Anyone know if the hurricanes coming will cause any trouble for Disney?

[maryj11]

Do you think the hurricanes that are coming near will cause airport delays or anything during Labor day week? Danielle I think is going away from Florida, but Im not sure about Earl. Im wondering about Sept 6th when we fly down. I hope there arent any delays or anything because of high winds or heavy rain.What do you think or know about it?

 

[grimley1968]

That's 10 days out. It's just too far out to predict anything with any certainty.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

It's WAY to early to even think about Labor Day weekend.

As for Orlando and hurricanes in general, they rarely impact MCO, however that doesn't mean flights will not be an issue because planes often don't go just between two points, they often criss-cross between different cities. For instance, if a hurricane happens to hit the Eastern Seaboard, say around NC it could have a larger impact to flights then one hitting Florida, same goes for Texas areas.

 

[Brian Noble]

Here's the best source I know of:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ssanty/cgi-bin/eightball.cgi

( for the humor-impaired.)

 

[Jestocost]

I couldn't say if any of these storms will hit Orlando.

If a hurricane or tropical storm does hit Orlando, however, there almost certainly will be delays at the airport and there's a good chance it will be closed for a period of time. How long will depend on the duration of the conditions that are making flying unsafe. I was there in 2005 when Wilma hit as a borderline tropical and the airport was closed for about a day. Epcot, MK and DTD were open by 2:00 p.m. on the day after the storm rolled through overnight and DHS and AK opened on schedule the next day.

 

[Missytara]

One thing can be said, they know how to plan for it if it does......

 

[NotUrsula]

You are now 11 days out. No one really knows anything about that likelihood now except that there is nothing to really know. There is every possibility that those storm systems will be long gone by Sept. 6th, just as there is every possibility that one or more of them might have hit somewhere and then re-formed over water for a second hit by that time.

Here's a record of the forecasts for a storm that actually did hit Orlando; Hurricane Charley in 2004: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/Charley06.pdf
If you skim that (and take special note of page 4) you will see how the forecasting timeline works. (Note that the forward speed of a hurricane varies greatly from storm to storm, and can even be zero, so you shouldn't assume that any other storm will move on the same timeline as Charley did.)

 

[BigTigger]

We were at WDW in August 2004 when Charlie hit Orlando directly. The airport shutdown about 12 hours before Charlie made landfall and stayed closed until about 18 hours after he cleared land back into the Atlantic. Airlines had stopped operations well before the airport closed and started up slowly after it re-opened. The airport had heavy water damage and glass panels blown out near the train that connects the gates to the terminal on both sides as well as in a few terminal areas.

Disney rode out the storm well. We were staying in BWV and it never lost power. Disney opened MK only for Disney hotel guests only on the morning before the hurricane hit and then closed it at noon. Disney opened the hotel ballroom and provided free food to hotel guests during the afternoon and evening preceding the storm to keep us indoors. After the storm, the parks opened late the next morning, gas lines at the Hess stations were huge as most areas east of I-4 lost power, and Disney had lots of food items out of stock for a few days as they replenished what they had used in the free food giveaways.

By unhappy coincidence, I was staying at the Dolphin for a conference when Francis hit a few weeks later and their response was not quite as good as Disney - food was not available, etc. MCO re-opened about a day after Francis and my Delta flight took off on time on the second day after the storm.

Bottom line is that even if it affects air travel, the affect is short lived.

 

[dburg30]

no one knows for sure, but I'd be surprised if earl would. Of course you never know, but I would figure it will take about the same path as Danielle is.. If not would probably mess up more stuff up towards the carolinas anyway. That being said of course, it is mother nature... And she has a mind of her own.

 

[maryj11]

I hope Earl and what ever is coming behind Earl stays away !!! LOL We will be leaving in 8 days yipeeee ! I will be watching the weather like a hawk also

 

[jlewisinsyr]

The best info on Earl and all the storms can be found at the link below.

SPAMMING the forums much?

The best place to go is NHC.NOAA.GOV...that's right the GOVERNMENTS own resource that tracks ALL storms that have a threat of depression, tropical storm or hurricane both in the Atlantic and Pacific.

 

[dburg30]

that's a good one of course, but also www.wunderground.com is also a good site for good, unbiased info.

 

[Brian Noble]

Another plug for wunderground---it was founded by a colleague of mine here at Michigan. Not necessarily any more accurate than NOAA, but a nifty site for sure.

http://www.wunderground.com/about/background.asp

 

[Alexander]

We are here now, and the only impact we are seeing from Earl, is that no one in the NorthEast is going home this weekend! Most of the airlines flying to the eastern seaboard from North Carolina to Maine are asking customers to voluntarily rebook flights. Since school in the Northeastern states hasn't started yet, WDW has lots of NE people here now who may get an extra day or two out of their vacations!

 

[AlexDurrani]

Fortunately for those traveling to Disney this weekend they are going to be lucky for the hurricanes but not so sure about those trying to head home to the Eastern seaboard. God keep y'all safe. Gaston (ironic isn't it) is the one to watch for next week.