Hurricane Irma?

[yulilin3]

Question for those of you in the Orlando area. We are flying in on Wednesday the 6th. Our flight lands at 9:30. We are picking up our rental car and heading to the grocery store first thing. Is there still food left? We are going to grab some water, granola bars, soft drinks, maybe some bread, peanut butter, and jelly in case we get stuck in the room.

yes there is food still left. It might be hard to find gallons of water but try gas stations

 

[lovethattink]

Ahh the joy of Florida and trip planning during hurricane season

All my local supermarkets are completely out of water. Really people are making this a bigger issue than what it is and once someone sees 3 people grab water, they grab some and tell their family and friends and it turns into this. No one this morning before 11am was grabbing water. Once the news said it shifted slightly south, water was wiped out within an hour. Good news is nearly every store gets more shipments either daily or every other day

Took us 2 grocery stores til we found water.

Question for those of you in the Orlando area. We are flying in on Wednesday the 6th. Our flight lands at 9:30. We are picking up our rental car and heading to the grocery store first thing. Is there still food left? We are going to grab some water, granola bars, soft drinks, maybe some bread, peanut butter, and jelly in case we get stuck in the room.

Our Wal-Mart shelves were bare, but most people looked to be buying Labor Day picnic items, not storm.

 

[SpookyJ]

I have a little bit of a different situation than everyone else. We are scheduled to arrive in Disney on 9/15. BUT we live in Ft. Lauderdale and if Irma stays on her current path the eye of the storm will be over us Sunday afternoon. I've lived in South Florida my whole life and we are used to hurricanes. Though we have been very, very lucky the past 10 years. We are prepared and will be boarded up and waiting come Saturday morning. I'm just concerned that things will be in such a bad condition down here that we won't be able to leave by 9/15. I've had this "babymoon" trip (our last trip as a family of 3) planned for over a year and have been so looking forward to this trip (as I'm sure all of us are that are in this situation!). I know there probably isn't any advice to give, but I just need to let out my pity party. I think my husband is tired of hearing me stress...

Let it out, I am right there with you in the pity party, we can have one together! My boyfriend is definitely tired of me being worried, but he's not the one who planned and paid for the whole thing...

 

[Tonyz]

I wouldn't change any plans until Wed at the earliest.

 

[yulilin3]

Ahh the joy of Florida and trip planning during hurricane season

All my local supermarkets are completely out of water. Really people are making this a bigger issue than what it is and once someone sees 3 people grab water, they grab some and tell their family and friends and it turns into this. No one this morning before 11am was grabbing water. Once the news said it shifted slightly south, water was wiped out within an hour. Good news is nearly every store gets more shipments either daily or every other day

exactly, no need to panic. It's too early for that

 

[hertamaniac]

I'm just north of Orlando and the stores are starting to blow through the non-perishables. There was definitely a sense of anxiety/panic and the water was being rationed to customers.

 

[lovethattink]

exactly, no need to panic. It's too early for that

They won't know anything certain for days.

 

[SpookyJ]

Is there any reason why I shouldn't just bring empty water bottles/jugs with me in one of my checked bags and fill them all when we arrive on thursday as opposed to scrambling for bottled water or trying to check bottled water? I might get weird looks with a bag full of random empty plastic bottles but I'd rather save as much cost/stress as I can.

 

[kbelz78]

Same dates, it must be so much harder to decide with kids, I'm so sorry Are you going to just not tell them at all if you reschedule? At least they can't be disappointed if they don't know. I wish my trip was a cancelled surprise so I wouldn't be this sad right now!

It is so terribly hard to decide what to do. I'm from the Midwest - where we have tornadoes which scare me, but they are over pretty quick. Never been through a hurricane and not sure I want Irma to be my first! It really comes down to logistics - do I want to roll the dice and spend up to half my short time at DW in my resort room riding out a storm? Plus, my 8 year old is terrified of normal storms and flooding (and he also has some sensory issues) - so I think this would be horrible for him.

I'm so proud that we've kept it a secret for so long - and will plan to keep it a secret when/if we reschedule. It will be priceless to see the looks of shock when they learn what we're doing (they've never taken a trip on a plane before either - it's going to be awesome!) Even though it's likely we're cancelling, I'm still totally bummed and very very sad. It will be hard to unpack our packed bags. Stupid Irma!!!!

 

[AllThingsMickey4]

I was stationed in SC when Hugo hit, bad bad time there. If it heads that direction stay safe.

I'm too young to have experienced Hugo, but growing up in SC I've heard about and seen pictures of the devastation.

Luckily we are in Upstate SC, but my family has property a couple of blocks from the ocean in Myrtle Beach so we are very worried about that as well. Although a couple of spaghetti models I saw today had the track going straight through our city in Upstate SC.. obviously still too far out to know for sure, but still nerve-wracking knowing it's a possibility Especially after experiencing the state-wide flooding from Hurricane Joaquin in 2015.

 

[hamilkm]

yes there is food still left. It might be hard to find gallons of water but try gas stations

Thanks! I'm having images in my mind of Alabama when they predict snow. The shelves are wiped clean days in advance!

 

[avic77]

We arrive on the 9th with one night offsite and move to POP on the 10th and we also party tickets for the 10th.
Here is my current plan.
Watch closely till Wed evening.
If its going to impact the Party call and politely request a refund/exchange for Tuesday.
Call offsite hotel and move offsite stay to Friday the 15th.
Shift all park days to plan and which will lose my Fastpasses and BOG Breakfast but we will be in Disney so its ok.

Im counting on this event to be in and out Sunday/Monday

 

[Tonyz]

I'm just north of Orlando and the stores are starting to blow through the non-perishables. There was definitely a sense of anxiety/panic and the water was being rationed to customers.

Just be happy you're in Disney during it. Won't have any of those issues.

 

[j2thomason]

I wouldn't change any plans until Wed at the earliest.

I have decided to wait until Wednesday to make a call for my 9/8-11 trip coming from Birmingham. What I am most upset about is possibly missing the Night of Joy. I could reschedule my MNSSHP party, but doubt I will. My main reason for the trip was for the Night of Joy. So if it still looks bad by Wednesday morning and my return flight looks unlikely I will just cancel and try again next year.

 

[fla4fun]

I have not read through the whole thread so not sure if this has been said:
- There is NO WAY OF KNOWING the track for Florida as of today. Local weather people keep saying that we will not know until Wednesday night, and even then things can change.
-If you are coming to Orlando during the weekend to visit please don't stress out too much, I know this is easier said than done, but I remember last year with Matthew people changing plans, to come in earlier or later and the storm just shifted almost last minute and complete plans for these visitors were ruined. I cannot stress this enough, right know we think the storm might be close to us by Sunday, there is no way of knowing for sure, you change your plans and it starts moving faster or slower
-If you are coming to Orlando this weekend bring some extra cash, non perishable food, if you have kids maybe extra activities to do in the room...

I have been living here in Orlando for 20 years so I've been through many scenarios, the worst you can do right now is panic and start rearranging things without knowing with more certainty...keep an eye on it and have a plan B ready to go but don't jump the gun right now

Excellent advice. I've been in the Orlando area for 25 years and Florida much longer. Disney has a good hurricane policy, and once they figure out for sure (or pretty close) where the storm is going, most airlines will at least give you a future use credit, if not a refund. I totally understand the stress of not knowing if and when, since I'm looking at it from both a local standpoint and as someone going on a long awaited trip next week. But I can't change my trip, and I can't change the weather, so I just have to deal with it. If someone is unable to change their trip either, hopefully they will feel better reading some good common sense like this instead of the hype on TV.

I especially echo the sentiment regarding the path changing. I mentioned Hurricane Charley earlier, and that was another classic case of a last minute change. It was forecast to go out into the Gulf and loop back somewhere between Tampa and the Big Bend to the north. Tampa evacuated and came to Orlando, expecting a huge surge in Tampa Bay. I remember watching the news at the very moment it started turning in to southwest Florida and heading right for Orlando. I bet there were a lot of frustrated Tampa evacuees! So although the closer it gets, the more accurate the forecast gets, it can all change very quickly. One of the local news stations said that the cold front that is supposed to cause the turn to the north hasn't even formed in Canada yet!

 

[SpookyJ]

It is so terribly hard to decide what to do. I'm from the Midwest - where we have tornadoes which scare me, but they are over pretty quick. Never been through a hurricane and not sure I want Irma to be my first! It really comes down to logistics - do I want to roll the dice and spend up to half my short time at DW in my resort room riding out a storm? Plus, my 8 year old is terrified of normal storms and flooding (and he also has some sensory issues) - so I think this would be horrible for him.

I'm so proud that we've kept it a secret for so long - and will plan to keep it a secret when/if we reschedule. It will be priceless to see the looks of shock when they learn what we're doing (they've never taken a trip on a plane before either - it's going to be awesome!) Even though it's likely we're cancelling, I'm still totally bummed and very very sad. It will be hard to unpack our packed bags. Stupid Irma!!!!

I am totally bummed too. I'm not afraid of the hurricane at all myself, I just wouldn't think it would be worth it to lose half of an already short trip. I have never prayed, but I'm sending some really desperate "if anyone is out there can you kick this dang thing back into the ocean" vibes right now for us all!

 

[OKW Lover]

How safe are Disney Good Neighbor hotels during a hurricane? As safe as Disney's on site hotels? For instance the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista, right across from Downtown Disney.

The ones on Hotel Plaza Blvd were built at the same time, and to the same building codes, as the Contemporary and Poly. They have withstood several hurricanes through the years.

So the state of emergency doesn't automatically cancel all flights to and from Florida?

No it doesn't. Actually, its not clear just what this does right now. Airports, Airlines and the FAA are the people who make decisions about flights, not the governor.

 

[shellyboro]

How trashed are the FL beaches after a hurricane? We're headed down to Orlando 9/7 and are planning to leave Orlando 9/12 and head down to Vero Beach for a week. After a hurricane, is there even a beach left, or does it have to be replenished? I just want to relax on the beach and dip in the water, but I'm not sure if that's an option post-hurricane.

 

[Kathy Thut]

We're calling our TA tomorrow but it's still too early to really know where it's going.

Yeah, I've been talking to ours as well and she keeps saying to hold on a little longer.

 

[HopperFan]

I wouldn't change any plans until Wed at the earliest.

Yup. Just since I looked a few hours ago, the FL & north projection has already shifted .... and it's a week away.