Any horror stories?

[hildasmuriel]

Has anybody else had a trip that seemed to be going horribly wrong, so much that you didn't want to go back?

Our first ever trip abroad as a family was to DLRP in Feb 2004. My husband much prefers to holiday in the UK but finally agreed (with the help of a bonus from work!) to take our 2 children to France. This was a big sacrifice for him as he was a Disney-sceptic.
First hint of problem was the day before when my daughter (then aged 6) had a high temperature and seemed to be really unwell. Lots of Calpol and fluids and she seemed to be better by the evening. She woke at 2 in the morning so excited and she didn't go back to sleep.
We had to leave before 6 to get to the airport, but our flight was delayed by an hour. At last we reached CDG and queued for the VEA.
And we waited.
And we waited.
The queue was several hundred people long and we had been waiting about an hour and half when my daughter was sick...everywhere! At least we had a bit of space in the queue around us now!
People were realising that this was more than normal delay and someone found an official who phoned VEA who said they weren't running any coaches that day - first day of UK half-term holiday and no coaches
We had to find our way to the train station and wait for a TGV but at last we reached the Santa Fe, tired, fed-up and with my daughter in a coat which definitely needed sponging!
We made our way to the Park and it was so very busy, we were newbies and it was all a bit too much. We had bought a new camcorder for the trip and within half an hour I had lost the expensive bag we bought to go with it (it never was handed in) which contained our spare batteries, tapes etc.
Suddenly I'd had enough. I wanted to be at home. We had spent (what was to us) a huge amount of money and it was all going wrong. Still, brave face on it...make the best for the children.
I don't know when it happened, I think it may have crept over me over the next few hours but by the time we got to bed that night I was buzzing with the excitement of it all and couldn't wait for the next day.
From then we loved every minute - even when my daughter (who appeared to be completely recovered) was sick in Cafe Hyperion and then slept all the way through the noise of the Stunt Show.
The highlight was probably on our 3rd and last day when Mickey picked my daughter out to help him open the Park in the morning.
We were totally won over, even grumpy husband, and have been huge fans ever since.
Sorry to have rambled on so long....but any other near-horror stories?

 

[dlpSteve]

Summer 2005 - I spent the first 2 days of the trip with a bad stomach upset and then Denise spent the next 2 days with a really bad cold. Far from putting us off, we just saved our spending money and booked for Christmas the day we came back! I don't think anything could put me off DLRP, it's heaven on earth!

 

[BRobson]

Our nightmare happened at Disney but in Florida - a week into our 3 week stay DD who was then 4 got chickenpox . We lost a few days then we waited for DS2 to get them, which he did on the plane on the way home

 

[isma]

My cousin and me went to DLP one year and I must have caught a virus because my throat began to hurt really bad and when we got to DLP I had completely lost my voice and wouldn`t come back for the rest of the trip so we were having a lot of misunderstandings and not a very good communication... but still we both loved it!

@hildasmuriel That really was a bad start for disney but I am glad you still got to enjoy yourselves and after so many bad things happening it can only get better next time!

 

[Cyrano]

Even if you read our trip report of 2005 everyone had days of being sick, it still did not spoil the magic for us.

Now our holiday to Egypt is a different matter. Since it is not DLP I'll stay on topic for the boards and leave that for a different discussion

 

[marcus.ka]

The queue was several hundred people long and we had been waiting about an hour and half when my daughter was sick...everywhere! At least we had a bit of space in the queue around us now!

Sorry I know for you this must have been hard. But I just had to laugh!

Thank you for sharing the hard and the fun part of your trip with us!

 

[wideeyes]

It something that can happen with children, my DD was sick all over the floor at Manchester Airport on our first trip to DLRP, luckily we had not checked in our luggage so had some clothes to change her in to. We then spent the whole flight with a sick bag to hand.

 

[Sav]

Years and years and years back (1996 I think) I went for the first time to DLRP on a coach for my birthday in December.

Disney was fantastic, cold and frosty , dry, quiet. But the coach journey back was horrendous!!!!!! The driver was a madman, didn't stop because he was trying to make a specific ferry on the way home, the toilet didn't work, and the hostess refused to make any hot drinks for anyone!!!!

 

[hildasmuriel]

Wow, lots of horror stories. Thanks for sharing. Good job it hasn't put any of us off..................

only 4 days to go

 

[pixiepower04]

We went on our 'holiday of a lifetime' to WDW for 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year 2004.

On the 22nd December I contracted Meningitus and was out cold for the next 3 days, 3 days later and I am finally out of hospital, 5 days before returning home, I missed so much of the holiday because of it.

I missed all of Christmas and at the time my kids were 3 and a half and 5 and a half!

I was in a wheelchair for 3 days when I came out the hospital as I was too weak to stand.

When I came back home I HATED everything about WDW and Florida but after about 3 months I was finally addicted to it again and so we are going back next September!

 

[Torchy]

Our first holiday to DLRP was Halloween 2004 (been back every year since).

My wife won the holiday on a radio show, and I was the only one not excited by the trip. We had to catch the coach at 3 am, and the journey there was 17 hours with a ferry trip, the bus alternated sweltering or freezing, the drivers were miserable and we didnt get enough rest stops. And when we got there it was dark, cold, and drizzling. Arriving at the NPB I was as grumpy as anything and just wanted to fly home. We unpacked after the reception took an hour to sort out the booking mistakes (giving us an already occupied room and getting our names wrong). We threw our gear in the room and I needed a walk to cool off, so we went to check out the village.

Somewhere between the NPB lobby and the entrance to the village I was hooked and slowly reverted to a ten year old. Nothing mattered, this was Disney. I'll never forget the look on my daughter's face as we saw the castle, and the holiday was fantastic despite everything.

Can't stay away from the place, but we fly now though