For those of you in Orlando area - what is the real story?

[100AcreMom]

We are supposed to arrive on Sat. I am willing to chance Ivan, with plans to leave if it does arrive. However, my DH is very concerned about stories about gas shortages, long lines, etc., and us not being able to get out.

Is there available gas in the WDW area? Was I-4 horribly backed up during the Charley/Frances evacutions? I spent 14 hours on the road with Floyd, and don't want to replay that.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[laceemouse]

Bump, many people live in the area and have given reports, sometimes conflicting, on other threads. Are you driving down? I wish we lived so close. I think you would be okay on Disney property as far as utilities, ect., but I'm not sure about the surrounding areas.

 

[Ted and Holly]

There are places where gas and food are short, but you can find it if you need it.

Any major highways will be backed up heading AWAY from a potential target. And heading BACK after the storm passes.

After Charley, I4 backed up from Tampa all the way to the Disney exits. Beforehand, it was backed up heading TOWARDS Orlando.

Before Frances I95 North was at a standstill. It took people, 5 or 6 hours to go the distance it should normally take an hour.

If you are here, be sure to gas up when you get here. This way, you have a full tank if you need (or want) to leave.

Being in the Orlando area does have its advantages. If you want to leave, you can go to the opposite coast of where a suspected landfall might be. This way, you can hit the less busy Interstate.

Ted

 

[kap10]

We left BC on 9/4 in the morning. We had seen on the news on Thursday, horrible video of I-4 back ups. Because the storm took so long to actually come, when we finally decided to drive our rental car home on Saturday morning (because it didn't look like we would ever be able to fly home in time for the kids to start school on Tuesday), we were the only people on I-4 and almost no one on I-95 until we reached Georgia. We were lucky and had great weather, but I was worried about something happening to our car and us being stuck on the side of the road with no one to help us. We went to the closed airport that morning to turn in our rental car and change to a new one way reservation to drive home (luckily, they let us keep the same car). The woman at National said that if we had turned in the car without getting a new one, she was under obligation to send us directly to a shelter.

From the advise of the front desk CM, I didn't check out of our room until we found gas in Jacksonville, which was before normal checkout time. She said that once we checked out, Disney would not be able to give us another room for the night. As long as we were still registered at BC they would keep us as long as we needed to stay, because of the hurricane. I called from the road to check us out of our room. A number of CMs also reassured us that Disney has their own water and electrical supply, so we would most likely have power and water.

 

[cnids00]

We just got back last night, we were at CBR during Frances. If we had to do it again, we would have postponed our trip. We were confined to our room for 2 days, the food court was closed and we had to stock up from the foodcourt before it closed with non-perishable items to last us over 30 hours. When the parks opened they only could open two (Epcot & Magic Kingdom), some of the rides weren't working and it was pouring down still.

If you know Ivan is heading that way, I'd think about it twice, not only was it a bad storm (not as bad as they thought, but still bad)...It took away the MAGIC!

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

After Frances, most gas stations had gas within a day or 2. There were not the longer shortages that we saw with Charley. Yes, some gas stations did run out of gas before the storm, and plywood is scarce, but overall, the Orlando area was fully functional within 2 days after Frances passed.

cnids00 - I'm curious to know how you feel the magic was ruined. Yes, WDW is a very large operation, but even they can't control the weather. They did the best they could, in the interest of ensuring guest safety, and trying to not let the storm completely ruin people's vacations.

 

[Ted and Holly]

Eric, I don't think anyone was blaming Disney. Just saying that going to WDW during a hurricane can lead to some discomfort and your plans may not pan out exactly as you'd like.

if I planned a week at WDW for a year and I had to stay in my room for 2 days and had limited park access for another, I would be disappointed. Not at Disney, at the circumstances.

Ted

 

[100AcreMom]

I do appreciate your opinions. We still haven't decided what to do. We have planned to stay the entire week, taking into our planning the fact that Sept. weather can be unpredictable. Who knew what an understatement that would be. Our other concern is for our own home. We live on the GA coast and still have piles of debris from Frances. Disney hasn't reversed the cancellation policy yet, so we go or lose our deposit. I guess we'll wait for the 5:00 update.

 

[Ted and Holly]

An update for today. Gas in my area is a bit short. My station only had "Ultimate" but it was $1.79/gallon. Not a bad price.

McDonald's in my town was out of all beef.

I haven't checked Publix, so I can't comment on how it is now.

We were over in St. Pete today. Gas is running out there for sure. And many people on the road were carrying plywood.

Ted

 

[dvcgirl]

I'm in Orlando. No gas shortages here at all. No food shortages. I think the people at WDW during Frances had the worst deal. They were stuck inside for two days for a storm that really wasn't all that tough on the area. Nothing like Charley anyway. I was over at the parks yesterday and you'd never know that there was a hurricane here ever. And all the gas stations on property were operating. I think the news media is hyping this thing at this point. It was bad...right after Charley and right before and after Frances. But that was over a week ago now. I see no reason whatsoever to postpone your trip...

 

[Feralpeg]

I'm also in Orlando. DVCGirl is right. No shortages. You might have trouble if you were to visit along the east coast where Frances did the most damage. I don't know why anyone would want to do that. Things are looking better for Orlando as far as Ivan is concerned.

 

[Ted and Holly]

Forgive me, I am not IN the city of Orlando. Neither is WDW.

I have not checked the gas stations on property, but I can tell you that the gas station that I refer to is used very much by tourists. It is the same story with the McD's and Publix.

Sure, staying on property, you may not have to worry about MCD's or Publix, but I thought it might be good to inform people of what I am seeing.

As stated, it looks more and more every day like Central Florida is going to be in great shape for Ivan. This will allow unimpeded work to be done to rebuild and restock all of Central Florida.

I maintain my original posts. The OP asked what the story is. This is mine. I don't say that CEntral Florida is a mess, but I did say that it is not back to nromal everywhere and it IS possible to run into some of these issues.

Ted

 

[ruttie]

just came home from disney today (SAT) my house finally has air so we packed up and headed home any way stopped at he gas station kjust outside of magic kingdom parking lot on disney property and they had plenty of gas I filled up there because in Merritt Island (east coast) where i am from there IS NO gas except at BJs but orlando seems to be doing fine now... Just thought I would goive some current info about Disney gas ... They seemd to have plenty......

 

[cnids00]

I'm not blaming Disney, doh! It's the circumstances around it, to try and make up for lost time, for being worried and just for a combination of everything. We did have a memorable vacation, we met our resort neighbours and we were part of history as Disney never closed the parks for two days ever...There for we "lost some magic".

Last year we stayed for 6 nights and left the day before hurricane Isabelle was arriving, this year we moved our trip 4 days later and added 1 night to be able to stay a little longer and lost 2 days..We fly in and plan months ahead, we don't drive down.

I never thought my reply would be taken for blaming Disney..