What does Disney do if your flight is cancelled?

[TK-Fett]

Hey guys we leave on Saturday and I don't think we will have any trouble getting to the park but by the time we leave Maria will have made landfall if she is going to. Lets just say she does get worse and our flight out is cancelled, will Disney give us the option of getting another night before we leave property on the Magical Express or will we have to go to the airport and find a local hotel there?

 

[goin' again!]

Hasn't happened to me but I'm sure that if you ask at the Front Desk they will do everything they can to get you an extra night or two if the rooms are available. They would rather have you spend your $$ on their rooms than a room at the airport.

My DSIL and family were delayed in arriving a day due to mechanical problems with the plane and Disney allowed them to change the reservation from Sun-Sun to Mon-Mon.

 

[BrerNashville]

I'm sure they will be happy to take your money for another night, assuming there's room. You can reschedule the ME any time. They *might* even give you a discount off rack rates (to match whatever rate you were paying or something else) if you ask. I'm sure they are understanding about hurricanes. I think they even mention that as an exception to their new policy on buying extra days on an expired ticket if you wanted to go back into the parks.

 

[MWGreene]

We were there during Irene. They said to talk to the front desk. They have special rates for guests who are stranded because of the weather!

 

[trekker93]

Flight was cancelled due to thunderstorms and POP was able to get us a room for the night - or as long as we needed due to the storms. The rate was rack rate - no discounts.

 

[Pakey]

It happened to us a few years ago, over MLK weekend. WDW was happy to take our $650/night per room for what they had left available. We had the choice between BC club level and GF RPC club level. We needed 2 rooms so we took the lesser of the two, BC, at a whopping total of $1300 per night.

We had to stay an extra 2 nights.

The concierge at BC was great. She called every hotel directly trying to find us something cheaper but it turned out to be a good thing because at least we had food on the CL, all of the restaurants were full snce it was a holiday weekend.

 

[kaligal]

Like any other hotel situation, if they have a room, they'll rent it to you. If they don't, they can't.

The good thing is that when people can't leave, they also can't arrive.

But that doesn't mean you'll get your room back.

 

[ccudmore]

The WDWToday.com podcast had an episode this past monday about this exact situation. They talked to a person who had been through it the previous week who shared their experience. Basically, the resort did what they could to find them a room for a few extra nights and were able to accomodate them.

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

Our experience was a little different. A huge snow storm was sweeping across the country and headed for us in the upper midwest. The airlines allowed free changes the morning before we were to leave and we could get a flight out that day and I called WDW and was able to add a night to the frontend of the trip and CSR even extended FD for that night after the expiration date. Everything worked well for us as the snow started when we left Milwuakee. We met some people later in the trip from northern Wi, and they were not able to get out in time and missed 3 days of vacay. WDW is very good at working with you.

 

[seashoreCM]

If a local emergency exists you are almost certainly able to extend your stay for the same rate. Sometimes a lesser emergency rate may be available. If your flight is simply cancelled, or cancelled for common weather events, then you would book additional nights as if you were a walk-up guest starting his vacation subject to availability.

In an emergency, Disney provides some mass shelter facilities for the general public on-property and may also let the general public walk up and book rooms at an emergency rate.

In case of Disney bound flight disruptions, make a Magical Express change for late on an arrival day if you think you might make it in that day. You'll be put on any earlier or later bus when you actually get there.

You still need a confirmed DME reservation for going home. Some short notice situations might be accommodated but it is possible that the only available bus could be much more than 3 hours in advance of your flight time.

 

[BLTLDZ]

Even though it would hurt the wallet, I wouldn't mind getting stranded at Disney for a day or two extra....

 

[tlbwriter]

I'm sure they will be happy to take your money for another night, assuming there's room.

The good news is, if outgoing flights are canceled, incoming flights are likely to be canceled as well (depending on whether the weather is in Orlando or elsewhere, but in your case, you're thinking it will be in Orlando, right?), so they might be more likely to have a room for you.

 

[HadesTX]

It happened to us a few years ago, over MLK weekend. WDW was happy to take our $650/night per room for what they had left available. We had the choice between BC club level and GF RPC club level. We needed 2 rooms so we took the lesser of the two, BC, at a whopping total of $1300 per night.

We had to stay an extra 2 nights.

The concierge at BC was great. She called every hotel directly trying to find us something cheaper but it turned out to be a good thing because at least we had food on the CL, all of the restaurants were full snce it was a holiday weekend.

Holy crap, I'd be sleeping in the parking lot!

 

[DjdBrit]

We were at WDW Aug 19th- 30th, we were informed by Jetblue on 27th August that our flight home to Boston had been cancelled due to Irene. When I called to reschdule Jetblue infomred me that as a party of 5 the first flight we could fit on (without my children flying alone into random airports) wouldn't be until the following Saturday!

The staff at the Yc were very helpful, and arranged a discounted rate for the next few nights, I only needed one as we ended up renting a car and driving home....1,315 miles

 

[njmom47]

When we went in 2001, our flight home was cancelled due to a snowstorm. We had already left WDW and we were at the ticket counter in the airport. We changed flights to fly out of a different airport the next day near where my mom and stepdad lived. My dad had paid for the trip so we didn't have a whole lot of money on us. We ended up renting a car, driving to visit my mom and stepdad, and flew home the next day from the other airport.

 

[grimley1968]

We got stuck in Hurricane Frances a few years ago. They let us (in fact strongly recommended) stay there for an extra 2 days, at rack rates. I was able to score a couple days' worth of park hopper passes, since the parks were closed then, too.

This was, however, before ME existed.

 

[huge mickey fan]

The good news is, if outgoing flights are canceled, incoming flights are likely to be canceled as well (depending on whether the weather is in Orlando or elsewhere, but in your case, you're thinking it will be in Orlando, right?), so they might be more likely to have a room for you.

True but not always the case. Last December, we got out of Orlando, with a connection in Atlanta. A friend had a later flight. We got stranded in Atlanta because we couldn't get into Minneapolis. That was the weekend and day the Metrodome collapsed from snow!! The friend of mine stayed in Orlando but Disney had no rooms available. The only thing they could do was $650 for a night at GF. She declined. Later she remembered another friend was still on property and bunked with them since the room was able to legally have 2 more people. It might be different with flights coming in and out of Orlando but you may get stranded somewhere else!!

 

[seashoreCM]

We got stuck in Hurricane Frances a few years ago. They let us (in fact strongly recommended) stay there for an extra 2 days, at rack rates. I was able to score a couple days' worth of park hopper passes, since the parks were closed then, too..

This one might have been a good example to check out and wheel-and-deal for a discount rate as opposed to just paying rack rate. Then try to arrange a lesser cost room near the airport. Seeking public shelter would be the fall back. No, they won't throw you out of the lobby into the storm.

 

[grimley1968]

This one might have been a good example to check out and wheel-and-deal for a discount rate as opposed to just paying rack rate. Then try to arrange a lesser cost room near the airport. Seeking public shelter would be the fall back. No, they won't throw you out of the lobby into the storm.

With winds of between 70-100 MPH for 2 solid days, bus service shut down, not many cabs to be found, and no car of our own on that trip, going outside, much less getting to another hotel, was out of the question at that time. So we were kind of at their mercy, unfortunately. The 2-day park tickets were my best "wheel-and-deal" option at the time. Even on the 3rd day, with winds still in excess of 40 MPH, it was a real struggle to get over to the Dolphin and rent a car and start our drive home. Not a fun time.

 

[hookedonears]

Hey guys we leave on Saturday and I don't think we will have any trouble getting to the park but by the time we leave Maria will have made landfall if she is going to. Lets just say she does get worse and our flight out is cancelled, will Disney give us the option of getting another night before we leave property on the Magical Express or will we have to go to the airport and find a local hotel there?

They will try to accomodate you. If they can't at your resort, maybe at another. If your flight is cancelled, your going to have to be at the airport, because the airlines are going to try to put you on the next available flight out. What that flight is, you may not have a choice. It may be an early morning flight and you have to be ready to go. Staying around the airport is your best bet.