Trip Report Well, I guess this is happening... July 12-28 Trip Report - Pre, Live, and Post

Hello and welcome to another Brifraz trip report. If you traveled with us before you know how it usually works - a brief pre-trip outline of plans, lots of live trip reporting, then after the trip some poorly completed scattered posts to try to wrap things up. Well, I'm doing a legit pre-trip this time. Why? Because there are some issues right now. Maybe you didn't realize that?

Which means I'm going to lead off this thread by opening it up to the debate. It's my thraed and I'm okay with that. A little debate will keep things lively - now I'm not talking about something like the thousand plus pages of debate on the mask/precautions/COVID threads, but a little discussion is totally fine and all opinions are welcome. Now, let me be clear I'm not asking I 'what you would do?' But, after reading things below, I welcome opinions on 'what do you think we would or should do.'

Obviously, you can't get into those kinds of discussions without knowing who we are and what we are all about. Here goes. Feel free to steal our identities if you need to.
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Our crew is a trio. Two nearly-50 year old adults and a 16 year old rising senior in High School. The two adults are high school teachers and have been since the 1990s. Obviously that means our only potential vacation times are summer and Christmas. Two teacher salaries have by no means made us rich, but we prioritize travel. We feel it 'broadens the mind' even if it is somewhere we've been before - always trying new experiences and interacting with new people (heck, we've driven across the USA 3 times and Canada once). You can see in my signature, we head to WDW often and try very hard to make each trip unique in different ways. We had trips in December (with extended family) and January (as leader of over 100 high school kids plus families) and were planning a summer totally away from the World. We had a vague plan to travel to Europe for a few weeks driving through multiple countries. It was going to be the last big family trip before our daughter goes to college. But we just couldn't afford it - there was just no way to make it work. Since we are DVC and have some family-owned timeshare, we can stay at WDW (or that area) for pretty much nothing more than our expected annual fees and we drive from Maryland, so transportation is pretty cheap. Airfare and hotels around Europe was cost prohibitive. Our daughter already has a senior Disney trip planned with friends for next summer and we were possibly doing a couple trip as well, so buying an AP for late this summer through early next summer is also an expense that we expected (although we didn't expect it until next year). Thus, some time in late January, we decided that we would do some smaller trips (including college visits) around the country and then spend a week at WDW.

Sadly, the smaller trips are pretty much all gone due to the current health crisis. But our WDW trip is not until mid-July, so it might still be happening. Health-wise we are all in pretty good shape. Sure, we've got the usual little things that tend to happen as you get close to 50, but nothing that makes our immune systems compromised and certainly nothing that puts us in a higher risk group. As a pair of high school teachers, we get exposed to pretty much every bug that shows up in our communities and in general we weather things pretty successfully. Our daughter currently works at the local grocery store which similarly puts her 'in harm's way' on a regular basis. While the concern over the coronavirus is certainly in our minds, we also are used to taking precautions and have very little innate fear of getting sick. We also have no problem wearing masks or taking other preventative measures if we are traveling.

Why would we even consider still heading to WDW? Well, just like everyone, the past couple months have been tough for us (obviously, far less difficult than for many). We have been relearning how to do our jobs, we've had to cancel 11 major shows/performances (we both teach performing arts), and we're facing the prospect of our jobs/roles changing dramatically in a few months. Our daughter has (again, obviously) missed out on a number of usual things for HS Juniors and is quite concerned about the prospect of her Senior year being very altered. The stress and uncertainty of these things makes the idea of ANY kind of escapism very appealing - even if it is limited and changed from our usual expectations.

There's a little background on us and some elements of where we are coming from with this (possible) trip. For the sake of discussion, let's assume that WDW will be relatively fully open by mid-July, but with significant precautionary measures in place. I'll be back soon with some of our thoughts on the trip and what we might or might not be planning and doing if it happens.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Spent yesterday outside helping students unload cars to return school equipment and collecting books. It was mid-80s and quite humid. The mask really wasn't a big issue after about 20 minutes. I was outside doing the heavy work for about 5 hours and also spent 3 hours driving around and delivering things to students (kept mask on so I wasn't touching it constantly). So, I think the mask is not really an issue for me for a day at Disney. Now, the fact that I was wearing long pants all day to maintain a 'professional' look - that would be a deal breaker! :cautious:.....waiting with great concern for the new long pants requirement for park entry...
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Well, today has brought big changes to our visit and (potentially) big changes to what we 'can' and 'cannot' do. Granted, with information on booking parks, restaurants, activities, etc. still a bit scarce, there's no way to be sure how this change might impact things, but I suspect it will.

We are now on-site for the duration of our visit. Jul 18-28 all at Old Key West. How did we change a booking when there currently is no booking anything? Well, if you recall, the off-site portion of our visit was at a timeshare that we booked through RCI. This morning, @MeffysMom happened to be scouting around the RCI website and saw an available booking for Old Key West for our same dates and only a slightly higher point cost... after a couple quick phone calls, we had altered our reservation. Our assumption is that someone had booked an RCI stay at OKW and just cancelled, so the availability was still with RCI (I assume that at some point that availability goes back to DVC, but I have no idea how those things work...and not sure I really want to) and we happened to snap it up at the right moment exactly.

IF any kind of priority on booking parks is given to AP holders, resort guests, or DVC members we should have a good shot at getting parks reserved for each day of the visit (if we want them), but WHO KNOWS at this point. I've been enjoying reading and following all the theories and conjecture on the different discussions here. It provides a great diversion from dealing with all the other stuff!
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
YAY!!! So happy you were able to use the RCI exchange! We've tried it but haven't had any luck in the past so we are going to be pretty happy when the DVC purchase is completed and we finally have a "home" at Disney!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
And, 24 hours later... more change. Quite surprising change!

For a quick little background on this whole thing. The first half of our stay is on RCI points, which we 'inherited' from family. Originally it was going to be at a resort just off-site which looks very nice and would have been a great home base in normal times. But, with the concerns about reserving park visits and not being able to stop in our 'home' of OKW for a quick meal or to catch the boat to Disney Springs, we looked into moving that stay. That's what we managed to luck into yesterday. We could switch the resorts to OKW without really sacrificing anything which makes things much more comfortable and familiar and that's something welcome right now.

Well, with our initial trip out west to look at colleges and visit family this summer was also utilizing those RCI points and that trip had to be cancelled a little while back (we would actually be leaving on Monday for it). Which meant that we still had a decent chunk of RCI points sitting there that needed to get used somewhat soon. With us being teachers, there aren't a lot of options for times to use them, so... guess who found a week at Saratoga Springs immediately prior to our stay at OKW? Yup, @MeffysMom once again comes through with her regular checking of all things reservations online. Booked.

Which now means our trip is MUCH longer than ever planned and may or may not include a lot of days in the parks. And we are now considering getting a few days at Universal (honestly, not having to get gas and not eating out for almost 3 months has really helped the budget) to add in there. It also means we will be arriving at WDW when Epcot and Studios aren't open yet...hoping that they might do a pass holder day in there that we could take advantage of maybe???

Obviously, this means we are now totally committed to this trip - as if we weren't already!
 

RememberWhen

Well-Known Member
And, 24 hours later... more change. Quite surprising change!

For a quick little background on this whole thing. The first half of our stay is on RCI points, which we 'inherited' from family. Originally it was going to be at a resort just off-site which looks very nice and would have been a great home base in normal times. But, with the concerns about reserving park visits and not being able to stop in our 'home' of OKW for a quick meal or to catch the boat to Disney Springs, we looked into moving that stay. That's what we managed to luck into yesterday. We could switch the resorts to OKW without really sacrificing anything which makes things much more comfortable and familiar and that's something welcome right now.

Well, with our initial trip out west to look at colleges and visit family this summer was also utilizing those RCI points and that trip had to be cancelled a little while back (we would actually be leaving on Monday for it). Which meant that we still had a decent chunk of RCI points sitting there that needed to get used somewhat soon. With us being teachers, there aren't a lot of options for times to use them, so... guess who found a week at Saratoga Springs immediately prior to our stay at OKW? Yup, @MeffysMom once again comes through with her regular checking of all things reservations online. Booked.

Which now means our trip is MUCH longer than ever planned and may or may not include a lot of days in the parks. And we are now considering getting a few days at Universal (honestly, not having to get gas and not eating out for almost 3 months has really helped the budget) to add in there. It also means we will be arriving at WDW when Epcot and Studios aren't open yet...hoping that they might do a pass holder day in there that we could take advantage of maybe???

Obviously, this means we are now totally committed to this trip - as if we weren't already!
That sounds awesome!
Which RCI place were you looking at? We’ve stayed at Silver Springs before. That location was pretty great. We also have RCI points gifted from my father-in-law.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
That sounds awesome!
Which RCI place were you looking at? We’ve stayed at Silver Springs before. That location was pretty great. We also have RCI points gifted from my father-in-law.

We were original booked at Silver Lake Resort (https://www.silverlakeresort.com) and it looked pretty great, but given all that is going on and the question marks about getting park reservations, we decided that we really wanted to be inside the bubble.
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
With us being teachers, there aren't a lot of options for times to use them, so... guess who found a week at Saratoga Springs immediately prior to our stay at OKW? Yup, @MeffysMom once again comes through with her regular checking of all things reservations online. Booked.


I'm so happy for you! A long resort getaway will be fantastic, just to be in the bubble and relax! That's amazing that you can use RCI for Saratoga! I know how to do it but I never seem to have any luck with it! Grr.

Looking forward to hearing your update!
 

RememberWhen

Well-Known Member
We were original booked at Silver Lake Resort (https://www.silverlakeresort.com) and it looked pretty great, but given all that is going on and the question marks about getting park reservations, we decided that we really wanted to be inside the bubble.
I totally meant silver lake! 🤦‍♀️ It’s not Disney nice, but was definitely fine when we stayed there last December. But Saratoga is way better! I would always pick bubble time over not.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
I'm so happy for you! A long resort getaway will be fantastic, just to be in the bubble and relax! That's amazing that you can use RCI for Saratoga! I know how to do it but I never seem to have any luck with it! Grr.

Looking forward to hearing your update!
I totally meant silver lake! 🤦‍♀️ It’s not Disney nice, but was definitely fine when we stayed there last December. But Saratoga is way better! I would always pick bubble time over not.

We were quite shocked when both the OKW and then the SSR showed up on the RCI exchange page. I'm guessing that a lot of people are cancelling stays, so things are popping up as open and slightly insane people like ourselves get a chance to snag them.

During the first week we are now there, @MeffysMom will be taking an online course, so that will prove interesting! She was supposed to be taking the course at a local college, but they moved it to online. I'm sure that SSR will have far better internet than we have at home so we can make that our excuse for adding the week, right? Just trying to help her be able to complete her online coursework more easily. ;)
 

RememberWhen

Well-Known Member
We were quite shocked when both the OKW and then the SSR showed up on the RCI exchange page. I'm guessing that a lot of people are cancelling stays, so things are popping up as open and slightly insane people like ourselves get a chance to snag them.

During the first week we are now there, @MeffysMom will be taking an online course, so that will prove interesting! She was supposed to be taking the course at a local college, but they moved it to online. I'm sure that SSR will have far better internet than we have at home so we can make that our excuse for adding the week, right? Just trying to help her be able to complete her online coursework more easily. ;)
I’ve seen Key West and Saratoga pop up a lot lately. There’s been on and off availability for both of those since April. If we didn’t have little kids we’d consider it, but the flight and the heat and not knowing what’s going on... We’ll have to wait until December. Hopefully by then there will be some information about what’s going on.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
I’ve seen Key West and Saratoga pop up a lot lately. There’s been on and off availability for both of those since April. If we didn’t have little kids we’d consider it, but the flight and the heat and not knowing what’s going on... We’ll have to wait until December. Hopefully by then there will be some information about what’s going on.

Certainly popping up far more than usual!

Having a 16 year old daughter and not needing to fly makes things much more palatable in the circumstances. Granted every time we go, at about 10 hours of driving, I start to really wish we had decided to fly, but then we hit the Florida border and it feels like it is all downhill to WDW. Although after we drove 31 straight hours last summer to get to Yellowstone from our house, I think this might seem a bit easier this time.

I know the masks are going to be annoying in the heat, but we've done some training things just to see how well we tolerate it and everyone seems to be fine with heat, humidity, and mask (as I said earlier... just so long as they don't require me to wear long pants!).

Really hoping that some information comes out next week about the booking/planning process, but a part of me suspects that it won't be out there until the last week of June.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Yesterday we spent a little time trying to map out ideas for this trip. Obviously, not terribly easy having no idea what might kind of park reservations we might be able to get, what restaurants we might be able to get reservations for, or what crowds might be like anywhere. The reports of larger crowds at Universal this weekend has certainly made us a little concerned about getting parks reserved, so we kinda camp up with plan A, B, and C.

But the one thing that we actually did 'plan' was getting some reservations for meals at Disney Springs. We booked brunch at Raglan Road for one Sunday, an early dinner (during Happy Hour deals) at City Works, and the Boathouse for a late dinner on our arrival day. Hoping that resort dining reservations open up soon, we hope to score a couple of those as well.

Just needed to get something planned for the trip!
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
Obviously, not terribly easy having no idea what might kind of park reservations we might be able to get, what restaurants we might be able to get reservations for, or what crowds might be like anywhere. The reports of larger crowds at Universal this weekend has certainly made us a little concerned about getting parks reserved, so we kinda camp up with plan A, B, and C.


You all are smart to have a backup and a backup. We will have to remember when we go in the fall. Is Universal taking Park Reservations the way Disney is? Because, if not, that may be a reason for the "large crowds."
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
You all are smart to have a backup and a backup. We will have to remember when we go in the fall. Is Universal taking Park Reservations the way Disney is? Because, if not, that may be a reason for the "large crowds."

Nope, Universal is just first-come, first-serve. Yesterday was pretty crowded, but reports are that today was not nearly as 'full.' Since full is still a pretty low number, the lines aren't that bad, but obviously the risk is higher.

Since our regular jobs are as two high school teachers, our past 3+ months have been constant exercises in Plan B, C, etc... I actually am making a presentation to my marching band kids and parents on Thursday night and presenting 4 potential plans for our fall season (and I have two more in my head in case needed). A whole new world, eh?
 

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
Nope, Universal is just first-come, first-serve. Yesterday was pretty crowded, but reports are that today was not nearly as 'full.' Since full is still a pretty low number, the lines aren't that bad, but obviously the risk is higher.

Since our regular jobs are as two high school teachers, our past 3+ months have been constant exercises in Plan B, C, etc... I actually am making a presentation to my marching band kids and parents on Thursday night and presenting 4 potential plans for our fall season (and I have two more in my head in case needed). A whole new world, eh?
Some lines this weekend were in the 40-50 range. That's not as much to do with the actual amount of people in line as it is the spacing in a lot of the rides. I've ridden ET 3 times since the reopen and the most people I've had in my "bike car," including myself, was 3 (can typically seat 12).
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
We are in the same boat as you. Im assuming by your posts that we will be there the same time and would have been at the same Harambe party. We also have APs that we haven't activated yet, but we have our stay from July 20 - August 3 at Coronado. Hope we know some things soon.

Did you get the email from WDW yesterday (or today) about booking your Park Pass starting on Monday? I know their email service is pretty sketchy at best, but I'm a little paranoid that we didn't get it and that not having the AP activated yet might cause a wrench in the works on Monday morning.
 

coachwnh

Well-Known Member
Did you get the email from WDW yesterday (or today) about booking your Park Pass starting on Monday? I know their email service is pretty sketchy at best, but I'm a little paranoid that we didn't get it and that not having the AP activated yet might cause a wrench in the works on Monday morning.
We didn't. Maybe I should call. Hmmmmm. I just figured we could make the reservations starting Monday morning.
 

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