So Torn! Advice Needed Please

[TinkOhio]

We booked a week long trip many months ago through Priceline for a spring break stay at the Dolphin. Our arrival date is this Saturday. The room is non-refundable. (I'll never do that again!) We purchased our park tickets through Disney, and our flights through Southwest. The Coronavirus outbreak is evolving so rapidly that we are considering taking the loss on the room and cancelling the trip. The other thing that we have to consider is that our daughter goes to college at a small private school about 40 minutes away from WDW. They haven't cancelled onsite classes - yet, but many schools in the state have.

Our daughter has a car on campus, and we live about 1100 miles away. Should we take the flight down and hang out there until they cancel her classes? And then drive her car home? Do we take the risk of getting sick or stuck down there, or cancel and fly her home when her school closes? I tried looking at options on the Southwest website and it was down. Just tried calling and there is over a 2 hour wait to speak to an agent! To further complicate matters, our good friends are at Disney World right now and say that they can't believe how normal things seem inside the Disney bubble. They're having a great time!

I can't think straight, and time is running out. Any advice offered is greatly appreciated!

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Have you tried using Priceline’s online chat function to ask whether you could be given a credit for the hotel in the current circumstances?
Are you all fit and healthy and not in ‘at risk’ groups? If so, would your daughter feel re assured if you fly to her? Once there, you could make a decision whether to visit WDW based upon up to date developments. As you said, things are developing quickly.
Not much help, I am afraid.

 

[minniebeth]

We booked a week long trip many months ago through Priceline for a spring break stay at the Dolphin. Our arrival date is this Saturday. The room is non-refundable. (I'll never do that again!) We purchased our park tickets through Disney, and our flights through Southwest. The Coronavirus outbreak is evolving so rapidly that we are considering taking the loss on the room and cancelling the trip. The other thing that we have to consider is that our daughter goes to college at a small private school about 40 minutes away from WDW. They haven't cancelled onsite classes - yet, but many schools in the state have.

Our daughter has a car on campus, and we live about 1100 miles away. Should we take the flight down and hang out there until they cancel her classes? And then drive her car home? Do we take the risk of getting sick or stuck down there, or cancel and fly her home when her school closes? I tried looking at options on the Southwest website and it was down. Just tried calling and there is over a 2 hour wait to speak to an agent! To further complicate matters, our good friends are at Disney World right now and say that they can't believe how normal things seem inside the Disney bubble. They're having a great time!

I can't think straight, and time is running out. Any advice offered is greatly appreciated!

We’re from Ohio too and just cancelled our trip for next week. I agree with the pp and get in touch with Priceline, you never know. Try again with Southwest, their website for changing/canceling has been down off and on but was better yesterday.
Park tickets can be held over if you call Disney and arrange it with them. Personally I would say cancel, BUT... having your Dd ‘s situation changes it all. I do think it’s a matter of time before all colleges go virtual for the rest of the semester. My Dd is in college here in Ohio and she’s mentally preparing herself for that. Thinking through your situation- just brainstorming... could you drive instead of fly? I know it’s a long trip but 1. It would lessen your exposure to potential germs and you can bank your credit with Southwest. 2. If your DD’s college goes virtual, many colleges are either closing their dorms or telling students to bring most of their personal things to their permanent residence because they don’t know when they’ll have access to them again. If that were the case, you could all drive back together in separate cars since she might have a lot of her personal things to bring home.
Again, just brainstorming, you could go, and forgo the parks limiting crowd exposure and just enjoy your resort, warm weather, sunshine and other WDW resort area activities so that you are close by your Dd in case any developments occur.
Ugh, all these decisions are hard but my advice is just follow your instincts as to what you feel is in your family’s best interest. Best wishes!

 

[Deploraboo]

Am on property now and can attest that the place is jam packed as per usual across all parks, especially DHS of course. Cannot help but think it is as you say a bubble given the exploding news all around o/s us. I will say that Flying Fish seemed a bit emptier than this time last year but that is anecdotal. I suspect this hysteria hits Disney World very shortly with the news that Woody tested positive.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Have you tried using Priceline’s online chat function to ask whether you could be given a credit for the hotel in the current circumstances?
Are you all fit and healthy and not in ‘at risk’ groups? If so, would your daughter feel re assured if you fly to her? Once there, you could make a decision whether to visit WDW based upon up to date developments. As you said, things are developing quickly.
Not much help, I am afraid.

They will not. I have already had this conversation.

 

[TinkOhio]

Thanks so much to all for your input. Although we are in our upper 50's, we're healthy. Us driving down and all driving home is a consideration that we will have to explore.

 

[Crispity]

We just decided to cancel our Spring Break trip. This trip has been long-planned and greatly anticipated, with my younger daughter turning 4 and me turning 40 while we were supposed to be there. We had BBB and Cinderella's castle booked for her birthday, and a private fireworks cruise booked for mine. It's painful to cancel, but it's the right thing to do, and we need people to do the right thing to slow the spread and avoid overwhelming our health care system.

I'm sorry about Priceline. It's incredibly irresponsible that they won't work with you in this situation. I would try to call them back, and maybe call the Swan/Dolphin to see if there is anything that they can do on their end. Good luck - this whole situation is really stressful.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

Your daughter being down there definitely adds a different dynamic to this whole ordeal. If she has to move out of her dorm - can she do that herself and drive home herself? That would help me make the decision. So many colleges are giving students days to move out. Right now both our kids college are now online. I still can't believe Priceline is doing this to their customers.

 

[Kaadk]

I'd say the flight down would be the worst of your exposure risks that are out of your control. If you're willing to fly down to your DD, that's just as much risk as heading to Disney. If you can drive, I'd consider that instead. Disney can let you bank the tickets, if you don't want to enter the parks, so you can minimize your losses by still using the hotel (which you can't cancel) as your base of operations for seeing your DD, and if necessary, getting her out of the school.

 

[TinkOhio]

Thanks again to all for your advice. DD called late this afternoon to inform me that school is being canceled after school today. Online instruction begins March 23rd. They have to be out of their rooms by noon on Sunday, and no non-students will be allowed in the buildings to help them load things up. Fortunately, they are allowed to keep their things in their rooms while they are at away from campus.

The earliest school will resume is April 15th. DD is a senior. She and her friends are afraid that graduation ceremonies will be cancelled and that time with their college buddies has come to an abrupt end. Lots of tears! After hearing that WDW is closing on Sunday, we decided to cancel what we can and booked her a flight home from Tampa. I bet MCO will be an absolute mess with Disney guests and snowbirds heading home this weekend!

Thanks again for your help. Stay safe, friends.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

It must be a relief to have reached a decision, even one that you did not want. My son had been on a year abroad since September as the third year of his University degree. He is in now in Ecuador until the end of April and then Brazil until August. The Uni advised students that they ‘may’ choose to return home and that it won’t effect the outcome of their degrees. Big decisions for a 22 year old to make.

 

[buzznina]

We just decided to cancel our Spring Break trip. This trip has been long-planned and greatly anticipated, with my younger daughter turning 4 and me turning 40 while we were supposed to be there. We had BBB and Cinderella's castle booked for her birthday, and a private fireworks cruise booked for mine. It's painful to cancel, but it's the right thing to do, and we need people to do the right thing to slow the spread and avoid overwhelming our health care system.

I'm sorry about Priceline. It's incredibly irresponsible that they won't work with you in this situation. I would try to call them back, and maybe call the Swan/Dolphin to see if there is anything that they can do on their end. Good luck - this whole situation is really stressful.

I agree with you about taking the side of caution. My boss was still planning to go on his trip because he was thinking like a LOT of people, that him and his family are in the low risk (age and health) portion. I told him, that yes he is correct about that, BUT since it can take 2-4+ days for symptoms to appear, what if he brought it back and ended up giving it to his parents who are in the high risk group? Is it really worth that chance? People just do not think that they could be a carrier.