Huricanes

[Zooey72]

What is the time line as far as getting your $ back if a huricane comes? We had our last stay there right in between Katrina and Rita.

Say for example they see a huricane coming towards FLA 3 or 4 days before it hits, what is the policy if that lands right on our vacation? We will be staying 12 days and it is possible we could get there, ride out a huricane, than be able to do the end of our vacation.

There is no way in heck we would want to do that, but would they make us? I almost feel like I am jynxing us by asking since there have been no huricanes this season.

Thanks for the info

 

[themudd4]

I may be mistaken, and someone will correct me if I am wrong but even with trip insurance I don't think you can get a full refund if any that close to time. I think with a package deal it is 45 days out.

Anyway, don't worry about it. If one hits the Disney area while you are there just hide out in your room for a few hours until it passes. The Disney Hotels are build to withstand these storms. Matter of fact you will see the hotels filling up quickly if the storm is to hit as many locals will get rooms there to have the extra safty.
Although we have been lucky enough to never have been hit by one during our trips, we did endore a tropical storm. Alot of the cm's told us they wished it would have been a hurricane and it would have already been over with instead of drawing out for 3-4 days of heavy wind and rain!

 

[byoung]

They closed the park during Wilma, at least in the AM opened the parks at 1 pm.

 

[winterman]

A hurricane may keep you out of the parks and in your room for a day but that would probably be all. What I worry about is a storm closing down the airport on the day we are scheduled to arrive.

 

[DarthKTrava]

Or, worse yet, impeding travel for those of us who'll be driving down....

 

[DizneyNutz]

You can't predict them only deal with them. We were at Disney when OPHELIA was sitting just off the coast. We didn't experience rains or anything from the hurricane, but we did experience EMPTY parks. It was wonderful and could walk on any ride we wanted. Don't be too discouraged by this, but plan for it!

 

[ToyStory]

If there is a hurricane coming you may want to stock up some extra water, food and snacks in your room until the storm passes.

My concern would be the airports not Disney.

 

[yrdlyprincess]

i was (am) going to get travel insurance from insuremytrip.com & when I called to ask questions about it they said there is travel insurance that covers if a hurricane hits your travel area...I am going to look into to this a little more (real soon) but my worry is also if they close the airport b4 I arrive!!

 

[Sammie]

I am not sure what you are asking. Orlando is very rarely in the direct path of hurricanes, Charley was the most damage to the area recently. As stated the airport is more a concern than actual Disney World.

You would be inconvenienced but not to the extent of a refund unless there was major damage and you had to leave the resorts. And as stated Disney resorts are built to substain category 5 storms.

 

[kimbac3]

We are packing a mini hurricane kit. Extra snacks and water, some flashlights, card games & puzzle, and battery operated radio. We are staying at POR so anything we need we'd have to go out in the weather to get, this way we won't have to fight the weather if we are hungry.

I figure if I take all that down to FL with us we won't need it!!

Kimba

 

[Zooey72]

I am not sure what you are asking. Orlando is very rarely in the direct path of hurricanes, Charley was the most damage to the area recently. As stated the airport is more a concern than actual Disney World.

You would be inconvenienced but not to the extent of a refund unless there was major damage and you had to leave the resorts. And as stated Disney resorts are built to substain category 5 storms.

I franky don't want to spend 5 out of 12 days of me being there in a hotel room. I would hope my safety would not be in question, it's is not about that. I do not want to pay $7000 to stay in a hotel room is all. I don't think that is unreasonable. Will disney pretty much tell me "tough, you will have to spend your vacation in your room and we are still going to take your $"?

You think a vacation is sitting in a hotel room? Not me. If I were to be leaving tommorow and the news told me a huricane was headed straight down fla in the next 4 days I would not want to go because my vacation would be ruined by the huricane. I don't see me doing the tea cups in 100mph winds, reguardless of whether I can stay cooped up in a hotel room.

It rains in FLA. I am aware of that. I will be inconvienced to a certain extent and understand that comes with the territory. But I can not justify spending the type of $ we are spending and having 1/2 our vacation in a hotel room. Heck, we are a grand gatherings group of 25, you could have a down payment on a house for the amount of $ we are spending on this, and we don't want it ruined.

 

[DisneyDad in PA]

From Disney's website:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQHurricanePage

Hurricane Policy Statement
From June 1 to November 30, 2007, in the event a hurricane warning is issued by the National Hurricane Center for the Orlando area or for the guest's place of residence within 7 days before the scheduled arrival date, the guest may call in advance to reschedule or cancel their Walt Disney Travel Co. Magic Your Way vacation package without any cancellation or change fees imposed by Disney. This temporary policy also applies to most Walt Disney World® Resort room-only reservations booked directly with Disney, as well as reservations at Disney's Vero Beach Resort or Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort in the event a hurricane warning is issued for those destinations.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Well, in most cases, it seems that when a hurricane affects WDW, its only for a very brief time. We flew into Orlando last summer the night Ernesto passed over (by then he was a tropical storm since Orlando is so far inland). The next morning, all parks were open, we headed to a wonderful day at Blizzard Beach and would never have even known anything had happened. I doubt your whole vacation will be ruined. You may have one day in your room but not a whole vacation spent that way.

However, I thought the smoking policy was sending you to another destination...

 

[Sammie]

I franky don't want to spend 5 out of 12 days of me being there in a hotel room. I would hope my safety would not be in question, it's is not about that. I do not want to pay $7000 to stay in a hotel room is all. I don't think that is unreasonable. Will disney pretty much tell me "tough, you will have to spend your vacation in your room and we are still going to take your $"?

You think a vacation is sitting in a hotel room? Not me. If I were to be leaving tommorow and the news told me a huricane was headed straight down fla in the next 4 days I would not want to go because my vacation would be ruined by the huricane. I don't see me doing the tea cups in 100mph winds, reguardless of whether I can stay cooped up in a hotel room.

It rains in FLA. I am aware of that. I will be inconvienced to a certain extent and understand that comes with the territory. But I can not justify spending the type of $ we are spending and having 1/2 our vacation in a hotel room. Heck, we are a grand gatherings group of 25, you could have a down payment on a house for the amount of $ we are spending on this, and we don't want it ruined.

The policy has been posted above, but when you book a vacation during hurricane season in Florida, you do run a risk of being affected.

Certainly in Orlando not as much as the coast but yes you could be inconvenienced for a few days.

No I don't think a vacation is sitting in a hotel room but then I also don't expect Disney to be able to control mother nature either. I figure if one happens while I am there, and I am safe that is all I expect of them.

Your choice once you arrive is to be allowed to cancel and leave without penalty and your cancelled portion would be refunded. That is if you can leave due to airports or driving.

During the worst affected at Disney, you were talking 2-3 days.

Do you have travel insurance?

 

[pugluver31902]

Hi all!!! Im what I like to call a DIS board lurker. I have been lurking and reading these posts for months. Scouring the boards for information. I havent registered bc I was afraid if I did, I would start posting all the time and have to admit my addiction. Lol. But in this thread, I cant kepp silent anymore!! My husband and I are what we like to call "those crazy Disney people." In my eyes Disney can do no wrong... that is until a hurricane hits. We got slammed with a hurricane while we were there on our honeymoon. I love Disney, we go every year, but when the hurricane hit, the service went kuplunk. The resort was filling up with residents who wanted safety from the storm, so when the airports closed and we couldnt leave, they tripled our hotel room rate! My husband tried to bargain them down to our original room rate telling them that we didnt have that kind of money, we were newlyweds staying at thier BUDGET resort, but all they offered was a tripeled room rate or we could move out of the room and stay in the lobby. BUY THE VACATION INSURANCE!!! Nice to meet all of you!

 

[pugluver31902]

Oh wanted to add something to that. Since the hotel was on lockdown and POP's rooms open to the outside, you couldnt leave the room for 48 hours or you would be arrested. The food court the night before was a DISASTER. People were literally punching each other to get at the food so they would have enough food to feed the kids. People were emptying the ENTIRE ice machine into trash bags to take back to thier rooms and put in the tub to keep milk cold for babies. When the hurricane did hit, the cable shut off and Disney played Pirates of the Carribean and Little Mermaid over and over for 48 hours. We were board out of our minds! Trees were knocked over, things broke, and the big signs in front of pop that say like 1970 and so on, they all fell down and broke. That night all night long we heard chainsaws and trucks and people working. In the morning, everything was bright and sparkly new. The hotel put out a statement that said "Luckily we sustained no damage again." We thought that was hilarious bc a lot was damaged, they just fixed it with lightning speed. It was pretty neat.

 

[Zooey72]

Hi all!!! Im what I like to call a DIS board lurker. I have been lurking and reading these posts for months. Scouring the boards for information. I havent registered bc I was afraid if I did, I would start posting all the time and have to admit my addiction. Lol. But in this thread, I cant kepp silent anymore!! My husband and I are what we like to call "those crazy Disney people." In my eyes Disney can do no wrong... that is until a hurricane hits. We got slammed with a hurricane while we were there on our honeymoon. I love Disney, we go every year, but when the hurricane hit, the service went kuplunk. The resort was filling up with residents who wanted safety from the storm, so when the airports closed and we couldnt leave, they tripled our hotel room rate! My husband tried to bargain them down to our original room rate telling them that we didnt have that kind of money, we were newlyweds staying at thier BUDGET resort, but all they offered was a tripeled room rate or we could move out of the room and stay in the lobby. BUY THE VACATION INSURANCE!!! Nice to meet all of you!

Wow, that is a horror story. Rather cold hearted to say the least. Kind of a "thanks for your cash, and here is a boot in the *** into the storm!"

If I can cancel given a week that seems fair to me. Stuff happens, but I think they should be held just as accountable as I am. They may not control the weather, but neither do I, so that makes it both of our problems, them being the service, and I being the customer.

 

[EricOSU]

Here is my hurricane experience...

I was a CM during Hurricane Frances, Jean and Charley. Charley was notably one of the worst ones to hit Orlando in the last 100 years or so. All the parks closed, Orlando was on lockdown, and yes you couldn't even go outside. It was boring as heck, but it's for your own safety...seeing a street sign rip off a post and fly through the air like a ninja star...that'll keep me inside. I thought Disney did an amazing job during the three hurricanes. It is chaotic however...everyone is nervous and no one really knows what to anticipate. But just relax, these buildings are like fortresses.

For hurricane Jeane (the last one of 2004) I actually was working in Hurricane Ride Out Crew at the Grande Floridian...by this one Disney knew how to operate and function during a hurricane. Other than them putting me up in a room for free and feeding me for free for 3 days while I worked guest relations, it all went very smoothly. Granted, this may have been a little skewed because it was the Grande Floridian (more $$$ involved). But I didn't hear any complaints from fellow CM's working at other parks.


I'm going to be at wdw again this September as a guest...if a hurricane comes my only advice is to relax. Do what the CM's advise you to do. They don't last too long and the parks will be back open in no time. Some of my favorite memories was hanging out in the lobby during the hurricanes and just meeting a few dozen families from all over the world and all being able to share this "magical" experience. That's my 2 cent's.

edit: please excuse my poor grammar, I'm extremely exhausted.

 

[justjudy]

My husband and I were at the Wilderness Lodge Villas during Hurricane Jeanne and I have to say I thought Disney handled everything very well. Yes, of course we had to stay inside -- who would want to go outside. There was plenty of advance warning and time to stock up on food to tide you over for the approximately 12 hours we were stuck in our room. We didn't lose electricity or cable and spent the day doing laundry and watching movies on Lifetime. I know, not the way you want to spend your vacation, but what can you do? The parks were open the next morning. Living on Long Island I have been through many hurricanes and I was amazed at how quickly things returned to normal.

 

[winterman]

I franky don't want to spend 5 out of 12 days of me being there in a hotel room. I would hope my safety would not be in question, it's is not about that.

5 days? Hurricanes don't move that slowly.