Hurricane Irma?

[LSUmiss]

I live in Louisiana and have been through many Hurricanes. The only one that scared me was a Cat 2 storm (Hurricane Gustav).

Same here...but mine was a cat 1...Isaac! Of course, I was in BR for Katrina.

 

[patrickpiteo]

Disney is not going to close the parks until they HAVE to. They are probably hoping the storm turns, or lessens.

Just putting this out here as reported just now on FB by Kenny The Pirate:
Stay safe everyone..

WILL WALT DISNEY WORLD THEME PARKS CLOSE FOR HURRICANE IRMA?
KENNYTHEPIRATE LEAVE A COMMENT


I’ve been asked at least a hundred times if Walt Disney World will close for Hurricane Irma that is supposed to make landfall in southern Florida tomorrow. This is the information I’ve been told, but not all is confirmed by Disney at this time.

Hurricane Ride Out

I was told to expect all the Walt Disney World theme parks to close at 5pm on Saturday and, at minimum, through Sunday and most likely will be closed on Monday as well. It’s possible the parks could remain closed longer as needed for clean up. Disney has not officially announcedthis, but key leaders for the Ride Out teams are being notified. Disney usually announces closures at the last moment to avoid panic and reduce complaints. Your safety and the safety of the Cast is job #1 for Disney. This is not yet an official notice, but I have a HIGH degree of confidence that Disney World theme parks will close.

It’s customary from the other hurricane closures that guests are required to return to their resorts to ride out the storm. The Cast Members who volunteer for Ride Out are asked to stay on property at least 72 hours. They are provided basic food, a place to sleep and a shower access. Last year, many guests complained about the $13 sandwich boxes that they were offered, but please understand that the Ride Out crews are doing the best they can with limited resources and they have to leave their families to serve you.

No dining reservations

Disney is not allowing dining reservations for September 10 or 11. , They are also not going to enforce the cancellation fee on any type of dining reservation for September 10 and 11. They understand that you’re having a difficult time contacting them and they will not charge you for any dining reservation on those dates.

 

[KimBean]

Some may have missed this post but it's interesting and sounds probable about why you aren't seeing your reservation updated yet.

Yes and we heard this yesterday too. I wouldn't be overly concerned if you cancelled and don't see it immediately.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I live in Louisiana and have been through many Hurricanes. The only one that scared me was a Cat 2 storm (Hurricane Gustav).

Hello Gustav buddy! We lost power for a week. It was stupid. Isaac scared me more, though.

 

[AngiTN]

View attachment 268013

Using browser safari iPhone 7 and no option for chat. They might be able to pull that and add it depending on availability though.

Ah, I use Chrome on my iPhone and it has an option to use regular site vs. mobile version. I haven't tried to see if that works though, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I do forget not everyone uses Chrome. I do so I can use the same things on both PC and MAC

 

[KimBean]

At what point might Disney announce park closure for Sun? Seems like a fairy safe bet at this point... I can't recall how they handled this for Matthew or others...

I was watching periscope when they did it at epcot. There was no warning they made an announcement to leave the park. Most people were looking around going what did that say??

 

[Lisa F]

Again, I'm not sure where I told anyone they would still go or feel bad for cancelling or anything like that. My point is, if it was a 5 and getting stronger that would be way worse than a 4 and getting stronger. That's all. Why folks insist on putting words in folks posts are beyond me. I was finding a silver lining in that fact that it's a 4 now and yeah, it may get a little stronger and still be a 3 or strong 2 in Orlando. But all that's better than if it were a 5 now and just getting stronger. Why can't anyone find something good to focus on in a storm that is full of bad?

because it's not remotely good. it's at best, "slightly less bad"

 

[KimBean]

Ah, I use Chrome on my iPhone and it has an option to use regular site vs. mobile version. I haven't tried to see if that works though, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I do forget not everyone uses Chrome. I do so I can use the same things on both PC and MAC

Okay I also pulled it up as desktop on safari and nothing changed. I can test chrome in a minute on dd16 phone.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I was only on hold for an hour this morning with DVC cancelling the first day of my reservation. I expected a much longer wait. I have a Dec. use year so I was past the banking point.

She said the points for the one day are going into holding right now but they should transfer as banked into next year (at my request) within the next 3 or 4 days. If not, to call them back and they will take care of it.
She said there was nothing at all available to even extend my trip by one day if I chose to do that instead.

So I'm all set for flying in on Tuesday providing the airports are open in Georgia and Orlando.

 

[AngiTN]

I was watching periscope when they did it at epcot. There was no warning they made an announcement to leave the park. Most people were looking around going what did that say??

No, that's not how it happened. We were there. We arrived via boat about 10:00, 10:30. Our boat captain told us when he picked us up they'd just told them they were going to close the park at 5:00 that day. When we went through security, same. Again at turnstiles, same. Everywhere we went, they mentioned, we'll be closing at 5:00 today. And announcements were made over the park loudspeakers that the park was closing at 5:00. We hit up several F&W booths, bought snacks in France and Norway to eat later that night. Then ate at Via Napoli right at 4:15 or so. We chatted with a lot of the staff that were tying down the booths for F&W all afternoon. There was plenty of word being given out that it was closing. Now, could folks have not paid attention? Sure. But it wasn't just announced to leave.

 

[yulilin3]

Sounds like things are still fairly good in Orlando proper. That's good.
Are the kids coming with you to AoA tomorrow? (I meant to tell you, I'm pretty sure I saw your son perform when at Universal in June, I need to find my pic to post to show you, I'll have to dig through them but he sure looked like the pic you posted a while back) sorry to veer off there.

Yes the kids are coming with me. That would be cool to see the pic. Was it Frog Choir or Ragtime Gals?

 

[anonomouse]

Anyone else stuck in Disney? JetBlue just cancelled my flight out tomorrow. Nothing available until tues.

 

[KimBean]

No, that's not how it happened. We were there. We arrived via boat about 10:00, 10:30. Our boat captain told us when he picked us up they'd just told them they were going to close the park at 5:00 that day. When we went through security, same. Again at turnstiles, same. Everywhere we went, they mentioned, we'll be closing at 5:00 today. And announcements were made over the park loudspeakers that the park was closing at 5:00. We hit up several F&W booths, bought snacks in France and Norway to eat later that night. Then ate at Via Napoli right at 4:15 or so. We chatted with a lot of the staff that were tying down the booths for F&W all afternoon. There was plenty of word being given out that it was closing. Now, could folks have not paid attention? Sure. But it wasn't just announced to leave.

Okay I was not there. So use Angie's info. My husband was stuck at CSR and I lived it vicariously through him and actually got More information to him through these boards and periscope then he could get on the ground and through cm's.

What i stated was true... but only for the people I was talking to and watching. But my point stands. If you aren't talking to people and actively asking about the situation then plenty of people will not know What is going on until it happens. People also waited until then to get back to resort (took a long time) and get preps (took even longer.)

 

[AngiTN]

Okay I also pulled it up as desktop on safari and nothing changed. I can test chrome in a minute on dd16 phone.

I grabbed my phone to check and saw this (it does open a chat window) this is after I clicked "Desktop site)

 

[Momma_Lanier]

We are at Disney now and haven't heard any news just yet. One CM mentioned Sunday and Monday closing. Since we paid for park tickets for those days, will we get a rback fund or to use them next year?

 

[DisneyMom93]

http://heavy.com/news/2017/09/irma-...nderella-castle-withstand-wind-magic-kingdom/

http://markets.businessinsider.com/...l-cost-the-company-millions-2017-9-1002354503

 

[pigletto]

It's at 150 mph now. It's 7mph from cat 5. It's basically the same thing. There's not really any difference between it being a cat 4 and getting strong then a cat 5 and getting stronger.

Once you hit 150mph, it's basically the same destruction you'd get at 170

Not only that but both Cat 4 and Cat 5 are listed as "Catastrophic". There is no silver lining in CATASTROPHIC.
For comparison .. Hurrican Katrina was "only" a Cat 3 when it hit New Orleans. Thousands lost their lives when the levees broke and in the subsequent flooding. To say anything less than this is life threatening and dead serious is irresponsible and I can't do it. People need to take it seriously and get the heck out if they can .
I told my sister in Tampa I would happily see her inconvenienced by an evacuation that turned out to be for nothing.

 

[mab2012]

Maybe an interesting data point that I don't think has been previously mentioned in this thread:

The charts on the NHC website are currently showing the probability of hurricane force winds in Orlando at somewhere between 30-40% in the next 5 days. In other words, at this time the odds of avoiding hurricane force winds at any level are in Orlando's favour (roughly 2:1).

Unfortunately the situation is not so optimistic in the southern portion of the state, where those odds are approximately reversed. And tropical storm force winds are nearly guaranteed for most of the peninsula at this point.

My intention is not to downplay the seriousness of the situation, or encourage anyone to travel into that area if they can reasonably avoid it. Just want to try to keep things in perspective for those who are already there and can't reasonably leave, or those who have made an informed decision to go anyway (whatever their personal reasons), or those who are still trying to make a decision on trips that are scheduled after the storm has passed.

 

[dvious]

I've been following this thread since about page 13. Signed up to reply and wanted to thank everyone for all the posts. We've been "planning" our trip for about 4 years now to coordinate with our 10 year wedding anniversary (we did DW for our honeymoon) as well as our daughters 5th birthday. We arrive Saturday the 16th in the AM and leave Saturday the 23rd. We were absolutely devastated as the hurricane news kept creeping out but are feeling more and more confident our trip will stay intact and we won't run into any major issues. A day lost here or there isn't a huge issue for us so we're very much looking forward to the trip.

 

[AngiTN]

Yes the kids are coming with me. That would be cool to see the pic. Was it Frog Choir or Ragtime Gals?

Ragtime Gals