Hurricane Irma?

[Farro]

NOT NEGATING but to be fair. It is a very tiny island, mostly undeveloped - most have never even heard of it. Basically one small town with 1600 people and likely not built to same standards we are used to. The town is also on the west side the would have take the brunt of the winds coming around the island full of water. Winds were likely close to the 185 mph whereas they are expected to drop to 145 by time it gets to FL.

Terrible results and we should fear it here as well, but the results there can not be compared to FL.

Yes, a point people some are not understanding.

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

That would be 100 square miles. It's not even close to the size of Florida.

For comparison, Antigua is slightly smaller than the city of Orlando (113 sq. mi).

 

[KimBean]

One lesson I learned while at WDW during Matthew last year -- it's amazing how many people on property remain blissfully in the "Disney bubble" in the days leading up to an event like this. We live on the coast of South Carolina (currently taking a break from doing a hurricane prep photo inventory of my house), and we know what a hurricane can do. So we planned ahead last year -- went to the grocery store and bought supplies, got sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich, got breakfast items, etc. I really think we were in the minority -- a lot of people were shocked when the parks closed, they had no supplies, and they ended up standing in line for overpriced sandwiches for hours.

All this to say -- it's very easy to get lost in the magic. That's part of the appeal of a Disney vacation. Traveling in the days before and during a hurricane means you lose that luxury -- you either have to stay on top of the news, or you get caught unprepared.

This.

 

[kandb]

Well, canceled the Universal part of trip that was supposed to be 9/9-9/14. Had a $200 cancel fee, but it's just ok. Now checking into the Dolphin for two night starting on the 12th, and switching to the Swan on the 14th.

Universal charged you a $200 fee? Sorry, but I would of spoken to a manager and fought that. It's a major hurricane and Universal parks is a billion dollar industry. They don't need to make money off of people from cancellation fees due to a MAJOR hurricane. Not acceptable.

 

[Claudia1]

Need some help with this, hopefully someone knows. I have moved our flights up to Saturday morning and got a room at Pop for Saturday night because they wouldn't let me add a day onto my resort package w/ free dining at the WL. My questions are, how do we get to WL on Sunday as we are using Magical Express to get to POP, do we just pay for a taxi to take us? Also, can I link our Magic Bands to our stay at Pop for 1 night? I assume even tho they've signed me up for Magical Express for our new flight I won't have tags so we will need to get our own luggage from the carousel before we go to ME in the airport.

I would suggest that you try as often as possible to change your added day to WL. Rooms will probably open up as people cancel or leave early. We have changed resorts the night before and ME picked up on the change and delivered our luggage to the right resort. Good luck!

 

[wonder whisper]

Do any of you who understand the models have a guess what happens further north after several days? My DD and I are scheduled for our annual Cedar Point Halloweekends trip for Sep 15-17. For the past 3 times, no matter what weekend we've picked, we have been blasted by a major storm blowing up from the south. I know many of you have your hands full with immediate decisions -- and this is nothing compared to those in harm's way--- but anyone on the sidelines have any guesses on post landfall track? Ohio? Back out to sea? pA ( where I live?) , northern east coast seaboard?

The best you can do at this time is to look at some of the spaghetti maps, looking at which tracks go anywhere near Northwest Ohio. Then, keep track of what Irma does this weekend, at which point new tracks will start appearing. It will in essence become an iterative process where you will determine pretty quickly whether any Irma remants are coming anywhere near Northwest Ohio.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Do any of you who understand the models have a guess what happens further north after several days? My DD and I are scheduled for our annual Cedar Point Halloweekends trip for Sep 15-17. For the past 3 times, no matter what weekend we've picked, we have been blasted by a major storm blowing up from the south. I know many of you have your hands full with immediate decisions -- and this is nothing compared to those in harm's way--- but anyone on the sidelines have any guesses on post landfall track? Ohio? Back out to sea? pA ( where I live?) , northern east coast seaboard?

I live in central Ohio and am supposed to be flying to Orlando on Friday afternoon. It's possible we may go, and it's possible we may not.

As for the track of Irma and how it may impact weather in Ohio, it's too early to tell. I did see at least one of the models showed the remnants of the storm going through Ohio. It's very likely there will be a ton of rain. It's possible there will also be high winds. I posted our story from 2008 either earlier in this thread or in one of the other threads discussing this storm. In 2008, we traveled to WDW approximately this same week in September. Hurricane Ike looked like it might hit Florida. It turned. We flew down to WDW on a Sunday morning and that night got a call from a friend back home. Ike had blown through Ohio causing some pretty serious damage. Trees down all over the place. Damage to siding and roofs on houses. Widespread power outages. Some people were without power for over a week. Meanwhile, we were having great weather in Orlando. Point being, keep an eye on the weather. You may want to reschedule Cedar Point for another weekend.

 

[little_orange_bird]

If you are on a cruise, Irma may have made some of your destinations not visitable; my parents went on a cruise a year before and after a hurricane, and after the hurricane, all the island trees were gone . . . the hurricane leveled it.

I hope your cruise and destinations are all well and functioning on your trip. I love cruises.

Thanks @MandyLovesMulan I hope so too. It's too Nassau and castaway cay, wasn't going to get off boat in Nassau

 

[tmcd1126]

So my original trip is from 9/10 to 9/15 the absolute most I could push it back would be to go from 9/12 to 9/17 (granted I could even make that work at this point) but would flying in on the 12th be any better? I'm trying so hard not to scrap this trip entirely but I think I might just be grasping at straws...

 

[AngiTN]

I live in central Ohio and am supposed to be flying to Orlando on Friday afternoon. It's possible we may go, and it's possible we may not.

As for the track of Irma and how it may impact weather in Ohio, it's too early to tell. I did see at least one of the models showed the remnants of the storm going through Ohio. It's very likely there will be a ton of rain. It's possible there will also be high winds. I posted our story from 2008 either earlier in this thread or in one of the other threads discussing this storm. In 2008, we traveled to WDW approximately this same week in September. Hurricane Ike looked like it might hit Florida. It turned. We flew down to WDW on a Sunday morning and that night got a call from a friend back home. Ike had blown through Ohio causing some pretty serious damage. Trees down all over the place. Damage to siding and roofs on houses. Widespread power outages. Some people were without power for over a week. Meanwhile, we were having great weather in Orlando. Point being, keep an eye on the weather. You may want to reschedule Cedar Point for another weekend.

Ike may have been the storm that blew through here and knocked our power out for several days.

 

[aleh021]

So my original trip is from 9/10 to 9/15 the absolute most I could push it back would be to go from 9/12 to 9/17 (granted I could even make that work at this point) but would flying in on the 12th be any better? I'm trying so hard not to scrap this trip entirely but I think I might just be grasping at straws...

by tomorrow morning you should know what will be the best thing to do!

don't loose hope

 

[BigMac3001]

So my original trip is from 9/10 to 9/15 the absolute most I could push it back would be to go from 9/12 to 9/17 (granted I could even make that work at this point) but would flying in on the 12th be any better? I'm trying so hard not to scrap this trip entirely but I think I might just be grasping at straws...

We had the same dates, and I moved it up to 9/9 and staying until the 14th. I feel good about the decision. Even if Monday is a dead day, we get the same amount of time we planned. If Irma misses us, then we get an extra day.

 

[agavegirl1]

I believe Royal Caribbean is moving their Eastern Caribbean cruises to Western and closing their Labadee Port. Any cruisers might want to check with their Cruise Line.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Ike may have been the storm that blew through here and knocked our power out for several days.

Very possible. If it was 2008, then almost definitely. Ike went over and made landfall in Texas then tracked north. My understanding from friends and neighbors, it was very weird because there was no rain, just intense wind for hours.

 

[aleh021]

Just to let everyone know...

There are A LOT of PHOTOS AND VIDEOS being posted online from Hurricane Irma. Some of those photos & videos are not from Irma.

People are already posting fake images and such. Its unbelievable the type of world we live in sometimes.

 

[CAS239]

The destruction in Barbuda is zero indicator of damage that will/can happen in the U.S.

You really can't compare destruction to an undeveloped tiny area that doesn't have near the construction and building codes we have.

Not downplaying the storm but it's not likely to be just wiping out everything in its path

 

[Rachel Underwood]

Really???.... Because I have family in sint martin with no more house or even grass in the yard and a car full of water. I have an extremely hard time believing things are back to normal for anyone.... also the airport is destroyed so no one can get out and Jose is on the way.

She said they are still scheduled to fly out Friday. So unless they didn't tell her the airport is destroyed... She says they are still scheduled to fly out.

 

[wonder whisper]

The eye (and therefore the strongest winds) of Irma was 40 miles north of Antigua...not sure that qualifies as skirting when the storm is 400 miles wide.

Those 40 miles apparently made a big difference in what Antigua vs. Barbuda experienced.

 

[tmcd1126]

by tomorrow morning you should know what will be the best thing to do!

don't loose hope

I'm trying! The adult in me is saying take the refund and rebook in January or February but the kid in me is saying but the Halloween party and all the pumpkins!

 

[KimBean]

She said they are still scheduled to fly out Friday. So unless they didn't tell her the airport is destroyed... She says they are still scheduled to fly out.

Times like this are confusing. I have seen reports from Barbuda has 100% destruction to everything is fine and will be up and running tomorrow (not here like news articles.) then I saw st Maarten airport destroyed but other people saying no. Probably know more tomorrow.