Anyone worried about August 2006 and the dreaded hurricane season?

[dreamsofdisney]

After waiting for the AP codes to come out for June/July to no avail, we finally caved and booked our stay for 8/18-8/26 with the free dining as a big incentive. A couple of days later, my DH decided that we shouldn't push our luck with the possibilty of this being a potentially bad hurricane season.
We spent our honeymoon this past October stuck in Playa del Carmen in Mexico during Wilma, so we didn't want to have another costly "adventure."
We ended up making new ressies for 6/29-7/8 but using AAA codes. I'd love to upgrade to different rooms/views with an AP code if they come out in the next couple of weeks, but I was just wondering if we'd be better off going back to the August ressies in a deluxe resort with the dining plan, even though we wouldn't be able to use AP codes on top of the dining plan.
Anyone else consider the weather when they heard about the free dining plan? I hate to be one of those people who books multiple rooms until they decide, because I know it can contribute to Disney thinking resorts are full and NOT releasing codes, but we want to have the opportunity to stay at the resorts we love and still be pleased with the "deal" we got!

 

[Houston_Disney_Fan]

We're going Sept. 8-16. The fact of hurricane season did occur to me, but I've read on here that Disney resorts are not a bad place to spend a hurricane, usually resulting in only a day of "lockdown" at your resort. We're
actually just as likely to get one here in Houston as Florida, so are going to cross our fingers and go anyway. I don't think I would do a beach vacation that time of year, tho!

 

[cassie]

I've booked Sept 23 to 30 this year and I'm concerned too of hurricanes. Usually I book in May, but the only other time I booked in Sept a hurricane ruined my getting to Florida. I was arriving on the same day the hurricane came, so Delta booked me on a flight 2 days later, which they did cancel too, so that ended my Florida vacation for that year.

 

[LakeAriel]

I have been at Disney the third week of August 3 of the last 6 years and never had weather issues. Is it possible? Yes, but so are other catastrophes. Though last year hurricanes began in July usually September is the high season. It's a gamble some people don't wish to take which is WHY Disney is offering free dining

 

[MEK]

Three consecutive trips to Orlando in August. Missed all the hurricanes. Just lucky, I guess.

_______________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat!

 

[my3boys]

We were there with Hurricane Wilma - lots and lots of rain with a thunderstorm happening the night we were at MNSSHP. The parks were closed the following morning, but WDW was great with communicating throughout the entire event. In the lobby of the resort they brought in characters and lots of board games. Probably the most challenging thing was the food court was packed. In retrospect, I'd have bought some food for the room beforehand.

Honestly, weather can always be a concern almost anywhere (big article in USA Today on that just this week), so I'd not let that stop any vacation planning. IF things do become bad, remember that planes won't fly to keep you safe and WDW will also do what it needs to do to keep its guest safe as well.

One thing I would do differently was to stay at a one big building hotel like WL or AKL so we wouldn't have to go outside to go to the lobby or get food (short run, though, at AKL to Mara).

 

[kellyg403]

I, too, am a little concerned but I live on the east coast of NC so hurricanes are a way of life every summer for us. I figure if one comes, well, we will just change our dates as I understand Disney is very good about that kind of thing or go and wait it out if the storm is on a smaller scale. We are going the last week of Sept./first week of Oct. Here's hoping all of us have a great time with no hurricanes for anyone this summer!

Kelly

 

[nursemelis374]

I too am concerned. I was in Cancun for a hurricane and it was awful and a huge loss of money for us!

That said, we are booked for September 17-23rd, with the main incentive being hte free dining. I am not too worried about being at WDW during the hurricanes, my main concern is getting there from California. I guess we will just keep our fingers crossed and pray!

 

[mlwear]

This is one of the main reasons we decided to drive rather than fly. We won't be at the mercy of the airlines. Although, we may have to pay a fee to Disney we can be flexible with our travel dates, if we need to arrive a day later or leave a day earlier then so be it.
I usually don't pack food (snacks) for vacation. But, I think I will put together a little preparedness kit with some munchies after reading of a few that had trouble with the food courts during past hurricanes and a few other items but not over do it.
I can understand OP's worry with having a previous vacation ruined. I might think twice if I had a past bad vacation experience.
Although, our plan to drive is certainly going to put us at the mercy of gas prices!

 

[Lyn5]

In 2004, we cancelled our September trip to WDW because of hurricanes and went to DL instead. This year, free dining is tempting us back to make a third and final trip on our APs. I have not made our plane tickets yet, but DH and I already decided that if the weather looks bad, we will cancel. If things look good a few weeks out, we are taking a chance and going.

 

[deedeetoo]

If we didn't already have our plane tickets, we would probably switch to that same week in August that you're considering. We were already planning to take that week off (kids start school the following Wednesday) but a couple months ago we decided to go to Disney in June/July instead to avoid the hurricanes. Now there are no codes yet for June and there's free dining in late August. I checked but changing plane tickets would pretty much eat up the savings (change fee plus paying the difference in fares). Oh well, too late.

 

[nursemelis374]

I don't know if this will make anyone happy, but I just read an article from AccuWeather stating that they think the hurricane season will be much lighter this year. Sounds good to me!

On an interesting note, they also discussed the increased chance for a major hurricane hitting the northeastern coast.

 

[java]

I don't know if this will make anyone happy, but I just read an article from AccuWeather stating that they think the hurricane season will be much lighter this year. Sounds good to me!

On an interesting note, they also discussed the increased chance for a major hurricane hitting the northeastern coast.

You know I had read that also- that they think this year the storms will end up hitting higher up the coast.... due to pressure systems..el nino ect.. whatever all that means. All I know is that we are already having wind like I have never seen before in our area- so I don't want to think what a hurricane would do to us.
But back to Disney - it is very rare for it to hit so inland- and like previous posters said... they handle it very well. Good luck and get trip insurance just in case.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I sure am worried about the storms. I am here in FL and our state cannot take anymore storms. Too many insurance companies are pulling out of our state. As of this past week, I think 3 more pulled out. All there were under the same parent company of POE Not that I have ever heard of them before, but they are no longer here from what the news said. Yeah, I would like to get to Disney this Labor Day. The last 2 Labor Day trips were canceled to do storms.. 2004 Charley damaged my house too much for me to go away & enjoy it, 2005 Labor Day, we had a storm approaching our way & most gas stations in my town ran out of gas.. I had to cancel after my 5 day window started too!!

 

[RangerPooh]

We are going in August and the thought of hurricanes isn't stopping us. DH and I were there in 2004 when Hurricane Jean passed through. Didn't phase us a bit. We live in a coastal town on the west coast where we regularlly get winds that are about hurricane strength (all winter to boot). So we just sat back and enjoyed our trip. The other day when the lady at CRO tried to sell hubby travel insurance he just laughed!

 

[Luv2Roam]

We ended up making new ressies for 6/29-7/8

Hurricane season starts June 1.
And I recall last year it started the very end of May. Anytime between June 1 and mid November is up for grabs hurricane-wise.
I have heard too that ours will be more normal, and the northeastern section being hit the hardest. Even if that is true, it will really mess up flights, one way or another.
It's all a gamble.
We are flying to DL in September and keeping our fingers crossed!

 

[LoriLea]

We were there Labour Day weekend in 2004 (PC) and the parks were closed for 2 whole days for Hurricane Frances. This was at the end of our week. We were not able to leave when we had planned and my kids missed the first day of school, DH and I missed work. We did, however, feel safe at Disney.

What we enjoyed about this time of the year was the low crowds - no line-ups etc., so much that we have booked the exact same week for this year's trip.

 

[3forWDW]

I can't say how it is to go thru a hurricane at Disney World, but I can tell you it is the best place to go when evacuating after a hurricane hits!! We had already booked a trip for last year (September 2 -11) when Hurricane Katrina hit our hometown on August 29th. We rode out the hurricane and then couldn't leave due to no power, gas station, etc. Called CRO and they were GREAT!! Moved our ressies back a couple of days til we could get there and even let us add an additional child to our room with free dining (couldn't leave the son's best friend behind when they were out of school and conditions were horrible.) Had a great trip and then came back to deal with the situation!

 

[superdiz]

I sure hope not, our Disney wedding is on September 30 I'm hoping for good weather! I'm not overly concerned though because we were there during a hurricane two Augusts ago and it was a blast! There were characters at Coronado entertaining the long long lines for food. There was Mary Poppins and a penguin in the main hall and the penguin walked by the "Caution, Wet Floor" sign, pretended to slip and flipped in the air falling on his ginormous penguin behind. Belle and Mary Poppins were stunned for a minute then they looked up nervously and started laughing with everyone else. Funniest thing I've ever seen at Disney!

 

[funcinderella]

We prefer that time of year; usually go the 3rd week of August. This year, it's Aug 11-27, which we booked even before free dining (which we're not using anyway). We got lucky in 2004, we were right in between Charlie and Frances. But I think the hurricanes don't (typically) really affect Disney all that much, except maybe some rain which you get in August anyway. I like the heat so we can swim whenever we want and it's still nice. We went this past November and it was too chilly in the evening to comfortably swim.