Broken Arm and Broken Dreams...forced to cancel and want to re-book

[litzbomb]

Unfortunately my daughter broke her elbow this past Saturday and had surgery Tuesday. This forced us to miss her nationals gymnastics meet in West Palm Beach. We had WDW trip planned for immediately after her last event of the meet that we also cancelled. This was one of those once in a lifetime celebration coincidences with the meet: our sons HS graduation and our 20 year wedding anniversary (honeymooned at WDW & DCL). She is devastated and we are as well. Team mates going to WDW the same dates we were, the girls have matching character outfits, and all the little things in between... all cancelled.

I did not purchase the vacation insurance since it is more expensive than the cancellation fee. Not much, but saved $40 in the end. And the WDW operator helping me cancel could care less of our legitimate excuse for cancelling. Though he did share that he gets winded just getting up from the couch to go to the fridge after I mentioned missing the nationals meet as well as WDW.

So with all this being said the plan we had to cancel included our first night at our resort, but without park tickets for that night. This was so we could be checked in and ready to take advantage of the early extra magic hours the next day. We are planning on visiting in Jan. But the extra night at the resort is now 50% more expensive. My question is what to do for the night before our first ticketed day? Staying off site will just add delays and probably won't get to take advantage of the early morning extra magic hour. But staying off site saves 100's of dollars. What do all of you WDW pros do in this situation?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I'm a little confused. Did you cancel or did you modify your dates? If you had modified, there would have been no cancellation penalty. They may have charged you a $50 fee, but only if your trip cost had gone down. You will be eligible for early magic hours (EMH) from check-in day until check-out day, so, if you choose to stay offsite the night before your WDW resort stay begins, you can still utilize EMH the day of check-in. Obviously, it would make for an early morning as you would want to drop your luggage off at your WDW resort prior to going to the park.

 

[litzbomb]

Had to cancel because we were just days away from the trip and so flustered with rushing to have surgery done couldn't come up with a plan new dates. Sort of also venting with that post.

 

[bfost87]

Well, you just said it, you stay off-site and save, or spend more and stay on-site. If you're driving, I'd stay off-site for one night. Save the money. You're only sleeping there for one night, get up early and get to the park.

If you're checking into a WDW Resort the next day, you can still take advantage of EMH. For example, if you stay off-site Monday night, and are checking into a WDW Resort Tuesday night, you can still take advantage of morning or evening EMH on Tuesday.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Had to cancel because we were just days away from the trip and so flustered with rushing to have surgery done couldn't come up with a plan new dates. Sort of also venting with that post.

That's too bad. I'm so sorry for your DD's injury and I completely understand being so flustered! That's a lot to deal with I hope your rescheduled trip goes as planned and your DD recovers soon.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Check the hotels on Hotel Plaza Boulevard. Check Mousesavers.com for potential discounts (the B Resort, I think). Take a taxi or rideshare to your Disney resort early in the morning.

Assuming you are still going. Gotta admit, I'm still confused . Even if you're going different dates, still this.

 

[litzbomb]

I guess this is a blessing in disguise... in one way at least. We booked for the first week of Jan so we'll now be able see Star Wars land and the new gondolas. We chose the Caribbean Beach resort since it will have gondola stations. Knowing that we are going sooner than next summer has brightened the spirits of out broken DD. And by Jan she'll be fully healed and back to normal. A new countdown begins!!

 

[marchingstar]

So your options are:

1. stay at a disney resort your first night, the transfer hotels on day 2 and visit a park early

or

2. stay at a non-disney resort, transfer hotels
on day 2 and not visit a park early

?

and you’re wondering if option 1 is worth a few hundred $?

if so, I think I would probably pick option 2. I would stay at the airport hotel the first night and catch an early magical express bus to your hotel.

my thinking: january isn’t the busiest month, so extra magic mornings probably aren’t a huge deal. I would drop your bags at the hotel and visit a park that doesn’t have early hours for day 2. Then you can spend that extra money on something else that makes your trip special: a dessert party to celebrate your anniversary/sons graduation? upgrading to a preferred room or better view for the duration of your stay?