Hurricane issues...

[mouseketeer_mom]

according to this first hand account that I stumbled across when I was planning our first Disney trip, the Hurricane that had people bunked in the Contempoary Conference area occurred in 1995.

the link...

https://family.go.com/travel/family.../florida/walt--disney--world/4969-hurricane-/

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

It appears to be the same hurricane but it seems some were routed to the ballroom in the Grand Floridian...

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/WDW/Stories.html

I would imagine that since that time, Disney has been simply using vacant rooms to house FW guests as I can't find any other first hand accounts of this since the 1995 Hurricane Erin.

 

[SandrA9810]

I wouldn't mind being stuck in a convention center... no windows to worry about.

Pets are kept at the kennels, and they bring out rolling kennels in an overflow situation like that. I don't know how they're going to operate with the OP there now. Carol, one of the ladies that used to work at the kennels has told me about that. She now works in the little window to the left for Trail Riding check in.

There's actually quite a lot of floridians that evacuate to Disney World because they feel safer there. So Disney is trying to get as many families out, as there are many families coming in... I don't know how Disney handles that, if they just cut off all reservations for the expected hit date or something. But it happens a lot to for any one in south florida, they'll spend the time at Disney and go home after the storm.

Disney also creates a ride out crew for every area of Disney. So CM's will volunteer to ride the storm out in a safe area of where they work and then after the storm has cleared, they head out to clean up so the parks can reopen as soon as possible. Apparently it's been changed this year, but I've heard in years previous that they would allow the CM's family to stay at the resort as well for free and put up any pets in the kennel. But it's only about a half dozen per area that get chosen for this, and not all areas are part of it.
I've heard the parks after the 3 hurricanes, were quite dead the following day. So it would be totally worth it to ride the storm out. The weather is usually beautiful after a storm.

 

[FlaFortCampster]

Another interesting thread!
One word of caution, most of the storms people are referring to where they were moved for one night and the next day there was a little damage, but everything else was fine were NOT hurricanes, but tropical storms and depressions, thankfully. Please don't be lulled into a false sense of security. If you're headed to the Fort during our hurricane season, particularly Aug. and Sept., pay close attention to the forecasted track and intensity. There is no tent, PUP or RV built that can stand up to falling trees or tornados. Central Florida is a great place to be during a storm as they usually lose their punch by the time they reach the middle of the state, but not always. Charley proved that. Evacuating isn't always the answer. Most folks wait to see what is going to happen and wait too long. Then you run into many problems, gas shortages, accidents, massive traffic jams, no hotels rooms, etc.
Just be smart, plan accordingly, have backup plans and above all, BE SAFE.

 

[SandrA9810]

Wanna talk about gas shortage??

Not only have I waited in line to fill up my 2 gallon can. I've paid horrible prices because of a hurricane 4 states away.

Last year in Sept, we headed to north Georgia for a week vacation at Kari's parent's house. We only pay for food and gas to get there and back home, they do the driving and treating the entire time we are there. Well we ended up getting a late start around 11am on the turnpike. About an hour outside of Blairsville is a very nice and brand new Race Trac (that's our favorite station to stop at). Well it was already dark out and probably around 9pm on our way there. Gas was less than 3$ a gallon, I wasn't worried about paying an extra 10cents or so to wait till the end of the week. I really just wanted to get to her parent's house since it was getting late, and we had enough to get there.
Well you can tell what happened 2 days prior to leaving for home, a hurricane hits texas, blows out refineries, and we ended up spending 4$ a gallon to get back home. And it took, like 2-3 weeks for prices to go back down.

Word of advice, if you think a hurricane is coming, fill up your tank and keep it full as much as possible before a storm hits, because who know how much you're going to pay afterwards. My gut told me to fill up on the way there, my eyes were seeing a bed.

 

[3gr8kids]

We have been through 4 hurricanes at the Fort (including Charley). We were evacuated twice.

FOUR hurricanes??? Ummm, would you please release a list of future dates that you will be at Disney? I'd like to plan my vacation around them, as apparently you, my friend, are a hurricane magnet, lol.

(Note to self. Do NOT visit the fort when Disney John is there). lol

 

[Jiminey]

It was 1995, I was one of the "evacuees" and we were staying in a cabin. - It was Hurricane Erin (my daughter's name is Erin)!.. first we were taken by bus to the GF (allowed to take only one pillow each and medications in a small bag - everything else was left at the cabin) and then asked (when it got crowded) if we wanted to go to the Contemporary. We went and it was a very nice experience! They provided cots, large TVs, Hoopde Doo food (the last performance was cancelled and they brought us the food), large carts with toiletries, and for breakfast they had a large buffet of danish, bagels, cereal and fruits... and to top it all off - they deducted that nights lodging from our bill! Of course, we had to wait half a day for them to clear the path back into the Fort of trees, but all in all was yet another Disney experience! The kids still at 30 and 26 talk about it!