Anybody Canceling their Trip due to the Economy?

[maj42169]

We have a vacation planned for 10 days in WDW and it's a serious consideration for us. Money isn't that tight for our family but in some respects taking this trip seems a little irresponsible right now.

I realize most people have already prepaid their trips but you could still cancel and get a refund if you chose to. I'm just curious if anyone else is considering forgoing their trip this year, or in the next few months, as a result of what's going on with the economy?

Well, reguardless of the economy.................not everyone can just cancel their trip and get a full refund! Most airline tickets are non refundable, non transferable, and charge a substancial fee to chage the travel dates.............so, I don't know about anyone else, but I can't afford to cancel my trip and lose the $2000 in airline expenses..............which is half of the cost of our trip.

 

[rkbrannin]

My mom and I have already paid for our trip and do not plan on canceling. We both coordinate Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace classes and saved up to make a way for this special occasion. The economy may have/has problems but we have peace about going. It is all in our budget and paid for! http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/cheer2.gif

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

No, we paid for our months ago when DH got his bonus this year, and we also put our deposit on our Land & Sea trip, so we will keep next years as well. I also agree that traveling will put money back into the economy, so we plan on doing our part. We have however, cut back on other things in our house. We don't eat out much and the girls got fewer school clothes this year.

 

[AllSaints]

We rescheduled. Things have been a bit slow for me at work, so we just decided to go in May instead of November this year. Sad, but I'll be happy just the same.

 

[bytheblood]

While I agree things have declined quite a bit since 9/11, I have no intention on cancelling my trips. Next year is the last year we plan to vacation for a long time so we are going to make the most out of it. My boss is a Jewish carpenter and he pays well.

 

[Ashes8380]

we're going, but if we knew then what we knew now, we probably wouldn't be. by the time the economy started tanking it was too late to get refunds on many things. I will say that we are looking at a much cheaper vacation for next year though. maybe back in 2010? who knows?

knowing this might be the last time in awhile, I fully intend to have a BLAST the whole time this trip!

 

[disney-super-mom]

Well, reguardless of the economy.................not everyone can just cancel their trip and get a full refund! Most airline tickets are non refundable, non transferable, and charge a substancial fee to chage the travel dates.............so, I don't know about anyone else, but I can't afford to cancel my trip and lose the $2000 in airline expenses..............which is half of the cost of our trip.

This is our story as well. If we could have cancelled or changed our air travel without paying the huge fees, we might have cancelled our entire trip, or at least put it off for a little while.

But overall we got a good deal on airfare, and we also received a 40% off code from Disney. Plus, it'll be our boys first trip to WDW (9 and 5), and my MIL's and BIL's first trip to WDW too. Since everything else seems to be tanking lately, our WDW vacation is the one thing we have to look forward to right now.

After this year, who knows when we'll be able to take our next vacation. But hey, if we have to set up a tent in our backyard and make smores over our fire pit while watching a Chip & Dale video on a projection screen.....we'll happily do it! Sounds like fun to me.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

As of now, we are going Sept 18-Oct 2, 2009. We have always done things on our trips to minimize costs, and this trip will be no different.

The "failing" economy to us isn't existent. If it wasn't for all the media BS we wouldn't even know it's happening. No house or car payments to deal with and that's a big chunk of money to utilize. Not on topic, so I won't go into my theories on mass hysteria, the idiotic media and it only exponentially making things worse.

If we can still afford it come August when we have to pay for the rest of our package, then we're going to go. I actually wish more of you wouldn't go so the parks will be emptier for me

 

[lorasmom]

We originally planned on going for a long weekend since the kiddos are out of school on the 17th - hitting MNSSHP on Thursday, and then staying til Sunday.

Unfortunately, I lost my job in August, and it took until last week to find a new job, so - we both cannot afford to take the extra time or spend the cash on extra-ticket events. We have AP's and DVC, so that part is all covered, plus we just received our $500 DD bonus money for buying into DVC (which happened a week before my job went poof!).

 

[aubriee]

Maybe one. I usually go to WDW every Sept, Dec, and early May. I just got back Sept 14th. I had already planned to skip WDW this Dec in favor of a Carribean cruise. I booked the Bounce Back for next Sept when I was at WDW this Sept and plan to go for Mousefest next Dec. However, I am undecided if I am going to make my regular trip down there for the Flower Festival this May. At the moment I'm leaning toward going, but making it a cheaper than normal trip.

 

[fla4fun]

I think most people who have booked and paid for their trips will go, unless something happens that absolutely prevents it, like getting a new job and not having any vacation days to take. Most people aren't going to waste money in this economy by canceling anything they can't get a full refund for.

But I've noticed a lot of people have big question marks when it comes to planning next year's trips. I have one planned for January that I'm definitely taking, but it will probably depend on what kind of room discount I can get how many other trips I plan next year (as well as whether I'm still employed or not ). I think Disney will be hit a lot harder six months to a year from now, than they will be for the remainder of 2008.

 

[Stitchfans]

No. We are all paid up also for our trip in March. We would lose the airfare if we canceled. We have money set aside for our meals and for a few souvenirs. If the economy doesn't pick up it will be a long time before we go anywhere. We may have to go to local parks near our home like Six Flags or something for a day.

 

[rotlex]

As we already had our Disney trip this year, were good for now. However, we are seriously doubting we will be heading back next year, as we had planned.

We are dying to go again, but just don't know if we can justify 3K plus for a vacation, when so much is in question economically right now. One thing for sure, if we DO go, we live in PA, we won't be flying. With the cost of things right now, the flight alone could run us what a 7 night stay in a mod would. Just really not sure how a 7 and a 1 year old would handle an 18-20 hour drive!

 

[kloei423]

If all goes well, we won't be canceling either. Most is paid for and money is banked for extras. might cut an ADR though because its not necessary, although I would like to keep it and treat my sisters who are also joining us and definately not in a position to spend much more then the min... DSS12 will be advised that this is part of Christmas though because there will be less toys... not just because of the trip but because honestly we don't need any more toys!!

 

[mattyhs]

In April, I planned a February 2009 trip during President's week with another family. Will stay offsite at a nice 3BR timeshare. I have 2 days remaining on 10 day non-expiring passes and planned on doing 2 days in Disney and then buying multi-day Universal Studios passes.

Over the summer we found out that my wife needed to attend a series of meetings at the Grand Floridian in November 2008 for 3 days and it is important for my wife's professional growth that the family be there (we have DS10 and DD7). I purchased reasonable plane tickets, booked a room at AKL for the 2 days we won't get reimbursed and intended on buying park tickets for the 4 of us which have come to about $900.

Due to economy (I work in Banking), we downgraded to Coronado Springs for the 2 days, will buy 1 day tickets (and probably Disney Dining for the 2 days)so the kids will have 3 days to go to the parks in November (I am the only one in the family that loves Animal Kingdom anyway) and will just go to Universal in February. We will also probably not rent a car in November and just use Magical Express and Disney transportation. I am not cancelling ADR's at Cape May Cafe, Chef Mickeys, Kona Cafe, and Sci-Fi.

The kids kind of understand that things aren't great right now (we make them watch some TV news, after we've recorded it and can skip the stuff we don't want them to see), but even though we are "skimping" so to speak, they get that these are still 2 great trips and appreciate how fortunate we are compared to many.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We are leaving in 10 days for 10 days! Part of me wants to cancel and save the money but the other part is screaming that we need this vacation and have to go (the other part is my DH).

Our 2009 plans are still iffy, we are for sure going in Jan for 4 days but my mom gave that to us as a Xmas gift and for our nieces too but we wanted another 10 days in April, long weekend in Aug and another 10 days in Oct...these trips will depend on any bounceback or other discounts that may come out.

 

[goofygal71]

Ain't no stopping me now! 9 days to go, waited two years for this trip. I'm gonna have fun, fun, fun!!

 

[lilyfrog73]

We booked our trip on a whim this past August. DH nor I have ever been and we had always mentioned taking DD before "the magic" of the characters wasn't there for her. Our airfare is already paid for and half the trip. We have the DDP so we only really need a little spending money. We did decide not to do really expensive extras (we chose not to do the Princess Tea and will do BBB but bought dresses to take). We have a few family members who have given us crap for going. DH and I have pretty good jobs but we struggle just the same as everyone. If you don't give yourself something to look forward to and plan ahead for then, to us, the hard work doesn't have it's pay off. As for future trips, I hope to get hooked on WDW once we go. From looking at bounce back offers others have mentioned, we are considering those (if offered to us) and maybe driving for next trip. The cost of some of the bounce backs is usually what we budget for a vacation anyway and we generally save the entire year for those.

 

[mom23sweetgirlies]

We have already paid for the travel portion of our trip which cost about the same as the rest of the vacation so if we were to cancel we would be losing money. I am a little concerned about the economy and feel a little guilty going, but then again the money we are using for this trip was basically given to us (Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend) and we probably won't be able to do it again at least not for a long time. Also both of our vehicles are paid off and we don't have a mortgage (rent) and DH is an apprentice and will be getting raises every six months or so, I have faith that we'll be okay. Plus we aren't planning on spending a ton of money on stuff while we are there. I already got the autograph books and ordered cheaper dresses for BBB. I tend to be a worrier though so I have definitely thought about it.

 

[ajcolorado]

We're going for a few days in Dec. We've never seen the decorations or the Candlelight Processional.

I got a great airfare: $140 from Denver to Orlando.

We're staying in a 3 bdrm. condo at Windsor Hills for $100 per night.

Our family travel philosophy: "Always travel on the wings of someone elses disaster". Go to Europe when they're having hoof & mouth. Book a cruise just after a bad hurricane season. etc. etc.

The benefit to you is that you get all the incentives, special discounts, and lower crowds.

The benefit to the place is that people whose jobs depend on tourism get to keep their jobs & pay their bills. It is a win/win situation.