This is a story about me and my usual Sept trip to Walt
Disney World in
As soon as they started to talk about a hurricane forming
off the
On Tuesday, Sept 5, it sounded like almost sure thing it
would. I was leaving on Friday heading
to Orlando on Amtrak’s Silver Meteor train, arriving Saturday, just about the
same time Irma was going to hit Florida. I am not so worried about Irma hitting
So I decided to try and beat out the storm and arrive on Friday, well ahead of the storm, or so I thought. With my jobs blessing, I rebooked Amtrak to leave on Thursday now and booked a room only ressie at Disney’s Pop Century resort. I was all set and happy.
On Wednesday I was constantly checking the weather for
One thing I forgot to think about was the weather forecast
for
I can never figure this out. When booking a trip, who do you call first? Transportation to the hotel, or the hotel?? I called Amtrak and enquired about availability a week later. Yes they had availability. I didn’t book it yet, next call was Disney.
I called and after waiting on hold for about 20 minutes (earlier in the day it was over 2 hours) to rebook my trip. Due to the hurricane they allowed last minute rebooking without penalty. The only trouble was, no availability in my price range. Nearest was POFQ for about $800 more. The only value was a suite at Art of Animation for even more money. So I just canceled my resort ressies (single night and weeks stay with dining) Canceled Amtrak, canceled Not so scary Halloween party, canceled Frozen Desert Party, then went down the list of all my ADR’s and even the couple of Fast passes I had, all gone. I was beyond depressed.
This morning I got up, went online and started to play around with different dates under different programs. I found a Sunday through Saturday stay at All Star Movies referred room in my price category. The last couple of years I stayed starting Friday, all of next week till Sunday. All I could get was the Sunday through Saturday at AS Movies, so I took it. I added Not so scary and frozen desert party. Also Fantasmic Dinner Package. I am trying hard to get ‘Ohana, so I am trying to keep the rest of my dates open till I can get it, so I have more choices.
I also rebooked Amtrak, changed my scooter rental. Waiting to hear back about my transportation to and from AS Movies and Orlando train station. And my TA discounted park tickets.
All in all, just slightly shorter trip, just a week later. Have to see if I can fit in a morning at one of the water parks.
Trip plan #3: I leave Sept 16 from NYP, arrive
Well… another thing I didn’t consider, damage from Irma
preventing Amtrak running trains. It
turns out the tracks south of
Our records indicate that
you are scheduled to depart on Amtrak train number 97 from
That schedule has been cancelled due to a service disruption. There is no
alternate service available. To speak to a customer service representative
about travel options such as selecting another date or destination call us at
877-231-9448 at your earliest convenience.
We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for being a valued Amtrak
customer.
Sincerely,
Amtrak
I called up Amtrak and found
no trains will be running till middle of the week I will be away. I called Disney to see if there was any rooms in the coming weeks, but had nothing, nothing
at a value and sufficient length to make the trip. So I canceled my Disney package, dinner
reservations, scooter rental, and transportation between hotel and train
station. I also sent a email I wont be needing my TA
discounted theme park tickets. Very depressed.
I kept looking for a block
of days in the coming weeks. I finally
found something. Arrive 10-2, stay through 10-7 at All-Star Sports, preferred, no
discount. Talking it over with online
friends, they suggested I call also, which I did. They were able to add a day, arrive
10-1. This part was interesting. It takes a couple of days from my original
reservation to be canceled. So they put
a stop of my refund and used that money to pay for my trip with a tiny refund
difference.
I was able to rebook Amtrak,
still free using points.
So I sent another email to
cancel the cancellation of the TA discounted ticket with a new arrival
date. Sent a
email to Best Price scooter with the new information to rebook. Sent a email to MH
Transportation with the new information.
Then I went to rebook all my
ADR’s I couldn’t get the new Frozen Ever
After Dessert Party at Epcot. So instead
I booked the new (to me) Star Wars Galactic Dessert Party at the studios. I also couldn’t book ‘Ohana
either. No surprise there. I also rebooked Mickey’s Not So Scary
Halloween Party tickets for the third time.
I finally was able to book ‘Ohana and Frozen ever after dessert party too, I kept the
star wars one.
This is what I had booked,
sit down meal wise.
10-1: Coral Reef (Epcot)
10-2:
10-3: Be Our Guest lunch (
10-4: Boma
(dinner)
10-5:Trails
End (breakfast) 9:45 am, Le Cellier (dinner)
10-6: Boma
(breakfast) 9:50 am, Spice Road Table (dinner) 4 pm, Star Wars Galatic dessert Party 7 pm
The dessert parties were new
for me. Coral Reef,
I like
At the suggestion of my
friend Mindy, I looked at the menu for Spice Road Table. The name alone had me not wanting it, but
they had NY Strip Steak and garlic shrimp for a
appetizer, so I got a ADR for it to try.
Now just to keep these plans
for a new storm is on the horizon, a named storm called Nate. Now I have a great nephew whose name is Nate. This storm couldn’t destroy my plans.