Anyone got any level head advice??

[buzz for boys]

As everyone knows Cam had an operation last week that was not exactly to plan! On that day we were told the stitches would have to be in place for 3 possibly 4 months but hopefully it could be sooner.
We had to phone today to chase a few bits and bobs and in conversation I told our specialist nurse that we were hoping fr 3 months rather than 4 and she told us during discussions at team meeting on Friday they were actually rethinking and everyone thought it was better to do a minimum of 4 months.
Of course there is no guarantees that this op ahas worked and no indication until the stitches are took out

So we have 6 months till we are suppose to be boarding a plane !! But only 3 months till we have to pay everything off !!
what do we do ??? take a chance pay it off and hope we board a plane with apermission to fly ?? At the moment the consultant said he would not allow Cameron to fly as thing stand but 6 months is a long time !!

Do we admit defeat now and try to reschedule for a time early in 2011 ??

What would you guys do ?? I so wanted to see xmas in orlando but just cant think my way out of the "How do we not lose thousands of pounds " scenerio!!
Louise x

 

[disney_princess_85]

I'm sorry about your situation. Personally, I would reschedule.

 

[scottish mum]

Oh Louise, I don't know what would be the best advise. I think I would be inclined to be looking at prices for early next year, probably not what you wanted to hear but better than to risk losing this years holiday if consultant decides cam isn't fit to fly.

 

[mickeyforpresident]

Could you not claim on your insurance? That way could you not pay it off and then if you have to cancel you could claim, but if it all works out, you havent lost the holiday.

Sorry to hear about this next set-back!!

 

[Disneymad]

You poor thing.

I know it's going to be horribly disappointing thing to do, but I think I'd reschedule too.

A lot of the joy of a WDW holiday is the anticipation of going on the run up to it. With that big ? mark hovering over your trip, it's probably always going to be playing on your mind and the closer you get, the more of a disappointment it'll be if you do then still have to cancel.

Who are you booked with by the way? If you really didn't want to cancel (understandable!) might it be worth a call to their customer service department to ask if you can defer payment for a month until you know for sure? I know some of the bigger companies have been flexible in the past for a few weeks when someone has had a cash flow issue paying their balance, so perhaps a small chance that someone will take a sympathetic view point of your circumstances and extend your final payment date.

A long shot but might be worth a try?

 

[buzz for boys]

Could you not claim on your insurance? That way could you not pay it off and then if you have to cancel you could claim, but if it all works out, you havent lost the holiday.

Sorry to hear about this next set-back!!

We dont have travel insurance yet as all travel insurances work on the basis that the person has not been an inpatient for the last 3/6 months and we have never been able to tick this box!! Not bothered by that at the moment as i have only paid a villa deposit !

You poor thing.

I know it's going to be horribly disappointing thing to do, but I think I'd reschedule too.

A lot of the joy of a WDW holiday is the anticipation of going on the run up to it. With that big ? mark hovering over your trip, it's probably always going to be playing on your mind and the closer you get, the more of a disappointment it'll be if you do then still have to cancel.

Who are you booked with by the way? If you really didn't want to cancel (understandable!) might it be worth a call to their customer service department to ask if you can defer payment for a month until you know for sure? I know some of the bigger companies have been flexible in the past for a few weeks when someone has had a cash flow issue paying their balance, so perhaps a small chance that someone will take a sympathetic view point of your circumstances and extend your final payment date.

A long shot but might be worth a try?

WE have booked everything seperatly - like I said at the moment we have only paid a villa deposit !! The flights are with Virgin but through a childhood cancer charity so we dont pay until 1 month out with no penalty !! However we do need to pay the rest of the villa and the car hire and of course make the adrs and we also wanted to do MVMCP !! So even when we take the flights issue out we still have big decisions to make .
The hardest part is we cancelled last December as permission to fly was retracted at the last minute so Im not really looking froward to telling the kids we are going to cancel again - its all they talk about and they all know how many days we have left

 

[scojos]

nothing intelligent to add...as normal...but wanted to send some hugs
personally, id push it back....
tx

 

[Disneymad]

Hmm, well while you might perhaps not get such a good deal, you'd definitely be able to book car hire a month in advance, I'm such a slacker I usually only book mine 2 days in advance and normally still am able to pick up a good deal.

You can still book ADR's as normal and just cancel after if turned out that you had to. Even stuff like Cinderella's where you pre-pay only has a 24 hour cancellation policy.

MVMCP - not sure which date you're planning to go, but if you can be flexible, and/or it's not the last party (and if your signature counter is correct and my math doesn't fail, then you're there at the beginning of December rather than the end?) or perhaps a weekend night one, then I'd really not stress too much about booking that a long way in advance either. They're normally still selling tickets to those special events on the night at the gate so don't all sell out.

Really it looks like it's just the villa/accommodation that's the real hurdle to overcome for you. Well that and the potential stress of being in limbo about your trip.

 

[darthtatty]

Awwww Louise.xxx
how long is it until you have to spend more money for a trip that you may not be able to take?
If youve got a couple of months, coud you go back to the Doctors and see how things are progressing. See how likely it is that your trip can go ahead and then make plans from then. I know youve had to cancel a trip at the last minute before, so fingers crossed it doesnt happen again. Adrs can be made, you dont have to pay anything for them. unless youre eating at places that need paying in advance-even then i think some can be cancelled a few das before with no charge.

If you do decide to delay the trip is there any possibility of a mini trip to DLRP? I know its not them same but you could all get a bit of Disney magic.
I assume its just the flying thats a problem.

good luck with whatever you decide to do.xxx

 

[Muscateer]

So sorry to hear your dilemma Louise. On one hand would be great for your family to have your holiday at the end of the year but on the other it would be awful for you to lose the money. 2011 will be here before you know it.

We had a similar thing happen when my daughter was waiting on her heart operation appointment many years ago. We had booked our first Florida holiday but was then told the operation could take place around the time we were due to go so we rescheduled our holiday to the following year. Turns out my daughters operation was the date that we were due to fly to Florida so just as well we rescheduled.

 

[KatieG73]

Hi Louise,

I personally would push it back a month or two - I know it will be hard but I think for everyone it would be better to do that than have to cancel and lose the money in addition to the disapointment of a cancelled trip.

I know how much you will all have been looking forward to this trip with all you have had to deal with, I think if you could move it out January then Christmas will help break up the additional wait.

Sending you lots of

Katie

 

[Ware Bears]

I think I'd reschedule for 2011 too but if you've set your heart on seeing the Christmas season that would mean putting it back by a whole year. I could do this as I find the anticipation and planning almost as much fun as the holiday itself and the time would soon go by ...... however it's so easy to say this when it's not me having to make the decision.

You've say you've got three months before you need to pay out ~ hopefully you may know more nearer the time which will help you decide what to do.

Good luck

 

[ukstitch]

Personally I would leave it for now and then look at things in 3 months time when you've got a better idea...

Just a thought - I know it's not the same, but you could always consider an "interim" trip to DLP over Christmas if you were forced to reschedule Orlando - it might be easier to get approval for something like that because you could go by train / ferry and would still give you a little something to look forward to

 

[T16GEM]

I am so sorry to hear that you amy ahve to cancel, I think I would push the date back though, personally I think that if you do that then it will relax you and you won't be worry about whether you will make it or not.

How is Cam doing now?

 

[Dimplenose]

Oh my goodness nothing is easy for your family.

This is how I see it -

You never know when Cam will be well enough to travel. If you cancel and he is OK in 6 months you'll miss the opportunity to travel while he is well.

If you don't cancel and something crops up then you lose your money and therefore any chance of a future trip.

So I'd do as a previous poster has suggested and leave things in place until the last possible moment that you won't lose any money and then cancel the accommodation.

Then when the time comes to cancel the flight you can do just that or if he is OK to travel find alternative accommodation - I'm sure there'll be something available even if it isn't you first choice..

I hope that make sense but I wouldn't rule things out until I had to - in the mean time prepare the kids that the holiday might have to be delayed just so it isn't a last minute nasty shock.

 

[buzz for boys]

Oh my goodness nothing is easy for your family.

This is how I see it -

You never know when Cam will be well enough to travel. If you cancel and he is OK in 6 months you'll miss the opportunity to travel while he is well.

If you don't cancel and something crops up then you lose your money and therefore any chance of a future trip.

So I'd do as a previous poster has suggested and leave things in place until the last possible moment that you won't lose any money and then cancel the accommodation.

Then when the time comes to cancel the flight you can do just that or if he is OK to travel find alternative accommodation - I'm sure there'll be something available even if it isn't you first choice..

I hope that make sense but I wouldn't rule things out until I had to - in the mean time prepare the kids that the holiday might have to be delayed just so it isn't a last minute nasty shock.

Pretty much what we have decided to do Libby.
My heart says while there is hope we carry on planning for this date!!

We see the consultant tomorow and we are going to have a frank discussion as to where he sees Cams treatment going and the possibilty of making it possible for us to fly in December !!
If he says he cant give us that information until afterthe stitches come out we are going to see if the villa owner will extend our deadline for money until we know whats going on.
The way I see it is if im upfront and tell him there maybe a problem now he may just be more sympathetic than if we only call when we are due to pay !!

Then we have another month to decide what to do !!
I told Daniel today thathe should stop his countdown until we know what was happening and he said "Dont be silly we are going on the 29th November !" Then rolled his eyes at us so I guess he knows something we dont

Im telling you know if we board that plane I am so having an alcholic drink to celebrate

 

[Ware Bears]

Im telling you know if we board that plane I am so having an alcholic drink to celebrate

I think we'll all be joining in that celebratory drink with you

 

[strawberry blonde]

Good luck for today Louise.

 

[mandymouse]

I hope all goes well today Louise

 

[buzz for boys]

Just had to update this with todays news

No news on cameron as its too early to tell yet but had the most touching heart to heart with the consultant.
After he had checked Cam over he asked me if there was anything bothering me about what they had done. Amongst a million other things I mentione dthe holiday and that the thought of cancelling it was akiller as with such uncertainty and only bigger operations to face I felt we needed a holiday and we needed something to look forward !!
He then said he would do everything in his power to allow us to get on the plane especially after the cancelled holiday last year !! He said if we hit stumbling blocks along the way he will get on the plane with us if its the only way we can fly !! Cant believe he actually got how much this means to us !!

Although he did add that after being stuck in Orlando because of the ash cloud he was hoping that would not be neccessary.

Thanks for all teh advice and heres to cracking open a bottle for my dd digit dance in 39 days time !!