Hurricane Ian - WDW Resorts Related Updates, Planning & Discussion

pdarrah said:
For my family and many others I’ve spoken with , we were here before we knew about a pending hurricane. Flights out before were not available and we don’t have a car. We had no real option other than to be here with a pending hurricane. Thankfully , many very friendly and helpful cast members have worked very hard to help guests as much as possible.

We’ve encountered a lot of European guests here at Pop and they probably had less information about hurricanes and less chance to leave early than we did.
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Same here. We were already here and could not get a flight home. We contemplated driving north but have my eldery parents and disabled child with us and were concerned to be on the road with them. I too am thankful for all the employees that did all they did for us.
 
Aermaia said:
I wonder if anyone else dealt with this today: we had a 2 night stay booked at the cabins at Ft Wilderness with a check-in for tomorrow night before our longer stay at Riviera starting Monday.

When we found out Ft Wilderness wasn't opening back up this weekend, my partner called to see if we could be moved somewhere else for those two nights. At first a cast member booked us a new suite at All Star Music, however when my partner looked up the reservation number it turns out the cast member booked it for October 3rd and 4th instead of 1st and 2nd. So after another hour on hold he was told that there was absolutely no availability at any Disney Resort for October 1st and 2nd.

We scrambled and found somewhere off site that said they are up and running and have clear roads both to MCO and WDW. I just would have assumed that while Disney is not likely allowing outside reservations, they'd have availability for those with bookings to stay in on site areas that won't be open this weekend (like Ft Wilderness).
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Yes. I had the same issue. I called and all they had was a room at port orleans. I wasn't thrilled, but grabbed it. But, about 5 hours later they had quite a few choices. I got contemporary. But, mine was the 3rd-8th. The first cast member did say the 1st and 2nd were way less availability. I'd keep calling. I did have a package with genie plus and that was taken off my new reservation even though they said ticket packages wouldn't change, so that will be my call back tomorrow. If I have to buy daily, it isn't a huge deal, but it's kind of a pain. I'd just keep calling and see if more opens up.
 


Aermaia said:
I wonder if anyone else dealt with this today: we had a 2 night stay booked at the cabins at Ft Wilderness with a check-in for tomorrow night before our longer stay at Riviera starting Monday.

When we found out Ft Wilderness wasn't opening back up this weekend, my partner called to see if we could be moved somewhere else for those two nights. At first a cast member booked us a new suite at All Star Music, however when my partner looked up the reservation number it turns out the cast member booked it for October 3rd and 4th instead of 1st and 2nd. So after another hour on hold he was told that there was absolutely no availability at any Disney Resort for October 1st and 2nd.

We scrambled and found somewhere off site that said they are up and running and have clear roads both to MCO and WDW. I just would have assumed that while Disney is not likely allowing outside reservations, they'd have availability for those with bookings to stay in on site areas that won't be open this weekend (like Ft Wilderness).
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I could be wrong, but I thought they suspended all new reservations until 10/3 so the system may not have allowed the CM to book 10/1 - 10/2.
 
robinb said:
I could be wrong, but I thought they suspended all new reservations until 10/3 so the system may not have allowed the CM to book 10/1 - 10/2.
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I definitely understand that, and I think that's where we were confused, as in the past (and indicated earlier in this thread) it seems Disney would directly work to move customers with rooms booked on site if they needed to be displaced. I assumed all new reservations were suspended so that CMs could accommodate necessary room changes for those who had onsite reservations that needed to be changed due to closures on Disney's end (which is the case with Ft. Wilderness, where our 2-day reservation was for our split stay). Instead we were told there was nothing they could do and absolutely nowhere on site our reservation could be moved to.

Maybe we should have called again but after multiple times on hold already, and after hearing that, we obviously panicked a bit and scrambled to find offsite accommodations. I feel bad mentioning any of this, honestly, because obviously a hurricane just occurred, but I was honestly just curious if anyone else has had similar issues today. We are longtime frequent visitors, and that won't change, this just felt a bit different compared to cast member interactions in the past.
 
We had a busy day of park hopping today. The BC front desk wasn’t able to apply switch my park rez to my AP instead of my complimentary ticket and said to talk GS at any park. Started the morning at DHS, walking over from BC around 9:00. Saw the Horticulture team cleaning up branches and downed trees at YC and BWV along the way. Walked right on the RotR but got evac’d as soon as we got rescued by the Resistance crew. We rode SR, RotR through recovery LL, Aliens, TSM, SDD, ST, and ToT and had Ronto Roasters, and Kat Sakas, and Woody’s Lunchbox (DH and I wanted different foods) before hopping to AK at 2:30.
Went to GS at AK and CM PJ was very helpful giving me a Disney GC with the value of a 1 day PH since my complimentary ticket had been accidentally used today instead of my AP. Had an Everest LL, but it was closed. We saw the last Winged Encounters as we entered the park (one of my favs), walked up at Nomad Lounge and enjoyed drinks and churros, and watched the otters for a long time. We tried to see the last FotLK show before we left the park, but the theater was full and several groups were turned away.
Hopped to Epcot around 6, rode SE, Soarin, the Seas, watched Turtle Talk, and finished the Fromage Montage by getting mac from Mac n Eats. Finished the night watching Harmonious from the entrance to World Showcase (perfect viewing spot) and then walked back to our BCV. Considering we were supposed to be back home 2 days ago, this day was a wonderful bonus park day. We finally fly home tomorrow, but not without me popping into Epcot tomorrow to see if there’s any 40th merch I want. Then lunch at DS and taking Mears to MCO.
After the rollercoaster (pun intended) of the past few days, the biggest take away I have is that the magic is back and it’s the CMs. I don’t think we’ve had a single negative interaction with anyone this trip and I will make sure Disney knows the caliber of people they have working for them. (Sorry for the long post, just wanted to wrap up my documentation of this crazy 2 day-turned 5-day trip.)
 


Aermaia said:
it seems Disney would directly work to move customers with rooms booked on site if they needed to be displaced.
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Sorry you were caught up in this situation. WDW relocated those who were already onsite, not those arriving to the closed resorts. It would be nice if they could do that but I suspect they just don’t have the rooms available. A lot of guests who are there and had planned to leave Thursday/Fri/Sat have ended up needing to extend their stays due to flight issues.

I’m glad you found off-site accommodations for your arrival!
 
Aermaia said:
I definitely understand that, and I think that's where we were confused, as in the past (and indicated earlier in this thread) it seems Disney would directly work to move customers with rooms booked on site if they needed to be displaced. I assumed all new reservations were suspended so that CMs could accommodate necessary room changes for those who had onsite reservations that needed to be changed due to closures on Disney's end (which is the case with Ft. Wilderness, where our 2-day reservation was for our split stay). Instead we were told there was nothing they could do and absolutely nowhere on site our reservation could be moved to.

Maybe we should have called again but after multiple times on hold already, and after hearing that, we obviously panicked a bit and scrambled to find offsite accommodations. I feel bad mentioning any of this, honestly, because obviously a hurricane just occurred, but I was honestly just curious if anyone else has had similar issues today. We are longtime frequent visitors, and that won't change, this just felt a bit different compared to cast member interactions in the past.
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When I called this morning, there was nothing in the automatic message about Ft. Wilderness, but when I called this evening, it specifically said if you were booked for Ft. Wilderness for the 1st stay on the line, if you were booked after that, Someone would contact you, so I bet more opened up. I'd call first thing in the morning and try again.
 
Overall had a nice night in DHS. Both ABC Commissary and Backlot Express were very empty at 6pm so guest count must have been very low despite pretty long lines everywhere. Maybe reduced ride capacity?

5pm Beauty and the Beast
5:45pm Star Tours (walk-on)
Dinner
7pm TSM 70 min posted, 40 min actual
7:57pm Smugglers Run, 35 min posted, 25 mins actual
8:50pm Rise, 45 mins posted, 25 mins actual

The audience at Beauty and the Beast were the most enthusiastic I can remember - applauding loudly at practically every scene. It made for a fun and exciting show.

It was not a day of short lines - but it felt great to be back in the parks!
 
U
Aermaia said:
I wonder if anyone else dealt with this today: we had a 2 night stay booked at the cabins at Ft Wilderness with a check-in for tomorrow night before our longer stay at Riviera starting Monday.

When we found out Ft Wilderness wasn't opening back up this weekend, my partner called to see if we could be moved somewhere else for those two nights. At first a cast member booked us a new suite at All Star Music, however when my partner looked up the reservation number it turns out the cast member booked it for October 3rd and 4th instead of 1st and 2nd. So after another hour on hold he was told that there was absolutely no availability at any Disney Resort for October 1st and 2nd.

We scrambled and found somewhere off site that said they are up and running and have clear roads both to MCO and WDW. I just would have assumed that while Disney is not likely allowing outside reservations, they'd have availability for those with bookings to stay in on site areas that won't be open this weekend (like Ft Wilderness).
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Under more normal circumstances, when Disney couldn’t honor a reservation they would move you to a different resort, often with an upgrade for your trouble. In this case, they just don’t have anything open. They had to move at risk reservations plus they’re having to keep rooms open for an influx of Wish cruisers who were unable to get same day flights after their cruise was extended. They’re just full and they can’t put people in rooms they don’t have.

We were at BC and it took almost 2 hours at the desk to get an extension on our room, and that was an existing reservation with a hurricane hours away and no way for us to leave.
 
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Aermaia said:
I definitely understand that, and I think that's where we were confused, as in the past (and indicated earlier in this thread) it seems Disney would directly work to move customers with rooms booked on site if they needed to be displaced. I assumed all new reservations were suspended so that CMs could accommodate necessary room changes for those who had onsite reservations that needed to be changed due to closures on Disney's end (which is the case with Ft. Wilderness, where our 2-day reservation was for our split stay). Instead we were told there was nothing they could do and absolutely nowhere on site our reservation could be moved to.

Maybe we should have called again but after multiple times on hold already, and after hearing that, we obviously panicked a bit and scrambled to find offsite accommodations. I feel bad mentioning any of this, honestly, because obviously a hurricane just occurred, but I was honestly just curious if anyone else has had similar issues today. We are longtime frequent visitors, and that won't change, this just felt a bit different compared to cast member interactions in the past.
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You’re settled now but I would drop an email to guest services recounting this mess.

Hurricane or not it doesn’t matter since they have many functioning hotels. Happens to all hotels, but they almost always accommodate guests at another hotel and if it’s a downgrade offer compensation. Disney absolutely could have put you up in another hotel, even if their entire inventory is at capacity all partner inventory is not. What they did is wrong in the industry. You do not leave people homeless.
 
Final follow-up post: We are home in New Orleans now. We left the Riviera just before 11 o’clock yesterday and got home about 9 1/2 hours later. There were no delays on 429, the turnpike, I-10, or I-75. We didn’t encounter any shortage of fuel. We did try to go to one Wendy’s that had no meat. Lol
We have rebooked the Universal part of our intended stay to next month and tagged it onto the end of what will be our anniversary trip. So the kids will fly out and meet us for an additional three days.
Overall, every business that we encountered handled things properly in the end. Universal had no issue with any cancellations or moving reservations. Undercover tourist refunded our tickets. Disney gave us a comped ticket for MSNNHP. Some of the food offerings were discounted. And I will only ever rent from Alamo again, because they were wonderful. I understand that they are owned by Enterprise and so I suppose that’s a possibility, as well. But we drove from Orlando to New Orleans in what was meant to be a local rental and somehow paid a dollar less than we were originally meant to.

Also- whoever (sorry) suggested the Connecting With Walt Podcast- THANK YOU! Listening now and they are discussing this incredible quote from John Hench, “The parks are not about escapism; they are about reassurance. The reassurance that things can be done right. That you can talk to a stranger in a public place. That a public place can be clean. That you can come out of these experiences feeling good and optimistic about the future and optimistic about the world.”

I think they’ve largely accomplished that this week.
Until next time, all, have a magical weekend!
 
Lass70 said:
I also asked him to tell guests to bring in their balcony furniture. He said he would bring it up in the executive meeting because they hadn’t thought of that.
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I have never seen such a clear example of the top brass being removed from the reality of the resorts and parks like this.
 
I am back home now my flight was only delayed the 3yrs. The line were short at MCO at noon which was surprising. I was never able to secure a park reservation for the morning by myself. I went to GF front desk they were not able to help, their system was down. While I was there I canceled the extra room night I secure. I then took the monorail to MK and guest relations helped me get in. I rode PeterPan and Haunted Mansion within 10 mins od each other. At the time Big Thunder, Splash, Pirates was down. I grabbed some merchandise I wanted and left the park. I encountered very friendly and helpful staff. I made sure to let them know I appreciated them.
 
EyeofDTiger75 said:
We are suppose to leave NW Louisiana Friday night and drive overnight to get to WDW port Orleans FQ around 9am Saturday.

Really worried about I-75 and the Toll road.

Our daughter is just distraught and upset about this situation.
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Did y'all get to WDW ok this morning? If so, any issues on the way?
 
Just called - Fantasia Gardens minigolf is open. Not 100% sure about Fantasia Fairways.

Oak Trails Golf Course is still closed - may reopen Thursday.
 
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