Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[sunshine1]

Taken yesterday at ticket and transportation center.
Hope everyone is safe X

 

[sunshine1]

Now this is Disney doing good.

MAGIC. X

 

[Nancyg56]

If they cared about safety and not $$$ they would be offering their rooms for free to displaced florida residents, turning their many buildings into shelters, etc. Or they would have closed MK today to discourage folks from traveling to Orlando and allow castmembers time to make their own preparations Instead they chose to keep their resorts full, keep the park open till the last minute, continue accepting new reservations while not making sure sufficient staff were on hand to support the care of small city size number of families.

Are you saying that those thousands and thousands of people who had tickets would have been happy to see the parks close? I cannot imagine the balancing act that these theme parks must navigate. We live in CT, and I can tell you that the few times when a major storm seems to be looming, and predictions made that businesses use to make the decision to send everyone home, and schools to close prematurely and then.....nothing......the aftermath is not pretty. Not at all. HAd Disney closed those parks earlier guests who had planned to use their tickets on a perfectly lovely day woudld have had plenty to say.

Actually it does to me. During Hurricane the rules change and being safe is the only real concern. No one is going to starve before food service is back up to speed. Being in the dark won't kill you or having extra towels. So really everyone needs to simply focus on being safe and nothing else. As long as that is accomplished the rest does not matter. And yes I been through 3 hurricanes as a guest at Disney.

Disney is working with a lesser staff, staff that are also worried about their homes and family. I think they do a fabulous job during the storms, and I would never come on a forum and give them a hard time about any of it during a hurricane.

While the risk is a small one this is the risk you take when you travel during hurricane season. Also who travels without at least a small flashlight. Not me. Also I don't wait until the last moment to secure some food and water when a major hurricane is coming, even if I am at Disney. Sadly some of this misery is self inflicted.

I agree.

No matter where a person is there should be personal responsibility, even in the Disney bubble.

There's so many ways to get a weather report and plan how to take care of yourself and family no matter if you've been in that particular weather or not.

Exactly. I do nto think you need to have lived through hurricanes to knwo that if there is an impending storm, you just prepare a litte.

I think people have the right to complain. Remember, they are tourists. Many are experiencing a hurricane for the first time. I'm sure they are feeling anxiety. I also think Disney can do better than having guests wait in lines for 5 hours for a boxed sandwhich.
I, too, love Disney, but it's disappointing to hear they don't have a better plan at this point. It isn't like they have no experience with hurricanes in the past.

I do nto think this is an excuse. I don't know hurricanes but folks in the north understand storms. If we have a major storm heading our way we also have the same kind of prep drill that southerners have for hurricanes. While the damage is not usually as devasting as hurricane damage is, we have the travel restrictions, power outages, etc. I cannto give folks a pass because the yu think that while they are in the Disney bubble all will be business as usual. TO be honest, my sandwiches and snacks would have been in my fridge before that line even formed, and my family meal would not have been that boxed lunch. I would not have placed my own needs on DIsney to manage. If I choose to vacation during a hurricane, and choosing trips this time of year is indeed a choice, I also choose to be responsible for myself. If I do not plan ahead, it's on me to take what Ican get and make the best of it.

The poster you quoted is also from coastal South Carolina, so I can almost guarantee you that they're familiar with the intricacies of a hurricane. Someone from Nebraska might have a little less experience. Some (many in fact) people think it's just an elongated thunderstorm. This kind of reminds me of the gator incident where everyone was arguing about "commonsense," yet the definition of "commonsense" changes based on an individual's experiences.

I rode out five hurricanes in my life, but now that I'm in Chicago, I've talked with a number of people who weren't aware of the intricacies of it (i.e. the difference between a hurricane and a TS, the whole category system, storm surge, the fact that widespread power outages are expected, etc...), much like I wasn't really aware of all the intricacies of a snowstorm, growing up in Florida my whole life. Certainly, if you watch lots of news coverage of this, you'll have a better idea, but these people are just visitors and they're there on vacation. Could they have prepared better? Possibly, but I don't think this is the time to try to churn a profit. I think some compassion can go a long way. You combine the price of the snack boxes with the PTO situation with the CMs, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Winter storms. Believe me, a storm plan is a storm plan. When folks travel up here and are stranded, I feel sympathy, but it's winter time. Snow happens. Hotels charge what they charge, meals are not discounted, and if you wait too long, you get what you get and you stand in line.

I understand that some folks do not get it, but honestly there was plenty of coverage on the news, and when you travel during a hurricane season you really need to consider that one may happen.

That's how it always is. No matter what they did they were going to anger someone.

Now watch if this storm isn't as bad and the parks are fine people will complain that they never should have announced they were closing tomorrow.

Oh boy! WE get this everytime there are preemptive closings. Business cannot win.

It's a nice gesture but it's a bit of a bummer for folks in resorts that aren't connected to main areas. They're stuck in their rooms for the next 18 to 24 hours.

I agree that it seems unfair, but IMO safety trumps everything,

I'll be honest, I think that $13 for those stinky lunches was pretty awful, but other than that, I think that Disney boots on the ground are going above and beyond what anyone should expect. I have no idea what Disney did not just bite the bullet and close up shop given that the management seemed to know it was inevitable that they would, but those folks who are out there doing all they can for guests are my heroes. Years ago my son's place of employment turned into an emergency center for first responders and utilities people during hurricanes, He volunteered to work through it and said it was all about attitude. The folks who stayed on for over 9 days knew what they were going to be in for, and they made the best of it and had a good time doing it. He said the bonus was hot running water! LOL! I look at the theme parks ride out crews the same way, but even moreso. They are there through the storms, caring for guests, looking after the animals, and monitoring storm damage.

 

[Amunet]

Been reading/skimming this thread and it's wonderful information! Keep up with the updates and I hope everyone sleeps well and are safe.

Positive thoughts from Chicago

 

[Lisa F]

"Yes but by 4pm, plenty of local places were closed. Our local grocery stores, restaurants, etc were all closed. Thousands of people were trying to drive west towards Tampa, it would not have been an hour long drive.

I drove from Orlando to Tampa today as we were advised by the sheriff to evacuate our community or give them the name & number of our next of kin (he was serious). It took us 4 1/2 hours to get from the WDW exit to Tampa due to all the evacuees leaving. This would have normally been less than an hour's drive

do you live in a manufactured housing community or someplace with a lot of flood potential? because i am not aware of most of Orlando being under mandatory evacuation orders.

 

[JerseyJanice]

We are here at the Swan resort now, and I can't express how wonderfully they have handled it. (And how wonderful this resort is, period, but that's another thread for the Resorts board.)

Communication from the hotel was great. They sent several recorded messages to our phone and slipped letters under our door. There is no housekeeping today, but the restaurants will be open except for the ones at the pools.

We spent the afternoon at Epcot yesterday. It rained on and off, but we managed to enjoy some of the F&W. Got to see Margret Almer (who I adore) plus Frozen, the American Adventure and the movie in China. They put away any tables that were out for the Festival. Guide maps were tucked away. They taped big groups of garbage cans together to keep them from blowing around during the storm.

As a Disney magic moment, the wind and rain kicked up fierce at 5:00 just as the park was closing. On the way out of Epcot, I stopped at the bakery in France and got a goat cheese tart for breakfast this morning as well as a creme brûlée.

We were supposed to fly home tomorrow, but we're going to try to stay till Sunday so we can spend another day at the parks. We do have one more day on our park hoppers.

I just hope that everyone down here has fared as well as we have in this storm. I lived through Floyd and Sandy, and in comparison to those two storms, Matthew was a breeze.

Stay safe everybody!

 

[denegate]

We are at All Star Sports right now. This thread has been so helpful. I have mixed feelings about how Disney has handled this hurricane.
The good:
Free arcade games all night tonight.
Character and cm dance party in lobby
Food court was well stocked despite the mad food rush
Flashlights placed in all rooms
The bad:
Communication
Price gouging on box lunches
Food court wait times tonight
Had to wait hours and beg to get our free dining extended for our extra days needed due to cancelled flight. I really didn't think this would be a problem. I spent 4 hours tonight getting this worked out.

Thanks for your post! Can you tell me how things are there now? My daughter is at there and I haven't reached her yet.

 

[denegate]

How are things looking at the All Stars right now?

 

[hiroMYhero]

@hiroMYhero a familiar face?

The Captain in the photo is Jen who had been very good friends with Mulan and she's on the Contemp ride out team.

Remember the SWW Maul show? They really are look-alikes and Younglings on the JTA stage always asked if they were sisters.

 

[GPC0321]

Here's a couple pictures out of the Contemporary earlier tonight. From the Alumni group on Facebook

Love this! Yesterday I texted my mother and said, "I'm worried about Mickey." She replied, "Mickey?! What about Goofy??" (her favorite). So I just took a picture of the Goofy pic above and sent it to her as proof that Goofy is okay, LOL! She said she feels much better knowing that. LOL!
Seriously though, it looks like a much less dire situation this morning, and I'm so glad. I wish Matthew would GO THE HECK ON SOMEWHERE! What a pain he's been.

 

[yulilin3]

The Captain in the photo is Jen who had been very good friends with Mulan and she's on the Contemp ride out team.

Remember the SWW Maul show? They really are look-alikes and Younglings on the JTA stage always asked if they were sisters.

Why do I keep asking that?

 

[tony67]

We are here at the Swan resort now, and I can't express how wonderfully they have handled it. (And how wonderful this resort is, period, but that's another thread for the Resorts board.)

The Swan is not Disney - but glad to hear they are doing things right.

It sounds like Disney could have done a better job..but they are in a tough situation.
Had they made the decision to close Friday sooner and then the storm went way off course people would have complained...not matter what they did people would have complained.

Although not quite the same as a hurricane we have had some pretty major nor easters predicated on several occasions and the entire city has closed down.
When we got up in the morning - nothing or very little.
Then everyone starts complaining about overreaction and pointing fingers at the mayor and the governor for lost profits etc....
When you have so many people who planned their trip so far in advance, possibly a once in a lifetime trip, i can see why they waited so long.
It is a tough call...but once they made that decision in sounds like they did not inform people like they should have.
In this day of everyone has a smart phone it is pretty simple...they have all our emails...they have the app..they can probably send an emergency text to the area as well

The main thing I will fault them on is the food situation - especially at the motel style resorts. They really should have had a better plan around that.
Would it have killed them to make a bunch of basic sandwiches and hand them out or have them in the room refrigerators?
Instead it sounds like they are charging $12 for a wonder bread and a slice of meat from what we are seeing reported here.

The big mistake here is that people wont forget this and they will tell their friends when asked about what it was like.
It is bad PR

They also did some things right - taking care of the people at fr Wilderness etc...

Someone mentioned they should have taken in locals - but I suspect there are no rooms or spaces left for them - they have enough to deal with already.

Would be interested to hear from folks at Universal as well and see how they handled it.

 

[yulilin3]

Live report from my neck of the woods (5 minutes from the airport, 20 minutes east of Disney)
Still lots of wind and rain, wind gusts up to 65mph. Been awake since 2am. Weather folks say we should be our of the woods around noon, have not loss power yet

 

[Nancyg56]

Live report from my neck of the woods (5 minutes from the airport, 20 minutes east of Disney)
Still lots of wind and rain, wind gusts up to 65mph. Been awake since 2am. Weather folks say we should be our of the woods around noon, have not loss power yet

Thank goodness!

 

[Disney_traveler]

Taken yesterday at ticket and transportation center.
Hope everyone is safe X

Your Marie pic at the bottom loaded first and I said "omg they brought back Marie for the hurricane!?!? I'm booking for that time then!"

 

[Lisa F]

Live report from my neck of the woods (5 minutes from the airport, 20 minutes east of Disney)
Still lots of wind and rain, wind gusts up to 65mph. Been awake since 2am. Weather folks say we should be our of the woods around noon, have not loss power yet

that is normal winter storm crap here on martha's vineyard. If that is the worst of it that is great news all around! stay safe!

 

[rachelsmom97]

We are at the Boardwalk Villas. The cast members here have been wonderful. They had a buffet dinner option last night in the two restaurants, both Abracadabar and Bellevue Lounge were open, and there were arts and crafts and character meets in the lobby last night. We have been getting messages on our phone with updates. Today they are having buffet breakfast and lunch options as well.

I think the resorts that have interior hallways that connect to the lobby have a lot more options than those who have rooms with exterior corridors. One thing we thought was interesting is that if you want to go to the buffets today you need to go to the lobby and they will escort you to the restaurant. We will go down later to check it out.

We are also on the Disney Fantasy sailing that is now scheduled to leave on the 9th. We were able to get a room here Saturday night but we will have to change rooms.

So far, for us Disney has been handling everything well and the cast members here have been awesome. At least the storm is not as bad as they were projecting last night.

 

[mac3mpc]

We were supposed to fly out tomorrow night for home. We had been watching the forecasts since Monday morning and made the preemptive decision on Wednesday to cancel our flight (thank you JetBlue - full refund and no penalty) and reserve a car for yesterday morning for the long drive home to New York. I'm glad we did. Many people were scrambling yesterday as we were leaving trying to find transportation of any kind trying to get out.

We're used to blizzards and ice storms. We know it's better to be safe than sorry when you hear Mother Nature is in a furry and heading your way.

I hope everyone who stayed behind is safe. Thinking and praying for all visitors and cast members still there.

 

[PuppyJonathan]

Resort Activities for tomorrow at Contemporary, maybe similar at others. Check your resort for activities.

ace ‏@Jace736 5h5 hours ago
Activity schedule at #Disney #contemporary #resort due to #hurricanematthew #livefromdisney http://ift.tt/2d71vKG

Sorry for bumping this post up but that actually looks like a really fun schedule!

 

[sm4987]

The Swan is not Disney - but glad to hear they are doing things right.

It sounds like Disney could have done a better job..but they are in a tough situation.
Had they made the decision to close Friday sooner and then the storm went way off course people would have complained...not matter what they did people would have complained.

Although not quite the same as a hurricane we have had some pretty major nor easters predicated on several occasions and the entire city has closed down.
When we got up in the morning - nothing or very little.
Then everyone starts complaining about overreaction and pointing fingers at the mayor and the governor for lost profits etc....
When you have so many people who planned their trip so far in advance, possibly a once in a lifetime trip, i can see why they waited so long.
It is a tough call...but once they made that decision in sounds like they did not inform people like they should have.
In this day of everyone has a smart phone it is pretty simple...they have all our emails...they have the app..they can probably send an emergency text to the area as well

The main thing I will fault them on is the food situation - especially at the motel style resorts. They really should have had a better plan around that.
Would it have killed them to make a bunch of basic sandwiches and hand them out or have them in the room refrigerators?
Instead it sounds like they are charging $12 for a wonder bread and a slice of meat from what we are seeing reported here.

The big mistake here is that people wont forget this and they will tell their friends when asked about what it was like.
It is bad PR

They also did some things right - taking care of the people at fr Wilderness etc...

Someone mentioned they should have taken in locals - but I suspect there are no rooms or spaces left for them - they have enough to deal with already.

Would be interested to hear from folks at Universal as well and see how they handled it.

We are at the Hard Rock Hotel. We just moved to the Orlando area last year and had never been through a hurricane before. Tried Disney, they were booked so I booked here. When I had the chance to really think about it best decision I could have made as both my kids work for Universal and one of them had to work yesterday. Just a short drive to wardrobe and made it back before they wanted everyone off the road. That would have not happened if we had stayed at home.

That being said they have been great. Letters under the door that told us of the limited service and a menu that room service was available until 4 am. Activities in the ballroom and last night the kitchen did a buffet for $26 pp. my daughter and I are gluten free and they prepared meats for us although it took some time. The wait time for the restaurant was a little long (1 hour 10 minutes) but no where near what they were at Disney. We hung out in the lobby while we waited and headed back downstairs when the beeper went off. The Velvet bar and the steak house was open, live music and a coffee bar serving Starbucks coffee was in the lobby.

I haven't heard a peep outside although I can see the trees blowing. Overall I am very pleased. They have done a wonderful job!