AAACK! Change dates or cancel? (vent)

Joined
Nov 14, 2004
Messages
25,898
I have been planning a trip Oct. 14-23 for months. DH got a new job on March 7 and he REFUSED to tell his new employer that we already had a vacation booked. So he found out today that he can't have that week off. Perfect.

They offered him the week after, but I don't want to do MNSSHP on October 30 or 31. It will be a madhouse! The reviews I read from 2004 almost all said it was terrible on the sold out nights. I'd rather go on a less popular night. Also, DS has ONE day off from school between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. It's October 21. We can take a 9 night vacation and only miss 4 days of school if we could have the week I planned for. Otherwise he will miss MORE school and have FEWER days at WDW. Almost not worth going.

I am SO, SO, SO disappointed. :guilty:

I don't blame DH entirely, but I wish he would have stood up for himself when he still had a little bit of bargaining power. Now he's just stuck with taking his vacation whenever they tell him to take it. I don't even know if there is any resort availability the week after.

There is a SLIGHT chance that he MIGHT be able to get the week we want, but there is no telling how long he will have to wait to see if that week opens up. So how long DO we wait? Do I just keep my ressies as they are and if we can't go cancel before I incur penalties? (46 days prior to departure.) I wanted to book airfare TODAY but then he came home with this lovely news. So now what do I do about air? Gamble and book it or wait and face sold out flights and higher fares? And what about MNSSHP? Do I buy non-refundable tickets on the off chance we can still go on the 16th? I know that's silly. That night probably won't sell out - we could most likely buy tickets that day if we happen to make it there!

It never really occurred to me that they would tell DH he couldn't go on vacation the week we planned. They have SIX MONTHS to find someone else to cover for him. How hard can it be?

I am just so aggravated that we may have to scrap the whole trip and either start over again or not go at all. Suggestions?
 
Wow, that's a tough situation. Is it at all possible for him to tell them that everything has already been paid for, etc? I've been going on some job interviews for a second job and I tell them during the interview about our upcoming vacation and let them know that everything has been booked and paid for...that way it sends a message that this is not a week that we're willing to compromise on. Most people kinda get that when they find out it's been paid for....because they know that different things sometimes charge fees to change anything (i.e. airlines). Anyway, that's just a thought. Hopefully someone will be able to help you out. Good luck!!!
 
DH said he will talk to the lady again tomorrow. After I told him I'd rather not go at all if we have to change weeks he said he would try to push for the original week. The whole reason we are going back is because we felt like our January trip was too short. If we have to keep hacking days off of this trip for DH's schedule or because of DS missing too much school we will end up with another really short trip. Airfare is not cheap, so if we are going to go I want to go for as many days as possible. If we can't do 9 nights then I would rather cancel it and start from scratch sometime next year. DH will have two weeks of vacation next year and he will be able to bid for the weeks instead of being assigned the leftovers. Since he is low man on the totem pole his weeks probably won't be fabulous but at least we will know ahead of time when he will be off.
 

I really don't know what else we can offer you (unless someone else were to come up with a brilliant plan). The best your husband can do is push for the original week you had planned (and even offer to find someone himself to cover for him), but if his supervisors are adamant about him not taking that week, then I don't think there's much else you can do except reschedule your trip.
 
This probably isn't the kind of input you're looking for, but I think you've got things in the wrong order, priority-wise. Is this vacation really so much more important to you that it supercedes everything else? I mean ... you're making it sound like the end of the world because you have to move your WDW vacation to a week you don't think you'll like as much. There are plenty of people out there who would happily go to MNSSHP on October 30 or 31, simply because they'd have the chance to go to WDW! You're complaining because you might have to go for less than nine days when there are people out there who have fabulous, amazing vacations in half that time.

You mentioned that the new company has "SIX MONTHS to find someone else to cover for him. How hard can it be?" Well ... it could be quite difficult, depending on how long it took them to find your DH. There are a lot of positions out there that take more than someone walking in the door to do the job. There may also be a budget factor and they may not have the resources to have someone cover for him right away. And, frankly, if they just hired your husband, it's not really unreasonable for the company that is already spending money to train HIM, to prefer that your husband be fully trained and make it through his first six months or so before they start looking for someone who can cover for him for vacation time. Now, granted, your husband could have told them flat-out that he had vacation dates chosen, but if he really wanted the job, I can understand his reluctance to do that, particularly if there were a lot of people applying or if it was a good company.

"I am just so aggravated that we may have to scrap the whole trip and either start over again or not go at all. Suggestions?"

I'd suggest you scrap the whole trip and not go at all. If you have to go at a time you don't like, you'll spend the whole time complaining about how the other week would have been better and how your husband should have just told them about the vacation in the first place, and I honestly don't think you'll have a good time. Every crowd or line or extra expense you run into will be a reminder about the week you didn't get. Besides ... having to wait a bit longer for your WDW trip may help you put it in a bit more perspective -- as it relates to all the other things your family has to be concerned with. JMO

:earsboy:
 
WDSearcher-
Actually, I appreciate your point of view. You are exactly right about me grousing about the trip the whole time if we go the week after. That is exactly how I would react to every line, crowd, delay, etc. I would be SURE it would have been terrific the week before. But maybe if I start working on it now I will get over it by October. ;)

On the other hand, I have been looking at availability for the following week because DH and DS are really looking forward to this and they don't want to scrap it and start over. We certainly COULD go to MNSSHP on the 30th or the 31st. We could still fly out on Saturday night and come home Sunday morning and only lose one day of vacation. DS would miss an additional day of school, which isn't ideal, but in the grand scheme is probably workable.

Maybe part of my issue was just the shock of "losing" the trip I had already assembled in my mind. I just needed some time to regroup. And now our airfare has taken another jump, so we REALLY need to figure something out and go with it!

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
I understand how disappointing cancelling is! We just cancelled our June trip because DH's hockey team made the playoffs and they are the same week we had planned to go to Disney. (in Canada) I could have tried to work around it and gone less days but like you, if I am travelling that far I want to get the most days for the travel $$$ and time. I am now looking at weeks in Nov when the kids have some days off school. My advise would be to do nothing tonight. You have a while until you have to cancel, think about what is best for your family. Look at the whole school calender and maybe another date will pop out for you. Congrats on the new job, and as they say up north "Keep your stick on the ice!" At least we'll get some Chedder Cheese Soup! ;) :teeth:
 
Disneycrazymom-

Congrats on the winning hockey season!

I am working on my attitude. It really is better to juggle the plans than not go at all. DH didn't have an opportunity to speak with anyone today because they were all in a meeting, so it will be Monday before we know whether to hold out hope for our original week. In the meantime I will piece together some alternate plans and try to get excited about them! :banana:
 
I have an idea on how you feel, although, I got over it in a short bit. We hadn't booked our trip to WDW yet but we had it all planned out and were going to book it when we were both tired and said, we'll do it tomorrow. We always take the last week of aug, going into Labor day weekend. We've done that for years. yes, WDW in august is :sunny: hot and humid but the lower crowds make up for it. Also, it's nice to come back and only have a couple of days and get back into the fall groove of school and sports. DS goes to camp during the summer (day camp) and I generally work part/time. However, with him in camp, I work full time. Now, dh's boss says he can't take that week and we have to move it a week ahead. Now, we don't get that added day with labor day, we'll have a full week at home prior to school starting...either I take another week off from work and be with ds or he goes to camp. I don't want to send him to camp that week as I'd like him to have time home and just relaxing before it all starts again. Anyway, my point is, yes it is disappointing but things are do-able. We are going to go and have a good time...period. :cheer2:
 
jackskellingtonsgirl said:
WDSearcher-
Actually, I appreciate your point of view. You are exactly right about me grousing about the trip the whole time if we go the week after. That is exactly how I would react to every line, crowd, delay, etc. I would be SURE it would have been terrific the week before. But maybe if I start working on it now I will get over it by October. ;)
Of course ... there is the possibility that there will be a freak Level 4 hurricane (or a cheerleader's convention, which is pretty much the same thing :teeth: ) the week before, and your DH will spend all week long reminding you how miserable you'd have been if you'd have been if your original plans hadn't had to change. This whole thing could just be someone's way of telling you that a differenet week would be better. Karma works in weird ways like that!

:earsboy:
 
If its any help we were there on October 29 (there wasn't a party on the 30th) so anyway it was the one right before Halloween and we had a TOTALLY AWESOME time and got tons of things done!

Liz
 
DH and I talked about it some more tonight and we decided to do this:

He will ask on Monday if they can guarantee the week we originally asked for. (She had indicated that things change all the time with people switching on and off of routes, so MAYBE he could get that week.) If she can't guarantee it or if we would have to wait an unreasonable amount of time to find out something definite then we will go ahead and take the week she offered, Oct. 29 - Nov. 6. The 29th & the 6th will be travel days, so we will have 7 full days in the parks. I think we miss Jersey week, Super Soap, and any other huge deals. I didn't see cheerleaders listed until December. We will hash out MNSSHP on another thread because I have NO CLUE how to choose between the 30th (Sunday) and the 31st (Halloween, Monday). I will hopefully have everything in place by Tuesday morning and we can go ahead and book our airfare before it goes any higher. I'll reschedule our Family Magic Tour and all will be well.

Thanks for your responses!! :flower:
 
Wow -- I think I would really do a Happy Mickey Dance to celebrate the new job! In today's society, where jobs are hard to come by, that would be worth celebrating! WDW will always be there . . . but job security is not. Congrats to your hubby on the new opportunity! :flower:
 












Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE






DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top Bottom