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No - I would not go. We had a cruise planned for 7/1 (13 of us and we canceled it). We have friends that had Disney booked in August (2 families) and they have all canceled as well. Not worth the risk in my opinion.
I actually do have a trip planned... to Disneyland on July 31st weekend. I booked a 2 day park hopper ticket for 3 on Feb 21st for the son's birthday trip to Disneyland... along with some flights and hotel. Totally not expecting it to happen, but I did just go back and look at the email from them regarding the $870 I overpaid for the 3 tickets.
2-Day Park Hopper Ticket
3x Ages 10+ $290.00/ticket
Tickets expire 13 days after first use or January 12, 2022, whichever occurs first.
Now I don't feel so bad about the chance of losing my $870 I paid for the "nonrefundable" tickets. I'm not a fan of Disney and their greed... the 22 year old who also happens to be autistic is so I bit the bullet on this one.
It's good that Disneyland (CA) is so generous with their ticket policy. I purchased a ticket to Disneyland Paris on Feb. 6. The ticket states
Quote:
Ticket valid for 1 day at Disneyland AND Walt Disney Studios Parks for one visit until June 30th 2020 within the MAGIC tickets validity period (see below calendar).
So I went on the DL Paris website to see the adjustments to the policy due to COVID:
Quote:
Are you allowing guests to rebook or extend the validity of tickets?
• If you have not yet used your Park tickets and they expire during the Parks closure, their validity date will be automatically extended until March 31st 2021*. Please check the back of your paper ticket or refer to your e-ticket for validity date.
So my understanding of this is that if they reopen the park in the next two months, my ticket won't be extended and will expire on June 30, 2020. It's only a loss of $113, but still pretty frustrating since I'm already having trouble getting refunded on other aspects of my trip.
The focus should be the cheerleading competition, the theme park is only incidental. You don't HAVE to go to the Disney World theme parks (i.e. Epcot or the Magic Kingdom), the competition is held in a separate facility on the huge Disney property (ask me how I know) - the sports stadium complex that they have. I can't quite remember however if the theme park tickets are included in the package deal to attend the competition itself.
The competition itself, both for competitors and spectators is very crowded however. I would just follow the guidelines that the state is following regarding staged openings. The state may be open but large public gatherings still prohibited. That such a large public gather will be allowed in June is 50/50 I think.
As someone pointed out - it will be hot and humid and the cheerleading practices are typically held outside in the field area of the complex (the actual competition is inside the various stadium complexes). Ask me how I know that as well. Saw plenty of little girls from the otherwise hot southern california desert practically passing out from the heat.
I find it interesting that schools are closed through the remainder of the year but yet a cheerleading competition gets rescheduled and can potentially happen. I guess it's all about priorities.
I think it's a wait and see decision. It sounds like you've already paid the deposit. When do you have to make a decision? I don't think you have enough information now to make an informed decision about what Florida will look like in a month and a half. It also seems like they are doing everything they can to make sure they will be able to put the competition on which includes teams that didn't actually win a bid. How far off were they? If the level of competition won't be there, what's the point of going?
I would probably go. I will also state that I'm a big Disney fan, though. I actually think crowds will be low due to people worrying about travel in general and the economic impact of everything going on is going to prevent others who would be willing to go from going.
Disney is no different than any other place where large crowds gather. If you don't want to go to Disney for crowds then you're probably not going to be lining up to go to a sporting event anytime soon either. Honestly, I don't understand how people are going to get back on subways at rush hour at this rate.
Disney is not for everyone but the one thing it has proven is that there are no shortage of people who are willing to spend a premium and I do think they provide a premium product over their competition. From the cast members to the fireworks, everything is top rate vs. other theme parks. With that being said, last year we did our first Disney Cruise which we combined with a shorter trip to WDW and a shorter cruise. Following the cruise, my then 6 year old said she wanted to skip the parks and do a longer cruise. We did one in February. Looking back on it, it's amazing how different February was vs. March.
OP should really change the title as it's not really about the theme parks in Disney World at all, and this is bringing out everyone with an agenda against Disney.
It's about a cheerleading event on Disney property. It's very important to the kids even without the theme park (and usually they are held in convention centers in Dallas or something that don't have the benefit of a nearby Disney park).
Alas, it will probably be canceled as it's a very crowded event. Or, it could be held with the theme parks still closed but the competition still going on.
I would not go to Disney because I expect a virus surge in June with all the May openings. Since everyone is still in panic mode, even if the parks are open with no restrictions (unlikely), I think the experience will be extremely sub-par because everyone will be feeling nervous and bad.
On the other hand, when I was younger, I surfed Typhoon Lagoon after hours. Getting to run around a totally empty Disney park is pretty cool. So you could go for the weirdness factor.
Then again, that trip cost me $75 since I lived in Coco Beach and glommed on to a group of 20-something surfers that was renting out the wave pool for the night. I wouldn't pay thousands of dollars for that sort of experience.
Just about every source under the sun (except Disney) says they will remain closed until 2021. I would not plan on going in June and maybe not until Thanksgiving holiday if there is no 2nd wave or season return of the virus. They are under pressure and Motley Fool says they will be forced to reopen because smaller places will reopen (like Sea World or similar?). Disney is such a crowded venue I would avoid it until this virus is gone or controlled. How do you sanitize a theme park every day?
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