Have we ruined our DisneyWorld trip?

[Odellio]

I need some reassurance or advice. We are due to fly to Florida for DisneyWorld this afternoon with SC and DS. We have little knowledge of international travel, I knew we needed ESTAs but didn’t understand the process. I checked with in-laws who are organising the whole trip if they had sorted ESTAs, and they said they had. Obviously I misunderstood that they were talking about their ESTAs only and not ours. We applied yesterday afternoon as soon as we realised we didn’t have ESTAs. Still pending authorisation. I am hugely panicking now that we won’t get them in time to check-in.

Op that is easy mistake to make hope it comes through

No, they don't just take your word for it. Now, it might be accurate that they don't ask you to show proof but that is because they can see it in their system (for some reason, they sometimes ask you, but that's not for proving it, I feel like it is just a holdover for asking for asking for non-electric visas or just making conversation).

Similar to my recent trip to Australia, when I was checking in, I was having trouble pulling up my Australian ETA (or whatever they call it) on my phone and the check-in agent said that I didn't need to pull it up as he could already see it in his system (to be fair, he hadn't asked me about it, I just assumed that I should show it).

I am crossing everything for you OP - please come and update us if/when they come through!

ESTA system does to vary, we haven’t needed to apply for ESTAs recently, the last time was 10yrs ago, but judging by these comments not much seems to have changed. When we applied we didn’t get them altogether, three came through quickly the fourth took a couple of days. But no reason why that should have been the case, all applied for at the same time. It does seem quicker for those applying during office hours.

Is there anyone at the airport you can alert as soon as you get there?

Fingers crossed for you op 🤞

Thanks for all the reassurance, your posts have been really helpful in staying as calm as possible. Also 5 months pregnant so trying to get too stressed but it’s hard!

Packing up the car now for airport, it’s only an hour away so we will get there nice and early to sort things out and change flights if necessary.

Oh crikey, fingers crossed for you OP x

I’ve always got my ESTAs before even booking just incase they don’t come through ok. Hindsight however an amazing thing. Good luck they come through. Keep checking online rather than waiting for an email.

Good luck OP I really hope all works out okay! Update us x

Any updates op

It wasn’t triggering, was a more don’t give the OP false hope they might do it for free 🤷‍♀️ if they do then amazing for her but they don’t have to was more what I was saying. If I was in OP shoes right now I would be trying to move the flight or at least making the calls to do so, so at least they are aware and you can have a back up plan in case

Really hope they arrive in time. You'll know not to trust the ILs to organise things in future!

I have everything crossed for you.

Did you apply using the app? We applied on Tuesday evening and they were approved in less than 2 hours.

Fingers crossed for you!

really hope they arrive soon. It’s a very easy mistake the make. You’re not the first and won’t be the last! At least you realised before check in!

Good luck OP. Hope they come through .

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 my daughter recently flew to the US and hers was approved in less than 24 hours

Really hope they come through for you 😬🤞🤞

Oh my goodness, I can't even begin to describe the stress we went through at Heathrow. My husband and I were all set to fly to New York, where we had an appointment at City Hall to get our marriage license. For those who don't know, you need to have that license at least 24 hours before the wedding, so timing was absolutely critical.
We get to the self-check-in machine, and it says my husband doesn’t have an ESTA attached. 😱 Cue panic! If we had to wait the 72 hours to apply for a new one, we would have missed the City Hall appointment, and with our friends already in New York, it felt like the whole trip (and wedding!) was about to fall apart.
We approached a BA rep for help, and her response was basically a shrug and “If it’s not on there, it’s not on there.” No help, no sympathy. Honestly, I could feel my blood pressure skyrocketing.
Luckily, another BA staff member swooped in like an absolute hero, took a closer look, and managed to do some sort of magic behind the scenes. I’m not even sure what she did, but it worked, and we were able to board the flight. Still, it was one of the most stressful experiences of my life!

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO THIS

1. It won’t work anyway
2. You risk your family being DETAINED at the US border

this is Trump’s America, do not fuck about.

Hi, I’m so sorry this has happened. We experienced similar last year in that we had submitted our applications well in advance but they hadn’t been approved. I also found the same Reddit thread re trying to submit a new application via the ESTA app rather than desktop and it worked on the 2nd attempt. It had to be via the app and not the ESTA mobile site. I got the same error message as you but then about an hour later the status of the original application changed to approved.

Good luck, keeping everything crossed for you.

Gosh this thread has made me so stressed! Fingers crossed for you OP.

Good luck op

Good luck op keeping my fingers crossed for you all x