What if it snows?

[BLTSam]

We are leaving today for WDW, and scheduled to return home Tuesday. Back here in the Philadelphia area, there is a chance of big snow Sunday into Monday. If our flight was delayed/cancelled on Tuesday, we are just thinking about what we would do if we needed to stay another night (oh, darn!). Since we have an 18 month old, "sleeping" at the airport wouldn't be an option. Do the airlines and/or Disney do anything to help? I guess we could just call MS and see if a room was available and book it, and then take the Magical express back if we were already at the airport. Just wanted to see what experiences others have had dealing with this type of situation.

 

[browniemtb]

Keep an eye on the weather.....I'm sure it wouldn't stink to spend another day at WDW even if you have to book a value resort for a night.

 

[DebbieB]

We are leaving today for WDW, and scheduled to return home Tuesday. Back here in the Philadelphia area, there is a chance of big snow Sunday into Monday. If our flight was delayed/cancelled on Tuesday, we are just thinking about what we would do if we needed to stay another night (oh, darn!). Since we have an 18 month old, "sleeping" at the airport wouldn't be an option. Do the airlines and/or Disney do anything to help? I guess we could just call MS and see if a room was available and book it, and then take the Magical express back if we were already at the airport. Just wanted to see what experiences others have had dealing with this type of situation.

Which airline are you flying? USAirways posted a weather waiver yesterday for Dec 25 to 27:

East Coast Storm
Last Updated: 12/22/2010 1:01 PM ET

Cities Affected
Washington, DC (Reagan) ; Washington, DC (Dulles) ; Baltimore, MD ; Boston, MA ; Newark, NJ ; New York, NY (Laguardia) ; New York, NY (JFK) ; Philadelphia, PA ; Pittsburgh, PA



Date Range
12/25/2010 4:00 AM ET through 12/27/2010 11:59 PM ET


Revised Ticket Policy



We’ve relaxed our change-fee policies. If your trip is affected, you can change your trip online (in most cases) -- we’ll waive your change fees!



Here’s how:



• Book the same origin and destination

• Move your entire trip up to 7 days before or after the scheduled departure date



You may have to pay to change your trip if:



• You change your origin and/or destination

• You travel more than 7 days outside your originally scheduled trip

• There is a difference in fare



Please call if:



• You’re traveling internationally

• Part or all of your trip is on another airline

• You don’t see a ‘Change my trip’ link when you pull up your reservation



Change your trip online at usairways.com/manageyourtrip


If you need help, please call 800-428-4322.

 

[n2mm]

One of our trips each year includes January. All you can do is keep posted. I make sure I have all of my numbers handy and try to keep an eye out. Lucky for us we are AP holders too, so have that as a backup for a place to sleep. I try to make sure everything is in order BEFORE I checkout and leave the resort area and turn in our rental car. We have HAD to stay only once. We were not DVC members then, but DH was a CM. We were at the WL on a 60% CM discount. We went to the front desk and they did let us extend. While the resort was full, they said they knew there would be cancellations. We had to call the airline from the resort and book for a later day (which required us to fly at 7:30AM the following day--ugh--but it was not standby so we took it) and called the rental car place and added another day to our rental. It all worked out for us, but was a little stressful. You just have to know that all of this will change your budget, but you have to decide what is important, paying more for comfort or sleeping at the airport for 24 hours. This was about 6 years ago, so now with a netbook and blackberry, and free internet in my DVC room, it is much easier to keep informed!

On another trip, there was a hurricane heading to our home area and the airports were encouraging us to get out a day earlier. I called and managed a room in WDW, added a day to my rental car and changed our airline tickets to a day earlier with no fees -- per the airline and we got to spend a day extra in WDW while our home area got hit with a hurricane. Didn't really effect my home much, just some trees and lost of power. It was pretty strange when we leave WV to go to FL to get away from a Hurricane -- it was Isabel.

 

[CarolAnnC]

The year we were "snowed in" at WDW, we were at the BWV. We extended our stay, but did not have enough points and I believe availability was also an issue. So we moved over to the Dolphin Hotel next door. The Swan & Dolphin are always a nice option, if they have availability, too.

 

[BLTSam]

Which airline are you flying? USAirways posted a weather waiver yesterday for Dec 25 to 27:

We are flying Southwest, so they do make it easy to change, which is good. We'll see what happens

 

[psac]

Like others have said, it's MUCH easier if you know ahead of time before leaving for the airport. Be prepared for either situation. We got stuck in Las Vegas for two extra days two years in a row because of snow back in NY. The first time we were at the airport and had to head back. The second time we switched before we left the hotel and were MUCH happier.
We always bring extra clothes to wear now just in case that happens, although with the laundry in a 1 or 2 BR that may not be an issue.

 

[rigsby25]

We've had a flight cancelled on us in sunny weather due to a storm between MCO and ORD somewhere (it was drizzeling in Chicago). We were traveling with 4 teens. In order to get us all on the same flights, we had to fly to Dallas that night and then fly into Chicago the next morning. We waited an hour and a half in Dallas for our luggage before they finally told us it wouldn't be coming - it was locked up for the next day. Got to the hotel in Dallas about 1 or 2 am I think. Bar was closed. Room service was closed. Had to sleep in our clothes. Really miserable! And we needed to rooms so it was about 300.00 if I remember correctly. If you are cancelled due to weather, the airline is not obligated to help you. If they get you on another flight, consider yourself fortunate. As far as putting you up - forget it! If a flight is cancelled due to mechanical problems, you can get a refund. At least that's how I understand it.

 

[Pakey]

In 2008, our flights got cancelled due to snow in Atlanta (our connecting airport). Delta could not get us on another flight for 2 days. We had to check out of our DVC 2 bedroom and the only rooms available were BC club level or GF club level (It was MLK weekend).

We took the lesser of the two evils and paid $650 per night per room (needed 2) at BC. So it cost us an extra $2600 to stay at WDW over the packed holiday weekend.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Oh my. DS and family are driving to Philly on Monday and leaving on Tuesday for WDW. Here's hoping the weather is better than they are predicting. I wish everyone safe travels.

 

[dcfromva]

We were stuck in MCO in Feb. (darn! ) Our destination airport was closed down entirely--we found out when we were trying to do the OLCI a day ahead which was good because we had some time to work the problem.. We called the airline and rebooked (we couldn't get another flight home for 2 more days because everything was booked. darn! ), we called the front desk (we were staying at BLT)--we had to change rooms, but they were able to accomodate us for 2 more nights on points and then we called the rental car to change the date we turned in our car.

When we got home, we had about 3 feet of snow to dig out...(too bad we didn't stay in MCO longer.... )

 

[DebbieB]

From the forecast I just saw, most of the snow is going to be in the south and along the northeast coast.

According to weather.com, PHL is mostly sunny on Tuesday.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/USPA1276?role=

 

[DisDaydreamer]

From the forecast I just saw, most of the snow is going to be in the south and along the northeast coast.

According to weather.com, PHL is mostly sunny on Tuesday.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/USPA1276?role=

Agreed... Sounds like the storm is moving somewhat south (southern VA) then up the very east coast. I think you will be okay with this one. I hope.

 

[Euchre_U]

Per the earlier poster - My advice is don't get on a plane if that plane isn't going to be in PHL on or before the last flight. Unfortunately, we've also done the $200+ airport hotel / early morning departure tango in a hub city due to cancelled / delayed flights. The airline won't help you, and you can't go back "Home (DVC)" at that point because you're already in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, etc.

 

[gwb]

My DW and I have had the experience of being hit by snow when flying twice in Dec. Both times we ended up getting out of MCO with no major issues, except the wait. We ended up sleeping over night 1x in Detroit and 1x in Chicago.(the carpets are better in Chicago).
Both time the concierge at Wilderness was great. They called us well ahead and got us to the airport early to get the flights changed. Including changing
Magical Express times for us.
But we didn't have the right travel insurance those times. We changed over and got the travel insurance that covers that type of problem at no extra cost and were covered for the next time again in Dec when again to our luck flights were cancelled and the extra day at WDW was covered completely including meals.