overall comfort level we’ve decided to pass.
Ok so in summary you probably would have canceled unless there was some form of social distancing component?
For what it’s worth my family is fully vaccinated.
We’re not sure. If masks had been in place for awhile, even without distancing, if the case count was lower and people around us (remember we live in Fla) had been showing even a superficial level of concern... maybe? Maybe not. That’s why I keep coming back to uncertainty. Knowing my family, knowing my kids and seeing how they’ve worked through this thing so far, unless everyone today chimed in with an enthusiastic “yes” vote my wife and I knew we’d have to cancel. Making ourselves uncomfortable just to go on vacation isn’t something we’re prepared to do.
Supposedly the reason why things have been awful in Orlando for the last month is backlog from canceled trips last year….
We know we’ve been very fortunate to have had a ton of vacations (including a slew of Disney visits) under our belts since the time the kids were little. And knowing that we can return when things die down (living as close as we do) does take some of the sting out of it.
It’s so easy for me to understand your decision and that making yourself uncomfortable on vacation is something you don’t want to do.
I’m a DVC owner but the point rental market is red hot right now. I cancelled my trip last Summer and rented the points easily so I don’t think it’s really a sunk cost that factors into a decision. It would be easy today to rent the points for twice the annual maintenance fees. For my trip in August I’d probably lose my airfare credits unless I rescheduled within a year but that’s all I would lose.
We are a cash buyer; however, we paid cash when the numbers were MUCH lower. We are going for a long weekend at Universal; so not DVC.
Same for us, things were trending down, vaccinations were rolling out with more takers than appointment availability, and there was a push to include the children sooner rather than later. That's all changed. Not only did we cancel our vacation but we've also enrolled in virtual school for the fall semester. We've gotten this far without getting sick (not even a cold since our Disney trip in February 2020) and we're going to do everything we can to keep it that way. Some people think we're being extreme but we're risk adverse and the little ones have been thriving just fine with all of the family time at home. I know that not everyone has the luxury of working from home, but we do, so we'll stay home and not add to the problem.
You forgot a category... related to a CM.
Agree with you on that. A mess indeed. Here’s to happier times to come.
Bobby Chapek
Can you enroll your kids back in school later in the year?
Your situation is nearly identical to ours. We were blessed to both work from home and the kids did virtual last year. There have been a few moments of cabin fever but in the process we got to take a break from the rat race and actually spend time together. Something my dad always wanted to do when we were kids. So a blessing in disguise.
