Hurricane Irma?

[Disneylvr]

If the parks are closed on Monday, I can deal with that. My biggest concern is that I fly out on the 13th at 8am. I really need to be home that night. Will the airport be closing, will there be a backlog of flights on the 12th and 13th...those are just questions that just can't be answered. Because of obligations at home to my daughter, I won't be able to take a chance of not getting home on the 13th or at the latest, the 14th. I probably wasn't smart booking this trip during hurricane season but my 50th birthday is on the 12th and I really wanted to celebrate in WDW.

 

[Alicialee05]

I'm thinking of canceling (no trip insurance though) because I have just 4 nights/3 1/2 park days. If WDW is closed anytime between the 9-12th, that would take about 50% of my park time plus risking not being able to fly home on the 13th. I will make a decision on Wednesday.

Same situation for me only 10th-14th for our trip. I hate not knowing, it's awful!

 

[paw1968]

I must be crazy! We are booked Sept 10 - 16 at POR. I just added a room only resi for the 9th at POP and was able to change the flights for 2 of the 3 in our party. I would rather be stuck in a room at Disney than in a random airport.

 

[OKW Lover]

Just wanted to remind people that Florida is a long state. Its possible for a storm to affect part of it without any impact on other parts. Keep an eye on the forecasts, but don't panic.

 

[limabeanmom2003]

One of our best trips was in 2004 when our trip was delayed due to a hurricane (Charlie I think). We had to push our trip ahead a few days but the parks were empty when we got there. I hope no ones travel plans are ruined but if you have to adjust your dates you may end up with low crowds at least.

 

[Lisa P00]

We are due to fly in on Friday the 8th until Tuesday the 12th for a mom/daughter only trip. DH couldn't get the time off. We already got our MNSSHP tickets and park tickets. I keep watching the weather like a hawk and trying not to panic. My fear is that we won't be able to fly out on Tuesday and I have to be back to work on Wednesday for international client meetings. I'm debating whether to cut our losses and cancel altogether but we plan to wait until Wednesday to make a final decision.

 

[cattrix]

As people who normally travel to Disney World or do a Caribbean cruise in Sept we have always thought we were really lucky to NEVER get impacted by a hurricane. Thinking this year our luck has run out! We are set to fly out of Indy next Sunday 9/10 at 6:30am and as I'm reviewing my plans I'm wondering what will be impacted or need to be canceled during our trip. At this point we're just hoping that we can get down there, then we will worry about what to do while we are down there if it hits. Times like these I'm just happy I have travel insurance.

 

[fla4fun]

The hotel would most likely have rooms available since incoming guests would not be able to check in.

Would they actually turn away guests arriving by car? That could be unpleasant . . . especially considering my arrival day is next Tuesday and I plan to arrive on time.

 

[AndreaA]

Would they actually turn away guests arriving by car? That could be unpleasant . . . especially considering my arrival day is next Tuesday and I plan to arrive on time.

I think she means that they wouldn't be able to check in because their flights would have been postponed, etc.. I would guess that there would be enough leaving by car or other means that those arriving by car would be able to check in while still allowing the stranded people to remain.

 

[mousejunki]

I must be crazy! We are booked Sept 10 - 16 at POR. I just added a room only resi for the 9th at POP and was able to change the flights for 2 of the 3 in our party. I would rather be stuck in a room at Disney than in a random airport.

I was just going to ask the same question we are booked for the same days and I booked a earlier flight in stead of a later one ! That's normal right ?

 

[SpookyJ]

Would they actually turn away guests arriving by car? That could be unpleasant . . . especially considering my arrival day is next Tuesday and I plan to arrive on time.

I took that to mean lots of people would be cancelling or having their flight cancelled and therefore not able to check in, but I'm no expert.

I was feeling ok about things yesterday but I'm pretty devastated today with the forecast looking so much worse. I intended to get travel insurance but forgot, I don't exactly get to take vacations often enough to be on top of it. This would be my first at all in 4 years, I work holidays as well so don't even get time off at home. I've been saving for it for about 2. Someone hit my boyfriend at a red light last week and totalled one of our cars so now I'm really in a right spot, no way I can just reschedule. I hope at least it passes fairly quickly and maybe we can extend by a day. We only had 4 park days to begin with...

 

[Disneylvr]

Just wanted to remind people that Florida is a long state. Its possible for a storm to affect part of it without any impact on other parts. Keep an eye on the forecasts, but don't panic.

With as big as Irma, is and it's expected to strengthen even more, I think it is fairly certain to impact all of Florida in some way. Maybe no need to panic but decisions need to be made soon for those of us that plan to travel down there in the next 5-10 days.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

We are scheduled to arrive at BWV on the 6th for our 25th anniversary trip. Original plan was to fly home on the 12th. After seeing the forecast this morning I have decided to hedge our bets and I added on two nights at POR. Now we are flying out Thursday morning. I also changed out MNSSHP tixs from the 10th to the 7th.

Now I'm repacking. lol!

 

[fla4fun]

I think she means that they wouldn't be able to check in because their flights would have been postponed, etc.. I would guess that there would be enough leaving by car or other means that those arriving by car would be able to check in while still allowing the stranded people to remain.

That's what I was thinking too. See, either one of two things will happen for me - either I will have to report to work Tuesday, and since WDW is actually closer to work than my house, it would make sense to just stick to plan and check in after work. If the storm is planning to hit Tuesday and I don't have to work, I would just head down to WDW as early in the day as possible (like 6am kind of early, just as the day switches over in their computers) and go ahead and get settled for the duration. At this point, I figure I'm pretty much committed and since I have an 11 day trip, I don't expect it to all be affected by Irma. I would much rather ride out a storm at Disney than at my house (based on having done both in the past).

 

[cattrix]

So...is everyone just eating the cost on all of the changes they are making? I haven't seen any reports of airlines or Disney opening up approved changes since the path of the storm hasn't been determined yet.

 

[aleh021]

So...is everyone just eating the cost on all of the changes they are making? I haven't seen any reports of airlines or Disney opening up approved changes since the path of the storm hasn't been determined yet.

leaving my plans as is.

flying down on Saturday the 9th.
other half of our party is flying in on Monday night the 11th leaving Boston 9:35pm - arriving to Orlando around 12:35am.

my hope is everything is good by Monday morning so no flight impacts Monday night.

 

[SpookyJ]

So...is everyone just eating the cost on all of the changes they are making? I haven't seen any reports of airlines or Disney opening up approved changes since the path of the storm hasn't been determined yet.

I was wondering this too, I've never had to do any of this before. I went with southwest which I believe at least has no change fee, would just have to pay the difference which at this point would still be a few hundred dollars. I am scheduled to be there Thursday afternoon through Tuesday morning, doing parks friday-Monday. Doesn't look good.

 

[Tonyz]

So...is everyone just eating the cost on all of the changes they are making? I haven't seen any reports of airlines or Disney opening up approved changes since the path of the storm hasn't been determined yet.

If I decide to get an earlier flight I'll probably get stuck paying for it. But I'd pay a couple extra bucks to make sure I don't get delayed 2 days.

 

[cattrix]

I was wondering this too, I've never had to do any of this before. I went with southwest which I believe at least has no change fee, would just have to pay the difference which at this point would still be a few hundred dollars. I am scheduled to be there Thursday afternoon through Tuesday morning, doing parks friday-Monday. Doesn't look good.

I'm on Southwest too, I was thinking of reading up on the trip insurance today to see what will or won't be covered when it comes down to it.

 

[j2thomason]

So...is everyone just eating the cost on all of the changes they are making? I haven't seen any reports of airlines or Disney opening up approved changes since the path of the storm hasn't been determined yet.

I booked a package through Southwest but didn't get trip insurance. I make 5-6 trips a year to WDW, usually driving, and have never had weather issues so I skipped the trip insurance. Now I wish I had gotten it. I also have a ticket for the Night of Joy with premium seating added and MNSSHP ticket for Sunday. Not sure if I can recoop any of my costs.