A Planners Nightmare

[FSU Girl]

I am a meticulous planner and had everything perfectly planned for my December trip I was taking with my boyfriend and another couple. I got the hotel I wanted and all the reservations I wanted including Be Our Guest and Ohana dinner. Everything was perfect.

My boyfriend just informed my his company holiday party is that Saturday, which is in the middle of our trip. So now we are going to have to change everything. Not sure what I'm going to do. Our trip was going to be Friday-Monday, potentially adding on days for a split stay that week but would just be the two of us. It's our friends first trip so we have to figure out what they can do. If we move the weekend to a different weekend I lose all those reservations. If we move our trip to start on Sunday we can have some of the restaurants I made, but everything for the week after are just for 2 people.

I'm a little sad that I'm going to have to give it all up, but some people will be really happy when I get rid of my reservations.

 

[Capang]

It seems extreme to upend a vacation for four people based on one person. Is this party mandatory? If not why not skip the holiday party. You would have to cancel and rebook your entire vacation including hotel and dining. Depending on dates you may end up with little to no availability for either. How important is that party?

 

[FSU Girl]

It seems extreme to upend a vacation for four people based on one person. Is this party mandatory? If not why not skip the holiday party. You would have to cancel and rebook your entire vacation including hotel and dining. Depending on dates you may end up with little to no availability for either. How important is that party?

We have to go to the Party, it's for my boyfriend's company and it would look bad for him if he didn't attend. I'll have to rebook a hotel no matter what, just not sure what we are going to do yet. We just texted our friends to see what they can do. They aren't big planners so they haven't even bought tickets yet so I think they'll be okay with shifting things around.

 

[peg2001]

I would definitely get clarification on whether the holiday party attendance is make-or-break for your BF's career. So sorry your plans have hit this obstacle.

 

[leebee]

You don't mention losing airfare, so is it safe to assume you are close enough to WDW to drive? Any chance you and your friends can go on vacation and your boyfriend can join you on Sunday, if the party really is that important? (IME, employers understand missing work events if you have a planned vacation. They really cannot demand your time on the weekends, during your free time.)

 

[AnnaKat]

Thankfully you don't lose any FPs!
That could be worse than losing coveted Dining ADRs!

 

[Jennasis]

It's your boyfriend's party. So he can go to the party and join you and the others on Sunday, while you and your friends head to Disney on Friday as planned.

 

[Hopefully]

I have to say I am surprised by the majority of the responses. I think @FSU Girl has made the absolutely correct decision for she and her fiancé. I too have a career where attending the company Holiday party would be expected and really matter.
They are locals. They go to WDW often. This is important to him, and he is important to her. Couples make these types of choices. It is a disappointment but they can replan.

 

[Amelia :)]

I made sure to plan our trip so I would miss my work Christmas party....

 

[EveDallas]

This wouldn't even be a blip on my radar. My vacation would be way more important.

 

[agavegirl1]

If you are local and the party is that important and your friends are not big planners, try to reproduce what you can for altered dates. Keep checking for openings for BOG and Ohana obsessively. Use Touring Plans reservation finder and keep your phone handy. You may be able to get pretty close to the original plan by stalking those coveted reservations closer to your travel dates. Meanwhile, have a couple of backup restaurants booked for those nights.

 

[Capang]

I have to say I am surprised by the majority of the responses. I think @FSU Girl has made the absolutely correct decision for she and her fiancé. I too have a career where attending the company Holiday party would be expected and really matter.
They are locals. They go to WDW often. This is important to him, and he is important to her. Couples make these types of choices. It is a disappointment but they can replan.

I wasn't intending to be rude but if an event was so important to a career I wouldn't schedule a vacation near the time of said event until all dates were nailed down. If I were local I would just take that particular evening to go to the party and then come back to the hotel. When four people are involved I think it is inconsiderate to cancel a vacation for the needs of ONE individual. Maybe that's me, because I'm not local so cancelling IS a big deal.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I have to say I am surprised by the majority of the responses. I think @FSU Girl has made the absolutely correct decision for she and her fiancé. I too have a career where attending the company Holiday party would be expected and really matter.
They are locals. They go to WDW often. This is important to him, and he is important to her. Couples make these types of choices. It is a disappointment but they can replan.

Very well said. At my company, the holiday party - while optional - is really 'not' in the bigger scheme of things. It's arguably one of the more important business and social functions of the year. We often wouldn't know the date until later in the fall, which certainly conflicts with Disney planning if I were thinking of going around that time.

Feel for you OP - I've had work get in the way of trips a few times. Hope you can somehow make lemonade out of lemons!

 

[FSU Girl]

My boyfriend has to go to this Christmas party. Normally they don't tell him until only a couple months before so it's nice of them to at least give this much advance warning. We live three hours away so going up and then right back for the party then right back up is a lot of driving and time away from the parks and hotel that it doesn't make sense to pay for one for those days. Since we are floridians and have an annual pass we aren't cancelling anything that we will lose money on.

I was the planner of the group, everyone was putting it in my hands so I don't think anyone will be upset about changing dates, we just have to figure out when to make the new ones. I'm probably the most upset of the group because I love Disney the most and took a time and effort to get the hotel and restaurants just right. But I don't see it as selfish to support my boyfriend and his career.

It's going to take a lot of planning to fix everything. I was just a little sad, it was going to be my first time at Disney for the holiday season so I'm hoping I can make it still sometime around when we were originally going to go. I have to wait and here back from our friends to see when they'll be able to do it

 

[rosiebean]

First, .

Second, I really do feel for you. Luckily, I've never had a company party (mine or my husbands) be a big deal when vacation planning. However, I HAVE had to cut vacations short or cancel them altogether due to my husband's job. It sucks. I'm sorry this happened for this trip.

So you'll take a deep breath, pick another long weekend, and see what you can get in regards to a hotel and ADRs. With four people in your party, some popular ADRs may be within your reach if you're willing to be flexible with seating times (eating very late or very early). Seats open up at WDW if you are wiling to keep looking (or use the Touring Plans app...it really does work!). Seats at restaurants often open up the closer people get to their trip dates. So you might get lucky...and I hope you have good luck getting into a hotel that suits your plans.

WDW during the holidays is a lot of fun. Even if it turns out that you can't stay in your hotel of choice, you can visit and enjoy the decorations. And you might end up dining at a place that wasn't on your radar that will be the highlight of your trip.

 

[KimBean]

I have to say I am surprised by the majority of the responses. I think @FSU Girl has made the absolutely correct decision for she and her fiancé. I too have a career where attending the company Holiday party would be expected and really matter.
They are locals. They go to WDW often. This is important to him, and he is important to her. Couples make these types of choices. It is a disappointment but they can replan.

A company can't make your career dependent on a Christmas party. Plenty of people don't even celebrate Christmas. I know this is a side note but I just find this offensive. I'm not saying it isn't true for you and your boyfriend OP - just really irks me.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have to say I am surprised by the majority of the responses. I think @FSU Girl has made the absolutely correct decision for she and her fiancé. I too have a career where attending the company Holiday party would be expected and really matter.
They are locals. They go to WDW often. This is important to him, and he is important to her. Couples make these types of choices. It is a disappointment but they can replan.

One cannot know any of that from her post. Even her username doesn't tell the story. Hint: I haven't been to the Bimbershooy festival in Seattle since 2004, and I rarely use umbrellas.

You have paid attention and know these things. But from her actual post? Nope.

We live three hours away so going up and then right back for the party then right back up is a lot of driving and time away from the parks and hotel that it doesn't make sense to pay for one for those days.

If I lived a three hour DRIVE from Disney I would sooooo keep it and just go if it was truly necessary.

Ye gads I'm trying to figure out if my son and I can FLY from San Diego to Seattle and back inside of 24 hours so he can attend a rehearsal for a dance!

Dh once left a work trip and flew from Dallas to Seattle and back inside of 24 hours to see our guys first dance company performance. (And got caught up in the ice storm in Dallas to boot...I think his time away ended up being 30 hours instead of the time planned)

 

[Hopefully]

A company can't make your career dependent on a Christmas party. Plenty of people don't even celebrate Christmas. I know this is a side note but I just find this offensive. I'm not saying it isn't true for you and your boyfriend OP - just really irks me.

If you re read my post that you quoted you will see that my company had a Holiday party, not a Christmas party.
Whether it irks you or not, it was a fact that we were expected to attend. And to not, was a career choice. A privately owned company can do what they want, If I chose to work there, there were company norms I had to adhere to

 

[FSU Girl]

First, .

Thanks! I have a hard time changing direction and having everything planned out perfectly for months has made this a bit rough to take. Since I'm the only planner of the group the others are fine with moving things around so hopefully I can figure something out where I can get back most of what I had reserved.

A company can't make your career dependent on a Christmas party. Plenty of people don't even celebrate Christmas. I know this is a side note but I just find this offensive. I'm not saying it isn't true for you and your boyfriend OP - just really irks me.

We don't actually celebrate Christmas since we are Jewish, but it would hurt my boyfriend's career if he didn't attend. They are telling them far in advance too to make sure no one can use an excuse of having to cancel a last minute trip. My job if they throw a Christmas party it wouldn't be a big deal to skip. But I'm in a different career field than my boyfriend.

If I lived a three hour DRIVE from Disney I would sooooo keep it and just go if it was truly necessary.

Ye gads I'm trying to figure out if my son and I can FLY from San Diego to Seattle and back inside of 24 hours so he can attend a rehearsal for a dance!

Dh once left a work trip and flew from Dallas to Seattle and back inside of 24 hours to see our guys first dance company performance. (And got caught up in the ice storm in Dallas to boot...I think his time away ended up being 30 hours instead of the time planned)

Although three hours doesn't seem that far it actually would eat up most of the Orlando time. The party is in the early evening and goes late so we'd have to leave in the midafternoon range drive there and then drive back up in the middle of the night. I know I'd be exhausted and not want to do much the next day.

Props to you for doing all that flying in 24 hours, I couldn't even imagine doing something like that.



I just made the post since I was a bit sad that all my careful planning had gotten ruined by this party, but there's no option to not go to it. I'll post on the December board for the dining reservations on what I'll have to drop so that someone can benefit from my misfortune.

 

[ChristineOH]

Oh, the challenge of re-planning everything would be so fun for me! I'm a dork.

Good luck. You'll work it out.