Travel Insurance, Need Help

[glistensound2]

Greets,

Getting ready for our 3rd trip to Disney, my son's first and taking his grandma too. I have spent hours pricing out the best deals (Disney for the hotel only, Orlando Fun Tickets for park tickets, and budget air carriers (Allegiant for us, AirTran for grandma) for flights, all separately.)

The trouble I'm running into is we want travel insurance, but Disney's Travel Guard only cover flights and things booked within a Disney Package. I can't book a flight on the budget carrier out of South Bend through the Disney site. Also I can't book a different return city for grandma on Disney for her package. The other insurance plans I've looked at like Travelex are so confusing I'm not sure what's covered.

This is a 4 night, 3 day mini trip, and we need insurance for two reasons.
1. The winters here in South Bend, IN could keep us from getting to our 1/19/09 flight or could shut down the airport. Allegiant only flies Mondays and Fridays.
2. There is a remote chance that grandma might have to stay home and take care of grandpa if his health deteriorates -OR- weather could keep her from flying out.

So anyone got a good recommendation on straightforward travel insurance? At this point I'm leaning on risking paying hefty airline fees, hotel date change fees, and just getting no-expiration on the park tickets.

Thanks, I'm about to pull my hair out trying to save some $$$.

[zeusywoo]

Hi! The first time I used travel insurance was for my trip to Dominica last December. I helped plan a family destination wedding. Bride & groom live in D.C. & our family in NY & CA. So we used a travel agent & she suggested ins. for the snow reason plus their package covered other issues I don't fully remember. It was $79 a person, thought it covered everything. Also, didn't know at the time my company health insurance also had a little travel insurance tacked on, so check with your health care or work coordinator. Plus your visa or master card company may provide some travel protection. The best man lost his luggage, never to be found but did get reimbursed. 7y

When we booked our trip for June '09 we didn't hesitate to take the extra travel insurance. Funny how you change after using it once, hubby thinks it is a good investment. Hope some of this helps. And, I think you may want to work with your local travel agency to take over the headaches. They can piece it all together. Good Luck.

[glistensound2]

We don't have any question about whether we want insurance or not. It's too big of an investment.

Checked my credit card. The travel "insurance" is nothing more than assistance if we need to get a message to someone or helping us talk to the air carrier, no reimbursement of costs, just medical coverage.

Anyone else have a good lead on Disney trip insurance?

Thanks.

[glistensound2]

Wound up booking the 7 night promotion and it had the Travel Guard option which I took. They informed me even though my flight isn't booked through the Magic Your Way Package it is covered. Case closed.

[zeusywoo]

Oh that is good to hear. We haven't booked air for June yet either. Watching daily. Good luck.

[zima-cheryl]

We use Insure My Trip (insuremytrip.com)

I learned about this on the Clark Howard Radio Show & have been using them for a couple years (for all trips...not just to WDW).

We always decline the trip insurance offered to us & book our own. This lets us customize & compare what features we want. Delayed luggage, lost luggage, trip delay, trip cancel, medical, etc. For quick trips we go simple & cheap, but for longer or international we tend to add a bit more just in case. I really like being able to compare side by side & really understand what I'm geting.