Hurricane Dorian / WDW Theme Parks Discussion

[Haley R]

That will be helpful to have the microwave - safe travels...

We got here around 1 pm and they had a room ready right away. We ate some of our frozen meals for lunch. One cat is comfortable and watches the animals outside. The other cat is hiding

 

[sanibellife]

Well I have to say this has been a roller coaster of anxiety and I don't even live in Florida! I'm from the midwest and this was our first experience remotely having to make decisions regarding the hurricane. I now see why locals take all this info with a grain of salt. We have been watching and listening to all the experts and things have changed a dozen times in the last week! We wound up canceling our trip that now hindsight would have been perfectly fine! The flights we were scheduled on for tomorrow are still scheduled. Last Tuesday and Wednesday it was coming for Orlando by the weekend! Yeah, not so much Will it even be there by Wednesday? Who knows. I don't think any one of the "models" actually was close? Who knows. I completely understand being prepared and evacuating when necessary but now I understand when friends and family in these areas don't get all worried. Many explained to us that what "they" say is going to happen very rarely does. no one knows what mother nature will do.

I hope you all are safe. I guess the good thing is everyone has had a week to 10 days to prepare if it does impact the coast. I just feel so badly for all the people that had to cancel trips and now can't reschedule and mainly for the businesses and workers that have lost so much revenue this holiday weekend.

 

[Tonyz]

Orlando is in the cone... Dorian is a jerk.

 

[fla4fun]

Our local weather guy was getting frustrated his morning about how long it’s been dragging on. It must be stressful to want to give people good information and the storm just won’t cooperate. The only other storm I have been through that was this annoying as far as path and speed was Hurricane Elena, but it wasn’t as strong and after sitting in the Gulf for several days finally moved away. Give me a Charley any day over this mess. That storm moved and the whole event was over in about an hour.

 

[mckennarose]

Orlando is in the cone... Dorian is a jerk.

Well, I have a few other creative words to describe Dorian!
In all seriousness, we’re still on 75 in Florida near Lake City and have passed probably 200 linesmen at this point, I kid you not! Many, many ambulances and other emergency vehicles heading down, trailers hauling backhoes, search and rescue boats. Saw police escorting fuel trucks also to help the gas issues. We’ll see what 10 looks like when we pass it but I fully expect way more traffic there as it’s a major route out of Jacksonville.
When you’re in the bubble, you’re insulated from seeing the seriousness of the situation. Please be careful if you’re driving anywhere down here!

 

[fiasco32]

Latest NHC update shows the storm has started slowing over the last few hours (not sustained wind speeds, just the movement of the overall storm west). Remains to be seen if this slowdown is temporary or permanent, but this is temporarily a slight good sign...

 

[osufeth24]

Even though it's frustrating that it's slowing down, it's good for FL (and even more so for Orlando). It gives it time for that ridge to weaken which will send it north. If it had sped up or not slow down like thought, then that would have been bad for FL.

As of now, I still plan on driving back to Orlando on Wednesday

 

[Tonyz]

Latest NHC update shows the storm has started slowing over the last few hours (not sustained wind speeds, just the movement of the overall storm west). Remains to be seen if this slowdown is temporary or permanent, but this is temporarily a slight good sign...

I’m sorry but this is not a “good” thing. The people of the Bahamas are probably dying right now because of this slowdown.

I get it’s good for Disney World, but it’s worst case nightmare scenario for a lot of people who don’t have the resources to handle it.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Well, I have a few other creative words to describe Dorian!
In all seriousness, we’re still on 75 in Florida near Lake City and have passed probably 200 linesmen at this point, I kid you not! Many, many ambulances and other emergency vehicles heading down, trailers hauling backhoes, search and rescue boats. Saw police escorting fuel trucks also to help the gas issues. We’ll see what 10 looks like when we pass it but I fully expect way more traffic there as it’s a major route out of Jacksonville.
When you’re in the bubble, you’re insulated from seeing the seriousness of the situation. Please be careful if you’re driving anywhere down here!

We used to have neighbors - one was a linesman and one was a power company emergency response planner. Watching them before various storms, winter and summer (and listening to their stories later) really made me realize how much I took for granted the number of people and the amount of resources that get mobilized in many natural disasters (and even with that, it’s still sometimes slow to get crews where needed given the very difficult circumstances). I had a better appreciation for the men and women that do that work after learning from them.

Safe travels to you heading up 75.

 

[osufeth24]

I’m sorry but this is not a “good” thing. The people of the Bahamas are probably dying right now because of this slowdown.

I get it’s good for Disney World, but it’s worst case nightmare scenario for a lot of people who don’t have the resources to handle it.

True, but don't think he meant it like that. Yes it's awful for the Bahamas. Just meant it was good news for FL. Unfortunately with systems like this, soneone is gonna suffer terribly

 

[fiasco32]

I’m sorry but this is not a “good” thing. The people of the Bahamas are probably dying right now because of this slowdown.

I get it’s good for Disney World, but it’s worst case nightmare scenario for a lot of people who don’t have the resources to handle it.

Don't twist my words, please. In the context of the state of Florida overall and the least number of casualties for this storm overall, it is a good thing, in that it's following its forecasted track, to slow down over the Bahamas, then turn north and skirt the eastern coast of Florida. We've known for a while it was going to hammer the poor folks in the Bahamas, the real question right now is will it stall enough and turn enough to impact as few people as possible in Florida. That's where my comment was directed.

I couldn't give two flips about how this thing is affecting folks' ability to visit WDW.

 

[Tonyz]

True, but don't think he meant it like that. Yes it's awful for the Bahamas. Just meant it was good news for FL. Unfortunately with systems like this, soneone is gonna suffer terribly

Yeah you’re right I’m sure it wasn’t meant like that - but I do think it’s easy to forget about a storm like this if you’re in the clear. If you dodged the bullet, someone else probably took it.

 

[Tonyz]

Don't twist my words, please. In the context of the state of Florida overall and the least number of casualties for this storm overall, it is a good thing, in that it's following its forecasted track, to slow down over the Bahamas, then turn north and skirt the eastern coast of Florida. We've known for a while it was going to hammer the poor folks in the Bahamas, the real question right now is will it stall enough and turn enough to impact as few people as possible in Florida. That's where my comment was directed.

I couldn't give two flips about how this thing is affecting folks' ability to visit WDW.

Yeah I totally misread it. My bad, my apologies.

 

[yulilin3]

We (moderators) would love to keep this thread open and focused on what it's about .
Impacts of this storm on Disney world, on travel to and getting from Disney world.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Current forecast has strongest winds of 75-80 mph overnight Tuesday for Disney with 50mph Tuesday and 40mph Wednesday. I realize more factors than wind speed are at play, but at what wind speed would Disney close the parks?

 

[Shellybird]

We arrived at WDW about an hour ago. I was surprised the airport wasn’t busier than it was. We can tell it’s rained before we arrived, but nothing now. Traffic from the airport was very modest. Magical Express was pretty quick. They combined 4 resorts. Decent crowd at Wilderness Lodge. We are at VWL, so I was hoping to check a grocery store to see if there was enough food for us to get some basics. If levels were still low, we were going to make do with some things we brought. I was surprised that Amazon Prime Now has resumed grocery delivery. They indicated no shortages right now. None of the cabins have been evacuated but the CM I checked in with said they had plans in place and places to move anyone should the need arise. When we checked in, part of the message we received was that Disney was operating at normal levels right now and that safety of CMs and guests are their highest priorities. It looks like the slowing of the storm’s movement has given Orlando and WDW a little breathing room.

Will post again as things continue to evolve. Take care, everyone.

Michelle

 

[mfwmarks]

Current forecast has strongest winds of 75-80 mph overnight Tuesday for Disney with 50mph Tuesday and 40mph Wednesday. I realize more factors than wind speed are at play, but at what wind speed would Disney close the parks?

Can you post the link for this so I can follow? We are supposed to arrive Tuesday. Wondering if we need to push back to fly in Thursday and take what we can get as far as reservations go. Thanks!

 

[Tonyz]

Current forecast has strongest winds of 75-80 mph overnight Tuesday for Disney with 50mph Tuesday and 40mph Wednesday. I realize more factors than wind speed are at play, but at what wind speed would Disney close the parks?

I think 50 MPH would probably be enough. If I had to guess, if it stays completely the same as it is now, they close Tuesday and open late on Wed.

In Irma I think we knew two days in advance. So they’ll probably have to make a call tonight or early tomorrow.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Can you post the link for this so I can follow? We are supposed to arrive Tuesday. Wondering if we need to push back to fly in Thursday and take what we can get as far as reservations go. Thanks!

https://weather.com/news/news/2019-09-01-hurricane-dorian-impacts-florida-evacuations-ordered
Starts around 1:35 of this video, which is now about 2 hours old.

 

[mfwmarks]

Current forecast has strongest winds of 75-80 mph overnight Tuesday for Disney with 50mph Tuesday and 40mph Wednesday. I realize more factors than wind speed are at play, but at what wind speed would Disney close the parks?

We arrived at WDW about an hour ago. I was surprised the airport wasn’t busier than it was. We can tell it’s rained before we arrived, but nothing now. Traffic from the airport was very modest. Magical Express was pretty quick. They combined 4 resorts. Decent crowd at Wilderness Lodge. We are at VWL, so I was hoping to check a grocery store to see if there was enough food for us to get some basics. If levels were still low, we were going to make do with some things we brought. I was surprised that Amazon Prime Now has resumed grocery delivery. They indicated no shortages right now. None of the cabins have been evacuated but the CM I checked in with said they had plans in place and places to move anyone should the need arise. When we checked in, part of the message we received was that Disney was operating at normal levels right now and that safety of CMs and guests are their highest priorities. It looks like the slowing of the storm’s movement has given Orlando and WDW a little breathing room.

Will post again as things continue to evolve. Take care, everyone.

Michelle

Thank you for the report on the ground! We (five adults, one four year old are set to fly in from Texas on Tuesday and have our first day in the parks on Wednesday. First timers so trying to stay on top of everything. We could push our whole trip back a couple of days, but obviously would have to redo all reservations (currently staying at Kidani). Really appreciate updates and tips from people who know how the parks work!