Have you ever had to cut a trip short?

[SnapesGirl]

Apologies in advance if this is not the correct forum. We're planning a 14 day stay in May. I usually purchase trip cancellation insurance in case something were to happen and we had to go back to Canada. We get medical insurance through work, but usually purchase trip cancellation insurance through CAA.

In speaking with the CAA agent, he suggested only applying for the cancellation insurance on non-refundable items or ones we would get penalized for (for example, we would have to pay $200 per person with the airline to change our flight). In the event you have had to cut a trip short with Disney, how do they handle remaining days for park tickets and hotel? Do they give you a credit for unused days which can be applied to a future trip?

Hopefully I won't have to worry about this, but you never know!

Thanks!

 

[PSUGuy]

About 4 years ago on a March trip we were heading to MK for our last full park day, we were due to fly out the next afternoon, when we got a call from our neighbor, also a Disney fanatic, that our area was under a small stream flood warning, the city was closing a flood gate nearby and her brother, a city worker, told her it was probably going to flood. We called Air Tran from a bench near where the horse trolley loads, they got us on a flight that day and even juggled things to get us together, didn't cost a ton of money, I forget the figure. A CM had to send for a bus just for us as none were running back to resorts yet, we got home OK and.... no flood! Since then we moved stuff from our basement and decided to take our chances and stay wherever we were if such a thing were to happen again.

Bill From PA

 

[Crystal824]

No, but I am interested to hear this as our 10 day trip is next month. My husband's grandmother was recently placed on hospice care. I fear that she will pass away during our trip in which case we will obviously have to cut our trip short. We have the trip insurance offered when you book a package through Disney, but that is it. Our airfare is SW points.

I know that this post sounds kind of heartless. If we have to cut it short and lose money, that is what happens. We will, of course, come home if something happens. We have considered postponing the trip, but we have an infant and wanted to go to WDW before it gets super hot during the summer.

 

[SnapesGirl]

No, but I am interested to hear this as our 10 day trip is next month. My husband's grandmother was recently placed on hospice care. I fear that she will pass away during our trip in which case we will obviously have to cut our trip short. We have the trip insurance offered when you book a package through Disney, but that is it. Our airfare is SW points.

I know that this post sounds kind of heartless. If we have to cut it short and lose money, that is what happens. We will, of course, come home if something happens. We have considered postponing the trip, but we have an infant and wanted to go to WDW before it gets super hot during the summer.

I hope everything will be ok for her. When I called about the trip cancellation insurance, there were a few weird comments the guy made and one of them that stuck out was that it wouldn't cover if you had to cancel about something you knew previously about. I feel like these insurance companies can get really sneaky.

 

[FLchick415]

Unfortunately, yes.

Me and a majority of my immediate family were at MK, and were only spending one day in the park. (We're FL residents) We had only been in the park about an hour or so, and had only ridden one ride (Splash Mountain) when we got a phone call that my grandmother had passed away. The CMs were spectacular. They got us out of the park and back to our hotel as fast as they could. They even comped our park tickets.

 

[MandiC]

No, but I am interested to hear this as our 10 day trip is next month. My husband's grandmother was recently placed on hospice care. I fear that she will pass away during our trip in which case we will obviously have to cut our trip short. We have the trip insurance offered when you book a package through Disney, but that is it. Our airfare is SW points.

I know that this post sounds kind of heartless. If we have to cut it short and lose money, that is what happens. We will, of course, come home if something happens. We have considered postponing the trip, but we have an infant and wanted to go to WDW before it gets super hot during the summer.

Just for the record I don't think this post sounds heartless at all. You can't put life on hold just in case, we have purchased trip insurance on all of our trips the last few years because several of our grandparents are in poor health and another family member has terminal cancer (she was given 2 months last June! still terminal but she has done much better than they expected)

Just a month ago my aunt had to go home the day after she got to her vacation because she broke her ankle, you just never know what will happen, trip insurance is a smart idea.

 

[smiths02]

From the Disneyworld site (this is for a package reservation):
No refunds will be given for reservations canceled 1 day or less prior to guest arrival or to no-shows. No refunds will be made for early departure from hotel and unused admission tickets, options or features, including meals.

 

[GovieMom]

We didn't actually "have to" cut our trip short; we wanted to. Reason being, we were there during the frigid cold snap of 2010, and had been freezing our behinds off all week. I couldn't stand the thought of enduring another day of that, and told the CM at Poly's front desk the reason why we were checking out a day early. He totally understood, and we ended up getting our last night's room fee refunded (and we had a package).

 

[SnapesGirl]

Thanks everyone for the responses. We'll just go ahead and book the trip cancellation for the entire trip expense and not take a chance!

 

[disnut8]

If you "have to" cut your reservation short for an emergency,either nature related (like if you were at Disney World before Sandy hit and wanted to get back to your home before the airports closed) or personal (like a immediate family member passing), Disney will work with you because, honestly, in those situations, you want to be home, not at Disney World.

But if you "have to" cut your reservation short just because you decided that Miami was a better choice, no, I don't think you would get a lot of help with that situation.

 

[buzzmom12]

We did. We had a package at the poly cl and they refunded the nights we didnt stay without us even asking.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

A couple of months ago I was approached by a Guest at the Everything Pop store (probably because I am older and work in an ECV). He had to cut short his family trip due to am emergency at home and asked for advise.

I had him go over to the Lobby Concierge counter and ask to speak to a manager and told him what would probably happen. He returned later and was told that they had cancelled all his dining reservations for him so he would not get any no-show penalties. They also refunded the cost of three room-nights to his credit card. He was issued three 3-day tickets to make up for the unused portions of his package tickets. And he was given a telephone number to call to get credit for the unused dining entitlements.

In other words, Disney will go out if its way to assist people with any sort of family emergency.

 

[bumbershoot]

I know that this post sounds kind of heartless. If we have to cut it short and lose money, that is what happens. We will, of course, come home if something happens. We have considered postponing the trip, but we have an infant and wanted to go to WDW before it gets super hot during the summer.

It's not heartless. There's no reason to endure financial injury as well as being heartsick. Travel insurance keeps the first from happening so that money and regrets don't pop up into your grieving.

We're the main caregiver (and DH is the POA) for my mother in law. She is frail and feels like she's going to leave the planet every minute. Every trip we take, we talk about what we'll do. We're also the ones who would be making final arrangements. But there's no need to be speedy about that, as her tradition is a service a few months later. We make sure DH's family knows that they are "on call" while we're gone and we would take the situation as it might come.

It's just part of the conversation when you have situations like this in your life.

there were a few weird comments the guy made and one of them that stuck out was that it wouldn't cover if you had to cancel about something you knew previously about. I feel like these insurance companies can get really sneaky.

So what you need is to see if you can get the "waiver" for the pre-existing conditions clause. It's possible it's too late to get that. So that means if you have asthma and you know it, buying an insurance policy now will NOT cover it if you end up in the hospital for asthma, have to go home, and cut short the trip. If you buy a plan in a certain amount of time of booking, you CAN get that waiver, so a known issue would be covered.

It's up to us to read the policies to see what we are buying. There's no sneakiness if we are reading about what we are buying. There's no sneakiness even if we don't read it; we'll just feel like it if we don't do our due diligence.

No refunds will be given for reservations canceled 1 day or less prior to guest arrival or to no-shows. No refunds will be made for early departure from hotel and unused admission tickets, options or features, including meals.

Yep, that's what they say. The reality, however, is a lot kinder in practice. The CMs for ADRs can waive cancellation fees. Things can get delayed instead of cancelled if something happens before you arrive. etc.


OP, being Canadian, don't you have access to really neat insurance programs like ones you can buy for a year's worth of travel? I know that people from the UK have such insurance plans, but I think I've read that Canadians get those, too. It's SUCH a cool program, and I would look to see if you can get one of those. (Americans sure can't!)

 

[mshanson3121]

It's not heartless. There's no reason to endure financial injury as well as being heartsick. Travel insurance keeps the first from happening so that money and regrets don't pop up into your grieving.

We're the main caregiver (and DH is the POA) for my mother in law. She is frail and feels like she's going to leave the planet every minute. Every trip we take, we talk about what we'll do. We're also the ones who would be making final arrangements. But there's no need to be speedy about that, as her tradition is a service a few months later. We make sure DH's family knows that they are "on call" while we're gone and we would take the situation as it might come.

It's just part of the conversation when you have situations like this in your life.



So what you need is to see if you can get the "waiver" for the pre-existing conditions clause. It's possible it's too late to get that. So that means if you have asthma and you know it, buying an insurance policy now will NOT cover it if you end up in the hospital for asthma, have to go home, and cut short the trip. If you buy a plan in a certain amount of time of booking, you CAN get that waiver, so a known issue would be covered.

It's up to us to read the policies to see what we are buying. There's no sneakiness if we are reading about what we are buying. There's no sneakiness even if we don't read it; we'll just feel like it if we don't do our due diligence.



Yep, that's what they say. The reality, however, is a lot kinder in practice. The CMs for ADRs can waive cancellation fees. Things can get delayed instead of cancelled if something happens before you arrive. etc.


OP, being Canadian, don't you have access to really neat insurance programs like ones you can buy for a year's worth of travel? I know that people from the UK have such insurance plans, but I think I've read that Canadians get those, too. It's SUCH a cool program, and I would look to see if you can get one of those. (Americans sure can't!)

What you're referring to is global medical expense policies, whereby your medical expenses are covered in the event you get sick etc.. while away. Most Canadian health plans automatically include that yes. What the OP is referring to is trip cancellation insurance, which covers non-refundable trip expenses, and it is not generally covered on your health plan policies. It is something you have to purchase separately, and it has to be purchased on a per trip basis, as the cost varies by trip value.

 

[vicki_c]

To the OP - plan for the worst (no refund) and hope for the best. Disney really is pretty good about working with folks that have unforeseen things come up. My BFF was to meet us at Disney a few Easters ago and the night before she arrived, her father passed away. She called and they refunded everything to her, no questions asked, no penalties at all. Obviously, that's not something you can count on as it's not the policy, but I do think they try to go the extra mile when the circumstances warrant. So if the worst case (for your family) were to happen, you might not have much Disney costs that would need to be covered by the insurance anyway.