Has your trip ever been "Ruined"?

[WDW_Emily]

Has your trip to the World ever been ruined by an incident or a series of unfortunate things happening?


Our trip was never really ruined but we had some bad incidents:

Back when we used to stay off property, My sister was about 3 and we were at my grandparents house she was horsing around and ending up going head first through a glass table. she had to get stitches and had a broken thumb. We ended up taking it easy that trip and only went to DTD, MK, and Epcot.

Another trip only about 4 years ago, my sister other was about 6. we decided our first day we were going to go to Epcot. she refused to put sun screen on and she is as white as snow white. she ended up getting a horrible burn on her head and on her back. So bad that the only rides she could go on were rides she didn't have to lean back on(No Coasters or anything along those lines) she hated not going on a lot of rides but she loved meeting almost every character in the park.

 

[sueuk]

We thought we weren't going to get there in Sept '04 - a hurricane struck as we were about to leave UK, so all flights were cancelled for 3 days. We managed to get on a flight 3.5 days after we should have gone, so our holiday was reduced, but not ruined. We were just glad to get there, and when we saw the mess in Florida we were glad we hadn't been there at the time.

 

[GoochDSA]

When I was 4, my family and I stayed at the Contemporary and to this day I swear that mousekeeping stole an Alf stuffed animal that I had. It was there in the morning and when we got back to the room it was gone. My parents looked everywhere for it but with no luck. Now everytime I see the Contemporary I think about my stolen Alf doll.

When I was 13 I went to WDW with my school for those Magic Music Days I think they were called. We performed somewhere in DTD (I don't remember where exactly) and about halfway through the first song all my music blew into the water. I was the only string base player we had so I couldn't look on with anyone else... The next day I ate something at Pecos Bill's that destroyed my stomache for the rest of the trip. I would have loved a day to just lay in bed an recoup but since I was with school I had to follow the itinerary. It was tough being a 7th grader, away from the parents, with friends, girls, etc. and having to constantly run to the bathroom in Disney.

 

[MomofKatie]

The only trip that came close to being "ruined" was in 2002. My mom was attending a conference at WDW and staying at CSR. She asked DD and I if we wanted to come along, since she had the room. We happily agreed, and off we went to WDW in July. Well, I am not a "WDW in the summer heat" kind of gal. It was hot, humid, and it rained for hours on end every day we were there. And not just sprinkles or scattered showers- a continual, heavy downpour with thunder and lightning from noon until 9pm. We were waterlogged for the entire 3 days!

Since DD was only 3, and this was a spur of the moment trip, we decided to spend just one day at the park (MK). The rest of the time was going to be for relaxing by the pool, visiting the Fort Wilderness petting farm, and just enjoying the FL sunshine. Well, the pool was closed practically the entire time we were there, and we had to leave MK after about 3 hours because DD didn't want to ride anything while it was raining (she is scared of storms).

We managed to have a good time, but it was a very different trip than we had planned on.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

I noticed a few people have mentioned they got colds or flu syptoms wihile traveling to Disney...the same thing happens to me on many of my trips south.

Can't say it ruins my trip but it is frustrating especially since I usually lose my voice and it's hard to have fun when you have to whisper everything 5 or 6 times because no one can hear you.

If anyone has tips on how NOT to get a cold...I'm all ears. i wondered if it's due to going in and out of the air conditioning which I usually find too cold.

I'm thinking of taking some cold FX or other anti-cold meds for at least a week before I go.

How do you guys deal with it?

 

[lumpydj]

I noticed a few people have mentioned they got colds or flu syptoms wihile traveling to Disney...the same thing happens to me on many of my trips south.

Can't say it ruins my trip but it is frustrating especially since I usually lose my voice and it's hard to have fun when you have to whisper everything 5 or 6 times because no one can hear you.

If anyone has tips on how NOT to get a cold...I'm all ears. i wondered if it's due to going in and out of the air conditioning which I usually find too cold.

I'm thinking of taking some cold FX or other anti-cold meds for at least a week before I go.

How do you guys deal with it?

I use Airborne. I take it for a couple of days before going. Then, if I feel a slightest bit of a cold coming on (sore throat, stuffy), I take more. I NEVER get sick at WDW - DH does all the time because he doesn't listen to me

 

[pixiesteno]

Dec 2008 long awaited Christmas trip and two days before we were scheduled to leave I lost my grandmother. It was a very long decision process due to the non-refundable plane tickets that ended with my brothers reminding me that Gramma would not want us to not go on the trip. We went, had some fun, but my heart wasn't totally into it. In retrospect I think we did make the right decision, the decision she would have told me to do, but it was just a hard time.

 

[MomofKatie]

If anyone has tips on how NOT to get a cold...I'm all ears. i wondered if it's due to going in and out of the air conditioning which I usually find too cold.

I'm thinking of taking some cold FX or other anti-cold meds for at least a week before I go.

How do you guys deal with it?

I, too, have the family take Airborne or Zicam the week or so leading up to a WDW vacation. And, although I'm not a germophobe at all IRL, I do take care to use hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes while at WDW. We try to take a "handwashing break", either with soap and water, or hand sanitizer/wipes, each 30 mins or so. We also try really hard to not touch our faces with our hands while at the parks. I'm sure we all must come in contact with LOTS of nasty bugs on all the surfaces at WDW- we just try to use common sense and minimize our exposure.

In many trips to WDW, we've only come down with colds once, in 2005.

 

[Tundo147]

About 5 years ago we were in Disney for 8 days and the third day of the trip I got really sick. Ended up with double pneumonia and was bedridden in the hotel (offsite ) for the rest of the trip. The flight home only made things worse and I missed almost two more weeks of work

 

[Foolish1]

Well, I have never had a trip "ruined", but had a few cases where I would say it was unpleasant at times.

A year or so ago I was getting off the monorail at EPCOT and it had rained apparently, and Disney did a poor job sweeping the water away. I managed to slip and fall in shorts, and ripped my knee open. I needed 5 stitches.
But I managed the rest of the trip. Of course, it would have been better had it not been the 2nd day of an 8 day trip.

A few years ago I went to WDW with my girlfriend at the time and took my mom to visit my brother. We were at Universe of Energy and it was apparently a light crowd. Anyway, we were standing for the pre-show and the guy behind us (sitting on the floor) threatened to "kick the $#@^$$^ out of us" after knocking us to the ground. I have a few problems with that. First, my mom had knee problems and surgery a while back, so getting down to the floor and backup would have been a problem. And since all of the benches were taken, sitting down was not an option. And there wasn't much room to find another place to stand, short of leaving. I was about livid, but I did not make a scene to ruin everyone's experience around us. After the third threat, we just left. He had threatened to follow us around the park if we didn't get out of his way. I was so annoyed since usually Disney would announce standing room only for safety sake. But that one time they did not. And had it not been so dark, we could have possibly found another place to stand, but with so many people around, we tried to stand off to the side. Yes, this was quite upsetting, especially for my mom. I wrote a very long angry letter to Disney, and did get a nice reply back from them. I did say to the wife and kids how sorry I felt for them for being with their father/husband as I left, though. (Hoping that might prompt a reaction from them later.) OK, so this one was minor, but it did kind of ruin an entire day, though.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

Our last trip was not exactly ruined, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I took my sister and her grandkids (aged 6 & 9). Well about a week before the trip, Hannah's dad (who doesn't not live with them or contribute anything to her support) decided the he wasn't going to let her go to Disneyworld with me & her grandmother - he was going to have us arrested if we took her out of the state. God Bless my hubby, he "explained" to James that there wasn't anything he could do to stop us. But the whole time we were down there, he would call Hannah on the phone and say stuff to make her cry. He harassed her mother the whole time we were gone, too. We basically ignored him, and it turned out to be blessing in disguise, because it made us aware of some abuse that had been going on, and we were able to do something about it. We'll just say that James learned that he doesn't mess with Uncle Gregg's favorite niece.

 

[NewfieFan]

Our trip wasn't ruined but we did end up with two sick children on our last trip. My daughter puked all over the bus one night... I was so embrassed. I was cleaning up strangers strollers with baby wipes. My brother who was holding her at the time was covered (I thought he was going to puke - he's single and not use to kids and their bodily fluids:animwink! And then my son got sick... he even lay down during a character meal (although Pluto was quite sympathic to him)! I was quite upset at first but my husband reminded me we were all together and fine! We missed two days of our vacation but it was alright!

 

[miles1]

In 1988 we were married just a year and were going on our first vacation together. We lived in a two family home owned by DW in the upstairs apartment, and my MIL lived downstairs. We were going on a 4 day cruise followed by 4 days at WDW. (This was before we had kids and could afford to do such things.:lol

We left our house early in the morning, about 5 AM, drove to NYC for our flight, then went to the Carnival Cruise terminal. By then it was mid-morning. At this point, DW called her mother to reminder her of something, only to learn that our apartment had been broken into and ransacked at 6AM, waking up MIL in the process.

My MIL, then age 65 (!), proceded to confront the burglar while he was in the house! Then she chased him down the street while he was carrying DW's jewlery, our checkbooks, some credit cards, and a VCR, but wasn't able to stop him.

The police on the scene told us that the burglar had obviously "cased" the house previously and was probably hiding outside when I put our luggage in the car. On top of this, he broke the door casing when he kicked the door in and there was no way to lock the house. He was worried that the burglar knew the house was not secure and would be back.

After calling both Carnival and WDW, we learned that there was no way to cancel without loosing the money for the entire trip, so we wound up going anyway. We spent the first day of our vacation calling back home to get the door frame replaced, cancel our bank and credit card accounts, and make arrangements with family and friends to go stay with my MIL until we got back.

We still enjoyed our trip somewhat, but the situation weighed on our minds the whole time.

We wound up selling the house a year later because we never felt secure there again. And to this day I will NEVER ________ off my mother in law, even as she nears 90.

 

[kingtrmpt]

I have been a huge Disney fan ever since my family took me to Disneyland Park in Anaheim when I was 5 years old. During that trip, my family stayed with my grandparents who lived there. During my childhood and adolescence, I always visited my grandparents frequently since they were only 6 hours away (I live in Phoenix).

Last year, I was privileged enough to make the trip over to Walt Disney World for the first time. I planned the trip for over 6 months and took right at the end of my school year. Because of the scheduling, I had to spend Mother's day away from home, so my mom decided to spend the holiday with here family (my grandparents).

I was in line for 'It's Tough to be a Bug' when I called my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day. Unfortunately, my grandfather, whom I was close to and had talked to just a few days previously, had passed away unexpectedly that very morning. Although I was obviously aggrieved, my pain was nothing compared to my mom. I will never forget the sound of her voice when she gave me the news.

I got through the attraction without showing too much (I prefer to be stoic in public), but I was in a haze for the rest of the trip (this was the first time I had lost a family member). I haven't yet had a chance to visit the World again but when I do I will definitely hold a moment of silence when I see the Tree of Life in memory of my grandfather.

 

[The D.T.C.]

Nothing Like A Stroke At Disney

In 1994 on the second day of our annual Disney vacation my mother had a mild stroke in Imagination at Epcot. We didn't realize it was a stroke at the time and thought she just had a cramp in her leg our something. She had trouble getting out of her wheel chair. She played it down and eventually got up. The next morning though she had other symptoms and was worried so we spent the next 5 days at Sandlake Hospital where they determined she had a mild stroke (tia) Fortunately my aunt and uncle were along that year so they and my wife and 5 year old daughter continued to hit the parks while my mother and I hung out at the hospital. Looking back I don't remember it being a horrible year. Just being near Disney must of helped smooth a bad situation over. And I did have one day at Epcot. My mother never went to Disney again because she was afraid something would happen. That year ended a 7 year run of her traveling with my family to Disney. :brick:

 

[phil bailey]

:veryconfuWe took my elderly mother with us to Disney and also took in the Disney Cruise. This was along with our 2 children aged 7 and 4. On the 2nd day of the cruise my mother collapsed and in the process managed to slide her leg under her breaking it in 3 places. The rest of the cruise was spent in the onboard hospital and when we got back to land she spent the rest of the holiday in Cape Canaveral hospital after undergoing surgery. This meant round trips daily to visit her from our Disney hotel. The poor kids really didn't have much fun (nor did my mother come to that).
Not the best holiday we have had by a long shot - all that money saved for a holiday for nothing

 

[mousebymarriage]

Our last trip Jan 29th - Feb 5th, 2008 was a doozie! The morning after we arrived my DD(was 11 at the time) woke up with a 103+ temp and wicked sore throat. I took her to the walk in clinic that Disney recommended and she wound up having strep and a double ear infection. She never complained before that morning of ear pain, sore throat or anything. We spent 4 hours in the clinic.

On that trip was DD best friend and her family, what a NIGHTMARE!!!
I swear these were the most miserable people I have ever seen on vacation. The youngest was 10 (DD best friends little sister), what a brat! This child refused to go on anything because she said the rides were either too dark, too fast, too high, too scary. She had multiple, multiple temper tantrums and spent most of the time sitting in the stroller sulking, yes folks you read that right, the healthy 10 year old spent the entire vacation pouting in a stroller. The other 2 kids, DD best friend age 11 and her older sister age 15 were a pain in the a$$ and rode very little (the oldest rode the most) and the father of the group was ridiculous. He complained about EVERYTHING from the moment we stepped on Disney property. He complained about the resort (Pop), the food, the buses, the walking, the lines etc. etc. etc. He even had the nerve to say that if he wanted to spend his entire vacation going on rides he would have just gone to six flags ! Before the trip DH and I and DD spent an endless amount of time telling these people all about Disney. We gave them the vacation DVD's, books (Birnbaums, the UnOfficial Guide, Passporter, and Birnbaums for Kids) and we also encouraged them to go on websites. I swear I thought my DH was going to kill them.
Last was our last trip! Unfortunately, my DH works for Chrysler and as you know it has had it's share of financial problems recently so money for us has been tight. Things at DH's job are getting better so I am hoping we will be able to go next year.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I noticed a few people have mentioned they got colds or flu syptoms wihile traveling to Disney...the same thing happens to me on many of my trips south.

Can't say it ruins my trip but it is frustrating especially since I usually lose my voice and it's hard to have fun when you have to whisper everything 5 or 6 times because no one can hear you.

If anyone has tips on how NOT to get a cold...I'm all ears. i wondered if it's due to going in and out of the air conditioning which I usually find too cold.

I'm thinking of taking some cold FX or other anti-cold meds for at least a week before I go.

How do you guys deal with it?

I've done WDW sick twice now. It totally blows. I usually take vitamins every day but I'm particularly strict with it when it's getting close to time for a trip. I make it a point to take echinacea and other supplements to boost my immune system. I also give my entire family multi-vitamins just to get everyone good and healthy and strong.

I've never tried the Airborne stuff but I'm seriously thinking of adding this to my pre-trip planning after the trip I went on with my brother this past May. My husband and both sons got sick with some bad colds in the week or so before I left. I thought I was going to eek by without getting the crud but the day my brother and I headed out on the trip I woke up with a killer sore throat. It was all downhill from there. I think it was a conspiracy. The hubby and kiddos were trying to sabotage me since I was going without them! :fork: Just Kidding! :lol:

 

[Hot4Hudgens]

Not ruined, but pretty close. Last April me and my girlfriend went for 4 days. It poured every single day we were there. Not rained, *poured*. We got soaked a few times, we weren't able to ride a number of the attractions, you name it and it probably happened. Luckily we found things to do back at the resort.

 

[durangojim]

For our 5th wedding anniversary, my wife and I went down without the kids and stayed at the GF with a MK view room for 4 nights starting on Valentine's Day. That evenig we dined at V&A, and about 2/3 through the meal, I came down with the stomach flu. Through up in the restroom twice, felt like I was going to pass out, laid down on the very clean and wonderfully cool tile floor. Managed to stumble back to our table after being gone for about 20 minutes and having my wife have the manager come and ask if I was ok. That evening I was running a fever and listened to some "rock star" in the suite next too us break up and scream at his girlfriend at about 3am after he played some special televised Magic Kindom wedding for the Lifetime channel. The following day I spend all day in bed and managed to go to the Pirate and Princess Party that evening for about 45 minutes since we already had bought our tickets and it was the first year the party was going on. Things go better the next day, and we went to the parks, and did an illuminations cruise and ate a Le Cellier. Needless to say, things did not go as planned, but our trip was definately not ruined, heck being sick at WDW is still better than being sick at home. I just hope it doesn't happen again when my wife and I go for an adult trip in November at the BC for the food and wine festival.

 

[bbrnca]

We were at WDW Kidani July 19-24 and Treehouse villas 24-29 and brought both DD's 17 & 20 and they rought a friend each well on the 3rd day DD17 come down with sore throat and fever so off to Clinic we go well being from out of country (canada) they don't accept our healthcoverage that and have to pay out of pocket.... she lands up having strep and 468.00 and almost 5hrs later we are back at resort.... her friend lands up hanging out with other dd and her friend which worked out great...... we were in WDW for 10 days but only had 7day passes so we used that day as a down day..... we are back now 5 days now and she now has tonsilitis......