Airport to F.W Cabins Dilemma..HELP!

[DisneycrazedX6]

Hello!!

My family of 6 is staying at the Cabins for 3 nights. Our plane is due to arrive after 11:00, meaning Disney Arrival after midnight. We are all set to take the Magical Express...NO Worries.....Then....a kink in the plans....A friends younger daughter is now coming with us to meet up with family. She will fly down with us, so she is not alone. BUT....no one can pick her up the airport that late. I cant get her on our Magical Express, cause the campground only fits 6 people. WHAT WOULD YOU DO??? I hate to rent a car to get there....I dont want to disappoint my friend.....I really dont want to switch resorts to fit more in the room...say 2 rooms at the All Star. Ugh....what to do!! ADVICE????

 

[Mich Mouse]

It is very kind of you to accompany this young girl to FL

Even if you rent a car the cabin will not accomodate 7...We've stayed there and the full size bed is small and so is the muphy bed, then there are bunk beds, which are also small. My DH and I slept in different beds because the doubles were so small.

I would speak to your friend about this...If someone can't get her at the airport you will have to completely change your plans. Not really fair when you are just trying to help out. Hopefully your friend will understand.

I hope it all works out for you!!! Good Luck.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Where is her family staying? Best option would be for one adult in your party to accompany her by taxi to their resort, then go on to your own - at their expense. Or, for somewhat less money but also less convenience the adult and she could head to the Mears counter and arrange to take the Mears shuttle to her hotel; then the adult would still need to get to FW.

Or maybe they could pay for a town car/van for all of you, and the free "grocery" stop could actually be a stop at their resort to drop off their daughter?

This puts a particular burden on the other parent - it looks like your party is two adults and four children already?

 

[ancestry]

I'm a bit confused. Where are you trying to get the other girl to? You said she was meeting up with family, but where and when is she meeting up with her family?

No matter what she can't (or at least shouldn't) really stay with you in the cabins which have a limit of six people in them for safety/fire code reasons.

 

[goofy4tink]

Am I correct in assuming that this young lady is only flying with you, but not staying with you? In any case, you can always have her get the Mears shuttle van...that would cost about $19. It should run 24/7, so not an issue. She/you would have to wait until you actually got to MCO to book it though..if going to a WDW owned resort, you can't book it in advance. Perhaps one of the adults in the group could ride it too if she didn't want to ride alone.
Where is she staying??? Is someone picking her up at FtW when you get there? Or is she bunking in with you guys for the night.

 

[DisneycrazedX6]

Thanks for all your responses. I think I am going to have to change resorts. I would not feel comfortable putting her in a cab to her grandmothers house after midnight, or anytime for that matter. She would be bunking with us until morning...6 hours or so I guess. I understand fire laws and such, but since it was such a short time, I figured we could deal with it. Thanks for all your help....I can always count on the disboards for answers!!

 

[SteveMouse]

2 other suggestions: you might be able to pick up a small rental car cheaply- pick it up @ mco and drop it off the next morning @ the Car Care Center @ Disney (or the Dolphin, depending on rental company).

some people go in the car- others go on ME.

(of course, you could also drive her to grandma's that night, since you now have a car).

Option B would be the Mears shuttle. Since Mears happens to operate ME, there is a decent likelihood she'd end up on the same bus.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Option C would be Mears shuttle directly to her grandmother's house.

Option D would be a chauffeur-driven transport.

Option E would be for the grandmother, or the girl's parents on this end, to make specific arrangements for someone they know to pick her up at the airport (I'd trust this one least - you just know "something" is going to come up and the ride won't show).

I can recommend a car service, if you want. My brother is demanding and was very satisfied with Edd - including being picked up in plenty of time for a VERY early departure flight.

 

[goofy4tink]

Rather than change resorts, unless you really want to, I would just have the girl's family pay the $50 or so that it would cost for a car service. You could have an adult ride with her if you felt unsure about putting her in a car by herself.

 

[brianm27]

It is $61 a night to rent a partial hook up campsite that sleeps 10.

 

[HGD24]

Thanks for all your responses. I think I am going to have to change resorts. I would not feel comfortable putting her in a cab to her grandmothers house after midnight, or anytime for that matter. She would be bunking with us until morning...6 hours or so I guess. I understand fire laws and such, but since it was such a short time, I figured we could deal with it. Thanks for all your help....I can always count on the disboards for answers!!

This is going to sound harsh. I really can't see changing your family's vacation plans for this situation. I would go with the suggestion of others that her parents pay for a car service to bring her and an adult to her grandmothers and then drive the adult to FW. If they're not willing to do that, that's their issue and they need to find another way to get their DD to her grandmother's house and not involve you or disrupt your famiy's vacation. Another option is to have the girl fly on her own, taking an earlier flight and the grandmother picks her up at the airport. Young kids who fly alone are accompanied through airports by airline staff.

You should not have to rearrange your vacation plans for another family's lack of planning or willingness to use other options.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay, I can admit it now - I feel the same way that HGD24 does; I was just trying to drop hints instead of coming out and saying it

How old is this girl? It's possible she can be transported by a car service alone (yes, even in the middle of the night). But if that's not an option, I like the suggestion that one adult accompany her to the grandmother's house - that'll be your free stop - and then use the car service to get to Fort Wilderness. Or, heck, go with a private van from a town car company and take the whole family. You'll need to pick up your own luggage that late anyway, Magical Express won't.

 

[lklasing]

Not trying to sound harsh, but I agree with the last two posts - your vacation is just that - YOUR vacation. It would be such a shame to have to change resorts for an entire trip to accomodate someone who will be with you down there for a few hours only. I don't know if you have stayed at the cabins at FW yet or not, but it's such a great place to stay that I can't imagine having to choose somewhere else when you've already got a plan in place.

 

[goofy4tink]

People...lets try to stay on track and not give 'advice' as to whether or not the OP is doing the right thing by her friend. None of us know the story, or what the 'whole deal' here is. Let's just give the best advice we can, without the editorial comments please.

 

[Mich Mouse]

People...lets try to stay on track and not give 'advice' as to whether or not the OP is doing the right thing by her friend. None of us know the story, or what the 'whole deal' here is. Let's just give the best advice we can, without the editorial comments please.

Well said

 

[HGD24]

People...lets try to stay on track and not give 'advice' as to whether or not the OP is doing the right thing by her friend. None of us know the story, or what the 'whole deal' here is. Let's just give the best advice we can, without the editorial comments please.

We all gave options of what the OP could do - which was her main question. Many of us also stated that we would not switch resorts, which was also part of the OP's question - when she said, "what would you do?" that kind of opens the entire topic up for discussion.

 

[bigsis1970]

Hello!!

My family of 6 is staying at the Cabins for 3 nights. Our plane is due to arrive after 11:00, meaning Disney Arrival after midnight. We are all set to take the Magical Express...NO Worries.....Then....a kink in the plans....A friends younger daughter is now coming with us to meet up with family. She will fly down with us, so she is not alone. BUT....no one can pick her up the airport that late. I cant get her on our Magical Express, cause the campground only fits 6 people. WHAT WOULD YOU DO??? I hate to rent a car to get there....I dont want to disappoint my friend.....I really dont want to switch resorts to fit more in the room...say 2 rooms at the All Star. Ugh....what to do!! ADVICE????

I would not change my family plans either for 6 hrs of babysitting for my friend. Truly if she was my friend she would offer to 1. have the gram come and get her DD, 2. or pay for a limo/towncar/taxi/shuttle to come get her DD or 3. pay for 1 room 1 night at the allstars where a grown up and the DD could crash for the 6 hrs till the gram could come get her - and you could use ME for this one..

People...lets try to stay on track and not give 'advice' as to whether or not the OP is doing the right thing by her friend. None of us know the story, or what the 'whole deal' here is. Let's just give the best advice we can, without the editorial comments please.

the OP questions clearly states she wants the opnions of others and people feel strongly about helping but not having to change the plans for friend's DD..

 

[goofy4tink]

When someone posts to the effect of 'don't want to sound harsh, but....' it will most likely be taken as being harsh. Yes, the OP did ask for opinions as to what she should do..and a lot of good advice was given.
However, the OP did not ask for advice or opinions regarding the 'whys' of what she wanted to do, or for opinions regarding her friend's behaviour. That is what I am taking exception to. It is not up to us here to judge why this is the situation, or to comment on it. The OP asked for advice and opinions as to how best to get her friend's dd to FtW..not for opinions regarding her friends desire to have the dd delivered.