Our friends are cancelling their entire Oct trip...

[disneysnowflake]

We are heading to WDW in early Oct.
DH's friend and his wife were going with us. They informed us that tomorrow morning they are canceling.

They already paid off their package. They opted out of insurance. They are fully aware they will lose all their money, but they say it's worth it.
Their airline tickets are non-refundable. They aren't sure what they are going to do there, but they said it doesn't matter right now.

What bothers me is the way they were over reacting. It scared my son, who is now afraid to go to WDW.

DH's friend and wife stopped by this evening to let us know they were cancelling.
They went on and on about how they saw on the news that more storms are likely to follow, and that the remainder of the hurricane season is supposed to be very active. I asked where that was heard, but they said they forgot.

They told us that they are very afraid of being trapped in Orlando like those poor victims in New Orleans. No flights out. No rental cars available. Then they said they are convinced they will lose their jobs since they can't get back. If they did get a rental car the gas stations would be empty, so they couldn't get home anyway. On and on about this devestating hurricane they are convinced will flatten FL while we are on the trip. I had my son leave the room early in the conversation, but he heard a good amount of the conversation in the other room. Their daughter told him a good bit of what her parents said anyway.

To boot, they started mentioning those plane crashes in other countries. The wife said it's a sign that we all should cancel.

My son is 11. He was very excited about this trip, but tonight he said he's scared.
He's afraid of a non-existant hurricane.
He's afraid our plane will crash.
All the hoopla this guy and his wife made frightened my son to the point where he doesn't want to go to WDW.
He has been working on his pin trading lanyards for a few days, but now they are in a box up on his shelf in his room.

Does anyone have any advice for me? If I were 11 I'd be scared by what I see on tv and what others are frightened of. DH and I still want to go.

 

[BeccaGrace]

That is so sad...I can't believe your friends would speak like that in front of your son Even if that is their belief and their decision I would never speak like that in front of my kids or anyone else's children.

I'm so sorry your son is scared now. If I was in your situation I would just reinforce how the things that are going on in the world right now are terrible and scary but that doesn't mean we should stop living and worry about everything that "could" happen. If there was an actual storm on its way to Florida you would take precautions but he shouldn't worry needlessly about things that aren;'t even in the forecast.

Hopefully if he sees your positive attitude and enthusiasm it will make him feel better

And if you feel up to it, I would say something to your friends about how you respect their opinion and decision but that you were hurt that they upset your son so badly...that was just uncalled for Good luck!

 

[staci]

Wow, Im sorry. That is awful that he had to hear that. As far as what to do now, I would justify his concerns as much as possible. Give him an opportunity to talk first. By 11, he will not believe you if you say everything will be okay, without giving any supporting details. Kids at this age are capable of such high level thinking. (I taught 6th grade for a term and loved the discussions we could get into). Maybe talk to him about the frequency of hurricanes every year, the amount that have ever affected the disney area. Not to scare him entirely, but to help him understand that hurricanes are a part of mother nature, but that this was a horrible, horrible exception to the damage that is usually done. I would try to make a connection to something he is familiar with; in the midwest, i think of tornados. They happen all the time, and have the potential for disaster, but rarely does it happen. Tsunami's occur in the ocean, but rarely ever happen on the scale it did last year. Take something he is familiar with and make connections. Car accidents happen, but we still drive.
I hope you are able to ease his concerns and allow him to enjoy wdw through a child's eyes, instead of being concerned with such adult worries.

 

[MN Dis Fans]

We had a similar experience in 2001, right after the terrorists bombing in NYC. We had planned a trip to WDW with another family. The wife was petrified to bring her family because of rumors of a theme park targeted for terrorism on Halloween. We even had prepurchased tix for MNSSHP. We all went anyway (it took some convincing on our part) and nothing happened besides a super fun vacation together.
It seems really harsh to decide now, a month away from your trip date, to cancel. I hope your family at least gets to enjoy themselves and I hope your friends have a change of heart. I feel really bad for your DS. You sound like great parents who can reassure him that things will be okay. Good luck!

 

[jodifla]

man, I'm sorry. And these are adults? It is supposed to be a busy hurricane season, but that's reaching.

I can see canceling a trip if a hurricane is bearing down, but canceling now for a trip in October is nonsense!

Go on your trip, have a great time. Living well is the best revenge.

 

[Msslaydbug]

That is terrible. I can't believe your friend over reacted like that. Sit down and talk to you son about and reassure him that you wouldn't put your family in danger like that. You still have a long time before your trip.

 

[rchristiansen]

That is SOOOOO extreme. Hurricanes are not like Tornadoes. There is sufficient warning about them. If you go in Oct and there is a warning about a hurricane in the next few days, then leave. All the major airlines typically change their policies on their tickets at that time, etc.

Ask your friends this:
Will you never plan a trip to California because their "might" be an earthquake?
Or
Will you never plan a trip up north because you "might" be caught in a blizzard?
or
Will you never get in your car again because there is a "chance" there is a bad driver on the road?
or
Maybe the sky will fall?

Finally, that is HORRIBLE that they were discussing that with your son in the room. Shame on them!! My daughter is only 3 so I can not give advice as to what to tell your son, but at 11, you can certainly discuss it with him and have an honest dialog about his feelings. That will help.

 

[Mouselander]

Go and have a magical time!

We went Thanksgiving 2001 and had a blast!

 

[bamamom]

Good thing everyone doesn't think like this or the world would have stopped years ago....terrible things happen and we can't stop them but we have to continue living. I'm sorry your son had to hear this nonsense. I would reassure him that you would not put him in danger and if you get there and there is a hurricane coming for that area that you will leave.....We are going the first week of Oct too, and of course I'm hoping there won't be any out there while we are there...but of course if so we will just come back home! And not being able to get flights out or rental cars...if you don't wait until 2 hours before you can get home....they give plenty of warning for a hurricane.

Hope you have a great trip in Oct

 

[travelitis]

That's beyond ludicrous! These are supposed to be intelligent adults? Don't they realize that just about everyone they tell they've cancelled this trip is going to be laughing behind their backs? If I did something so daft, I'd keep my big mouth shut. Tell your friends that there are millions of people LIVING in FL, and we're not evacuating because the Gulf Coast got spanked with a hurricane, no matter how tragic it was. I'm 2.5 hrs. from WDW full time, and they are worried that a hurricane is going to wipe out Orlando the specific week they're here? Guess they failed geography, because New Orleans and the other places were on the shore. Orlando is not beachfront property. Well . . . a fool and his money . . . This will be a golden teaching opportunity. You can show your son how to keep a level head and not go to extreme measures that show no common sense whatsoever. Your friends are more likely to be injurred by staying home and commuting to work than they are by going to Disney. I'm sure you can calm your son by showing him logic, common sense, and answering his questions. Go and don't let their inexplicable decision put a damper on your trip.

 

[Magic2000]

That is really a shame - especially to scare your son.

As someone else posted, hurricanes can be tracked days and weeks in advance. You will know if there is a hurricane threat to Florida at least a few days before your trip. You could cancel then.

I live in St. Tammany Parish in Bush, Louisiana. Our parish was heavily damaged by this storm. (Thankfully, my house did not receive any major damage). It will be quite a while before things are any where close to "normal" here.

You should still go on your trip. Watch the weather reports and you will be informed before you go. Have a great trip!!!!

 

[rchristiansen]

As someone else posted, hurricanes can be tracked days and weeks in advance. You will know if there is a hurricane threat to Florida at least a few days before your trip. You could cancel then.

Exactly - and then when you cancel and there are the hurricane warnings already, everything is usually 100% refundable

Also, like someone said, there are millions of people LIVING in FL - it's not like you are planning a trip to the moon where there is a risk involved!

 

[Lorikr65]

We were in MK on 9/11. We were probably at the farthest park of the park (in the play area in toon town near the train). We were told they were evaculating the park because of the attacks. At that point all we had known was that 1 plane hit the building and they thought it was an accident. We left our room and went for breakfast after that and then to the park. So as we were leaving we heard rumors that there were 2 other planes in the air - a lot of rumors went around because noone had a tv in MK. The next day we had plans to go to Universal. The couple we went with were afraid to go so they canceled on us. We figured we couldn't do anything so we might as well go about life as normal. I have never seen an amusement park so empty! Point is, you can't live your life for what might happen.

On a lighter note - I'm sure someone here would buy the trip off of them for 1/2 price!!

 

[pegster]

We had reservations right aFTER 911 IN 2001. We wanted to cancel, but after really thinking about it we went, my family and my sisters family and we had a good time. We felt like we needed to go to help the economy and for our family, we thought about it everyday while we were there, but it was nice to have a break from it. There were a lot of people there that felt the same way. We are going in september and are not planning on cancelling we are going. It is heartbreaking what is going on around the world, but we have got to keep going and doing. We donated to New Orleans and are praying for them. Think long and hard about going, we have got to keep spending to keep the economy alive.

 

[Nancyg56]

How sad. Teaching children to live their lives in fear is simply outrageous. Your son will relax as a little time passes, and he has time to absorb the nonsense that your "friend" spewed. Go on your trip and teach your son that over reacting to any circumstance is counterproductive. He will learn from your example that decisions need to be made by using the facts available, and not by using an out of control imagination.

 

[alisonbestford]

We went to Turkey in August and DD's friend (both almost 7) was jealous that she wasn't going too so she, spitefully, banged on about plane crashes and the recent bombings in Turkey!

Man, was I angry

It took quite a while, and a pile of patience and explanations, to convince DD that everything would be fine and we had a fantastic time

Nancyg56 is quite right, fears usually settle after a period of time but I could quite happily have sellotaped DD's friend's mouth up....

 

[deadhedjen]

Could it be possible that your friends are using the weather as an excuse to not go on their trip? I know you say most of their trip is already paid for, but is it possible something else is going on. Maybe their finances aren't stable and they won't have spending money or something like that? We all know that sometimes the amount spend AT the parks rivals the amount we spend to get to the parks.
Obviously you are close enough friends of theirs to want to spend your vacation with them...that should qualify you to be close enough to them to ask if there is something more going on other than the weather that is causing them to cancel this trip.

Jennifer.

 

[alisonbestford]

Could it be possible that your friends are using the weather as an excuse to not go on their trip? I know you say most of their trip is already paid for, but is it possible something else is going on. Maybe their finances aren't stable and they won't have spending money or something like that? We all know that sometimes the amount spend AT the parks rivals the amount we spend to get to the parks.
Obviously you are close enough friends of theirs to want to spend your vacation with them...that should qualify you to be close enough to them to ask if there is something more going on other than the weather that is causing them to cancel this trip.

Jennifer.

I think that the OP is more disappointed about the way in which their friends spoke in front of their DS, making him afraid to enjoy his holiday, than the fact that they are no longer going
Obviously they will have their reasons but, IMHO, they could have been a little more considerate before talking inconsiderately in front of a child and frightening the life out of him

 

[deadhedjen]

I agree that it was out of line for adults to speak in front of a child that way. I'm not disputing that. I feel badly for the kiddo... that's gotta be really scary for him. However, the OP recieved lots of helpful advice from everyone here that should help with getting her DS through this. Mommies are pretty good at getting their kids through tough times. I even thought that maybe some folks here that have been at Disney through hurricanes, or immediately after 9/11 could send an email msg to him letting him know you all were scared, but that it turned out to be a lot of fun after all.

Also, good friends are hard to come by. And I just found it sad that maybe there was a situation where the OP's friends were having hard times and were too proud to say the real reason for cancelling their trip.
Who knows..maybe they are truly that afraid of the potential weather forecast this October and that is the real reason they are cancelling.

Jennifer.

 

[alisonbestford]

Mommies are pretty good at getting their kids through tough times. :

Yep, we certainly are

After de-fuelling the fear of flying and bomb fears somewhat I'm now onto DD's follow on worries about being shot in the street or being abducted from her bedroom!
She even got so far as worrying about our trip next Spring as she'd heard about shootings in America but I think her love of WDW will help with that one
I'll be a nervous wreck by the time school starts again
Any tips?