*** Official August 2020 thread ***

[JenniJ]

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4. WDW is fully open (so not option 2) and it has been open for awhile (so not option 3) but there are fundamental changes to the way WDW operaties (either temporary or permanently). What I'm imagining here is that WDW is fully open, but there are new policies and procedures in place, like: you need to have your temperature taken before entering a park, or there are hand washing stations you must use before entering a restaurant (like on a cruise ship), or all rides have a virtual queue, or all shows are filled to only half capacity for social distancing. Whatever these things are, they'd be for the health & safety of guests, so in a way it's not unlike having to go through security. But if the experience changes enough, or in a way that would seriously detract from the trip, we'd have to reconsider.

We had drastic changes to travel after 911, so this is probably not far off from what might happen everywhere.
Honestly, if they open by August, I would be ok with these changes considering a vaccine won’t be available till next year. Like a previous poster said, I will be happy to sit at our resort and\or shorten our park times for Disney.
in all actuality, we were having this discussion today and if Disney opens but health officials still say limit crowds, we will cancel our vacay and plan for another year. No need to get sick or worse. We will be disappointed but that will pass. I just don’t want to risk my family or anyone else's health for a trip. My office just announced our first colleague with a confirmed case of getting the virus. That is too close to home.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Can I please get some opinions on August? Currently booked for a late June stay, which i’m not 100% sure will go ahead. Booked last April so couldn’t have predicted anything like this. We are teachers so are pretty restricted but we’re wondering what early August is like in the parks? Obviously expecting it to be busy if opening is severely postponed but in terms of weather etc. With late June we were already in the hot and busy period, would it be much different? We’re already planning mid-day breaks. Thanks

I feel like this year's crowd levels will be atypical for sure, between cancellations and perhaps the economy derailing some folks' travel plans. We've been in early and mid august and never have felt that the crowds are very heavy. Yes, a tad more humid than June and July and definitely plan on it raining every day, but as per usual, short lived storms. I would not say that it's all that different than going in June other than the additional showers and as you get later into August, potential rain outs with tropical storm systems but we've been the first and second week of August for several years and it's been great crowd wise. Overall, I have felt summer is never very hectic and enjoy early morning lower crowds, midday breaks and evening park time.

 

[JennLTX]

I decided if they're open, we're all in. Just upgraded our reservation to BWI, club level, and will hold off on making the final payment until things look certain. United changed both our flights, and now instead of getting there in time for dinner, we're arriving at lunchtime, so I'm playing with ADRs which makes me very happy.

I received the TP email as well, and I've completely lost faith in them. How in the BLEEP did they come up with those numbers? There is absolutely NOTHING out there to justify those predictions, and the result is a group of travelers who were already concerned now feeling paranoid. Oh, and one traveler who will not be renewing her subscription.

 

[JenniJ]

Read why TP increased the crowd levels in their forums. It is because they predict that because they will not be up to capacity with employees and shows and such will be limited. Thus, crowd level increase. Their numbers are not about amount of ppl in the parks but how bad the lines will be.

 

[Tomh]

Read why TP increased the crowd levels in their forums. It is because they predict that because they will not be up to capacity with employees and shows and such will be limited. Thus, crowd level increase. Their numbers are not about amount of ppl in the parks but how bad the lines will be.

This could very likely be true. Quite a lot of the front line cast are college program kids, and they have all been sent home. It will take quite some time for Disney to replace them all, and get staffing levels back where they need to be.

 

[figmentfinesse]

New college program kids show up in May as of right now.

 

[Disneylover99]

Read why TP increased the crowd levels in their forums. It is because they predict that because they will not be up to capacity with employees and shows and such will be limited. Thus, crowd level increase. Their numbers are not about amount of ppl in the parks but how bad the lines will be.

That makes sense.

It’s one of the reasons I like to go Christmas week. Everything runs at full capacity and it doesn’t seem as crowded as it is.

 

[cmarsh31]

Hello everyone! Still holding on to our Memorial Day trip with my fingertips... but back-up plan is August 30th. We'll see what the next few days/weeks bring!

 

[dieumeye]

I hope the rumored June 1 opening (based on hotel booking availability and dining plan offer) can actually happen.

I have an August trip (rescheduled from March) and really want to go BUT I definitely would be leery if the park had only been open a couple weeks by that time.

An early June opting would give a nice 2 month buffer to see how it goes and for them to make any necessary adjustments to any new procedures they put in place.

I have to admit, getting the free dining plan definitely reignited my anticipation and excitement over the trip!

 

[Feberin]

I hope the rumored June 1 opening (based on hotel booking availability and dining plan offer) can actually happen.

I have an August trip (rescheduled from March) and really want to go BUT I definitely would be leery if the park had only been open a couple weeks by that time.

An early June opting would give a nice 2 month buffer to see how it goes and for them to make any necessary adjustments to any new procedures they put in place.

I have to admit, getting the free dining plan definitely reignited my anticipation and excitement over the trip!

I'm really hoping that's the case too. Also more likely to be better staffed if they haven't just opened. Really I just want to go.

 

[catfan98]

We booked a reservation for the first week of August at a great deal, but we aren't very optimistic about it. If it doesn't work out we may try to go the first week of October. October is definitely more expensive than August, but we've never been to MNSSHP before, so there is that at least. We were actually supposed to go to California for 9 days at the beginning of June (including a couple of days at Disneyland), but we are pushing that to next year as we can't get rooms, tours, flights, etc. to work out for all of our family anytime later in the summer or fall. Honestly, if we don't get to do a vacation this year, it will be ok. Sure, we will be bummed, but health and safety for my family and everyone else in the world is definitely more important. Hang in there Disney Peeps, we will get through this! Happy thoughts to everyone!!

 

[monica9]

We were scheduled for a cruise that got cancelled. Now I have two week vacation time in July. I feel that’s still too early to vacation in crowded spaces. Now we are thinking of doing a Disney trip mid August. Wondering if I’d be able to get the free dining or if they won’t honor it since I wasn’t booked beforehand.

 

[piglet1979]

We were scheduled for a cruise that got cancelled. Now I have two week vacation time in July. I feel that’s still too early to vacation in crowded spaces. Now we are thinking of doing a Disney trip mid August. Wondering if I’d be able to get the free dining or if they won’t honor it since I wasn’t booked beforehand.

My understanding, and I can be wrong, is that with this current free dining you had to have a reservation already and that it had to have been between March and the last day in May. It is also only bookable between June 1 and the end of September.

 

[bcwife76]

August 22-29th here! First two days in Cocoa Beach, then a 3 day Dream cruise and then ending with a resort stay at OKW. Crossing those fingers!

 

[Ptrejo85]

I'm a March transplant. Our March dates were 3/16-3/25. We were married on 3/14 (pi day ). Our dates were cancelled.

We are now headed in August for a Honeymoon redo!

Aug 8-11 POLY
Aug 11-17 AK Kidani
Aug 17-19 Yacht Club

Got most of my ADRs YAY! Excited to see if I can get my fastpasses! (I know what I'm doing now, so I have a better plan this time around)

Shout out to Cruisin5 for renting me her points and setting up the second chance stay!

 

[disny_luvr]

I'm a March transplant. Our March dates were 3/16-3/25. We were married on 3/14 (pi day ). Our dates were cancelled.

We are now headed in August for a Honeymoon redo!

Aug 8-11 POLY
Aug 11-17 AK Kidani
Aug 17-19 Yacht Club

Got most of my ADRs YAY! Excited to see if I can get my fastpasses! (I know what I'm doing now, so I have a better plan this time around)

Shout out to Cruisin5 for renting me her points and setting up the second chance stay!

We will be at the Poly from Aug 9-14. I’ll be celebrating my 40th bday on Aug 10th. We are staying at the YC from Aug 3-9.

 

[ILovePixieDust]

I am not sure if August will happen but I'm trying to stay positive and still planning with fingers crossed. Some days I feel like it will happen and other days I think there is no absolutely no way this is going forward.

In the midst of the craziness, I am deciding that if this trip does happen I will splurge on things that I wasn't originally going to do in order to celebrate. So now I am hoping a reservation through the reservation finder on Touring plans will come through for Storybook Dining at Artist Point! And even if this trip doesn't happen at least it is fun planning...

 

[Leigh L]

I am not sure if August will happen but I'm trying to stay positive and still planning with fingers crossed. Some days I feel like it will happen and other days I think there is no absolutely no way this is going forward.

In the midst of the craziness, I am deciding that if this trip does happen I will splurge on things that I wasn't originally going to do in order to celebrate. So now I am hoping a reservation through the reservation finder on Touring plans will come through for Storybook Dining at Artist Point! And even if this trip doesn't happen at least it is fun planning...

I just finally rebooked credits I had to fly down mid-August - I'm feeling very much the same way as you about this trip.
We're still in the very early planning stages. (but I already have the ponchos in the Disney backpack so I don't' forget them. We needed them last summer! lol)

Storybook is so fun! I'm sure one will pop up (I stalked last summer for August and we got a few options in the few months leading up - but I got sick and missed it! Fam had a blast). DH gave me a January "do-over" and we had so much fun....since that trip was only 3 months out - lots of stalking and Touring Plans. TP came through every time.
Have fun planning! . Hope things are very different by summer!

 

[Sarvar]

I just switched our trip from May 3-8 to August 23-29. This will be my second trip ever to Disney World (the last being ~7 years ago), so I'm super excited! We decided to add an extra day and have half the day at the resort and half at MNSSHP. Ticket Services was really great about changing over our 4 day Magic tickets and converting our MK After Hours tickets to MNSSHP tickets and refunding the rest.

Got all of our ADRs for August that we had originally planned out for May, so that's exciting.

The one thing I'm nervous about is FPs since we're staying off-site. I got really great ones for the May trip (probably due to everyone canceling), but I'm not sure how it will go for August.

Anyways, happy to join you all in planning for August!

 

[Tomh]

I just switched our trip from May 3-8 to August 23-29. This will be my second trip ever to Disney World (the last being ~7 years ago), so I'm super excited! We decided to add an extra day and have half the day at the resort and half at MNSSHP. Ticket Services was really great about changing over our 4 day Magic tickets and converting our MK After Hours tickets to MNSSHP tickets and refunding the rest.

Got all of our ADRs for August that we had originally planned out for May, so that's exciting.

The one thing I'm nervous about is FPs since we're staying off-site. I got really great ones for the May trip (probably due to everyone canceling), but I'm not sure how it will go for August.

Anyways, happy to join you all in planning for August!

Though there are a LOT of unknowns with this August, the last couple of years, I have had GREAT luck getting day of FP's for groups of 2 to 4, including quite a few FoP for 2 of us day of, NRJ a few times for 3, a couple of times for 4, and a couple of times 2 groups of 2 for overlapping times. We had similar luck in MK, and Epcot.