Entertainment Contingency Plan

[TheDonald]

Does Disney have an "Entertainment Contingency Plan" for when hurricanes hit or other inclement weather (has there ever been snow storm in Disney)? I'm curious if, once guests are safe and sound if any activities are provided at the resorts?

We will have a deck cards and an iPod with 30+ Disney movies on it.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

The only thing I know about hurricanes and Disney is that the Carousel of Progress building is used a a storm shelter. We learned that during Tropical Storm Alberto in 2006.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm not sure either.

When it's just me, I have a deck of cards and my kindle so I'd be fine.

When it's the family, we have 2 portable DVD players with about 60 movies with us as well. My son has his Ipod touch and my DD has her nintendo DS. So we'd have plenty of stuff to do if we ever get stuck.

 

[Eljay]

Being so far from the coast, hurricanes seldom bother WDW. The exception in recent memory was Hurricane Charley in August of 2004. I remember hearing that the resorts brought characters into the resorts to entertain the kids.

If you look on YouTube, you will see several videos of WDW at that time.

It's incredibly unlikely that weather will disrupt your vacation!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

If the parks have to be closed for hurricanes, it has been reported that extra activities and character greetings are provided at the resorts. I wouldn't worry about it. I can only remember a handful of times that WDW has had to close for hurricanes.

 

[selina4disney]

Being so far from the coast, hurricanes seldom bother WDW. The exception in recent memory was Hurricane Charley in August of 2004. I remember hearing that the resorts brought characters into the resorts to entertain the kids.

If you look on YouTube, you will see several videos of WDW at that time.

It's incredibly unlikely that weather will disrupt your vacation!

Hurricane Wilma closed the parks in 2005. They ran movies and stuff for the kids at Coronado Springs so I am sure they did similar things at the other resorts.

 

[TheDonald]

Being so far from the coast, hurricanes seldom bother WDW. The exception in recent memory was Hurricane Charley in August of 2004. I remember hearing that the resorts brought characters into the resorts to entertain the kids.

If you look on YouTube, you will see several videos of WDW at that time.

It's incredibly unlikely that weather will disrupt your vacation!

Not disrupt...just alter. The only thing that could bring me down is if it got cancelled. I can't wait!!!

 

[Eljay]

The show must go on!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGSPt3locdE&feature=related

 

[WDSearcher]

Does Disney have an "Entertainment Contingency Plan" for when hurricanes hit or other inclement weather (has there ever been snow storm in Disney)? I'm curious if, once guests are safe and sound if any activities are provided at the resorts?

We will have a deck cards and an iPod with 30+ Disney movies on it.

Generally yes, activities, character greetings and entertainment are provided at the resorts if the parks are closed or operating hours altered by hurricanes. But it honestly depends on how bad the storm is and how many CMs are affected. Because it's not just being sure the Guests are safe and sound. It's being sure the CMs are too.

The CMs all live in the general area, and if someone's roof has caved in due to a tree that came down in the storm, it's unlikely that their first thought is to show up at work to entertain the Guests stuck there. If there are floods in the area, people are going to attend to home and family first. Characters and entertainers are deployed as available and as safety dictates. (Because Disney also doesn't want its CMs driving to work in the aftermath of a hurricane if it's not safe.)

 

[bszoo]

I was at the BWV for Charlie in 2004 with my DD. The parks and restaurants closed early, before 1:00, and we were asked to stay in our rooms during the storm. Before the storm hit they gave out a boxed lunch to everyone, It included a sandwich, chips, fruit and a soda. CM were in the hallways to make sure everyone stayed inside. From what I was told, many of the CM's ere sent home for their safety. We brought the chairs in from the balcony and turned the table on its top. Good news - we never lost power.

 

[disnut8]

We were stuck at Pop Century for a 24 hour lockdown during Hurricane Francis. Disney gave us lots of time to get prepared. They had the food court open right up until it wasn't safe, they had coolers available to fill up with things from the gift shop. They were prepared. As soon as it was safe for us to venture out, characters were in the lobby and the food court was totally open.

During the 24 hours, however, we did have cable, electricity, water. BUT, the TV was bad in that the local stations were only showing hurricane coverage and you can see newscasters saying "this street is flooding!!!!!!!!" only so many times. Disney did provide two channels of their movies but they were on a loop so they didn't get changed very often (I think after about ten hours, it was changed).

IF you are going during what you think might be a hurricane time, I would advise you to take whatever interests your family. I'm fine with books or puzzle books but my husband likes games. We played Gin Rummy and Yachtzee (I was prepared). But, you can hook up to the internet for $10 and get other options out there (we were too cheap).

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Disney has its own generators, and all utilities are underground, so you will not be without power.

All permanent construction at Disney exceeds all hurricane strrength code requirements. The only potentail for damage is trees being knocked over or breakage (of glass) by flying debris.

And the last time there was a major snowstorm, they built a ski resort.

 

[mommystieg]

And the last time there was a major snowstorm, they built a ski resort.

 

[TheDonald]

And the last time there was a major snowstorm, they built a ski resort.

We'd be fine with a deck of cards...I think I'll take UNO too for a little variation. We like card games in the evening with a little wine as well. We live on the wild side.

 

[Eljay]

We'd be fine with a deck of cards...I think I'll take UNO too for a little variation. We like card games in the evening with a little wine as well. We live on the wild side.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

And the last time there was a major snowstorm, they built a ski resort.

 

[SRUAlmn]

We were there in 2004 right before a major storm came through. They put signs under everyone's doors that the parks might close and guests were being asked to stay inside. We were at Pop, so if we had stayed, we would have been stuck in our room. We left the day before it came, so we weren't affected, but I read the DIS after we got back, and guests in some of the single structure Deluxe resorts had a MUCH better situation because they could still walk around the resort, get food, shop, and I read that they brought in some characters and did meet n greets.

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

Disney has its own generators, and all utilities are underground, so you will not be without power.

No doubt, this is true. However, emergency generators are only rated to support a certain amount of use. Odds are, each individual resort might have a moderately sized generator (or two...perhaps a few more) and they would only be utilized to power critical circuits (emergency lighting, freezers, computers rooms, perhaps some limited cooling units...). It's somewhat doubtful that the hotel rooms themselves would have backup, uninterrupted power in them. It's also possible that they have some larger generators at a central power plant, but the point is they'd only be capable of supporting key circuits.

Interesting discussion...loving this!