Serious family illness and vacation plans

[HuskerTony]

Hello All! Myself, my wife and daughter have a trip scheduled for late February into the first week of March. The unfortunate circumstance is that my father-in-law is battling cancer. We believe he is doing fine now, but if he were to take a turn for the worse, causing us to cancel, am I correct that our 9 day park tickets would still be good for a future trip, due to the fact that they were never activated? What is the time frame for room cancellation and still being able to get a refund? It's a tough time, but he's a fighter and I am sure it will be fine for us to go down...just wondering. Also, if we indeed make it down, but after a number of days get a call from home telling us we must return, what is the Disney policy for this? Is there any sentiment for the families, and allowing any refunds or redeeming of unused park ticket days on a future trip? Thanks for your help and understanding.

 

[rwdavis2]

Correct about the tickets. If you don't use them at all they can be used any time later. I'm not sure, but I think tickets are non-refundable.

Don't count on getting any money back if you have to leave early. It would most likely be up to the manager of the hotel you're staying assuming they have that authority. Can you still buy any trip insurance (Disney's or otherwise) or is it too late?

 

[Raenstoirm]

I am very sorry about your family situation.

Do you have a package or are you room only? A very similar situation happened to us a few years back. We checked into Wilderness Lodge and within 2 hours were recalled home. We spent 4 hours on Florida soil. Disney was awesome! We were passholders, so the tickets were not an issue. We were room only and they refunded us the full amount. They didn't even charge us for a single night! They even refunded our non-refundable MNSSHP tickets! On top of that, they even put us in a cab back to the airport for free since we were obviously in hurry. It might have been because I turned into a crying puddle when trying to explain the situation to the CM behind the desk at WL, though. I couldn't even get the words out to explain what happened. The poor cm tried everything to console me. It was a mess! The way they handled us was so perfect, they truly gained customers for life!

 

[ktlm]

Assuming you are staying at a WDW resort, If you have to cancel before you go but within the 45 days that results in a cancellation fee, in that type of situation WDW is usually very good about rebooking you at a different time, or waiving any cancellation fees.

As far as cutting a trip short, that really is up to the managers at your resort. More often than not they will do something for you. I know of a couple of people who did receive refunds for the nights they had to miss, and another person that was not given a refund, but was allowed to book a later trip with a credit for the nights they missed.

As far as the tickets, if you have to leave during your trip, you might be able to find someone who can add the no-expiration option onto them so that you can use them later. Again, that will depend on the people you have at guest services when you ask for help.

 

[bedogged]

Hello All! Myself, my wife and daughter have a trip scheduled for late February into the first week of March. The unfortunate circumstance is that my father-in-law is battling cancer. We believe he is doing fine now, but if he were to take a turn for the worse, causing us to cancel, am I correct that our 9 day park tickets would still be good for a future trip, due to the fact that they were never activated? What is the time frame for room cancellation and still being able to get a refund? It's a tough time, but he's a fighter and I am sure it will be fine for us to go down...just wondering. Also, if we indeed make it down, but after a number of days get a call from home telling us we must return, what is the Disney policy for this? Is there any sentiment for the families, and allowing any refunds or redeeming of unused park ticket days on a future trip? Thanks for your help and understanding.

I can only tell you what happened to me when I became ill and had to fly home two days into my trip. We had also paid in advance for Deluxe Dinning. I got a refund of zero dollars and had to pay $700 more to fly home. The only thing that Disney would do for us was to allow us to upgrade to AP for the same price, the next time we go. The AP will be retroactive back to the date that we would have gotten one the last time we were there. That was only because I had attempted to upgrade to AP on the first day, but the CM would not do it because of the number of dinning reservations we had. She said to come back on our last day and do it. Of course, I was never able to go back to a park. The moral of this story is to pay for the trip insurance if it is available to you.

 

[Iowajes]

In your situation, I would look into trip insurance. However, I would talk with a rep and not just buy it online, because it is possible this would count as a pre-existing condition, and you may need more cohesive coverage for it to be covered.

Depending on what kind of policy you buy it would cover any hotel charges, already activated tickets if they can't be refunded, airplane change fees.

 

[HuskerTony]

Thanks to all for your advice! This really helps!

 

[DaisyNY]

We had a trip planned for June, 2013 and son suffered a aneurysm in late May. We were traveling on DVC points and all I had to do was call and they gave us all the points back, without asking for documentation, etc. Airlines required a doctors note saying he couldn't travel and we were refunded our ticket prices. Looking forward to celebrating his return to health on our March 2014 trip!

 

[surferdave]

In 2010 my wife had emergency surgery two days straight, the days right before we were to travel to Disney; we did't know when we could reschedule so we had to cancel. They refunded everything except $200, and the cost of three MVMCP tickets.

 

[bedogged]

In 2010 my wife had emergency surgery two days straight, the days right before we were to travel to Disney; we did't know when we could reschedule so we had to cancel. They refunded everything except $200, and the cost of three MVMCP tickets.

I wish my illness had occurred BEFORE the trip. I had considered that possibility when deciding whether or not to take the insurance. I figured I could take the $200 hit, but I never considered the possibility that I would become ill ON the trip. I just wanted to point that out to other people so they will consider that possibility when deciding whether or not to take the insurance.