Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 6 May 20, 08:59 AM  
Link to this Post
#11
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
A further update (for completeness more than anything else, of all the holidays I have planned for I think this one's planning will certainly be memorable thanks to the current situation...)


After Virgin Atlantic's news yesterday that they are ending all flights from Gatwick and moving to purely operate from LHR in London, everything is rather up in the air. Unlike our flight...

Right now it is a waiting game to see what happens: a. cancellation b. cancellation (with an option to rebook on a LHR - MCO service, or c. a straight shift of the current booking to LHR.

This has prompted a bit of discussion between the family as to what we should do should the flights get cancelled.
>Re book for the same dates (be that with Virgin or BA), with the hope that the parks are open to a sufficient level. They will be open I am certain given the current information, but the question is how open? I dont really want to pay this sort of money for a holiday (given we wont be back for a couple of years) only to find that half the rides are not open, or due to social distancing queues are massive etc
>Shift the booking to 2021. Given the tickets have already been extended, and we paid OOP for DDP shifting the booking shouldn’t be too difficult. It would remove the uncertainty regarding park operations, however there is the potential that crowds will be crazy (given the combination of all these people delaying their 2020 trips coupled with the already expected demand on the anniversary year. A further delay would help the girls grow that little bit more (Evie is currently just under 47 inches while Imogen is just under 42. Another year's wait should hopefully see Imogen hit the 44 inches for Space, while Evie will definitely hit the 48 mark.
The downside is timing, October 20 was specifically chosen because we have a 2 week October half term (so taking a week off school we get our 2 and a half week trip + a few days recovery before school restarts.) However Imogen starts school in September 21, and based on how Evie was for that first term the October brake is more likely needed for rest than an intensive holiday in Orlando. Which leaves May (a 1 week half term so we would have to forego half a week and the recovery days). Easter, (crowds and expense) or August (which we rejected this year due to cost and weather).
Not really sure what the answer is at the moment, but I will update when we have made a decision...
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 23 May 20, 06:16 PM  
Link to this Post
#12
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
Mobile

Not a lot to update, but a little.

Our return flight has now been updated to MCO - LHR, a big plus point in that it will save an hours drive (and mean I can be at my office an hour after leaving the airport). Outbound is still showing LGW for now. Our Economy Delight seats have moved from 3+1 to 2+2 which is an improvement (for Helen at least, I loose my piece and quiet :p)

We have cancelled our Gatwick
Hotel and booked at the Garden Inn Heathrow instead.


Still in two minds about whether we should postpone, but will wait and see what things are looking like in early August.

I don’t like my mouth covered, to the point I rarely use a mask when using my airbrush because I dislike it so much. The thought of having to ware one in 30degree heat feels me with dread.
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 24 May 20, 10:52 PM  
Link to this Post
#13
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
Mobile

Moving ever onwards, Bloc hotel at Gatwick has now been cancelled and a family room at the Garden Inn at Heathrow Terminal 3.

With that done it was on to car hire, after some thought we decided to pick up the cars on the evening of our last night on site (and pay the $20 parking) in order to minimise disruption the next day. The plan is to learn from the previous two trips mistake and rather than getting picked up at the park we will head to the nearest hotel and wait in some nice air conditioning instead. DFCH had the best price, and with a full size SUV only 40£ more than a premium full size 4 door it was a fairly easy choice (even if it was a diversion from my original plan of a Mustang, that was too much of a premium).
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 20, 09:33 AM  
Link to this Post
#14
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
Another day and more bad news from Disney, first we had the planned reopening where you have to pre book enterence to the parks. This time that all ADRs are going to be cancelled and allowed to be rebooked nearer the time and that all dining plans are to be cancelled.

I had been pinning my hopes on an approach based around allowing people with on site hotel bookings priority access along with annual pass holders, which would have had minimal impact upon our plans.
Now we are looking at a situation where not only might we end up not being able to get into any resturants we want to dine at, we may not even manage to get into the parks. (As per our previous trip reports our idea of a rest day is typically a morning at a water park before going to a park for the afternoon.

Now under this new approach it looks like there is a high chance of only getting into the parks on some of the 11 days planned for Disney.

As such it is starting to look like there are two options available to us:
Shift the whole trip to August next year, the 3 week holidays at Christmas and Easter we both rejected due to crowd levels at Easter and year end close (not to mention the ridiclous crowds) at Christmas. Its not possible to do over 2 weeks in October half term given we dont want to take Imogen out of school in her first half term (plus ideally she will probably need a restful half term not a manic trip around Florida) Which leaves me with August (assuming I can get the required 2 and a half weeks of annual leave.
The down side is the announcement that there will be no DDP until Sep 21. Financially this probably kills the whole idea, as when estimating for 2020 August with free DDP was about the same price as October paying for it. Add the cost of food on top of the more expensive flights etc and there are problems...
This also assumes that we would be able to delay the flights (but would mean losing the deposit on the villa.)

Then there is option 2, Considering our plans the final week staying in a villa visiting Universal, SeaWorld, Discovery Cove and Busch is a lot more flexible. There is no impact of dining plans or ADRs and it has always been planned as a cheaper week offsetting the cost of the time onsite at Disney.
This is particularly relevent if the flights cannot be changed. We would rearrange the POFQ booking to 2021 (along with the Disney tickets), while keeping the Universal / SeaWorld etc for October.
My rough thinking at this time is that we should book another villa, likley in the tampa area. But it could be a chance to explore a wider area, I have always liked to see Keys so a stop in the south followed by a few days in Tampa and then Orlando appeals. While in Tampa we would have a couple of days at Busch. We would then rebook for October 21 or August 21 for either 12/14 nights to just do Disney. But that of course is all very price dependent.

All very much up in the air for now, we will continue to watch what happens when Disney does actually open. But I think October is dead in the water now from a Disney perspective. Its all about how the replanning looks.
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 19 Jun 20, 03:05 PM  
Link to this Post
#15
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
Time to change the countdown, we are not going to be going in October.
The combination of Disney's incredibly risk adverse approach to reopening, SeaWorld/Busch's significantly reduced operating hours and the requirement to wear masks just doesnt look like it will have reduced enough by October. Not only can we not really justify the financial expense for a fraction of the full experience. I dont think its really fair on the children when they would be forced to wear a mask, nor would they get the proper character meets...


So the first job now is going to be contacting Disney to move our booking to 2021, get our Virgin tickets changed to an open ticket as an aside we recently had our outbound flight moved to LHR, unlike the return flight where we were all seated together Virgin decided to move our seats so that the two girls (age 4 and 6) are sitting together on the starboard side of the aircraft, while my wife and I are on the port side!)
Finally there are the Universal / Discovery cove tickets for which we need to contact FloridaTix and get opened up to next year.

The original plan was that we would do an almost direct shift to 2021, however with Imogen starting reception we didnt want to take her out of school for a full week. It is an independent school and the headmaster had given permission for this year. Instead we would still take the 2 week October half term, and miss the last day of term getting us a 16 night holiday rather than the original 18 month. To make up for the lost days we were planning to tag on a couple of days at Disneyland Paris earlier in the year.

Then Disney go and and withdraw October 21 from sale.

This left us with 2 potential options:
> Rebook for another time in 2021 (having already rejected April due to Covid risk, cost and crowds. And rejected May (Covid risk, and a clash with month end close.) That only left August
> Delay to 2022 (with the option of looking at May thanks to a more opportune half term date, or October).

Reviewing prices it looks like August 21 is not a lot more than the quote I had for October. So tomorrow I will be phoning up Disney to move the booking. Of course at the moment there is no dining plan on sale, but I live in hope that as we approach the end of 2020 and touch wood either a cure or a vaccine for Covid comes to market Disney will start shifting into business as usual. At which point you would expect the DDP to return at the very least (with a good chance of some sort of free dining offer following to try and drive up attendance before the anniversary celebrations begin in the fall. Disney have said that you will be able to get any offers applied to your booking subject to availability.

This still leaves a few questions, all of which can be sorted out over the next month or two.
>How long are we going to go for? With the shift to the summer holls the only constraint (other than the price) is going to be my holiday booking.
>What split on / off site? Originally we were doing 11 nights on site and 7 off. I am now wondering whether we flip that around and go for one week on site and 11 nights off site. (But I will be pricing a further option that pushes it out to a 3 week trip should I be able to get the holiday.) This would give further options (like maybe a night or two at the coast between Disney and the Villa, or a night on site at Universal.

Hopefully the Virgin flights will not be too much more than this years, as I am still going to want the Economy Delight seats. I am assuming it will still be an A330 but I live in hope for something more interesting...

So the countdown is now back to over a year, hopefully this is the last of the of the bad news for the year and we will start getting positive updates going forward.
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 22 Jun 20, 04:46 PM  
Link to this Post
#16
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
Update: June 2020

The holiday is now officially delayed until August 2021. After 3 and a half hours on hold trying to contact Disney this morning (followed by my internet and wifi calling dropping out about 30 seconds after getting through, and another 3 hours on hold this afternoon). We have now rescheduled the holiday. So we now have 9 nights booked in POFQ from August 12th. Strangely the price had risen by £50 per room since I ran prices on Friday, most annoying!
In addition the week in the villa has also been moved to next year. While we lost a small chunk of the deposit from 2020s booking, they offered to give a discount of half the deposit off the price of next years booking. So in the end we are only about $150 down (plus the extra cost of next years prices of course).

As soon as our bookings show up on MDE, we will get parks reserved. Aiming for 2 days at each park, plus a third day (likely at HS) for the evening on a waterpark day. Living in hope that Fantasmic will have returned...
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Jul 20, 10:47 AM  
Link to this Post
#17
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
Mobile

After two weeks of waiting the 2021 booking is now showing in the system and connected on My Disney Experience. As a result we were able to make our park bookings. I have taken the logic that these are a worst case scenario and that thing will be close to business as usual by next August and these booking won’t be required. In the worst case that they are needed, crowds will be low due to the cap on entry. As a result I wasn’t to worried about trying to predict the busy day guide, and just booked an ideal split of parks. We can always change them nearer the time if needed)
Virgin have been contacted to delay the flights. So it’s just the other tickets left to sort now.
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Jul 20, 02:28 PM  
Link to this Post
#18
Milpston
Imagineer
 
Milpston's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 16
Mobile

Following along with your plans after this year being such a shocker. I can imagine the words uttered when you got cut off after your three hour wait.
We are in a very similar place to you after this year’s cancellation. We have made a new Disney booking having had this years refunded. I bounce between being completely positive about what next August will look like and then back to thinking travel to Florida will still be unlikely by then.
We have lots more accommodations to work out and book for our trip but hoping for some positive signs from somewhere before we start laying out too much money!
__________________
Orlando Villas/cruises 2001-2013, DLP Newport Bay Compass Club Feb 2017
October 2018 - 22 nts, Beach Club & Dibb villasTrip report *Completed*
July 2020 and August 2021 - cancelled by Covid!
August 2021 - Anthem of the seas UK mini cruise Trip report *completed*
Vegas/LA Aug 22 - Trip Report In Progress
Milpston is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Jul 20, 09:18 AM  
Link to this Post
#19
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
Mobile

I know what you mean about the back and forthing about next year. I do keep thinking that I’ve made a mistake, then straight back to thinking that everything will be back to normal (ish).

September 28th will be the critical point when we will be rebooking the flights. (Though we are currently waiting on Virgin to confirm we have postponed the flights).

When planning for 2020 we found the ADR planning very difficult, a combination of the strong dollar making OOP purchases very expensive and the offsite days being after we had left Disney resulted in no where near enough credits to go everywhere we had planned. With the loss of two days on the revised booking that’s another two credits lost. Assuming of course that DDP does reappear on sale next year.

One of our usual restaurants which didn’t make the cut for the 2020 plans was Whispering Canyon. However thanks to Disney sharing the recipe we did manage to have their apple pie last night.
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 14 Aug 20, 05:39 PM  
Link to this Post
#20
The Fatadder
Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 13
Under a year to go, usually an exciting moment but a little depressing in 2020 when it should really be 57 days to go...

Still things are slowly moving onward, having now finally gotten around to calling FloridaTix to sort out the remaining ticket bookings. Net result Discovery Cove has now been moved to August 22nd 2021, while it has been confirmed that Universal will be accepting our current tickets despite their end date showing as January 21.

The booking for the Heathrow hotel has been adjusted to the new travel date (another £15 price increase). Given it is still a fully flexible booking, my hope is that I should still be able to cancel and rebook as a cheaper pay in advance booking nearer the time. I have also pinged off an email to Discount Florida Car Hire to get a quote for rebooking the cars for the new date.

Finally I have been pricing up the "extras" for the trip, with a list currently comprising of:
MNSSHP
the Safari experience at Busch
a sea lion experience at SeaWorld for my youngest (who will still be a year too young for the DC dolphin swim)
At least one Disney character breakfast (assuming that DDP is available, we are short on credits)
A night at RPR in order to get some Universal Studios express passes
and either the Orca experience at SeaWorld or Keys to the Kingdom for my wife's birthday present.

All of which comes in at just over £1k (at 2020 prices), so there may be some contraction to the list the availability (or lack) of DDP will make a big impact.

The final thing is the return date,
We are currently due to leave Orlando on Saturday 28th Aug arriving on the Sunday. Given its a bank holiday weekend, I am thinking we are mad to miss out on an extra day, so we really ought to just book the flight for a day later and extend the holiday. Will see what the difference is on the flight cost, but if its similar (or better still cheaper) I will definitely be extending! The Monday will be painfull given the need to catch up on work, but the extra day in Orlando would be well worth it!
The Fatadder is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:17 AM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2354
CaxtonFX  $1.2309
Covent Garden FX  $1.2541
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2354
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 01:00 29/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1413
Covent Garden FX  €1.1513
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 01:00 29/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X