Disneyland thoughts / anyone there?

If you are traveling to Palm Springs no matter what— if not Disney, I’d just go to Disney, mask and hope for the best tbh. I haven’t been there, but if you’re risking travel—just go where you want.

It’s easy for me to armchair quarterback, but with the restrictions you have in place, I wouldn’t go at all. My dh and I are boosted and my 14 year olds don’t qualify yet. Obviously we don’t want omicron, but we also couldn’t afford the added possible quarantine time (Not as much financially, although part of it, but also kids missing that much school and sports—for one son)

Hard decision. This really sucks right now.

A close friend caught Covid last week at Disneyland as did 4 family members who were with her. No one hardly masks outside, and it is Dland so it's packed like a sardine can.

LA County and surrounding counties are seeing huge infection rates (20k+ new cases A DAY).

I will say Palm Springs is better. You must mask indoors and show proof for vaccination for any restaurants.

We were in Palm Desert 2 weeks ago and 99.9% of people were masked outdoors.

Living Desert is super safe and following strick protocols.

I would not go to DeLand right now.

I will also say Orange County isn't the safest county and really not doing well with cases.

You can not get a PCR test until Jan 5th in most counties (or later) and LAX has been running out of tests.

Testing centers are either closing due to no tests or close after 2 or 3 hours. Wait times are 5 hours plus.

So even if you come, you will find it extremely difficult to test.

I know you’re talking about Disneyland and not Disney World, but I’ll share our experience. We went to Disney World for 5 nights - 4 days in the parks from December 19-22. We did no indoor dining or shows and wore masks at all times they were required, plus some (crowded outdoor areas, etc). We now all 4 have Covid. DH brought it home and our entire household has caught it, despite precautions to isolate him.

We tested negative and thus were able to travel back, and he came down with it a few days later - but we didn’t see anyone in the meantime so it’s definitely a result of our trip.

We are all vaccinated but not boosted (not yet eligible).

I would assume you will catch Covid if you go to Disney. Make sure that you can live with that outcome if you decide to go. I don’t regret going, because it’s a trip we had paid for and put off, and frankly the mental health boost was good for us. But we gambled and lost on the physical health front.

If I went to Disneyland today, with the current case numbers in the country and the highly contagious omicron, even masked I would completely expect to get it, with that kind of exposure.

We also did WDW and Universal the week before Christmas while visiting my Dad in Florida. He had a surgical mask he only wore when required. DH and I had KN95s we wore anytime we were in a queue, required or not. He woke up Christmas morning with symptoms and his PCR test came back positive yesterday. DH and I started having symptoms the day after we got home (12/29). So we seemed to avoid getting infected at the theme parks, only to get infected via household contact with my Dad.

It's hard to say no to things you really want to do, but it will be much harder to avoid Omicron infection if exposed than previous variants. Regular masks probably won't cut it. Everyone should have the best quality masks and wear them more than you want to. Also, everyday was just stressful wondering if this was the day someone started not feeling well. I would not want to add the stress of international travel and quarantines. If you go, I would plan for not being able to get home as scheduled and celebrate if it works out that you can.

I wouldn’t go. Can you reschedule for late 2022 or early 2023? I seriously wouldn’t want the hassle of juggling all of this.

Can you monetarily and time wise afford to be away for a long period of time if anyone in your group is positive? If one gets it and gets over it and another person in your group is positive a couple of days later you could be stuck for quite awhile.

Even mild Covid can lead to long Covid. Not worth the risk in my opinion

I'm going in a couple of weeks. I'm aware of the concern over omicron but we're still going. 

I would still go to Disneyland. I’ll also add I absolutely love Palm Springs and this is perfect time of year to go - I’d want to hang out there a couple days. You could also go to Joshua Tree and the national park which is super neat.

There are lots of stories of Canadians getting vaccinated/boosted while travelling to the US. Not sure if the pharmacies are supposed to be validating residency, but it sounds (anecdotally) that it’s rare that they are.

The US doesn't require you to be a US citizen. I'm in a border town to Canada and we have been prepared for Canadians coming for shots/boosters for months.

Edit: Washington State isn't requiring residency. I assumed that was true for all if the US, maybe it's not.

Even at a land crossing the negative test is required, so a backup plan to drive may end up with someone being denied entry unless you want to pay fines and quarantine.



 And, even if you pay for the rapid PCR test, results are not always available within the window before travel. 

Our recent experience had DH, DS & I take PCR tests at the same time/place Dec 20 for a planned crossing into Canada on the 23rd. The results were promised in 24-48 hours, which would have been by 4pm Dec 22. DS's results were posted 10pm Dec 22, DH's 7:30am Dec 23 and mine weren't available within the 72 hour window (they finally posted at 10pm Dec 24). 

I could cross the border with them if I paid a $5700 fine and quarantined for 14 days. 

As we waited at CBP, a dad trying to return his 12 year to mom for Christmas was given the same news. He'd had appointments for PCR tests at Walgreens and they'd run out of the tests. The negative antigen tests they'd provided instead were no good for entering Canada. He got to contact his son's mom and tell her either they paid $5700 to get her son for Christmas or let him stay with dad because the next available PCR test appointments in NW WA were Dec 27 and still no guarantee results would be posted within the 72 hour window.

Also, pay attention to the weather if you do end up driving. Icy fog stopped us for the night in southern OR on our return trip and the Grapevine (main route on the 5 out of LA) was closed for 9 hours on the 30th because of road conditions (snow/ice/accidents).

It sucks, but we are still in a pandemic and there are consequences to every decision. No way would I go to Disneyland, Knotts, Universal or any other amusement park right now.