That is definitely not a bad idea. I can’t see how it would be an issue with a visa. You’d have to have the worst check in staff ever for them to deny you then.I will play safe and do the visa application..… hopefully it won’t be an issue
12 Parks in 16 Days - Disney Parks Around the World Trip Report
- Thread starter Rimmit
- Start date
What was your favorite flight?
That would be a competition between Virgin Atlantic and Air France. They both are excellent carriers, but I think the service on Virgin Atlantic was just a little better. I’ll say if you like to drink, Virgin Atlantic has the most attentive drink service I’ve ever experienced on a plane. They almost won’t let you see the bottom of your glass. The British I have met take great pride in how much they can drink, and I’d say that definitely extends to their airlines as well. I really enjoyed the cabin lighting as well and the seats.
Just not having those bright cold LED lights and having a more calming magenta colored lighting for some reason really just makes for a much more enjoyable experience. Those cold bright LEDs on most planes just does not invoke relaxation.
We did enjoy Air France though, aside from their service in Miami. The amount of space Lucy had in her Air France pod was pretty crazy.
What was the best airport lounge?
Of the ones on this trip, I’d have to say Cathay Pacific’s Business Class lounge, The Pier, in Hong Kong was without a doubt the best. They easily had the best food by a mile. They served a large variety of Western and Asian Options.
They had a multitude of places to sit, and it felt way “homier” than the average lounge.
How are you still alive?
Thankfully, despite all the McDonald’s I eat my heart continues to beat and my lungs also exchange air pretty well so I’m still ticking.
What would you do differently?
I would either get a Chinese Visa just to be on the safe side OR start the Asia part in Hong Kong that way we wouldn’t have a potential issue going into China. I have zero faith in the airlines to know the rules going to China, and after discussing our case with consumer advocates, they state airlines that are not based in Asia can really struggle with this rule unfortunately occasionally wrongfully deny passengers despite this benefit being clearly listed on the Chinese Embassy website and US.gov travel site.
I’d also maybe try and find a way to reduce the amount of hotel hopping in Tokyo. The issue is that Tokyo Hotel Booking is very complex, and it was almost required to do multiple hotels based on what we wanted to accomplish, so I’m not so sure how to get around that.
Is there anything you wish you hadn’t spent money on?
I feel that Blue Bayou Fantasmic Dining Package wasn’t really worth it. The dinner with tip ended up being around $300 total for 3 people. We don’t eat that much so we ate very little of the whole dinner, and had no way to take it home as we were flying out the next day. The seats while nice, weren’t that much better than if we’d shown up 30 minutes before given the crowd level that day, and we coulda used the time we waited for the table and to eat to have done more at Disneyland.
We also felt that the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Hong Kong was very overpriced at $325 USD for the quality of the makeover. This was not our first time doing a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, so we know that they are pretty good at making it such that the hair can stay in place regardless of what a child can throw at it. We didn’t really do anything too intense and after about 3 hours Lucy’s hair was falling apart. I will say that the dress quality was top notch though.
What was your best purchase or upgrade?
While it was expensive, purchasing the Unlimited Premier Access Vacation Package, more officially known as the “Even More” package, at Tokyo Disney Resort was definitely worth every penny. Tokyo Disney Resort is actually even MORE complex than planning a Walt Disney World Vacation, and having the Vacation Package completely eliminated nearly all planning required.
It also allowed us to take our time in the mornings as without a Vacation Package the majority of guests who want to actually ride most of the rides will arrive well before the park opens to secure Premier Access passes. This truly streamlined our time in Tokyo making for an incredible time there with minimal friction. Tokyo had the busiest parks by far the whole vacation with many wait times topping 180 minutes, and having unlimited access to any Premier Access line was a huge time saver.
That would be a competition between Virgin Atlantic and Air France. They both are excellent carriers, but I think the service on Virgin Atlantic was just a little better. I’ll say if you like to drink, Virgin Atlantic has the most attentive drink service I’ve ever experienced on a plane. They almost won’t let you see the bottom of your glass. The British I have met take great pride in how much they can drink, and I’d say that definitely extends to their airlines as well. I really enjoyed the cabin lighting as well and the seats.
Just not having those bright cold LED lights and having a more calming magenta colored lighting for some reason really just makes for a much more enjoyable experience. Those cold bright LEDs on most planes just does not invoke relaxation.
We did enjoy Air France though, aside from their service in Miami. The amount of space Lucy had in her Air France pod was pretty crazy.
What was the best airport lounge?
Of the ones on this trip, I’d have to say Cathay Pacific’s Business Class lounge, The Pier, in Hong Kong was without a doubt the best. They easily had the best food by a mile. They served a large variety of Western and Asian Options.
They had a multitude of places to sit, and it felt way “homier” than the average lounge.
How are you still alive?
Thankfully, despite all the McDonald’s I eat my heart continues to beat and my lungs also exchange air pretty well so I’m still ticking.
What would you do differently?
I would either get a Chinese Visa just to be on the safe side OR start the Asia part in Hong Kong that way we wouldn’t have a potential issue going into China. I have zero faith in the airlines to know the rules going to China, and after discussing our case with consumer advocates, they state airlines that are not based in Asia can really struggle with this rule unfortunately occasionally wrongfully deny passengers despite this benefit being clearly listed on the Chinese Embassy website and US.gov travel site.
I’d also maybe try and find a way to reduce the amount of hotel hopping in Tokyo. The issue is that Tokyo Hotel Booking is very complex, and it was almost required to do multiple hotels based on what we wanted to accomplish, so I’m not so sure how to get around that.
Is there anything you wish you hadn’t spent money on?
I feel that Blue Bayou Fantasmic Dining Package wasn’t really worth it. The dinner with tip ended up being around $300 total for 3 people. We don’t eat that much so we ate very little of the whole dinner, and had no way to take it home as we were flying out the next day. The seats while nice, weren’t that much better than if we’d shown up 30 minutes before given the crowd level that day, and we coulda used the time we waited for the table and to eat to have done more at Disneyland.
We also felt that the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Hong Kong was very overpriced at $325 USD for the quality of the makeover. This was not our first time doing a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, so we know that they are pretty good at making it such that the hair can stay in place regardless of what a child can throw at it. We didn’t really do anything too intense and after about 3 hours Lucy’s hair was falling apart. I will say that the dress quality was top notch though.
What was your best purchase or upgrade?
While it was expensive, purchasing the Unlimited Premier Access Vacation Package, more officially known as the “Even More” package, at Tokyo Disney Resort was definitely worth every penny. Tokyo Disney Resort is actually even MORE complex than planning a Walt Disney World Vacation, and having the Vacation Package completely eliminated nearly all planning required.
It also allowed us to take our time in the mornings as without a Vacation Package the majority of guests who want to actually ride most of the rides will arrive well before the park opens to secure Premier Access passes. This truly streamlined our time in Tokyo making for an incredible time there with minimal friction. Tokyo had the busiest parks by far the whole vacation with many wait times topping 180 minutes, and having unlimited access to any Premier Access line was a huge time saver.
It’s really hard to figure that out the way they price it. Some people in some Facebook groups have done the math and most say it’s an extra $1000 USD for a family of 4 for the convenience with the regular VPs without unlimited DPA. So I would probably guess about an extra $1500-$2000 or so for the unlimited option for 4 people.
There are no discounts unless they are kids. Kids get a small discount.
Miffy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2002
- Messages
- 5,218
Thanks so much for posting this. Is the extra amount per day or for several days?
I've been trying to convince myself we can do the Tokyo Disney parks and that package would be awesome if we could afford it.
ETA: BTW, I read every post of your trip report and loved every moment. Thank you so much for sharing with us!
jujubiee4
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2013
- Messages
- 2,338
It is unlimited for the rides and dining plan or just the rides? thanks
That's for the whole package. The unlimited was so worth it if you can spring for it. Being able to just get up when you want and go to the parks instead of getting there an hour before opening to ensure you get in before they run out of passes was worth it alone. Glad you enjoyed it!
Just the rides, and newer packages give you an option of like unlimited churros, or popcorn, or ice cream treats I believe. Not sure about the ice cream treats. We only got unlimited pop and soup. They change the VP options constantly so who knows if that will be an option when you book or if the unlimited VP will even be available. It was only two months old when I had done it.
Would you do it again?
While we are incredibly grateful and fortunate to have been able to take a trip of this nature, we probably wouldn’t do it again, at least not with how our itinerary eventually ended up. It was already a very fast paced trip, but the itinerary adjustments due to the Air France debacle really hurt us toward the end. It took a trip that was already a 10 in terms of pacing and amped it up to 20 and didn’t give us much time to adjust to the jet lab. The original itinerary had 57 percent more time in Asia which would have given us more time to get over the jet lag. Sadly, that’s not how it ended up due to Air France, so we’ll never know how the trip would have gone if it went off as originally planned. If I was to do it again, I would without a doubt stick with an absolute minimum of 11 nights in Asia.
Are you getting any compensation from Air France?
Unfortunately, as of the time of this writing that is a resounding NO. They state that “you were not able to mention or provided a copy of the ticket that you have an onward flight to Hong Kong on 28 December 2024 since your flights with Air France are only up to Shanghai.”
This is absolutely absurd as we spent 2.5 hour discussing this and I argued vehemently that all we needed was proof of onward flight out of Shanghai. I have multiple witnesses stating that I was arguing all that all we needed was to show proof of an onward flight which is what I had IN HAND. This is clearly a case of the airlines covering their !@# to be honest, and we are fighting it, but are unlikely to win based on the opinion of some consumer advocates I have contacted as Air France is notorious for refusing to approve claims.
If anyone has any experience regarding cases like this I am open to any and all suggestions as it cost us over 300k more miles and several thousand USD to fix the problem they created. This doesn’t even account for the loss of vacation time and the drastic changes in our itinerary which incurred significant cancellation penalties or just loss of cash due to nonrefundability.
Weren’t you exhausted from spending that much time in the air and in airports?
To be totally honest, the airport and plane flights, especially the long hauls were where we actually got the best rest. Flying business class makes the airport an enjoyable place as the lounges are very nice and have tons of free food and drinks. We actually look forward to the airports if they have a decent lounge.
Also the service in business class combined with having a private little pod on the long haul flights makes the time in transit incredibly relaxing and enjoyable. To be honest, you don’t want to get off the plane. Lucy gets upset if the flight is just a short couple hours she enjoys it so much.
There really isn’t much else you can do on a plane other than eat, sleep and watch some TV, and it was actually our chance to regenerate in preparation for the long park days when we were actually not in transit. I definitely think Lucy slept better on the plane than land.
What was the most surprising part of the trip?
Probably how it seems the Walt Disney World equivalent of most rides tend to be worse than their counterparts elsewhere in the world. This is regardless of whether Disney World was the first to get it, or if it was cloned into Disney World. I’m not sure why that is, but for some reason if a ride exists elsewhere, the worst version seems to exist in Disney World. Like anything though, there are some exceptions. Dumbo is best in Magic Kingdom given there are two rides and you have a playground to wait in. Also Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Journey of the Little Mermaid are marginally better in Magic Kingdom than Disneyland.
Fantasmic is better in Disney World, and better by a lot right now given the dragon is currently down in Disneyland.
I was also surprised just how thematically disjointed Disney World has become in comparison to the other Disney Parks. Aside from Walt Disney Studios Paris which is basically themeless, the other parks maintain a great deal of thematic integrity. Animal Kingdom is really the only Disney World park left at this point that hasn’t become a total mishmash of IP and ideas.
Walt Disney World is fun don’t get me wrong, but they are definitely hurting on maintaining an overall theme these days. Hollywood Studios and Epcot being the worst of the park offenders. Tron is absolutely gorgeous, but just doesn’t totally flow with the rest of Tomorrowland. Hopefully, at some point when they do a total overhaul of Tomorrowland and Tron will look less out of place. On the resort front, the new Island Tower in the Polynesian Resort is just so out of place between the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian, it is obvious Disney has thrown thematic integrity out the window at Disney World.
The new Island tower looks JUST like the rest of the Polynesian.
What was your favorite part of the trip?
The Japanese Culture. It has been over 20 years since I’d been to Japan, so I had forgotten just how unique it is. Everyone is just so polite and respectful ALL THE TIME. Everything is just incredibly orderly and calm at the parks.
Even after the nighttime spectaculars, there aren’t people who are shoving and pushing just to get out 30 seconds sooner. Everyone just walks in an orderly fashion. It was so refreshing to experience and made the experience just so much more enjoyable than the environment in the US parks.
To be honest, it kinda ruins the US parks for me because it shows me that as a society you can have fun AND respect other peoples space and rights in a public setting. In the three full park days we did in Tokyo we never saw one confrontation anywhere. We only had two park days in the US this trip, and we either witnessed or were part of multiple confrontations in our time in the parks. We obviously also have many other data points from our innumerable visits to the US parks over the years, which definitely leans in an obvious increase in entitled behavior and confrontations over the last 30 years.
The Japanese parks are also just immaculately clean. It is incredibly rare to see any trash or even food on the ground. This is in spite of the complete lack of garbage cans almost anywhere. There is also a total lack of chewing gum on the ground as well.
How did Kendall do?
Kendall absolutely killed it. We didn’t use a wheelchair in the airport at all. She also did not use a wheelchair in Shanghai, Hong Kong or Anaheim. Her foot held up incredibly well, and she walked way more than we ever anticipated, including walking a true FULL day at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure on our last park day that totaled over 26,000 steps! Just eight months prior she went with some friends to Disney World and was only able to walk 4 hours before requiring wheelchair assistance. This was a huge accomplishment for someone who just 2.5 years was run over by a car and couldn’t even stand or do ANYTHING without assistance.
What was the most magical moment?
In the past it was almost always character or cast member encounters with my kids. This time though I’d probably have to go with our first ride on Journey to the Center of the Earth. At the time we were all kinda tired, jet lagged, and really weren’t expecting too much out of this ride. I don’t want to elaborate too much, as it would spoil things if you ever rode it, but it definitely caught us off guard and was a blast. It was definitely the most talked about moment of the vacation.
You seem like at least a semi normal guy. How can you be a Notre Dame fan?
Notre Dame is my alma mater. I bleed blue and gold. GO IRISH!
That about wraps it up. If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to drop a comment and I’ll do my best to answer it.
Thanks for following along on this journey!
While we are incredibly grateful and fortunate to have been able to take a trip of this nature, we probably wouldn’t do it again, at least not with how our itinerary eventually ended up. It was already a very fast paced trip, but the itinerary adjustments due to the Air France debacle really hurt us toward the end. It took a trip that was already a 10 in terms of pacing and amped it up to 20 and didn’t give us much time to adjust to the jet lab. The original itinerary had 57 percent more time in Asia which would have given us more time to get over the jet lag. Sadly, that’s not how it ended up due to Air France, so we’ll never know how the trip would have gone if it went off as originally planned. If I was to do it again, I would without a doubt stick with an absolute minimum of 11 nights in Asia.
Are you getting any compensation from Air France?
Unfortunately, as of the time of this writing that is a resounding NO. They state that “you were not able to mention or provided a copy of the ticket that you have an onward flight to Hong Kong on 28 December 2024 since your flights with Air France are only up to Shanghai.”
This is absolutely absurd as we spent 2.5 hour discussing this and I argued vehemently that all we needed was proof of onward flight out of Shanghai. I have multiple witnesses stating that I was arguing all that all we needed was to show proof of an onward flight which is what I had IN HAND. This is clearly a case of the airlines covering their !@# to be honest, and we are fighting it, but are unlikely to win based on the opinion of some consumer advocates I have contacted as Air France is notorious for refusing to approve claims.
If anyone has any experience regarding cases like this I am open to any and all suggestions as it cost us over 300k more miles and several thousand USD to fix the problem they created. This doesn’t even account for the loss of vacation time and the drastic changes in our itinerary which incurred significant cancellation penalties or just loss of cash due to nonrefundability.
Weren’t you exhausted from spending that much time in the air and in airports?
To be totally honest, the airport and plane flights, especially the long hauls were where we actually got the best rest. Flying business class makes the airport an enjoyable place as the lounges are very nice and have tons of free food and drinks. We actually look forward to the airports if they have a decent lounge.
Also the service in business class combined with having a private little pod on the long haul flights makes the time in transit incredibly relaxing and enjoyable. To be honest, you don’t want to get off the plane. Lucy gets upset if the flight is just a short couple hours she enjoys it so much.
There really isn’t much else you can do on a plane other than eat, sleep and watch some TV, and it was actually our chance to regenerate in preparation for the long park days when we were actually not in transit. I definitely think Lucy slept better on the plane than land.
What was the most surprising part of the trip?
Probably how it seems the Walt Disney World equivalent of most rides tend to be worse than their counterparts elsewhere in the world. This is regardless of whether Disney World was the first to get it, or if it was cloned into Disney World. I’m not sure why that is, but for some reason if a ride exists elsewhere, the worst version seems to exist in Disney World. Like anything though, there are some exceptions. Dumbo is best in Magic Kingdom given there are two rides and you have a playground to wait in. Also Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Journey of the Little Mermaid are marginally better in Magic Kingdom than Disneyland.
Fantasmic is better in Disney World, and better by a lot right now given the dragon is currently down in Disneyland.
I was also surprised just how thematically disjointed Disney World has become in comparison to the other Disney Parks. Aside from Walt Disney Studios Paris which is basically themeless, the other parks maintain a great deal of thematic integrity. Animal Kingdom is really the only Disney World park left at this point that hasn’t become a total mishmash of IP and ideas.
Walt Disney World is fun don’t get me wrong, but they are definitely hurting on maintaining an overall theme these days. Hollywood Studios and Epcot being the worst of the park offenders. Tron is absolutely gorgeous, but just doesn’t totally flow with the rest of Tomorrowland. Hopefully, at some point when they do a total overhaul of Tomorrowland and Tron will look less out of place. On the resort front, the new Island Tower in the Polynesian Resort is just so out of place between the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian, it is obvious Disney has thrown thematic integrity out the window at Disney World.
What was your favorite part of the trip?
The Japanese Culture. It has been over 20 years since I’d been to Japan, so I had forgotten just how unique it is. Everyone is just so polite and respectful ALL THE TIME. Everything is just incredibly orderly and calm at the parks.
Even after the nighttime spectaculars, there aren’t people who are shoving and pushing just to get out 30 seconds sooner. Everyone just walks in an orderly fashion. It was so refreshing to experience and made the experience just so much more enjoyable than the environment in the US parks.
To be honest, it kinda ruins the US parks for me because it shows me that as a society you can have fun AND respect other peoples space and rights in a public setting. In the three full park days we did in Tokyo we never saw one confrontation anywhere. We only had two park days in the US this trip, and we either witnessed or were part of multiple confrontations in our time in the parks. We obviously also have many other data points from our innumerable visits to the US parks over the years, which definitely leans in an obvious increase in entitled behavior and confrontations over the last 30 years.
The Japanese parks are also just immaculately clean. It is incredibly rare to see any trash or even food on the ground. This is in spite of the complete lack of garbage cans almost anywhere. There is also a total lack of chewing gum on the ground as well.
How did Kendall do?
Kendall absolutely killed it. We didn’t use a wheelchair in the airport at all. She also did not use a wheelchair in Shanghai, Hong Kong or Anaheim. Her foot held up incredibly well, and she walked way more than we ever anticipated, including walking a true FULL day at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure on our last park day that totaled over 26,000 steps! Just eight months prior she went with some friends to Disney World and was only able to walk 4 hours before requiring wheelchair assistance. This was a huge accomplishment for someone who just 2.5 years was run over by a car and couldn’t even stand or do ANYTHING without assistance.
What was the most magical moment?
In the past it was almost always character or cast member encounters with my kids. This time though I’d probably have to go with our first ride on Journey to the Center of the Earth. At the time we were all kinda tired, jet lagged, and really weren’t expecting too much out of this ride. I don’t want to elaborate too much, as it would spoil things if you ever rode it, but it definitely caught us off guard and was a blast. It was definitely the most talked about moment of the vacation.
You seem like at least a semi normal guy. How can you be a Notre Dame fan?
Notre Dame is my alma mater. I bleed blue and gold. GO IRISH!
That about wraps it up. If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to drop a comment and I’ll do my best to answer it.
Thanks for following along on this journey!
jujubiee4
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2013
- Messages
- 2,338
This was such a great trip report. Im going to bookmark it for future reference. Air France is my least
favorite airlines. They lost luggage from 2 of the 4 family members when we went to France. We didnt get
it back for 3 days . Left such a bad taste in my mouth that I avoid them even if they give a great point price.
Once again outstanding trip report with so much detail. Much appreciate the tips and advice. You should
be a travel vlogger
favorite airlines. They lost luggage from 2 of the 4 family members when we went to France. We didnt get
it back for 3 days . Left such a bad taste in my mouth that I avoid them even if they give a great point price.
Once again outstanding trip report with so much detail. Much appreciate the tips and advice. You should
be a travel vlogger
Thanks for following along! I don’t think I’d do well on camera. lol. I’ll stick to writing.This was such a great trip report. Im going to bookmark it for future reference. Air France is my least
favorite airlines. They lost luggage from 2 of the 4 family members when we went to France. We didnt get
it back for 3 days . Left such a bad taste in my mouth that I avoid them even if they give a great point price.
Once again outstanding trip report with so much detail. Much appreciate the tips and advice. You should
be a travel vlogger
Validation!!!
So, ironically, on the day that I finished posting our trip report here, today after being totally denied by the main claims team, and after emailing Mrs. Regail, the CEO, whoever monitors her account did get back to me with a final decision. After some discussion, they did decide that I was entitled to compensation per EU 261 and will get 600 per Euro per person compensation!!!!
Quite a 180 from being called a liar and that we never mentioned or showed proof of our ongoing flight to Hong Kong. While this doesn’t remotely cover the damages, I’ll take it as it is at least some validation that we are not a bunch of liars and that we did NOTHING wrong and that they messed up!!!!! Woohoo!!!
So, ironically, on the day that I finished posting our trip report here, today after being totally denied by the main claims team, and after emailing Mrs. Regail, the CEO, whoever monitors her account did get back to me with a final decision. After some discussion, they did decide that I was entitled to compensation per EU 261 and will get 600 per Euro per person compensation!!!!
Quite a 180 from being called a liar and that we never mentioned or showed proof of our ongoing flight to Hong Kong. While this doesn’t remotely cover the damages, I’ll take it as it is at least some validation that we are not a bunch of liars and that we did NOTHING wrong and that they messed up!!!!! Woohoo!!!
Duckbug.Ducktales
Listening to the music to Fantasmic!
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2020
- Messages
- 4,433
That's great! Which will you take? I think I'd do the cashValidation!!!
So, ironically, on the day that I finished posting our trip report here, today after being totally denied by the main claims team, and after emailing Mrs. Regail, the CEO, whoever monitors her account did get back to me with a final decision. After some discussion, they did decide that I was entitled to compensation per EU 261 and will get 600 per Euro per person compensation!!!!
Quite a 180 from being called a liar and that we never mentioned or showed proof of our ongoing flight to Hong Kong. While this doesn’t remotely cover the damages, I’ll take it as it is at least some validation that we are not a bunch of liars and that we did NOTHING wrong and that they messed up!!!!! Woohoo!!!
Miffy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2002
- Messages
- 5,218
Hurrah! It's something anyway, and an acknowledgment that they were at fault.Validation!!!
So, ironically, on the day that I finished posting our trip report here, today after being totally denied by the main claims team, and after emailing Mrs. Regail, the CEO, whoever monitors her account did get back to me with a final decision. After some discussion, they did decide that I was entitled to compensation per EU 261 and will get 600 per Euro per person compensation!!!!
Quite a 180 from being called a liar and that we never mentioned or showed proof of our ongoing flight to Hong Kong. While this doesn’t remotely cover the damages, I’ll take it as it is at least some validation that we are not a bunch of liars and that we did NOTHING wrong and that they messed up!!!!! Woohoo!!!
Mathmagicland
Disneyland - the original since 1955
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2014
- Messages
- 2,927
@Rimmit , first congrats on your persistence with Air France finally seeing some positive result! Still so unfortunate with the impact to your plans.
And, thanks so much for sharing your family trip - what an amazing experience! It was so fun to read along. To put a twist on Disney’s Super Bowl commercials, you’ve just gone round the world hitting all 12 parks, what are you going to do next?
I think this may be hard to top.
And, Go Notre Dame!!
And, thanks so much for sharing your family trip - what an amazing experience! It was so fun to read along. To put a twist on Disney’s Super Bowl commercials, you’ve just gone round the world hitting all 12 parks, what are you going to do next?
I think this may be hard to top. And, Go Notre Dame!!
Definitely the cash. I woulda debated the voucher if it was non expiring. But it expires in a year, and I will not be able to use that in a year.
Yes. Finally!!!
Going to Disney World!! lol. Well not quite yet. We are laying low over the next year. Nothing super exotic. We board a Star Trek Cruise this weekend. Kendall and I are huge Trekkies, and the Star Trek Cruise is sooo much fun. For Spring Break we'll head to London. Super easy trip. Just one direct flight from Cincy which is just 2.5 hours from our home. Only one flight there, and staying in ONE hotel. No hotel hopping this time. We do head back to WDW for a week over the summer for a dance competition though at Coronado Springs. Not sure how much of WDW we'll do though. Really want to see Epic Universe and would rather spend time at Universal.@Rimmit , first congrats on your persistence with Air France finally seeing some positive result! Still so unfortunate with the impact to your plans.
And, thanks so much for sharing your family trip - what an amazing experience! It was so fun to read along. To put a twist on Disney’s Super Bowl commercials, you’ve just gone round the world hitting all 12 parks, what are you going to do next?
And, Go Notre Dame!!
Thanks for reading!
Go IRISH!
Is there anything special enough to include HK DL in a Japan trip? A HK layover with Cathay adds little or no cost to the airfare.
I had an EU missed connection with Air France. Claims submitted to AF US location are processed by Delta. Every correspondence wound up with a different story. I wound up using a service to collect
The CoC you were given mentions APPEARS to have.....It appeared to the idiot you didn't have the correct requirements. Push the issue further and you might get some miles, probably not enough to make you whole.
Carriers sometimes have rules which exceed government minimums. A few cruise lines require passports on closed loop cruises; which don't legally require passports. Some airlines require at least 6 months left on your passport, even if the country you're going to doesn't. I vaguely reading issues where an airline was stricter on.VISAs requirements then required.
You had stubborn employees who had no interest in being educated.
Getting 3 business class award flights, on the same flights, is the most impressive part of your journey.
Great report. Good luck topping it.
I had an EU missed connection with Air France. Claims submitted to AF US location are processed by Delta. Every correspondence wound up with a different story. I wound up using a service to collect
The CoC you were given mentions APPEARS to have.....It appeared to the idiot you didn't have the correct requirements. Push the issue further and you might get some miles, probably not enough to make you whole.
Carriers sometimes have rules which exceed government minimums. A few cruise lines require passports on closed loop cruises; which don't legally require passports. Some airlines require at least 6 months left on your passport, even if the country you're going to doesn't. I vaguely reading issues where an airline was stricter on.VISAs requirements then required.
You had stubborn employees who had no interest in being educated.
Getting 3 business class award flights, on the same flights, is the most impressive part of your journey.
Great report. Good luck topping it.
If you’re a Disney fan it’s definitely worth a stop, there is no real “stand out must do” attraction like a flight of passage or Beauty and the Beast level ride at HKDL but Mystic Manor and the big thunder mountain there are unique and quite impressive. The new World of frozen is really neat to see but the rides are not anything amazing. Frozen is just a little better than the Epcot version. The nighttime show is great. If you have a chance to go it’s worth it but I wouldn’t make a super concerted effort to go to HKDL.
I think the “appears” verbiage is to give the airline leeway in denials. Per the consumer advocate I was dealing with she stated that the DoT has never sided with the consumer if the airline in good faith felt the passenger did not have the correct documentation as they want to protect the airlines from sending people to countries without appropriate documents and tend to side with the airlines in these situations. She had little hope we would win our claim, thankfully I kept perusing it and won eventually.
I think an even bigger accomplishment than finding the initial flights was reconstructing the trip on the fly and finding more business class redemptions that worked for our itinerary in the middle of the holiday travel season. That was a miracle right there. I was searching for anything in Europe that didn’t cost an arm and a leg, and we lucked out managed to keep it together.
ksinniger
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2013
- Messages
- 283
You've gotten your refund from AirFrance, but I will only add here that the U.S. Department of Transportation has a consumer protection office that deals SOLELY with the airlines. You can lodge a complaint when airlines don't follow the rules, and in addition to helping you get reimbursed, the DOT can even fine airlines who violate regulations. It's a handy piece of info to keep in your wallet or phone every time you fly:
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer
Thanks! Yes we were aware of that. The consumer advocate we were working has dealt with similar cases to ours before and said that in all her experiences with the China rule, the DoT has never sided with the consumer. This is due to the vagueness of the rule and lack of firm guidelines from China regarding what is appropriate documentation. She said the DoT will side with the airlines if they in “good faith” denied us boarding believing we truly didn’t have the correct documents as the airlines can be fined $10,000 per person they incorrectly send to a country without correct documentation. She told us we would not win with the DoT sadly.
She said the ONLY way we would get anything was with a good faith gesture. She did contact some of her back channels to try and get us something via good faith. While she was waiting on those responses, thankfully, I continued to persist on my own and eventually won our claim despite her stating we would not win our case with the airline based on her previous experiences with airlines and this rule.
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