Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[mjallemand]

A GIS coworker turned me onto this site. Pretty fun to see the wind speeds across the country.

http://hint.fm/wind/index.html

This is actually even more impressive, for what it's worth:

https://www.windytv.com/

 

[HopperFan]

Reality is that CMs don't just live across the street from the park.

PLEASE be patient with openings. PLEASE do not start rumors of openings.

Not only are many roads unsafe - the CURFEW has not been lifted ..... for guests.


Just one of many and this is from the County itself.
Seminole County, FL ‏@seminolecounty 4m4 minutes ago
Curfew through 7AM. Currently, it is unsafe for non-essential vehicles to be on the road.

Volusia County reporting 80% without power.

There is lots that happened outside of Disney World even with the shift in the storm.

 

[jamieann]

So, Disney website is just wrong I guess? All reports I'm hearing say restaurants are closed and we're still confined to rooms.

 

[uagirl]

This is actually even more impressive, for what it's worth:

https://www.windytv.com/

I like that. Yet another link to add to my weather nerd list.

 

[DMMarla07860]

We are at the Hard Rock Hotel. We just moved to the Orlando area last year and had never been through a hurricane before. Tried Disney, they were booked so I booked here. When I had the chance to really think about it best decision I could have made as both my kids work for Universal and one of them had to work yesterday. Just a short drive to wardrobe and made it back before they wanted everyone off the road. That would have not happened if we had stayed at home.

That being said they have been great. Letters under the door that told us of the limited service and a menu that room service was available until 4 am. Activities in the ballroom and last night the kitchen did a buffet for $26 pp. my daughter and I are gluten free and they prepared meats for us although it took some time. The wait time for the restaurant was a little long (1 hour 10 minutes) but no where near what they were at Disney. We hung out in the lobby while we waited and headed back downstairs when the beeper went off. The Velvet bar and the steak house was open, live music and a coffee bar serving Starbucks coffee was in the lobby.

I haven't heard a peep outside although I can see the trees blowing. Overall I am very pleased. They have done a wonderful job!

off topic, but great to ready that love the Hard Rock Hotel stayed there a few times

 

[tink2020]

I had no trouble with parks closing at 5pm yesterday (Thursday) as the best reports were forecasting heavy rain and winds in the area. Good to be safe. However, as of early AM this morning the winds were moderate, rains light and forecast for day is not bad at all. Storm has moved to the north. So why keep the curfew in place keeping all guests confined to their resorts? If parks cannot be opened at least allow guests to move around WDW for other activities, dining etc. Weather isn't bad and the worst for this area is long gone according to national weather service.

Yes! It's ok for us to say of course they should've taken precautions in case of something awful, AND that now they should do *what they can* (i.e. I know it all takes resources) to make the rest of the day the best it can be.

Besides, every guest who leaves their room puts at least a little bit more money in Disney's tills

 

[Irish_Mike]

So, Disney website is just wrong I guess? All reports I'm hearing say restaurants are closed and we're still confined to rooms.

You are being still advised to stay in your room, yes. Especially if you have a door that opens to the outdoors, and not into a hallway.

However (and I don't condone this), the worst of the storm does seem to have passed Orlando now and various dining areas at each hotel are open to serve only guests at that resort.

 

[HopperFan]

OFFICIAL
PARKS WILL NOT OPEN TODAY
THEY WILL OPEN TOMORROW AT 8 AM

 

[missnic]

I wasn't complaining, just reporting. And I would have never left the room if I hadn't read on here that stuff was open. If they don't want guest to leave their rooms they shouldn't open.

We actually have enough snacks in our room but since we paid for dining and it was going to go to waste I though I may as well get something. My daughter actually ate more of the breakfast that anything else we got last night.

This. I saw on here that food was open, so we headed down. Place is bustling. And I asked a cm about lunch - they're serving burgers and chicken nuggets. While still telling us to stay in our rooms.

 

[wdw2009]

POFQ gave refunds for the boxed lunches. Which was awesome considering we bought 19 for our large group and paid out of pocket.

They also gave us a park ticket to use at a future date.

 

[tink2020]

Thanks to everyone for all the information on this thread - especially from those on property. It is extremely helpful.

We are APs that planned a long Columbus Day weekend. We were supposed to leave today, Friday, and take the first flight home Tuesday. Our flight to Orlando was rescheduled to Sunday. As of right now, we are still planning on coming -- crazy, we know, but we really wanted to see the last MSEP Sunday night and MNSSHP on Monday night.

Here is the question ... it feels like the parks will be reopening Saturday -- but if they are just limping along, we will bag the trip and suck up airline cancelation fees. Any words of advice from those on property (probably more applicable Saturday) would be helpful.

IMO you'll be great. We went to Artist's Palette this morning and it was flawless. Last night we waited in line 2 hours for groceries and it was a disaster, with shelves wiped out. Today perfection. I know that's just a resort CS restaurant, but if that's what the Ride it Out crew does before things are technically open, I think you'll never know anything changed.

 

[DLM1980]

So I'm going with the the wifi is way overloaded here at CBR. In room wifi shows up on my phone but will not connect on my phone or iPad or my partners phone
Even after a reboot

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

Orlando will never have a direct, the storm has to travel through other Counties to get there. Yep, no news reports ever said direct hit for Orlando. They did say possible hurricane force winds of 80-100 mph. Thankfully that didn't happen. Totally agree with you

Never say never. Remember Katrina? Nobody believed that would happen, either. There were valid news reports stating if the storm shifted, which it could have, the eye would have passed over Orlando. That was a possibility at one time.

I believe that has a historical precedent. I don't remember which storm, but I seem to remember Disney opening 1 park to resort Guests only after a storm had passed.

Reports popping up on Facebook of cast being asked if they could possibly go in today for work. It was still very uncertain, but they are testing the waters for some sort of opening

Mom had the day off, but my dad was scheduled to work at MK today. If he got a phone call asking him to come in he would laugh and hang up. Mom would be nicer, but she'd still decline. I imagine that would be the response of most CMs. Maybe they could round up CP and bus them over, but I doubt Disney would put the students in any potential danger...would reflect very poorly on the program.

I wouldn't call what comes out of the taps in FL water! It's disgusting!

But it's wet.

 

[Elsaalltheway]

Reports popping up on Facebook of cast being asked if they could possibly go in today for work. It was still very uncertain, but they are testing the waters for some sort of opening

What facebook site?

 

[southernfriedmom]

By no means is this a complaint just curious... Has anyone heard of them making adjustments to the DDP cost and/or benefits. I am kicking myself now as my exact logic was we are just coming for a shorter trip- we won't stay in our rooms much so we went with rooms at the Pop with Deluxe dining in one of our 2 rooms. Not being able to leave Pop for nearly 2 of our 4 days of deluxe DDP has certainly taken away any potential for getting a value out of it.

 

[SureAsLiz]

What facebook site?

My personal friends list.

Based on the update to MDE that states parks are opening at 8 tomorrow, I would guess that most said they are unable to come in

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Mom had the day off, but my dad was scheduled to work at MK today. If he got a phone call asking him to come in he would laugh and hang up. Mom would be nicer, but she'd still decline. I imagine that would be the response of most CMs. Maybe they could round up CP and bus them over, but I doubt Disney would put the students in any potential danger...would reflect very poorly on the program.

The CPs I work with would laugh and hang up as well. From what I gather, the TranStar buses are scary enough on a regular day.

I'd go in if they called me, but I'm sure we wouldn't sell many tickets. I had one sale in eight hours yesterday as it was.

 

[rteetz]

By no means is this a complaint just curious... Has anyone heard of them making adjustments to the DDP cost and/or benefits. I am kicking myself now as my exact logic was we are just coming for a shorter trip- we won't stay in our rooms much so we went with rooms at the Pop with Deluxe dining in one of our 2 rooms. Not being able to leave Pop for nearly 2 of our 4 days of deluxe DDP has certainly taken away any potential for getting a value out of it.

I definitely would understand the frustration there but this is Mother Nature Disney doesn't have control over it. I'm sure if you called they would give you something to compensate it's just hard to say right now especially since everyone is calling and trying to get things changed, fixed, or whatever.

 

[margareton27]

I had no trouble with parks closing at 5pm yesterday (Thursday) as the best reports were forecasting heavy rain and winds in the area. Good to be safe. However, as of early AM this morning the winds were moderate, rains light and forecast for day is not bad at all. Storm has moved to the north. So why keep the curfew in place keeping all guests confined to their resorts? If parks cannot be opened at least allow guests to move around WDW for other activities, dining etc. Weather isn't bad and the worst for this area is long gone according to national weather service.

According to the news over 39,000 homes are without power in Orange County alone with upwards of 300,000 in central Florida. While WDW was lucky enough to escape relatively unharmed (at least by reports here) not everyone around there was. The curfew is not for Disney it is for the whole area. And Disney needs to respect that if only from a risk mitigation perspective.

 

[iona]

Are any of the bars or lounges open? More than food, I'd need injections of gin every hour.

Victoria Falls at AKL was open until 2am last night and reopened at 11am this morning.

In terms of restaurants, Jiko was closed last night but Boma was open for dinner and breakfast (not sure about lunch) with additional seating in Jiko. The Mara shut at some point last night but reopened at 11am this morning.