Five weeks ago I had a very small medical procedure that was supposed to take about 2 weeks to heal completely. 3 infections later – I’m nowhere near the finish line. I was scheduled to go to Walt Disney World today, but on Wednesday of this week we made the decision to reschedule for June to give me time to heal. I hadn’t bought insurance, so it was going to be expensive – but my health is more important than the loss of money.
Some people said to me “it’s not like you won’t be going again, or you weren’t just there!” and I get it – I travel to Walt Disney World multiple times per year, but I was so excited about this trip! We had all of our dining reservations that we wanted and even had planned to stay at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort – one of the very few I have not stayed in yet! We had even purchased tickets to Disney’s After Hours and upgraded our flights to business class so that I wouldn’t be uncomfortable on the plane (both are non refundable). The disappointment set in – I had just backed out of the perfectly planned Disney vacation.
Thursday was a bit of a mess as it sank in that we would have to try and ‘re-plan’ the perfect vacation without the benefit of months to do so. We booked the week at Saratoga Springs and started looking for cancellations at the resorts we really wanted to try. It might mean moving rooms a few times – but that’s okay, we’ve done that before and it’s a smooth process.
I felt horribly guilty that I had ‘ruined’ my sister’s vacation – even though she was so understanding about it. I told her I would do whatever she wanted when we went in June to try and make it up to her, I would even try some of the restaurants that were for a more adventurous palate than mine because I know she would like them. Morimoto is on the agenda!
Two days later and I have to say, I’m excited about our new trip! While we are checking daily for cancellations for dining – we did manage to snag an Ohana’s dinner, a Be Our Guest breakfast and Toy Story & 7 Dwarfs fastpasses! All in 2 days! It pays to keep looking for sure.
Soarin’ has been closed for refurbishment for a while which is a big disappointment since it’s one of our favorites. Guess what? It’s reopening June 17th and we got a fastpass! This was a bonus of delaying our trip, and has shown me that maybe things will work out for the best after all.
This has been a trying time for me, but I have learned a lot through this experience.
- Insurance might be useful! I’m normally don’t buy cancellation insurance myself, and I’m not sure if it would have covered my scenario – but for the $1k I lost by rescheduling in flights and event tickets, it might have been worth it!
- Medical procedures may or may not go as planned – and planning a Disney vacation within 5 weeks of one might have been overly optimistic. Apparently I’m not invincible and cannot will myself to get better faster by using my Mum’s motto of ‘it’s mind over matter’
- Having a family to support you through these challenges is priceless
- You CAN book a Disney vacation 5 weeks in advance and STILL get some awesome dining reservations and fastpasses!
Planning my Disney vacations are always fun – and now I get to do it twice. Now it’s back to My Disney Experience to see if there are any more cancellations I can grab!
