Thanks for all the answers. It has been a huge help. i think the only concern we truly have is Hurricanes. Will they shut the parks down if they get hit with one?
I pretty much second all you have read here about Florida LOL it at times is like breathing water the humidity is so thick.
Here is a first hand account of riding out a hurricane in Disney. They are good
http://boortz.com/nuze/200408/08162004.html
Monday, August 16, 2004
IF YOU'RE GOING TO SIT OUT A HURRICANE ...
... try to arrange to sit the hurricane out at Walt Disney World. Even though I was there, less than 10 miles from the eye of Hurricane Charley, I can't say that I feel like I was actually in a hurricane. We were staying at the Ft. Wilderness Lodge villas. Friday afternoon they came around and put flashlights in every room. We never needed them. The electricity never went out. Disney has its own power system, and all lines are underground. The Disney theme parks all closed at 1:00 pm on Friday, so guests were swarming back into the hotels. Staffers put up craft tables to occupy the kids, free movies were being run on the in-room televisions. The restaurants closed for about two hours to let the hurricane pass through, then reopened late in the evening. The winds at this area of Disney were probably a sustained 80 miles per hour. Miles away the winds were at 105 miles per hour. At the Wilderness Lodge they were serving a midnight buffet for guests. When we woke up on Saturday morning the staff was already clearing downed trees and debris, and by mid afternoon the only clue you had that a hurricane had gone through were tree stumps. My guess is that they'll be gone by this afternoon.Saturday morning I got in the car to see what was happening. After leaving the protective cocoon of Disney World the destruction became immediately apparent. Almost every sign along US 192 was stripped naked. Trees and power lines were down everywhere. Virtually nobody had any electricity. People in hotels and motels outside Disney were gathered in parking lots making meals of whatever they could find. Business owners were trying to clean up debris in hopes that they would be in some condition to open when the power came back on.
I came back to Atlanta on Sunday. Donna drove to Naples to see what damage had occurred to our properties there. She called me when she drove through the Port Charlotte - Punta Gorda area. She was crying. She couldn't believe the extent of the damage she was seeing. Donna is a trained Red Cross disaster relief volunteer. It may be a while before she comes back to Atlanta.
I've been in hurricanes before without any serious troubles.
I was fortunate enough to weather this one nestled safe inside the ultra-prepared confines of Disney. I saw first hand though the agony that other people are going through. Lives have been lost. Retirement homes, jobs, livelihoods have been lost. There could be as many as one million Floridians still without electricity today. Let's keep them in our prayers ... especially those who lost loved ones and friends.
Two more thoughts. First, get your car filled up before the hurricane hits. Second ... I have a new attitude about evacuation orders. If I'm ever in a place where an evacuation order is given ... I'm in the car before the second-hand makes another sweep.
Finally ... when I got back to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon I noticed a lot of email messages from people wondering how I fared in the hurricane. Just fine, thanks. And thanks for caring.