End of Summer Blast - Sept 4 – 12, 2004 – POFQ + DCL (+Hurricane Frances?) About This Page:

[socalluckdragon]

The Cast –

Josh – 35 (the Dad)

Brenda – 36 (the Mom)

Skyler – 5 (the Son)

Ariana – 3 (the Daughter)



We’ll I’m down to less than 5 days and counting. Normally, I eagerly await summer’s arrival. Don’t ask me why, as we live in SoCal about three miles from the beach and the weather here is usually wonderful most of the time, so summer doesn’t really make a huge difference. Yeah it stays warmer at night during the summer months, but there have been quite a few Christmas and New Year’s days that have found me strolling happily along the beach and enjoying the 68 – 72 degree weather. At any rate, it took a lot of planning and budgeting, but I finally convinced my DW that a trip to “The World” was what the family really wanted to do. We have family passes to DL (and have for the last couple of years) and live a mere hour’s drive away. Needless to say, we are HUGE fans of Walt and his adorable mouse.



The Plan

Well, I’m a huge internet person and utilized it to it’s fullest when researching this vacation. Only within the last 6 weeks or so have I discovered so many of the related Disney info and travel fan sites. Ok, so maybe I missed a few sites…Looking back, I more or less reinvented the wheel on some things, but my travel budgeting and planning was not all that bad after reading all the info over the past few weeks that I have. I missed a trick or two along the way, but, I’ve not done that bad for reading mostly Disney source material and working within the available reservation schedules, our budget, and our time constraints. All in all, I managed to pick a less crowed time of year to go (easier on budget as well), airline reservations almost 6 months in advance, and just after the normal heart of the summer heat...not too bad for a first timer.



We were initially, planning in Jan. ’04 on May ’04 travel for this same trip, but just couldn’t swing it comfortably within our budget. So as I was starting to lose hope around April for any possibility of a trip to The World in 2004; several things fell into place and suddenly there was this huge surplus in our budget. Boy oh boy…better strike while the iron’s hot! Some fast talking….boyish excitement….loads of research factlets…a few well thought-out debate points….and WAHOOO! Approval from the DW and we were reserved for September for a seven day land/sea vacation Mouse-style.



This brings us back to my original comment about usually looking forward to summer. Well, with the excitement of a Disney vacation at the end of summer and the first real chance to get away since our honeymoon, six years ago, I couldn’t wait for summer to end. In the last few weeks, I have found my way to this wonderful site as well as the purchase of the Passporter, itself, and the DCL version. A bit late for some of the initial planning, but still plenty of good information and I am eagerly devouring every bit of it in order to make the most out of the week. We were fortunate enough to be tipped off by these fine publications about reserving shore excursions up to 60 days in advance. When I was initially discussing the options with my DW, I don’t think I finished getting through the list of options for Nassau, when my DW interrupted me and said “dolphins.” So…it’s settled then. I called about two weeks prior to departure and the nice CM that answer the phone seemed surprised that it was still available, noting that it is usually the first to sell out. Oh, one other important note. I read an online review of DCL from a gentleman that was a very experience cruiser and wrote from that perspective, rather than the typical family person with young children. He specifically made warning that the dolphin adventure was scheduled to depart before the ship officially docked and advised that a ship delay could cause a cancellation of the shore excursion and recommended buyer beware. I checked into this and sure enough, the dolphin adventure is scheduled to depart at 9:15a and the ship docks at 9:30a. I brought this up to the CM that answered the DCL reservations line and was assured that the times would not be a problem. The disparity in the scheduling is the time that you are supposed to meet onboard for briefing versus when you actually depart with the independent excursion operator. You get a briefing on all the particulars and are ready to go when the ship docks. I’m a skeptic, so let’s just consider the jury still out on this one for now.



The Catch

So as summer is coming to a close (finally)…a mere four work days left until departure and the bulk of my friends lamenting the fact that we are not going to be having our usual ‘end of summer pool party bash’ over labor day weekend, I begin to make dinner and flick on the news. My DW came home to find me scowling grimly at the weatherman on TV. NOOOOOOO!!!!! Hurricane Frances is currently rated at Cat 4 and predicted to arrive in the vicinity of Florida on the same day as we begin our trip. After dinner it’s back to the passporter web site. I read a few trip reports after Charley hit as it was always in the back of my mind that something like that was a possibility. Oh yeah…did I mention that I made a conscious decision not to buy trip insurance? Heck, what could go wrong? Well, I’ve been devouring everyone’s TR that even mentions a brush with Charley, and I must say that my initial anxiety and worries about not being able to go at all is starting to back off a bit. The report that I read about a woman and her daughter sitting out the storm a few days after Charley hit, on Allearsnet.com, made me feel better about the possibility of having to endure such while we were there, but now we’re staring down the barrel of a hurricane and currently hoping to arrive in Orlando before it does. There was a mention in someone else’s TR that their airline allowed a flight change due to Charley without the normal fee, so that gave me some encouragement that all is not lost and even it things get off to a rocky start, that it may not cost us a fortune to get back on schedule. So many things hang in the balance on that first day…airport shuttle reservations, airline reservations (including a change of planes in Phoenix which gives the airline two opportunities to cancel the flight to Orlando), hotel reservations…nearly all of which are 100% non-refundable by the time we will know if our departure is a go for Saturday.



I haven’t found any mention of Charley and it’s affects on DCL. Feel free to point me to any such passages if you know of such a TR.



More to come…

[Bellaciavo]

Looks like you have a fun trip planned for your family. I would love to do the cruise one day, especially after reading Cheryl's trip report. I'm right with you about Frances, fingers crossed with no trip insurance. As of now we are due to arrive at WDW on Sunday 9/5 but we might change our flight to Friday evening and spend a few nights at POFQ. Maybe we'll see you there.

Karen

[Colexis Mom]

Welcome to the boards Josh

Great start to your trip! I hope that Frances will stay out to see, and not wreak havoc on all your plans! Can't wait to read all about your adventures

[socalluckdragon]

Ok...more research on hurricanes. Gad...I'll stick with SoCal and our earthquakes. Storm track isn't looking promising. This is not the way to get excited about going. Tough to get through those last items on the list when new things like hurricane preparedness and plans that were just last week set in stone now seem to be etched in mud. Not only that, but waiting for vacation is one thing that makes the days creep by. Waiting to see if a hurricane is going to seriously threaten your vacation plans that you have been waiting for all summer...GAHHHHH...talk about slow...I'd swear the clock seems to be moving backwards now.

[sarah_belle]

Oh gosh...I know exactly how you feel. On the Wednesday before Charley my boyf called to ask about cancelling the trip. (we also didn't bother with the trip insurance...our credit card covered flights only) What?? No! Not the trip I have been waiting 24 years for! We ended up flying a day early. It added a lot of stress to the beginning of the vacation, but in the end it was an awesome vacation. I don't know anything about DCL, but I know that Disney was pretty accomodating to the resort guests, at least at the Polynesian. I heard that they were reimbursing people for park admission on the day that the parks closed early.

Hopefully the forecasts will change in your favor.

[buckysmom]

Trip insurance? What the heck is that?
Here's some more !

[HBA117]

Last weather report that I heard at noon today Frances was heading for georgia! You may luck out!

[luvnwdwgal]

Welcome to the boards Josh!! Hope the weather cooperates for your cruise!!! Looking forward to reading all about your trip when you get back!!

[LizardCop]

[ QUOTE ]
Last weather report that I heard at noon today Frances was heading for georgia! You may luck out!

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess it depends on who you listen to. In the past 8 hours I've heard predictions from Miami to Mobile to North Carolina.

The bad thing about hurricanes is, as we learned from Charlie, you don't know where they are really going to hit until they hit ya...

[Jaya]

As of right now, the NOAA (www.noaa.gov) is predicting Frances will skirt off the coast of Florida, finally hiting land near the Georgia/Florida border around 8 AM Sunday morning. They should know by Thursday if it's going to go more north than that!!

On a funny side note - I also live in SoCal (Woodland Hills) and I also am leaving for Disney this Saturday, 9/4!!

[socalluckdragon]

yeah...I've got a couple of internet weather sources temporarily bookmarked (weather channel and noaa) and it isn't some much about where it hits that is concerning me, but stuff like this from the NOAA text report --

"HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 70 MILES...110 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 175 MILES...280 KM."

Yeah...that can really put a hitch in your giddy-up if you are flying. It doesn't have to hit you, just get near. Sit and wait...(*in Dory voice* just keep sitting...just keep sitting)

[socalluckdragon]

Well the saga continues. I realize that the trip hasn't begun yet and apologize if this isn't what most wish to read about, but my lessons learned may be able to help someone else in the future, as some tidbits from other TRs helped me in thinking of options in the face of adversity.

Ok...quick check of the weather report this morning...doom and gloom on the horizon still. As a private pilot, I know that the storm doesn't have be be on top of the airport for them to cancel my flight. It only has to be near enough to cause enough uncertaintly that passanger safety comes into question for them to cancel. As of now, if the predicted timelines and paths continue, I would have a question about the safety of landing in Orlando, so I am attempting to plan accordingly. Call to the Airlines. Let's talk, 'what if.' America West, very helpful, confirmed that during Charley they instituted a period of time that if your travel fell within, you were allowed to change (with certain restrictions) without the normal change fees. Excellent.

First, my Passporter Cruise Line edition just paid for itself! Reading through last night, and lamenting (in the back of my mind) the fact that I didn't have trip insurance, I came across the planning section that mentions insurance and they suggested that you might be covered if you used your credit card. Hey....I used my AmEx card to charge all elements of the trip. I wonder...? Fast forward to this morning. Call to AmEx - "Yes you are most definitely covered and here's the 800 number." A+ for AmEx and A++ to Passporter for the reminder about that! Well, with a few days to go, I haven't cancelled yet (and don't expect to), so for now it's an ace in the hole that could save me some money in the event of plans needing to shift. Call to DCL. Four phone transfers later..."well, the cruise (in the latter half of the week) is unlikely to be affected, but there will be a CM available at the resort to keep you up to date." Ok....but what are my options if the hurricane causes lost time at the parks, which is also part of my vacation package? could I possibly be granted a credit of park tickets for missed days such that I could use after the cruise by extending my flights? "No, park tickets for the cruise vacations packages are special and only good for the specific period of the package and it's a bit early to start worrring about that..." D- for Disney today. As Robert De Niro said in 'Wag the Dog' - "A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow."

more to come...

[Colexis Mom]

Glad to hear that you should be okay with changing your flights, and that your cruise is covered! Hopefully the rest will work out as well

[buckysmom]

We'll be keeping our fingers crossed for you and everyone else!

[luvnwdwgal]

I hope everything works out ok for you all!!!