So how did 2014 end for us? Not well. First DH had two uncles pass away. So there was a funeral on the Friday before Christmas and a viewing the Monday after.
Then on the final day of the year my Mom's last sibling passed away at the age of 97. She was in a nursing home in Bakersfield, CA. From what we have been told she had a lung infection of some sort and the nursing home did not give her the antibiotics that the doctor at the hospital prescribed. No idea if this is true, but it is what her family told my mom. Not very pleasant for Mom to think about her sister passing away under circumstances like that.
Then we heard that the father of two wonderful kids that we know through friends had passed away. He had Huntingtons disease. Our prayers are going out to all those who love him.
Here's hoping that 2015 will be much better for all!
We do have another trip to Walt Disney World planned for this year. Celebrating both Mom and my birthdays. I have posted photos of the backpacks I've made for our group a while back.
There are several firsts for this trip:
Our cousin RB will be joining us for his first visit to the "World". He has some serious health issues so we are really hoping that everything works out. Mom really likes showing WDW off to new visitors. In fact all of us get a kick out of this. It's the wow factor that really adds to our enjoyment. We are looking forward to taking RB to WDW.
A good friend of RB is letting him use his time share in Orlando. So for a very low cost RB will have a lovely suite complete with kitchen (to help keep down costs). He won't be renting a car and will be relying on the time share's shuttle service. He's promised to blog about the experience of staying at a time share (off property) and not renting a car (which is what people usually do - but he can't for medical reasons). I've been enjoying reading his thoughts on the trip so far. And RB's enthusiasm is really contagious.
There are six of us going and we managed to get a direct flight to Orlando. This flight happens once a week so we either had to stay 7 days or 14. Naturally we chose 14 days. So we are going to have the luxury of time. I'm sure it will still go too quickly.
For the first time I chose to use an official Disney travel planner, "The Magic for Less" for my immediate family. Previously we either booked through Flight Centre or direct with Disney.
One benefit of using an agency that specializes in Disney vacations is that they watch for deals. And if one comes out it is automatically applied to your vacation. We got the good news on Monday that a discount came out and over $1,000 was saved for the four of us. And Mike will keep looking for discounts for us!
Now the friend that is coming with us (SB) booked her trip through Flight Centre. Several issues here and it's been a learning experience for all of us.
My group has our luggage tags and confirmation for our airport to resort transfer. We've had them for several months. Our agent, Mike, requested that they be sent as soon as we booked our trip.
The travel agency Flight Centre uses does not submit all the
information immediately to Disney. In fact, SB will not receive her luggage tags or
confirmation for her airport to resort transfer until two weeks before
she goes. If there is an issue with the mail, she may not get it in time. Yet she's paid for this service.
So I ended up calling Magical Express and asking for another luggage tag for
her as she will have two suitcases. Normally only one tag is sent but Magical Express has no issue with providing another tag. The cast member, Maria, said that it would be sent out right away. So at least SB will have a
confirmation for the airport to resort transportation in time for our
trip and one of her luggage tags.
SB had another issue. The official itinerary with her Disney
confirmation number would not be mailed until just before the
trip. She needs this confirmation number to link to her My Disney
Experience account. Without this she would be
unable to make early dining reservations, book Fast Pass Plus for rides and
shows. All of which she is paying for.
We called and we were told we'd get a call back. That didn't happen so we went to Flight Centre in person. There we found that even if SB had the correct confirmation number there was another issue. The agent did not have SB's correct phone number. Not only that, the agent had given the travel agency they use the wrong phone number. The travel agency in turn gave the incorrect number to Disney.
We tried to link the confirmation number we finally got to SB's My Disney Experience account. But Disney has security set in place to prevent fraud. It couldn't match her name, confirmation number and phone number. Which is when we realized Flight Centre was using a wrong number. So that had to be corrected. Another trip back to Flight Centre. We weren't going to wait for phone calls that don't happen.
To make it more frustrating the agent had difficulty understanding why this was such a big deal. She seemed to think everything could be done when we got to WDW. We tried to explain that Disney has changed things recently. You need to book everything early and that even guests staying off property have to pre-book or else wait in long lines...but she just didn't get it.
Then the discount was announced. The agent decided it would be "not worth" it to try and get the discount applied to SB's trip.
This seems to be a theme with Flight Centre staff. A few years ago Disney came out with free dinning. My family was going for 10 days during the time when free dinning was offered. Our agent at Flight Centre tried to dissuade us from cancelling and re booking to get the deal. After all it would cost $50 per person to do this. Really....spend $200 on cancellation fees to have 4 people eat for free for 10 days. Lets just say we prevailed and the trip was cancelled, re-booked with free dinning added.
So here's hoping that this will be the only post that has a rant in it. I highly recommend using an agency that specializes in Disney vacations when going to any Disney location. You will get great service and the best prices. Plus really good advice.
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