Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[mummabear]

DS received email from Disney that their event at Wide World of Sports on Saturday has been cancelled.

They already decided not to go, but it is a sign they are slowly cancelling some things.




- Disney Dream is stuck at sea. All those guests that would have gotten off and flown home will have missed their flights. Disney needs to put them up until they can get on the next flight. They are Disney's current guests and the change in the cruise plan has impacted them.

- The 7th cruise was cancelled, today. Am sure there were folks already there, in their hotels planning to take the Cruise bus. They are now having to arrange a way home. They are Disney guests and were to be their guests on the 7th.

- Disney has guests in a campground surrounded by water and full of trees. DANGEROUS. These folks must be moved to safety as well those in the water bungalows and in treehouses. I think it's safe to say all guests that are being moved have current reservations that Disney is honoring.

- INCOMING guests tomorrow that have reservations paid for absolutely should have their room held for them.

- From what it reads the poster who is upset was scheduled to check out tomorrow. They do not have a reservation. They asked to stay longer. Disney "had no rooms for them when they were asking" and they were upset. Now it may be they just couldn't stay in their room or their hotel or didn't want to stay somewhere offered or for a price of something else. I don't know, but I don't think Disney wouldn't have offered them a room somewhere if they had one .........

- If you were scheduled to check out tomorrow and made no adjustments to your reservation when they did have rooms, it would be logical that you would check out.

- We are responsible for taking care of ourselves on vacation. This storm didn't show up yesterday, we've known for days, ever since it turned north that it was potentially going to be a big impact. At that moment, I would have immediately booked a room for a couple nights. If you didn't book a room when they were available, then you need to book a room offsite which the poster did. I don't understand why someone who is not a guest on the books should get a room and a guest that is should sleep on a cot?

I agree with what you are saying bolded, and the listed points are all very valid. However if I was in the shoes of someone who was "stuck" in Orlando without a room I would be disappointed if Dis du did t have somewhere for me to ride it out, even an offer of camp cots in a conference room would do.
I would understand that I couldn't have the room I was in, and understand all the points you had made, but I would be upset to be told "you're on your own.

 

[Shutterbug]

Those of you considering pushing back just a few days might want to watch about the possibility that they are saying this could wrap around and hit twice.

This is true:

 

[HopperFan]

Weather Channel's

Jim Cantore @JimCantore 14 minutes

#Matthew continues it's run at history tonight as it continues to reorganize its inner core. A very dangerous path towards seems inevitable

 

[Princess Jasmine]

Has anyone attempted to cancel their hotel reservation online? I have the option to do so on my MDE account but am concerned that I won't get my deposit refunded if I don't talk to someone directly. I am currently on hold and it says that the wait time is "more than 60 minutes".

 

[lklasing]

With all the chatter about all the resorts filling up, if we have a confirmed reservation for tomorrow, checkin completed, etc. at SSR (booked with points), they wouldn't give that room away, would they? My daughter is the one staying there and plans to start the day at the MK and stay as long as possible and then go to SSR. (She is at All Star Music tonight.) I just want to make sure that her room will still be reserved for her despite all the craziness brought on by this hurricane.

 

[HopperFan]

UPDATE: Disney World Staffing “Ride It Out” Cast for Hurricane Matthew

Walt Disney World is currently inviting cast members to join the “Ride It Out” crew, a team that would be staffed through the storm to help accommodate guests with anything they might need. These cast members are staffed round-the-clock during storms of this nature.

This is the first time since the historic 2004 hurricane season that they have staffed this crew. These cast members will help guests stranded at the resort, offering food, drink, entertainment and more to guests.

FROM WDWNT

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

I'm shocked that Characters in Flight is closed, lol. Could you imagine going up there in this?

 

[Irish_Mike]

With all the chatter about all the resorts filling up, if we have a confirmed reservation for tomorrow, checkin completed, etc. at SSR (booked with points), they wouldn't give that room away, would they?

Your room will be there. But expect long lines at the check in desk, even if you checked in online.

 

[mummabear]

Fingers crossed that the track doesn't push any further inland.

View attachment 199174

Note that the image above is for tomorrow folks, not Friday. If you are traveling into Orlando, or are already in the area, please get inside and stay there after 5PM at the latest.

If you have to be outside for some reason, be incredibly careful and vigilant.

I am going to front my below comment by saying I am not belittling a hurricane, that there is much more than just wind and I hope everyone is safe.

I have to lol a little at 50-60mph wind. For us that's 97kmh- Wellington wouldn't even get a wind warning for that.
We have gusts exceeding 75kmh 175 days a year average, 233 last year.
With our largest recorded at 248kmh.

Thank god we don't get the heavy rain to go with it.

 

[wilkeliza]

With all the chatter about all the resorts filling up, if we have a confirmed reservation for tomorrow, checkin completed, etc. at SSR (booked with points), they wouldn't give that room away, would they? My daughter is the one staying there and plans to start the day at the MK and stay as long as possible and then go to SSR. (She is at All Star Music tonight.) I just want to make sure that her room will still be reserved for her despite all the craziness brought on by this hurricane.

That room will be there unless the people who should have left already decide to force extend their stay and refuse to leave. That was the issue back with a big winter storm one time. People refused to leave so those checking in had issues.

 

[Irish_Mike]

I am going to front my below comment by saying I am not belittling a hurricane, that there is much more than just wind and I hope everyone is safe.

I have to lol a little at 50-60mph wind. For us that's 97kmh- Wellington wouldn't even get a wind warning for that.
We have gusts exceeding 75kmh 175 days a year average, 233 last year.
With our largest recorded at 248kmh.

Thank god we don't get the heavy rain to go with it.

The issue is less about the wind, and more the concern that there will be debris, downed trees, power lines, etc.

Which is even worse at night in heavy rain, paired with a lot of people who don't know the area.

 

[HopperFan]

While many of these closures won't impact tourists there are a few.

And for the locals who haven't seen the list so far yet ...

http://www.mynews13.com/content/new...cellations_postponements.html?cmpid=breaking#

 

[LivingforDisney]

Been reading this post at home here in sunny Sydney Australia.
The comments about being upset about missing a dining reservation and people commenting because they can't fly they will drive down, I find quite ridiculous.
Are u people serious. Why on earth would you want to be anywhere near where a hurricane is heading.
Surely safety is more important than being at wdw.
It seems absurd people are still trying to get down there, if this thing hits , imagine the damage ect, surely Wdw doesn't need more people descending on it at this time, Disney should be advising people to stay home.
thats my opinion anyhow.

 

[HopperFan]

I'm shocked that Characters in Flight is closed, lol. Could you imagine going up there in this?

E TICKET

 

[*MomTo2Princesses*]

We have friends at AoA for their family's first trip (arrived Monday and were suppose to leave Saturday) and they've decided to head back in the morning. She said the wait time for calls are around 2 hours. Will the lines to check out tomorrow be terrible? Will they still have to pay for their remaining nights at AoA? They never got to visit Epcot and planned MK for tomorrow. Will their tickets be comped? Probably not? I feel so sad for them.

 

[kandb]

Just to be clear about you assuming things when I have already said otherwise. Disney offered NO other alternative to US AT ALL. Even thought I specially said we will be ok if we needed to move. Which apparently they had since someone said that they were able to booked pop. I love how people always assume Disney is right. We went back to the lobby there was 5 people cancelling and leaving early (today and tomorrow early). And only one person trying to extend. There was multiple upset guest that were told the same thing we did earlier and they were livid as 5 people were canceling leaving tonight. In fact some really nice lady in line that change her flight to leave tonight said we could have her room for tomorrow night that they were refusing to cancel and refund her when she talked to Disney customer service. The manager did take care of her, but she said she will never be coming back after how she was treated.

Thankfully universal on the other hand has been fantastic and just in one call not only they find us a room but went the extra mile and made sure we were giving the rate and discount we have even though it is sold out and a 7 am check in. If we ever consider buying DVC before now for sure we will never will. We have never been in a hotel that has handle the situation so badly. And by the way we were willing to pay whatever rate they wanted as long as they will give us a room.

Just to add I am not saying that they should not move people from campsites they should but they should be able to accommodate all their guest.

I am surprised Disney had a problem with you cancelling. We were at the Poly the end of August/sept. We were supposed to leave the Poly on Sat, 9/3 when Hurricane? was passing. We decided to cancel our flights out on the 3rd and leave the Poly 2 nights early and we drove home. We spoke with the manager at the front desk the Thursday morning, 9/1 and they let us cancel and leave at 12:30pm and they gave us back a 2 night refund. No problem at all and they were very nice about it.

 

[Jonathan Shearon]

How could you possibly change a cancelled flight? There is nothing to change. You need to do what will keep your family safe. A missed Princess breakfast pales in comparison to a Category 3 or 4 hurricane and its risks. I understand that this is very disappointing when you have a long planned vacation. But this is a special circumstance.
Good Luck.

I don't think I was being clear. What I mean is this:

Let's say original ticket costs $150. As of right now, I can change this to another day within a fixed window (Monday) without incurring any additional cost regardless of new ticket price. Now, if the flight is canceled my understanding is that they just refund your money, and you have to go buy a new ticket. So if the ticket on Monday costs $300, I've just doubled the cost of our travel when I could have just changed it for free prior to the cancellation.

I'm not sure if this is how it works, but if it is it feels like I'm rolling the dice by waiting to change the flight. Does that make more sense?

 

[HopperFan]

We have friends at AoA for their family's first trip (arrived Monday and were suppose to leave Saturday) and they've decided to head back in the morning. She said the wait time for calls are around 2 hours. Will the lines to check out tomorrow be terrible? Will they still have to pay for their remaining nights at AoA? They never got to visit Epcot and planned MK for tomorrow. Will their tickets be comped? Probably not? I feel so sad for them.

I think post #559 now includes the posted policy from Disney on refunds. I think the lines will be long ... imagine many with cars and feeling they can get home will leave in morning.

 

[kandb]

Give me a break! I am perfectly within my rights to be dissapointed with a vacation that we have looked forward to for over a year and spent a lot of money on. It does not for one tiny second negate the fact that I know people are suffering. I should have known when I typed that I would get someone to pop off.

People are asking for "if you there are now please let us know what's happening," but when I do that's the crap I get. I was being perfectly honest. I am frustrated.

I don't blame you, I would be frustrated also. It sucks for people who have vacations planned. Stay safe.

 

[Farro]

Been reading this post at home here in sunny Sydney Australia.
The comments about being upset about missing a dining reservation and people commenting because they can't fly they will drive down, I find quite ridiculous.
Are u people serious. Why on earth would you want to be anywhere near where a hurricane is heading.
Surely safety is more important than being at wdw.
It seems absurd people are still trying to get down there, if this thing hits , imagine the damage ect, surely Wdw doesn't need more people descending on it at this time, Disney should be advising people to stay home.
thats my opinion anyhow.

It's only natural for people to try to look to the positive side and think they can make it. No one wants to face the fact that this long awaited trip isn't going to happen.
Of course people are upset, this isn't just a weekend trip to Wisconsin Dells they are cancelling.

I'm sure everyone realizes the danger and of course have concerns for the safety for the people who work and live there (and visiting) is on everyone's mind - but I certainly can't fault anyone for being upset that their trip has to be cancelled.