DVC and fires at Disney

[Lil]

We are scheduled to be at VWL shortly. I saw news footage about the fires in the forest around Lake Buena Vista and it showed the smoke filled air. However, it said the parks were still open at this time. If it should get worse.....or close the parks.....how will that affect our stay.? If they shut down the parks, can we shorten our time?

 

[RobDoc]

We have just retuned home tonite from WDW. The smoke was quite noticeable this morning- especially at Epcot. However, it was not enough (IMHO) to close any park.

There have been 2 nearby fires this week- one (6 acres) which came right up to the Epcot parking lot. (where it was placed under control.)

The current smoke problem is from a fire which now encompasses over 400 acres, but is about 4 miles from WDW. We could see the red glow in the sky last night. The smoke is very dependant on the wind direction.

Keep in mind that WDW has closed parks only on 1 occasion and that was 2 years ago for Hurricane Floyd. (Even then- AK was kept open for onsite guests.)

I'm sure if, in the unlikely event of all parks being closed, that Disney would do something appropriate to accommodate onsite guests, but most likely- the parks will remain open and as active as ever. It would take a very special set of circumstances for smoke from this current fire to affect all parks at the same time.

Have a great trip!

 

[Mickey527]

I just returned from my short stay at Boardwalk. The smoke was noticible every morning when the air was still and humid. By around 10 am when the sun was getting high it seemed to clear a bit. The dampness seemed to be holding the smoke down.
But on checkout Thursday morning I had the Valet bring me my rental car. It was covered with ash. I was really suprised at the amount of grey ash on my car. Peggie

 

[dmadman43]

We just got back from OKW tonight (our first stay as DVC members, BTW..it was great..other than the golf course lawn mower waking us up every morning at 6:30, a cockroach in our kitchen on the last day, and a neighbor that thought it was no problem to smoke his cigar on the balcony above us every night. But...I digress... )

We were there from 5/10 - 5/19. The fire did not become noticable until Wed evening, 5/16. We awoke Thurs morning to a noticable haze over the golf course. Went to MGM studios that morning...could not see the the Tower of Terror ride. By noon, the smoke has pulled back and the day was fine until the evening. Friday was fine until noonish, then it hovered over MK. We returned to OKW to swim. At about 3:00 we noticed pitch black smoke, it looked very close! Turned out it was the Epcot fire (it broke out in the woods behind the test track). Within minutes there were news helcopters. After about 15 minutes of the fire burning, ans getting worse, here comes a helicopter to drop water on the fire. It was kind of cool to see. The chopper would pick up water from somewhere just on the other side of OKW (couldn't make out where). This went on for about 30 minutes.

This morning, (Saturday, 5/19) was by far the worst smoke day. We went to the ESPN club for lunch, then walked around. Upon getting in the car to go the airport our clothes reeked of smoke! They are forcasting thunderstorms for the beginning of next week. Let's hope they quell the fires. I don't envy anyone there this weekend.

 

[Peddler]

DMADMAN,
Wondering what Bldg you were in that the mowing would bother you... and why smoking above you would be bothersome.

 

[dmadman43]

This is probably worthy of a separate topic... To answer your specific question, we were in Bldg 64. And the smell of smoke has a way of waifting itself down to our balcony and in through our open doors.

 

[DebbieB]

We were in building 28 last week and were awakened early by the mowing on the course too.

We enjoyed sitting out on the porch a couple of evenings (before the fires started), I wouldn't have been happy with cigarette smoke coming down either. I did notice that the were alot of cigarette butts on the ground beneath our porch.

 

[KNWVIKING]

that was no cockroach... it was a palmetto bug, (yeah,right). I did Navy boot camp in Orlando in '77, biggest bunch of cockroaches I ever saw. People from that area insisted they were Palmetto bugs,(and DVC members are supposed to be snobs).

As for the fire,the big one started Weds sometime,lot of ash dropping into pool. Thursday morning it looked like a heavy fog was outside. When we stepped into the hallway thou we new it wasn't fog.