Dimplenose
Stranger from the outside
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2002
- Messages
- 5,956
Libbys Trip Pre-trip Stresses
We have visited Walt Disney World twice before (in 1998 and 2002) and had planned to wait until 2006 for our next trip. But in 2004 our friends visited WDW and we got itchy feet and brought our planned trip forwards a year.
I did a lot of research and planning. We decided that now the kids are 14 and 11 a villa would give us extra space but we still wanted the security of a package deal with the flexibility of choosing the exact location of our villa. So we decided to go for a fly-drive with Virgin and booked a villa through a UK based, ABTA bonded company that also had an office in Florida. All of this was booked in July 2004.
Nearer the time we added 1 night at the Royal Pacific Resort (booked directly on Loews web-site) and we booked the park tickets (14 day Disney, 7 days for the price of 2 Universal) by phone from a company that has their office near where I work and they were happy for me to call in and collect them.
Now all we had to do was sit back and wait and pay out appropriate amounts of money when needed.
This is where things started to get unsettling as the Villa company were unable to take my debit or credit card for payment due to BT having the road up. I did some more research and could find nothing to warn me off the Villa Comp. So I rather nervously paid the balance.
14 days before we go and we have no tickets and no villa details.
9 days before we go Virgin tickets arrive but no villa details.
I start phoning the Villa company with memories of holiday stories from Watchdog flashing through my mind. A very nice lady assures me the lock box number will be with me soon. My husband does some more research and finds that the company have resigned from ABTA two weeks ago I start feeling sick. 6 days before we travel he phones the company and is assured well get the details on Monday (its now Friday). Lunchtime Monday he phones again and demands to speak to the manager (something we should have done earlier) who is shocked to hear our story and assures us that she will work through this evening to sort things out. I get the feeling that someone at the company forgot to confirm our booking with the villa owner.
10:30am the next morning and we get the villa details. Its not the villa we selected but its still on Windsor Palms so I am happy with solution. Later on in the holiday I find that a change in villa has actually done us a favour. 2 days before we fly and I can finally start to look forward to the holiday.
Time to get packing.
Libby
We have visited Walt Disney World twice before (in 1998 and 2002) and had planned to wait until 2006 for our next trip. But in 2004 our friends visited WDW and we got itchy feet and brought our planned trip forwards a year.
I did a lot of research and planning. We decided that now the kids are 14 and 11 a villa would give us extra space but we still wanted the security of a package deal with the flexibility of choosing the exact location of our villa. So we decided to go for a fly-drive with Virgin and booked a villa through a UK based, ABTA bonded company that also had an office in Florida. All of this was booked in July 2004.
Nearer the time we added 1 night at the Royal Pacific Resort (booked directly on Loews web-site) and we booked the park tickets (14 day Disney, 7 days for the price of 2 Universal) by phone from a company that has their office near where I work and they were happy for me to call in and collect them.
Now all we had to do was sit back and wait and pay out appropriate amounts of money when needed.
This is where things started to get unsettling as the Villa company were unable to take my debit or credit card for payment due to BT having the road up. I did some more research and could find nothing to warn me off the Villa Comp. So I rather nervously paid the balance.
14 days before we go and we have no tickets and no villa details.
9 days before we go Virgin tickets arrive but no villa details.
I start phoning the Villa company with memories of holiday stories from Watchdog flashing through my mind. A very nice lady assures me the lock box number will be with me soon. My husband does some more research and finds that the company have resigned from ABTA two weeks ago I start feeling sick. 6 days before we travel he phones the company and is assured well get the details on Monday (its now Friday). Lunchtime Monday he phones again and demands to speak to the manager (something we should have done earlier) who is shocked to hear our story and assures us that she will work through this evening to sort things out. I get the feeling that someone at the company forgot to confirm our booking with the villa owner.
10:30am the next morning and we get the villa details. Its not the villa we selected but its still on Windsor Palms so I am happy with solution. Later on in the holiday I find that a change in villa has actually done us a favour. 2 days before we fly and I can finally start to look forward to the holiday.
Time to get packing.
Libby
