Trying to plan but may need to cancel - what should I do?

[HerbivoreMom]

I am trying to plan a trip but family circumstances mean I might have to cancel. The situation is that a family member who is not traveling is very sick and one of us may need to stay to care for this family member. The trip would be less fun without that family member and so we might just want to cancel the whole thing. But I still want to buy tickets in advance etc because our travel time will be busy and I want to arrange for reservations and fast passes etc.

I am wondering about what strategies others have used and/or would recommend for dealing with this type of situation.

Travel insurance? If so, what companies do you recommend? What add-ons?

Can you resell Disney tickets? If so, how?

Other tips?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Will you be staying onsite? If so, I would recommend booking a resort package with tickets so you don't have to outright purchase non-refundable tickets.

 

[hes122]

I'd recommend staying onsite as well, but if you have to purchase tickets you can reassign them to someone on your friends & family list as long as they haven't been used. So if you knew someone going add them to your MDE account as just assign the tickets to them.

 

[Bete]

Honestly, please rebook at a time when you can have your whole party with you. You really don't know what can happen; so, buying tickets ahead of time is a no in my opinion.

 

[HerbivoreMom]

We are not staying on-site. We are staying nearby.

 

[G719]

You can book dining reservations without having tickets yet. But you will need tickets linked to book fast passes.

 

[HerbivoreMom]

Honestly, please rebook at a time when you can have your whole party with you. You really don't know what can happen; so, buying tickets ahead of time is a no in my opinion.

That's not very helpful. A good trip requires a year planning IMO and so I started planning this over a year before our anticipated travel date, well before our family member got ill. She has cancer and could die this year or live on for 5 more years or longer... but she is bedridden and demands assistance from my spouse (even when she has plenty of help from nursing staff). This situation is complicated and my spouse does not want to travel if this cancer situation is near death. But the way our ill family member behaves, every second is 'near death."

So if I were to follow your advice... realistically... I would have to postpone this trip for possibly many years.

---
I have options.
-I can afford to forfeit the money, I'd just rather not.
-I can get travel insurance
-I can do the trip without my spouse

 

[G719]

Disney tickets have an expiration date but if they are unused you can apply their value to a new ticket purchase. So you would not be actually losing the money spent on tickets.
Are you staying at a hotel or vacation rental? Many hotels can be canceled very close to the trip. So there's not much risk there if you can cancel a few days before without penalty.
Driving or flying?

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Book a PACKAGE vs buying things separately and opt in for the insurance.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

That's not very helpful. A good trip requires a year planning IMO and so I started planning this over a year before our anticipated travel date, well before our family member got ill. She has cancer and could die this year or live on for 5 more years or longer... but she is bedridden and demands assistance from my spouse (even when she has plenty of help from nursing staff). This situation is complicated and my spouse does not want to travel if this cancer situation is near death. But the way our ill family member behaves, every second is 'near death."

So if I were to follow your advice... realistically... I would have to postpone this trip for possibly many years.

---
I have options.
-I can afford to forfeit the money, I'd just rather not.
-I can get travel insurance
-I can do the trip without my spouse

Honestly it really would be better to rebook at a better time or just hold off until you know what's going on with that person's health.
A Disney trip does not need to be booked over a year out.
You can't make ADR's until 180 days in advance and you can't make FP+ selections until 60 days out so really booking 181 days out which is about 6 months is more than sufficient.
Hmmm also sounds like you have some family issues you need to work out before planning.
You resent this family member (MIL?) because she want her son to do things for her instead of or in addition to the nurses.
Also sounds like your spouse is unwilling to leave her.
And clearly from this post you know your options so pick one.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Heck reading that you're staying offsite makes me encourage you even more to just hold off on booking/purchasing.
Unless you're staying at a specific offite resort that allows for 60 day FP+ then you'll only get a 30 day rolling calendar for FP+ anyways.
Plus you can always make ADR's at 180 days and then cancel if you can't go.
But when you purchase tickets or book an offsite rental you'll find yourself with Disney tciekts that you'll have to hold onto and upgrade later and possibly not be able to get a refund for the place you're staying.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Honestly, please rebook at a time when you can have your whole party with you. You really don't know what can happen; so, buying tickets ahead of time is a no in my opinion.

I agree. Bag it until you know what's happening. Having people not go is heartbreaking right before the trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

Any travel insurance you get you will need to make sure will cover cancellation because of the family member. You’ll want to call the insurance company and talk about insurance with the pre existing condition waiver AND make sure that the family member is close enough to “count” as the covered reason.

This means that you have to get the insurance very quickly after putting down a deposit. And each time you add anything nonrefundable to the trip you’ll need to call the company and add it.

 

[StarSeven7]

I don't think travel insurance would cover you at all.....I used to sell it when I worked as a travel agent and this would be considered a pre-existing condition and therefore it most likely wouldn't be covered.

 

[vinotinto]

I would hold off on buying the tickets until you are sure that you are going. If that is the day before, then buy them the day before.

What is the cancellation policy on the hotel? If it's strict, is there another hotel that offers a "lenient" cancellation (such as cancel without penalty up until 24 hours before)?

How are you getting to WDW? Are you driving? If you are flying, we'll, that complicates things. Look into southwest where you could change your trip for the future.

Read up on "spontaneous" trips and attractions that are "anytime attractions." Examples are Monsters Inc, Philaharmagic. I love them and they can be enjoyed without FP. Shows and fireworks are also enjoyable without advance planning.

Trip insurance only covers specific conditions no usually need to Ben purchased when you make the first payment.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We are not staying on-site. We are staying nearby.

If the ticket purchase is your only concern, I would purchase them as close to your FP+ window opening date as possible. Will it be 60 days or 30 days? I, personally, would literally purchase the tickets the day before you can make FP+ and link them to MDE then.

Ticket purchases are non-refundable and they don't lose value, so they won't be covered under trip insurance as you can always use the ticket (or the value of the ticket) on a future trip. Some 3rd party ticket sellers offer a refund (with a small re-stocking fee) as long as you don't link the tickets to MDE, but once they are linked to make FP+, they are non-refundable as well.

You can make your ADR's without purchasing tickets, so that's not an issue. Just make sure to cancel them if you end up not going so you aren't charged a no-show fee.

 

[Bostonbeans99]

Personally sounds like a nightmare to me.
I leave in a little over 2 weeks and if my dog pukes or limps, I think oh crap this may affect my vacation.
Your talking about a human being.......

 

[JerseyJanice]

Well, you and I have some stuff in common. Here are some things I do in my case:

Flights are booked with Southwest. Their best fares are far more flexible than United plus they don’t hit you with baggage fees like Jet Blue. Most of the time, you’ll know if you can go away for a week with a few days’ notice.

We book our hotel directly with the resort. Again, you’ll likely know if you’re good to go in enough time to cancel without a penalty.

Park tickets? At worst, you can buy them at your resort at gate price. Discounts are usually not that big. If you are booked on-site or at many nearby hotels, you may want tickets as early as 60 days out for Fastpass Plus.

Many things to consider with a ticket purchase—all tickets now have expiration dates. You will never lose what you spend on them, but there is a finite time to use them as purchased. You should check out the pricing and specials on tickets bought on line frequently before you buy. I would not just buy them to have them. Special discounts can pop up any time—don’t invest in expiring tickets.

Dining is the last and easiest thing to deal with—you can wing it, though if there are places where you really want to dine, book some ADRs.

Lastly, have fun. It sounds like you and your group have earned some downtime from the intensity of dealing with an ill loved one.

 

[HerbivoreMom]

OK people, I am not being heartless about my MIL. She is very ill and will be bedridden the rest of her life because she refuses to do her physical therapy to regain her strength and get back to a normal life. The cancer treatment is working. She is ok. But she demands attention ALL THE TIME. For instance, she calls my spouse to demand that he drop everything and come over to help her find her phone charger. And he does it. It's not that she needs medical help. It's that she's using her illness to demand total dependency upon my spouse. If we had the room she would insist on moving in and then she'd demand we get rid of our pets and so forth. She is utterly selfish (not an organ donor, not a blood donor, won't donate money or time to any charities, demands things from people all the time, criticizes them constantly and so forth). My spouse says this is just so stressful - that he wants to see some sort of emotional growth from her and it's just not there. He keeps rushing to her side hoping she is going to say something meaningful... but she never does. And it's exhausting him and it's heartbreaking for him. I had more meaningful conversations with my father before he passed away. There was some growth and depth. We were not close. But we grew in those final years. And he never demanded much of me. He chose how to spend his final days and did it his way without burdening anyone. My MIL is doing things totally different and I just don't understand her perspective.

Disney tickets have an expiration date but if they are unused you can apply their value to a new ticket purchase. So you would not be actually losing the money spent on tickets.
Are you staying at a hotel or vacation rental? Many hotels can be canceled very close to the trip. So there's not much risk there if you can cancel a few days before without penalty.
Driving or flying?

Very helpful, thank you.

It's a timeshare exchange and I bought the insurance when I booked it so there's only minor loss there if I need to cancel.

Flying - have not booked the tickets yet

The trip is planned for Thanksgiving so it's a busy time, which is why all of this matters. I really need advance tickets for fast passes.

Any travel insurance you get you will need to make sure will cover cancellation because of the family member.

There's an option to buy an add-on that offers 50% coverage if you "cancel for any reason."

 

[KittyKitty]

Would you go if your husband stayed at home?