Continual flight change drama...advice?

[fiestymama]

Hi everyone!

Let me preface this post by explaining that I am a very Type A Over Think and Over Plan person. I have been fantasizing about and mentally planning our first Disney vacation as a family since I was pregnant with my first child, and this is *finally* the year we were able to make it happen. I like to have everything planned out and good to go far in advance, and as such I have had our reservations and flights booked since January for our November 1-8 trip

We have had jetBlue change our flights three times in that time period, and each time I've had to call to request that they move me to a more suitable flight (they keep changing the flight times so we get in later and later, or so we have really long layovers...with two young kids I do NOT want to be stuck in an airport for 4+ hours!). Just this morning I found that they have changed it again, and instead of mid-afternoon, we will now be getting in at 7 pm. Granted, I know that isn't terribly late, but by the time we get through the airport, to ME, and to CBR, we will be exhausted and probably crash within an hour of arrival.

I spoke to a very polite rep at jetBlue who offered me the following solutions:
Leave the day before (Fri, Oct 31) at 7pm and arrive at MCO at 12:22 am OR
spend the extra money and extra vacation day from work and leave the morning of Fri, Oct 31. Obviously, we'd need to book an additional day at CBR if we do one of these options, which I don't even know that we can do at this point (we booked free dining package Saturday - Saturday). Lastly, we can suck it up and stop crying about getting there later than planned and make the best of it.

Curious what you all think? I'm frustrated and just wish they'd stop moving things around on us! Either way, I'm ecstatic to be going to Disney with my family!

 

[LadyBeBop]

What you could do...fly out on the 31st and stay at a hotel near the airport with free shuttle to and from the airport. Saturday morning, take the shuttle back to the airport and take ME to CBR. You can take ME, even though it's the day after your flight.

You can also see if you can get the Hyatt, inside the airport, for a fairly cheap night. I've heard people get the Hyatt for less than $100 a night. You should be able to get it for less than the cost of a night at CBR.

You can also get a room only reservation at either Pop or one of the AS's for Friday night. They'll transport your luggage from your value hotel to CBR on Saturday.

One thing you have to take into consideration. Will your children be OK missing trick-or-treating to start their Disney vacation a day early?

 

[keishashadow]

Do you have other airline options available to book? If so, I'd call jet blue and tell them the time just doesn't work for you and request a cancellation & refund.

if not I'd take the 7 pm flight out and stay somewhere near the airport with a shuttle as suggested in post #2

 

[GillianP1301]

If it were me (also very Type A - so I feel your pain), I would not go with the 7pm flight the night before only because I know it would wreck my DS6 and he'd start the vacation off exhausted. Not a good idea for us.

Depending on how much more money to move to the morning flight the day before, I'd be looking at that option. I don't need a lot of convincing to extend my vacation. If it was a ridiculous amount, then I would probably just stick with the flight given and suck up the 7pm arrival time.

 

[leebee]

What you could do...fly out on the 31st and stay at a hotel near the airport with free shuttle to and from the airport. Saturday morning, take the shuttle back to the airport and take ME to CBR. You can take ME, even though it's the day after your flight.

You can also see if you can get the Hyatt, inside the airport, for a fairly cheap night. I've heard people get the Hyatt for less than $100 a night. You should be able to get it for less than the cost of a night at CBR.?

This is what I'd do, unless you are getting free dining at CBR in which case it might be worth staying there a night early for the extra meal credits. I just don't see spending the time and money to get to a Disney resort when all you are going to be doing there is sleeping. In fact, if it was us, I'd probably try to Hotwire something near the airport for that night, to REALLY make it a cheap stay-over (but that takes some finagling and finesse to make sure you will get the room you need). If you are all in bed and asleep by 1:30-2am, and sleep in late, you'll be well rested and ready to go the next morning!