Is it really worth it or needed ???

[coastermom]

I am booking my WDW trip and the one thing I cant decide on is the Travel Insurance !! I am going with my sister and my DD as well as two of DD friends . It is a sweet 16 trip for my DD . We are going the week of 8/28 which is hurricane season ... I never go during this time of year and we always drive it this time we are flying .. Should I take the insurance just for the piece of mind ? I am all ready to book everything else just nervous on how the weather can be and with the flying if my luggage is lost !! I must sound CRAZY !! LOL

 

[kt_mom]

We never book the travel insurance. You can cancel up to 5 days before the trip and only lose your $200 deposit. You can cancel up to 45 days before and lose nothing I think.

The $200 deposit isn't much more than the trip insurance. So we usually just take our chances and we've gone in September and October and we're going back in october this year.

ETA: I may have that wrong so check with Disney on the cancelation policy but I think up to 5 days out you can cancel with minimal losss.

 

[babyrich]

We always get the insurance and luckily have never used it. But last year I ended up in the hospital for a week and this happened just a few weeks before we were to leave on our vacation. At one point we didnt think we would be able to go and we were very happy at the thought that we would be able to get our money back.

It does provide peace of mind for us.

 

[MrsPete]

This is a question for your calculator.

If you were to cancel at the last-minute, how much would you lose? You could probably cancel your rooms and get back 100%. I don't know about your flight costs. Your food money and ticket money wouldn't be a problem. Likely you'd be able to cancel at the last minute and lose essentially nothing.

Sometimes travel insurance makes sense. For example, on a cruise you need to have medical evacuation insurance. It costs so little, and IF you were to become sick, it'd cost a fortune to get you back to the US. That's worthwhile.

In your case, I suspect it's not worth the cost of the insurance.

 

[auralia]

I don't book insurance through disney. It can be had cheaper at outside sites. You save more money if you buy your policy within 7 days of booking the vacation most places. Search around google and you should find several reputable companies with rates WAY better than disney if you want insurance.

 

[dumbodame]

I always get the insurance. There are 3 of us and the total amount for the insurance I get is $48.

Anything can happen. Your plane can be delayed, you can become ill, there can be a family emergency....

For $48 it's worth it. Our luggage was delayed on one trip, and I got $500 from the trip insurance company.

Our plane was delayed another occasion and we didn't arrive until the day after we were supposed to. The trip insurance refunded the cost of the first night of our hotel stay.

Some friends of ours planned a WDW vacation for their 3 children's Spring Break. One of their children came down with the flu and they could not take the trip. They were able to get the refund on the hotel, but they had not purchased the trip insurance. $1600 in airline tickets down the drain. Ouch.

 

[marie1203]

Never got the insurance and never had to cancel our trips were we lost money. They have a good cancelation policy.

 

[coastermom]

I did get it .. Figuring it was a special trip and I do not want to loose the money I am going with three teen girls ANYTHING can happen over the summer !! Kids get sick and all and I dont want to loose the money ! The airline tickets scare me the most !! I figured Why take the chance !! it is hurricane season and well you dont know my luck !! LOL

 

[buzz2400]

I have been going every year for about 15 years now, mostly in summer (hurricane season). Never bought travel insurance and never had a problem. If you really want to buy insurance check out insuremytrip.com. This is the place where I did get travel insurance for a cruise.

 

[lucigo]

In February we had a 4 night trip planned at Pop Century. We live in Florida, what could go wrong? LOL

Couple of days before our arrival my mom was to get on a plane from MO and fly to our house, where we would then drive to Orlando. Blizzard.....

I called Disney and she called the airlines. We managed to move the entire trip and flights all forward a week at NO CHARGE. They were very understanding. I think there was supposed to be a $50 change fee or something like that but they waved it.

That said, we got lucky!

 

[dznybound]

When it was just my husband and I, we never purchased travel insurance. Last year, it was the first time we were travelling cross-country with a toddler so I figured we better get the insurance. We'll mid-trip of our 2 week trip, I got sick with some stomach bug. I literally could not get out of bed. With travel insurance, they paid for the doctor who came out to our hotel room, the medication, and reimbursed us for the 1 day ticket lost due to not being able to go the the park. I am a believer now.

 

[mwatson011]

I am in the same boat as you, going at the end of August. We haven't purchased the insurance yet, and I am leaning toward not doing it.

If there is a hurricane and the plane doesn't fly, they will put you on a different flight when it is safe.

We are traveling on AirTran, so if we just change our minds and decide not to take our trip, our non refundable tickets will cost an additional $75 each to rebook, or a total of $300.

If we cancel our package at DW close to arrival date, like the pp stated, we are out $200, but if we reschedule due to weather, I can't see DW sticking this to us.

So, for $140, I can pay for travel insurance to cover $500 in expenses

Net potential benefit = $360.

However, I am not taking into consideration lost luggage, because really, we can live in what we can carry-on, and we have plenty of clothes, so a few lost outfits are no biggie for us. I am also not taking into consideration someone getting sick, because we have very good health insurance that would cover us the same in FL as it would where we live.

If we did not have health insurance, or we had very expensive clothes, or we would not consider rescheduling our vacation to use our airline tickets (for an additional $300 versus forfeiting the entire cost), it would probably be worth it.

 

[cmac609]

I am booking my WDW trip and the one thing I cant decide on is the Travel Insurance !! I am going with my sister and my DD as well as two of DD friends . It is a sweet 16 trip for my DD . We are going the week of 8/28 which is hurricane season ... I never go during this time of year and we always drive it this time we are flying .. Should I take the insurance just for the piece of mind ? I am all ready to book everything else just nervous on how the weather can be and with the flying if my luggage is lost !! I must sound CRAZY !! LOL

I have never purchased it before but with my July trip, I just purchased it for $133 for the 4 of us. I am going to be traveling pregnant this time and just want to make sure if anything happens before we leave, we can cancel and it anything happens while on the trip, I have the peace of mind knowing that it will pay for some medicals that my health doesn't pay for along with any changes in flights or extra rooms, etc.

Definitely worth the money this time.

 

[Lumiere Lover]

The one year I needed travel insurance, we didn't have it. The night before we were leaving for WDW my MIL was given two weeks to live. My FIL told us to go and enjoy our vacation. Luckily she held on until we got back.

However, if I am booking a cruise I do take the travel insurance, just in case! I think this is a personal decision.

 

[*Flower*]

Check out www.squaremouth.com
They seem really reasonable, and you can put in all sorts of variables to get the most bang for your $$$.

Good luck!

 

[jm-mom]

We have never purchased trip insurance and as far as Disney was concerned, it couldn't have been easier to change things. I thought our last trip would never happen. We had it booked and due to an illness, had to change it the night before we were to arrive. The cast member at guest relations was very helpful. We didn't know the length of this illness so we chose a date about 5 months down the road and rebooked everything with no additional expense at that time. The package rebook was a little more money so we had to pay that off 45 days prior to travel but that cost increase was only a few dollars more than the trip insurance would have been. The new travel date arrived and once again a major illness happened, so a different person this time. Our window for vacation had closed for us so we rebooked everything, very easily I might add, with Disney for about 10 months later. This time around the package was less expensive so we actually got a refund. And, prior to our actual trip free dining became available so we once again changed things around with Disney to include that. Long story short, we had no trouble at all geting things redone with Disney multiple times and did not have trip insurance. And, we finally did get to WDW in December and had a wonderful, healthy trip and it cost us less than it did when we first booked it all those months and months before even though we changed it several times.

 

[gray2402]

We normally do not purchase insurances like this, but this trip is an R&R trip and my hubby will be coming home from his deployment ... well anything can happen in the military LOL So we bought it just in case ... !

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Florida (and orlando especially) is on the hurricane magnet that 2004 made it out to be.

But this I do know, flights can usually be adjusted or refunded (or credited for later ticket purchase) when a hurricane is imminent. For example--I was flying to Hawaii for my sister's wedding in 2004. But because we had to evacuate, I had my (now) BIL monitor his airline and as soon as they greenlighted no-fee changes, I changed my flight to depart from another city. This enabled us to properly evacuate and still let me go on my trip.

Disney also made it extremely flexible for folks to cancel hotel reservations--which helped evacuees like us when for another hurricane a few weeks earlier who needed a place to stay.

So is it necessary just for a hurricane? Not really.

If you have other issues, it may warranted TI. But for your basic question--probably not. I don't know how packages differ, but I suspect folks in 2004 had some flexibility as well.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I buy the insurance- i'm already paying thousands for the trip, I'm not going to quibble over $139.

 

[PudgetteD]

When it was just my husband and I, we never purchased travel insurance. Last year, it was the first time we were travelling cross-country with a toddler so I figured we better get the insurance. We'll mid-trip of our 2 week trip, I got sick with some stomach bug. I literally could not get out of bed. With travel insurance, they paid for the doctor who came out to our hotel room, the medication, and reimbursed us for the 1 day ticket lost due to not being able to go the the park. I am a believer now.

Same situation with us 2 years ago. We took my parents with us and Mom got bronchitis. Urgent care in Orlando is very expensive and out of network for most non-Floridians. Her out-of-pocket expenses would have been about $300 if not for the trip insurance. Better safe than sorry.