Hurricane Irma?

[AndreaA]

I'm honestly curious why some people are so very set on presenting this all as a worst case scenario. "Please cancel!" "Don't come!" "Only a stupid person would head this way!" Etc., are pretty extreme statements. If you live in Florida then you should be done with your own preparedness planning. No one coming down and staying in a hotel is going to affect you - especially if you don't even live in Orlando. Guilt tripping people by talking about Disney employees is a straw man argument at best. There WILL be customers there regardless of whether or not every single member of the DIS cancels their trip, and there WILL be employees required. That's simply a fact.

Right now it does NOT look like the center of the storm will come close to Orlando. There will most certainly be winds and rain, but they won't last for days and days, and the cleanup from them won't last days and days, especially not for Disney which is not in a flood zone. Some people are willing to wait out a day or two in their hotel. The rest of the week looks clear and beautiful. All the doom and gloom really needs to stop.

 

[wonder whisper]

We have been at Beach Club since 8/30. I was due to fly out Sunday at 7:30 and reserved my current room for three more nights just in case so when SWA started no change fees I immediately switched to a Wednesday flight. My daughter is starting the Disney college program this week (the reason we are here) and aside from worrying about my flight being cancelled I had to worry about leaving her here alone to deal with the storm. We had her car shipped down so she is also concerned about leaving it parked at the college apartments. Now at least she can stay here with me during the storm and park here also.

Did anyone stay Club Level during Matthew? I'm wondering how they handle a hurricane and whether or not they will provide any food and water, etc.

We ventured out last night to CVS, Wal-Mart and Publix, none had any water left. Getting gas was an adventure as well- we had to try three stations and the lines were crazy. We were hit very hard in CT by both Irene and Sandy- no power for almost 2 weeks, cell towers knocked out, no water at all (since we all have wells) so we have plenty of experience dealing with hurricanes and know how bad it can get. My husband had cut 4 trees apart just so we could get out of our driveway! It is not just a matter of riding out the storm, the aftermath is the worst part. If we were not already stuck here there is no way I would have come down to vacation now or in the next week.

Thank you so much for the on the ground report. At what point do people who think everything-is-still-business-as usual-in-central-Florida-so-full-speed-ahead-with-my-vacation wake up to the fact that the situation down there is increasingly NOT business as usual?

 

[AngiTN]

Yes, bottled water would taste better, but I'd be home filling up every container I could find with water. Fill up what every bottle I had for drinking, but also fill tub, any 5 gallon buckets, etc. You need water for more than just drinking. I'm curious, what the shelf stable juice aisle looks like. Water might be best, but liquid is liquid.

That or the water add ins like Crystal Light or those drops you can put in. While I'm not a huge fan of them usually I find if I add just a portion of the usual amount they are not so bad and help the tap water a lot

 

[melanielll]

Praying Irma doesn't affect anyone period and heads out to sea.

I'm hoping for landfall in North Korea.

 

[wonder whisper]

GFS 12z for Sep 6 is rolling out.

Path moved slightly Westward, and is hugging the Eastern Florida coast more tightly. It shouldnt come as a surprise if it tilts west again

Thank you for the update. If that trend continues Disney may be have to rebuild Vero for a second time.

 

[Disneylvr]

My TA was finally able to get through and reschedule my trip (4 hour wait on the phone!), I have things taken care of with Southwest, cancelled my Garden Grocery order and scooter reservation with Buena Vista. The only thing left is to request a refund IF MNSSHP is cancelled on September 10th. Do I call Disney before or after to get a refund? Stay safe everyone!!!!

 

[Interpol]

I'm hoping for landfall in North Korea.

That's a remarkably crass thing to say, IMO.

 

[LadyLeem000]

As of right now, with the way things SEEM to be trending...I think we are holding tight on our reservation for right now and moving our up flight up to Friday, rather than our originally planned Saturday afternoon arrival in Orlando. We are going to just try and make the best of it as long as we deem it safe for our family, and then hopefully enjoy the rest of the week after she passes through.

 

[DebbieB]

I'm still waiting to decide what to do. I'm supposed to fly in Monday evening arriving around 7pm - doubt this will be happening. I won't be driving from Georgia - that's just too risky. I booked using my points with Southwest so I'm sure I can get those back although I'll probably lose the fee costs.

I spent the past few hours seeing what was available for the time frames I can go for the rest of this year with DVC - not a thing. And of course I'm long past the point of being able to bank points with a December use year.

I'm thinking if Disney won't let them be banked - I'll just be out them this year. My husband says we could probably still go on Thursday so I would only lose a few days of points and my time alone but I'm not sure. At least I can get MNSSHP refunds it's sounding like.

Our friends who live in not too far from Disney and said they've been prepared since August 1st for hurricanes so they said they won't be going anywhere.

I've got a step niece who works at the Disney Theme Parks and she was going to come to us if there was an Orlando evacuation and she could leave work-wise.
My son goes to college not far from Savannah so we've told him to come home and basically bring home as much will fit in his car if the Hurricane heads east.

So we are currently as ready as we can be for this. I'll just keep watching and waiting and hoping that everyone in it's path will be ok.

They will allow them to be banked.

 

[shaqfor3]

Rain started here now (Puerto Rico)

It going to pass closer than expected it seem.. Where I am I will probably get Storm to Cat 1 Hurricane winds in a few hours.

Hope it moves North and you all get to avoid this nasty thing

 

[Aurora0427]

Dickinson, TX had lots of wind damage. There was something like 144 tornado warnings in a 24 hour period outside of Houston. It just had a lot of moisture in it from stalling over the Gulf for so long.

ETA: Port Aransas and Corpus might have had more wind damage than Dickinson. It's the flooding people remember though.

Yes- Port A and Rockport had a lot of wind damage. That's where Harvey came ashore. With the way it moved, Houston was on the dirty side of the storm for 3 solid days and it just sat there, moving back offshore and inland again at Beaumont as a tropical storm. We rode it out at Disney World.... back now and I don't think Houston will ever be the same.

 

[JoeP78]

First time poster here as I have been reading the long thread and decided to post our plans. We have a 9/9-9/16 planned free dining package at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Was slated to fly AA into MCO around noon on Saturday. We decided to rebook out two weeks (on hold with Disney now waiting for someone). We will go 9/23-9/30. Yes I lose all my ADR and FP's but I did a pre-check and I can get most of them back (albeit with crummier times). We have 8 people in our party, including 3 kids. After thinking about it, even with the track starting to trend a bit East, it isn't worth my sanity. The LAST thing I want to do is get down there, lose a 2 or 3 days and feel like I didn't get my money worth out of the trip. I planned this for a long time and I can wait two more weeks for it to get the full week out of it (assuming I get everything rebooked fine). More worried about flights right now than Disney, but I have a few extra options if push comes to shove. Hope it works out for all of us, whichever way you choose! We are lucky enough to have some flexibility.

 

[HarperLeigh]

My TA was finally able to get through and reschedule my trip (4 hour wait on the phone!), I have things taken care of with Southwest, cancelled my Garden Grocery order and scooter reservation with Buena Vista. The only thing left is to request a refund IF MNSSHP is cancelled on September 10th. Do I call Disney before or after to get a refund? Stay safe everyone!!!!

It can't hurt to call and ask now and see what Disney says. If they say they won't issue a refund until the party is officially canceled, at least you know.

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

I'm sending my best wishes from CT to you guys down in FL during this upcoming storm. Hoping you all stay ok and safe!

 

[SL6827]

Thank you for the update. If that trend continues Disney may be have to rebuild Vero for a second time.

They already had to re-build it once?

 

[Roxyfire]

On Friday night while others were in long lines for boxes, we were in Yachtsman having a fantastic meal.

To be fair, the boxes were Thursday night. By Friday afternoon/evening Disney Springs was open and so many people went there. Lines for the restaurants open were hours long. We went to Maya Grill at CSR and had a minimal wait.

 

[Rachel Underwood]

We are suppose to flight out tomorrow and we keep going back and forth as well. We are waiting to see what the models do throughout today and into tomorrow before deciding. I did order water to our resort through Amazon prime. Our choice is go, with the knowledge that we will be in our room for a day or two, or cancel and loose our flights for six people $$. You might get a refund for the tickets not used. But nothing else.

We fly out tomorrow too. I think we are thinking just as you are. We have 8 of us going. Until next Fri. We could even extend through weekend if had to, to make up days.

 

[Disneylvr]

It can't hurt to call and ask now and see what Disney says. If they say they won't issue a refund until the party is officially canceled, at least you know.

Unfortunately I am at work and cannot stay on the phone for hours. I understand that there is a significant wait time with Disney right now, understandably. Hoping there would be less of a wait once the weekend gets here. Thanks!

 

[jar996]

Did you book nonrefundable airfare? Because the travel agent told me that my Disney package airfare was "nonrefundable" and unless the flight was cancelled no money would be received... even though Orlando was added to the list.

She finally called me back. She said that she was in fact incorrect and even though Orlando has been added to the list there is no refund unless the flights are canceled just like the info that you received. She did say that AA would issue a voucher to use within the next year if the flights are not canceled and refunded.

 

[jar996]

I am about to release a dinner reservation for San Angel Inn on 9/8 and Le Cellier on 9/9 for anybody who is actually there or still going.