Charley Survivors last week...a question

[Bethshaya]

For those that were in the parks last week during the hurricane...I have a question.

I am leaving tomorrow and with Hurricane Frances looming in the distance for next week, can you tell me:

What item do you wish you had packed from home or had with you during the hurricane?

I packed a flashlight, but if there is anything you wish you had brought with you to pass the time, or to keep you safe?

 

[laceemouse]

I was not there but I can give you my 2 cents. Disney is like its own little city with their own utilities, ect. They should not ever lose power for long, and they have crews to fix, clean up things, and the like. We have family in Winter Park north of Orlando and they are still without power, but Disney could never be "down" for that long, they would lose a mint. I would like to see if someone that was there has any other suggestions for you, but if they don't I would just not worry too much about it if I were you. Just hope for the best and have fun planning your trip....Lacee

 

[1MegMeg]

As a Florida native who is the queen of organization I am always very prepared for hurricanes.

If Frances happens to come to FL Disney will take care of most of the major stuff, but here are my ideas for stuff you yourself may want to have.

Flashlights
books/games (i.e. things to keep you occupied w/o electricity)
Once you get to the Orlando area you might consider purchasing an inexpensive styrofoam cooler to keep ice and drinks in.

Other than that, I think Disney will take care of you all.

Have a fabulous trip!

 

[AirForceRocks]

We were there for Charley, and the resort (POFQ) was great!

They brought us a flashlight, and three of the channels on the TV played non-stop Disney animated features. The food court was open until 6:30 then night the storm hit, and in addition to the regular food, they were also selling "bag lunchs" for $3.00.

We did have the PS2 with us (the kids used it in the car on the way down), so that helped. I would recommend some small board games or cards to help pass the time.

 

[mrp4352]

We bought the Disney Sorry the night before at Downtown Disney and had Yahtzee with us. Another small game wouldn't have been bad. I definitely second the inexpensive cooler idea, and if you have access grab a bag of ice for it. The ice maker at AS-Music had a hard time keeping up with the business it was doing!

The biggest thing, though, is to remember that as stressful as it is for you as a guest, castmembers are worring about their home! So, please be understanding when package pickup isn't available or if you see someone who's maybe not quite up to Disney friendliness standards. {side note: we never saw a castmember who wasn't going above and beyond to be friendly and caring on the day after Charley. In fact, they were absolutely spectacular - you'd think that there had just been a light summer breeze the day before to watch them work!}

I was amazed and embaressed at the lack of compassion by guests on the day before Charley came and the morning after. [Hello, people, there was a CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE!!! Some of these people might have lost their houses last night and they're here taking care of you with smiles on their faces!! Sorry, I couldn't say it there, and it had to come out at some point.]

If you're going to have to live through a hurricane, WDW is probably the place to be!

 

[Gorechick]

I was there for Charley and I was not scared or worried. We stayed at the Best Western in the hotel plaza that night and we had power, water, radio. The satellite was out but that was it. Disney is its own little colony with its own power, water, sewers, etc... so you should be fine. I was surprised as well by the ludicrous attitude of guests after the hurricane. I witnessed an irate guest reaming a hotel clerk about the slow bus service the morning after the hurricane. Get a grip!

 

[mansionfan]

Originally posted by Gorechick
I witnessed an irate guest reaming a hotel clerk about the slow bus service the morning after the hurricane. Get a grip!

Wow....Some people just amaze me on how inconsiderate they can be.

 

[Bethshaya]

Originally posted by mrp4352
We bought the Disney Sorry the night before at Downtown Disney and had Yahtzee with us. Another small game wouldn't have been bad. I definitely second the inexpensive cooler idea, and if you have access grab a bag of ice for it. The ice maker at AS-Music had a hard time keeping up with the business it was doing!

The biggest thing, though, is to remember that as stressful as it is for you as a guest, castmembers are worring about their home! So, please be understanding when package pickup isn't available or if you see someone who's maybe not quite up to Disney friendliness standards. {side note: we never saw a castmember who wasn't going above and beyond to be friendly and caring on the day after Charley. In fact, they were absolutely spectacular - you'd think that there had just been a light summer breeze the day before to watch them work!}

I was amazed and embaressed at the lack of compassion by guests on the day before Charley came and the morning after. [Hello, people, there was a CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE!!! Some of these people might have lost their houses last night and they're here taking care of you with smiles on their faces!! Sorry, I couldn't say it there, and it had to come out at some point.]

If you're going to have to live through a hurricane, WDW is probably the place to be!

I am an amatuer survivalist, so when at home or away from home, I have a BOB (Bug out bag). So I am no stranger to roughin it if I have to.

I would in no way expect a CM to wait on me hand and foot, and in fact would expect them not to because they have a park to batten down and prepare. All I expect is access to information, which from reading was available in addition to a small hand cranked weather radio I am bringing with me as well.

We are alone with no kids for the first time in 10 years this week, so I think we will have lots of entertainment available to us (wink, wink).

Thanks for all the suggestions all!

 

[HauntedMansionFreak]

We arrived in Orlando just hours before Charley hit. We were without power for almost 3 days. The things we wished we had:


A radio with batteries

More candles (I only packed one)

More non-perishable snackable foods. We took alot - but not 3 days worth and with gas stations, stores...well EVERYTHING closed - no power and no ice anywhere - we got a little hungry. Waffle House was the ONLY thing open and one of them ran out of food and the other was serving hashbrowns.

A car charger or additional battery for my video camera

We took some board games and cards.

Take a case or two of bottled water. When trees are uprooted they can break the water and sewer lines and the water runs together. You cannot drink the water and can't boil it because of not having electricity.

Alarm clock with batteries (if you're not staying in a hotel)

And the most important: TYLENOL SIMPLY SLEEP or other sleeping aid. It's HARD to fall asleep in a hot house/hotel

 

[Barbday62]

We was there and since it was my last day we were short on food and water. I ended up buying some pretty expensive stuff in the hotel store because I didnt even relaize a hurricane was on its way until the night before at 11PM when I gto back to my hotel room and a notice was on the door. (no real time to watch tv I guess.)

Anyway as I sat there in the hurricane I was worried about water more than anything. We did fill our tub just in case so at least we could flush if needed.

We had a 5 month old baby and 2 1/2 year old so I determined if need be the kids would get the expensive store bought water. Other than that I didnt worry until about 8pm during the middle of the hardest part of the storm was blowing by. I thought what if the lights go out? My grandson still got up several times in the night for a bottle. It was too late to worry about no flash lights so we got resourseful. We took out the lighted toys and determined we could use that and then we had the lap top fully charged and it woudl be light for quite a long time too.

Lucky we didnt lose water lights or anything. The sattelite TV blinked a lot but never went out either.

 

[TmnsnMD]

We were there camping and were sent to POFQ.

I would say bring snacks to keep in your room. There was a very LONG line for food and then the food court was closed, so some guest (who were not in line and did not know the food court was going to close) did not get dinner. Water is another thing I would keep around. POFQ had 3 movies showing all night (I believe they were PPV movies) -- that really helped keep everyones mind off the storm.

Disney faired very well during the Hurricane and I think they have a very good plan in place for something like this happening. No worries! They will keep you informed.

As for someone getting irate about the bus service, I can understand being upset (everyone gets that way once in awhile) but to take it out on a CM is just not well done. I do think that they could have helped PO out by sending some of the FW buses to help with the extra crowds that PO had to deal with from all the FW campers -- I know that PO had to feel overwelmed with the campers showing up at one time.

Don't worry WDW has everything in control -- just go and have fun.

TmnsnMD

 

[a Really Bad Egg]

Patience...

...but you should pack that every trip.


We were there for Charley and WDW handled it wonderfully.

 

[candykisses]

I wish we had known that there were other DISers at POFQ. Brad (Banzai) had a lime green cast on his arm. He was hoping that fellow DISers would be there.

As others have said, having snack food in the room was nice. Games would be nice to have too. A deck of cards, Uno, Clue..whatever games you like. Ryan had his Gameboy and we all had a book to read.

CMs gave us a flashlight for each room. I have to say the CMs were great. We heard several guests being very demanding, but the CM never lost their cool.

We'll be back to the FQ next year for the 4th of July, without a hurricane, I hope.

 

[Lisa AF]

[[QUOTEA radio with batteries

More candles (I only packed one)

More non-perishable snackable foods. We took alot - but not 3 days worth and with gas stations, stores...well EVERYTHING closed - no power and no ice anywhere - we got a little hungry. Waffle House was the ONLY thing open and one of them ran out of food and the other was serving hashbrowns.

A car charger or additional battery for my video camera

We took some board games and cards.

Take a case or two of bottled water. When trees are uprooted they can break the water and sewer lines and the water runs together. You cannot drink the water and can't boil it because of not having electricity.

Alarm clock with batteries (if you're not staying in a hotel)

And the most important: TYLENOL SIMPLY SLEEP or other sleeping aid. It's HARD to fall asleep in a hot house/hotel




][/QUOTE]

I second this.
We were having to call home to get information. I wish we would of had a battery powered radio. The candle, for a constant light source, was invaluable. A dark evening can be very long. Or you could just take the sleeping pills!!!
We were in a rental home. There was no electicity so most of the restaurants were closed. The ones that were open had an endless waiting list. Some food might be a good idea.

 

[julfre]

I got to POFQ the day after the hurricane. By that time, except for the downed trees, you could barely tell there had been a hurricane. There were alot of campers there, but I had no problems with housekeeping, buses, food etc. SO if something does hit, things will be back to close to normal surprisingly fast.

 

[Gorechick]

julfre, I checked into POFQ the day after the storm too! We were in building 5. I didn't even think to look for DISers, I was too worried about my missing luggage!

 

[Schmeck]

We arrived Sunday evening - some people were stuck at WDW for an extra 4 days! WE talked to a couple who were actually going to take a shuttle to the airport, get a rental car, drive it to Tampa, and fly home from there. They couldn't get a flight out of Orlando until that Thursday, but doing the above would get them out of Florida on Tuesday.

I talked to a lot of cast members about the hurricane, how their homes had faired, etc. They really seemed to appreciate being asked, and they all talked about how organized WDW was, compared to the 'real' world.

By Sunday, the WDW roads were clear, all the major parks were open, and if you didn't look too closely into the wooded areas, you wouldn't have seen the downed trees there either.

Another thing to take - a first aid kit, just in case.

 

[Robbiesmommy21]

I would say bring a flash light. If your driving you should have one anyway. We stayed at the CBR and the only thing was that we had to switch to another building and while waiting for our stuff to be moved we missed dinner so bring extra snacks, we were just lucky that it was my ds's b-day so we had cake and I had went to epcot the night brfore and went to the pastiery shop in france. So we had desert for dinner.
Jacqueline

 

[Johnfish]

We were ther also! We we staying at CSR and all the CMs were just great!!! My 15 yo DS was absolutely beside him self with worry. (He hates bad weather) But we made it through just fine. We had a flashlight and a cooler filled with water bottles and soda. We also had a protable DVD player. As it was we didnt lose power at all.

The day of the hurricane the parks were open from 8 to 1 (except AK) and anyone who went in got an extra day on their passes.

Fortunately the storm was done by 10 pm that night and I was told Disney had 5000 people in the parks from 10 that night to 9 the next morning. They had all the parks open the next day by 9am (except for AK).

Many of the CMs I talked to worked 16 + hours that day. I made sure to thank everyone of them for being on the job.

I cant say enough about how Disney handled this. They are a real class outfit.

John

 

[kparc]

We were refugees from the campground. All our needs were taken care of... but one suggestion. If the hurricane does head your way hit the food courts early and stock up on snacks for the evening! By 1:00 pm the food court was a mad house!! Then sit back, watch TV, & enjoy the down time.