Avarelle
New DVC member! 04/2010
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
I just wanted to share my story with people who might understand what my family is going through...
On January 9th my brother-in-law was killed in a car accident. He was just 25 years old. his 26th Birthday would have been just 2 weeks later. He was a wonderful, caring, and funny person. He always had a smile on his face that made whoever was there want to smile too. He was also an Iraqi War veteran and had returned home from war two years ago only to dies 2 miles from his home when he lost control of his car and crashed into a tree.
In addition to this unspeakable tragedy that we were faced with, my husband and two young children, 6 & 8, were supposed to go on our "dream" vacation to do the "Land & Sea" trip with Disney 4 days in Orlando 3 Days on the Cruise. We never thought we would be able to go on this trip since the cruise is normally very expensive. We had booked it only the week before when we saw the amazing discounts Disney was offering at this time of year. we were all set to go airline booked hotel, cruise, and NO traveler's insurance. You never think something bad is going to happen to you... we lost my brother-in-law and had his funeral the same weekend we were supposed to leave on our trip.
Of course we cancelled those dates, but Disney couldn't refund our money since we didn't purchase the insurance. they were happy to re-book our trip for any other time but we would have to pay the difference in price, which unfortunately wasn't an option for us at the time. We made the decision that we would still go on our trip. It was bittersweet...we were dealing with such a tragic loss I don't even know if we were making rational decisions at the time everything was really a blurr. We arrived in Disney in a somber state but we knew we had to make the most of it for our kids. We tried our best but there were a number of emotional breakdowns while we were there. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside for 4 days and then went on to our 3 day Disney Cruise.
When we arrived in our cabin we found a wonderful gift bag of beach toys from our daughter's teacher on our bed and a tray of food from guest services. Later on that day someone arrived with another tray of food and a letter for us that we had been chosen as "The Family of the Cruise" out of over 2,000 guests! the letter went on to say that we would be able to order any of our meals from the restaurants on the ship and have it delivered to our room. We were so surprised! I knew that it was "The Year of Magical Moments" at Disney I rationalized that was we were chosen, but deep in my heart I felt that someone must have told Disney what we were going through and they chose us because we needed a little "extra" magic in our lives.
Disney really did more than I could ever ask for they brought us snacks to our room of cookies and fruit, gave us a tour of the bridge, gave us certificates for beach rentals at castaway cay, signed pictures of all of the characters, toys, pins, the works. And on the final night after the show we took the kids backstage to personally meet all of the characters from the show. Afterwards, we spoke to the woman at guest services who had arranged for all of this and come backstage with us. We shared with her what had happened to us and could no longer hold back our tears. You could see it in her eyes that she already knew. We really just wanted to disappear into the crowd on this ship and go unnoticed. We didn't really want to have this extra attention especially for the reasons it happened. But now that a few months have passed. I wanted to express how grateful we are that someone cared enough for our family in our time of need to reach out and lift our spirits. I see it now as my brother-in-law's last gift of magic to our family, pushing us to move forward and live life the way he did...happy, loving, laughing.
I miss u .R.I.P 1/9/07
On January 9th my brother-in-law was killed in a car accident. He was just 25 years old. his 26th Birthday would have been just 2 weeks later. He was a wonderful, caring, and funny person. He always had a smile on his face that made whoever was there want to smile too. He was also an Iraqi War veteran and had returned home from war two years ago only to dies 2 miles from his home when he lost control of his car and crashed into a tree.
In addition to this unspeakable tragedy that we were faced with, my husband and two young children, 6 & 8, were supposed to go on our "dream" vacation to do the "Land & Sea" trip with Disney 4 days in Orlando 3 Days on the Cruise. We never thought we would be able to go on this trip since the cruise is normally very expensive. We had booked it only the week before when we saw the amazing discounts Disney was offering at this time of year. we were all set to go airline booked hotel, cruise, and NO traveler's insurance. You never think something bad is going to happen to you... we lost my brother-in-law and had his funeral the same weekend we were supposed to leave on our trip.
Of course we cancelled those dates, but Disney couldn't refund our money since we didn't purchase the insurance. they were happy to re-book our trip for any other time but we would have to pay the difference in price, which unfortunately wasn't an option for us at the time. We made the decision that we would still go on our trip. It was bittersweet...we were dealing with such a tragic loss I don't even know if we were making rational decisions at the time everything was really a blurr. We arrived in Disney in a somber state but we knew we had to make the most of it for our kids. We tried our best but there were a number of emotional breakdowns while we were there. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside for 4 days and then went on to our 3 day Disney Cruise.
When we arrived in our cabin we found a wonderful gift bag of beach toys from our daughter's teacher on our bed and a tray of food from guest services. Later on that day someone arrived with another tray of food and a letter for us that we had been chosen as "The Family of the Cruise" out of over 2,000 guests! the letter went on to say that we would be able to order any of our meals from the restaurants on the ship and have it delivered to our room. We were so surprised! I knew that it was "The Year of Magical Moments" at Disney I rationalized that was we were chosen, but deep in my heart I felt that someone must have told Disney what we were going through and they chose us because we needed a little "extra" magic in our lives.
Disney really did more than I could ever ask for they brought us snacks to our room of cookies and fruit, gave us a tour of the bridge, gave us certificates for beach rentals at castaway cay, signed pictures of all of the characters, toys, pins, the works. And on the final night after the show we took the kids backstage to personally meet all of the characters from the show. Afterwards, we spoke to the woman at guest services who had arranged for all of this and come backstage with us. We shared with her what had happened to us and could no longer hold back our tears. You could see it in her eyes that she already knew. We really just wanted to disappear into the crowd on this ship and go unnoticed. We didn't really want to have this extra attention especially for the reasons it happened. But now that a few months have passed. I wanted to express how grateful we are that someone cared enough for our family in our time of need to reach out and lift our spirits. I see it now as my brother-in-law's last gift of magic to our family, pushing us to move forward and live life the way he did...happy, loving, laughing.
I miss u .R.I.P 1/9/07
You would think a year later,I would have a lot of good days, but I didn't (even though I didn't it to show my kids) Now that more time has passed, my grief is a more managable, but you always have that before & after feeling following such a tragedy.
