Delayed by Charley? What did Disney do for you?

[ejfont]

Just curious to hear what Disney did for the folks that were delayed by Charley. I am concerned about getting delayed by Frances, just curious as what to expect.

We are doing the 7 for 5 DM at SSR starting on Sept 5.

Thanks

 

[Going Broke]

We happened to be at Disney when Charley hit. The day Charley hit we went to MK. They opened early due to the pending weather and announced they would be closing at 1. I believe the parks were open to resort guests only so we got on quite a few rides. Also, they credited our park hoppers so we essentially spent 5 hours at disney for free. Later in the day, we were encouraged to stay in our rooms and were given flash lights, which we didn't have to use. The food court was bare!!! Everyone stocked up not knowing what to expect. All in all, I was impressed with how Disney handled the uncontrollable circumstance. Oh, the rooms were also discounted that evening!

 

[NCDisNut]

I was camping at FW a couple of years ago when a hurricane came through (I think it was a tropical storm when it came through DW). We were evacuated and given a room in a hotel. They ended up leaving the parks open for that one, although not a lot of people were there.

 

[aliwolly]

I'm also concerned by this... I'm staying at POP with the 5+2 DM package from Mon 9/6 - Mon 9/13... does anyone have any idea what Disney will do? I'm coming from NY via Charlotte, NC to Orlando, and I'm thinking that Frances will most likely cause cancellations or delays on Monday... If my airports are "affected airports" according to USAir, their site says that I can reschedule for up to 7 days after the original departure date with no fee... So I was thinking that if I had to, I'd push the vacation back to Tues through Tues or Wed through Wed... Would Disney allow this?
Thanks for any responses!
I'm praying for all those who may be affected!!
Ali

 

[barbarabini]

My family was at the Wilderness lodge for the Hurricane Charley. Disney allowed resort guests to se the parks on the day of the hurrican until 1:00 pm for free. It did not count as a day used on the park hopper.

Also, we were delayed in getting home. We anticipated that so we made reservations the night before the hurricane. Many people were in line the day of and evening of the hurricane to do that. We drove, so we were only delayed one day. My parents who flew were delayed two additional nights. Disney hotel reps easily extended our reservations. We paid the same discount rate ($144.00 per nite). However, we had to ask two different reps. One quoted a price of 255.00 a nite -- the other just extended our reservation at the 144.00 price.

After 1:00 pm on the day of the hurricane, the resorts asked people to stay in the resort area and transportation stopped running shortly thereafter.

They served a lunch buffet at artist point and brought many characters into the lodge to greet children.

However, at about 5:00 ish, it became evident that the hurricane was headed directly for the area, at a strong speed, and preparations became morfe intense. All food service was closed in all restaraunts and snack bar - because of all of the windows. The store, gym and everything else was closed. They could have notified people that this was going to occur, because many did not eat lunch and had nothing for dinner.

Later that evening, they put emergency flyers under our doors asking us to stay in the interior of our roooms, to the far side away from windows. They cleared the lobby as well as all lodge room hallways. They handed out flashlights to all rooms and sent turkey sandwiches and chips to rooms requesting food.

After the strong part of the hurricane passed they resumed food service around 11 ish and had a buffet. The moral, make your reservations to stay early. Get food early.

 

[sunkissed212]

I just called and rescheduled my reservations for WDW. We were scheduled at POR for 9/4-9/7 and I rescheduled for 9/10-9/14 instead. The CM was very nice and gave me the option to cancel with no penalties and full refund or to change based on availability. Lucky for me, they had availability for the new dates I requested and now I"ll be there next weekend instead of this one. Better late than never, I guess!