Death in family postponement?

[captainkidd]

Hi all.

Very morbid, and unfortunate questions. If you have a Disney trip planned and paid for, within a couple of weeks, but have a death in the immediate family, does Disney do anything to help you? By help I mean, if we need to delay the trip by a week, will they honor resort accomodations, dining arrangements? Or are you pretty much S.O.O.L.?

 

[natolij02]

Sorry, I don't have any clue about your question but I wanted to express my condolences......sorry to hear about your loss.....it's never easy

 

[abbeysmom]

I completely understand where you are coming from. My hubby's father and my mother and father are both up in age and not that good of health so we always hope nothing happens when we book a vacation. There is insurance you can purchase for this such of thing but for some reason we never seem to buy it. We always do for a cruise but never for a Disney vacation. Maybe we need to think of that next time..........

 

[sbkline]

I completely understand where you are coming from. My hubby's father and my mother and father are both up in age and not that good of health so we always hope nothing happens when we book a vacation. There is insurance you can purchase for this such of thing but for some reason we never seem to buy it. We always do for a cruise but never for a Disney vacation. Maybe we need to think of that next time..........

I understand the feeling of hoping nothing happens while on vacation. My Grandpa is 96, so when we went in 2007 and 2008, each time I was really hoping that he wouldn't die when we were on vacation and force us to cancel, if we hadn't left already, or come home early if we were already there.

I don't know about you, but then I feel kind of selfish for thinking of how I don't want old gramps to die simply because of my vacation. :lol:

As far as your question, it has always been my understanding that this is the type of thing that you buy vacation insurance for. If you choose not to purchase insurance, I'm guessing that Disney has no policy of granting a postponement, although they may choose to do so out of their desire to go above and beyond for customer service. But I'm guessing that would be entirely out of their own generosity and not out of any official policy or obligation.

 

[The Mom]

Hi all.

Very morbid, and unfortunate questions. If you have a Disney trip planned and paid for, within a couple of weeks, but have a death in the immediate family, does Disney do anything to help you? By help I mean, if we need to delay the trip by a week, will they honor resort accomodations, dining arrangements? Or are you pretty much S.O.O.L.?

They might allow you to reschedule your trip at a later date, but I think it would be impossible for them to give you the exact same resort, dining arrangements, etc, especially if you're only delaying it by a week.

 

[jjgoo]

I'm not sure about airline tickets, but your Disney vacation package can be cancelled with small penalties depending on when you cancel.

We had to cancel and I think it was 7 days out. No insurance and we paid a $100 penalty (which by the way was less than the insurance would have been and my understanding is when you use the insurance you lose the premium). We now get the insurance just in case.

Now I do not know the whole schedule but the penalties do go up getting closer to your actual vacation. I don't want to give wrong information so I am not going to try to search my memory for what they are.

Call whomever you booked the trip with (Disney Travel or your Travel Agent) and explain the situation and ask about what can be done and rebooking.

I am going to guess as far as the airline tickets go you will probably get a credit and then have to pay a change fee (many airlines are up to $100 per ticket these days, although Jet Blue only charged us $40 a ticket) and the difference in the ticket. However, I would have the circumstances explained to the airline and they can always make the choice to waive the change fee.

Good luck and sorry about your loss.

 

[The Mom]

I think the OP is concerned about getting the exact same trip (including dining reservations) a week later. I don't think this is possible, as others have already filled most of those spaces.

 

[Master Yoda]

Officially you are subject to all the cancellation terms and conditions of your package. Un-officially Disney will do everything they can to accommodate you rescheduling your vacation. I ran into a similar situation when my mom had a stroke less than 12 hours before we were due to leave. Disney canceled with no penalties without batting an eye. Your biggest hurdle is that you are trying to shift everything up only 1 week during one of the busiest times of the year. Disney simply can not shift all of your room and dining reservations. I think it is safe to say that your dining plans are pretty much gone. You might be able to get the same places but times and days being identical will be very difficult. To get an idea of what your room situation looks like your best bet is to check availability on line.

Call Disney ASAP and let then know what is going on. The longer you wait the harder it will be for them to switch things around for you.