Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[mickeyfino]

Following this thread closely. Sounds like Thurs night into Friday morning is going to be tricky.

We leave Boston at 4pm, with a 7pm arrival in Orlando and I'm worried the flight will be canceled. Does anyone have a Friday afternoon flight that they ended up changing?

 

[joelkfla]

I'm so torn. We're supposed to drive tomorrow (Wednesday) and get there in the middle of the afternoon. Latest predictions have a ton of rain for Wednesday through Friday morning. We're there only through Columbus Day. Feeling like maybe we should shorten the trip from 5 nights to 3 nights? Just seems like a tough drive with rain for only 3 nights, but poor value to arrive only to sit at the resort

Weather Underground has rain likely from 11AM Thursday thru midnight Friday (just slightly over 50% Friday night.) Wednesday afternoon & night is 50/50, so you might be able to see MSEP with a little luck.

I'd stick with Wednesday arrival, so you're not driving thru the storm, and you'll be ready to jump into the parks the moment it passes.

 

[joelkfla]

The severity of impact will heavily depend on where the eye comes ashore. If it comes hits in SE Florida and stays over land it will weaken considerably by the time it hits Orlando. If it comes on shore more toward central Florida it will be a different story. That is IF it hits Florida.

MG

Current track has no landfall in Florida, though the coast is within the cone of uncertainty. (That always makes me think of "Get Smart.")

 

[nduckles]

Following this thread closely. Sounds like Thurs night into Friday morning is going to be tricky.

We leave Boston at 4pm, with a 7pm arrival in Orlando and I'm worried the flight will be canceled. Does anyone have a Friday afternoon flight that they ended up changing?

We're leaving Friday at 5:40 pm with a 10:00 pm arrival. Getting an earlier flight is impossible with our schedules, and there are no later flights that night. I'm hoping we'll be passing the storm, but I actually have a car rental reservation to drive through the night if indeed our flights are cancelled.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I'm so torn. We're supposed to drive tomorrow (Wednesday) and get there in the middle of the afternoon. Latest predictions have a ton of rain for Wednesday through Friday morning. We're there only through Columbus Day. Feeling like maybe we should shorten the trip from 5 nights to 3 nights? Just seems like a tough drive with rain for only 3 nights, but poor value to arrive only to sit at the resort.

Meanwhile, in some strange irony, weather at home (Atlanta) has been for the past 7 days, and will continue to be gorgeous: sunny, 55 - 85 degrees for the next 10 days.

I'd cancel and reschedule if you could without penalty.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Current track has no landfall in Florida, though the coast is within the cone of uncertainty. (That always makes me think of "Get Smart.")

Indeed... I'm considering anything within the cone as possible landfall.
I agree the odds are not in favor of hitting Florida directly.

MG

 

[lklasing]

Forgive me if this has already been discussed but my daughter is arriving tomorrow and has tickets for MNSSHP on Thursday night, which seems to be the worst night at this time. I know the tickets are nonrefundable but I'm wondering if they ever make any accommodations in a situation like this, where it could truly be a washout. Any thoughts?

 

[Feralpeg]

Latest update has the eye of the storm 25 miles off the coast of Daytona. Since the storm is actually wider than the state of Florida, this means the Orlando area will definitely feel the effects. Local news has been saying that we will have tropical storm force winds gusting to 70 mph. The storm will be closer to Central Florida and stronger than Floyd was in 1999.

 

[Ametista]

We are supposed to arrive at 12:00 am on the 8th, we leave Friday night. On hold with United right now but have a feeling I will be on hold for hours.

Update: on hold for 20 mins, got the last 3 tickets on the first flight out Saturday. Thank you, thank you thank you whoever started this thread so I realized how bad Matthew was and that my flight would probably be cancelled!

 

[kidsgobears]

DS's high school cross country team is schedule to fly from Syracuse to Orlando Thursday night (arriving around midnight). Keeping fingers crossed that trip doesn't get cancelled.

 

[AngiTN]

Current track has no landfall in Florida, though the coast is within the cone of uncertainty. (That always makes me think of "Get Smart.")

Anything new on where it's landing? My family is making fun of me for wanting to get there before it hits. I keep saying that it's going to get a bit iffy for a day and then clear out and while it may not be pretty it won't be a waste of time to go. DH is trying to say he's heard it may stall out but no idea what sites he's reading. Likely CNN

 

[Geoff_M]

At some point, airlines will likely get skittish about putting their equipment in harms way in Florida if there is still uncertainty about just how hard places like Orlando will get hit.

 

[Feralpeg]

Anything new on where it's landing? My family is making fun of me for wanting to get there before it hits. I keep saying that it's going to get a bit iffy for a day and then clear out and while it may not be pretty it won't be a waste of time to go. DH is trying to say he's heard it may stall out but no idea what sites he's reading. Likely CNN

At this point, it looks like it will remain off the east coast, but it will be very close (within 25 miles). It's a BIG storm! Local news is saying Orlando will have tropical storm force winds mid-day Thursday through Friday. If it doesn't stall out, it should be gone by mid-day Saturday.

 

[HaveKidsWillTravel]

DS's high school cross country team is schedule to fly from Syracuse to Orlando Thursday night (arriving around midnight). Keeping fingers crossed that trip doesn't get cancelled.

Are they flying JetBlue? They updated their website today that they will waive fees to change/cancel flights into Orlando.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Anything new on where it's landing? My family is making fun of me for wanting to get there before it hits. I keep saying that it's going to get a bit iffy for a day and then clear out and while it may not be pretty it won't be a waste of time to go. DH is trying to say he's heard it may stall out but no idea what sites he's reading. Likely CNN

I would stay away til you know how and if Florida gets hit and how it handles it. Flooding, power loss, and empty/closed groceries are no fun, especially in a hotel room with no resources of your own.

This is a CAT 4 hurricane bigger than the state of Florida itself...it could be devastating...hopefully, it won't be, but you normally plan for the worst and hope for the best...I wouldn't think of arriving before Saturday...

 

[randster]

Hi everyone, been on hold with Disney for over 2 hours and trying to get an answer about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We have tickets for Thursday night and that looks like the worst of the weather. FWIW, we are Floridians so we don't mind rain and are driving from the south, where we may be harder hit. Does anyone have experience with getting a refund for a one-off event like the Halloween party? Unfortunately we don't think we will have another night we can go to it. Ideally we will go the following night (Friday) but that will depend on being able to get out of South Florida and drive up. I would rather cancel the ticket and then purchase it day of if we make it up there. Any advice is most welcome - thanks!

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

We were there during hurricane Jeanne. We were quarantined to our hotel room, told to fill our bathtub, and given a glow stick. Fortunately we somehow never lost power. We were hunkered down for a day, and by the next day everything was open by 10, and the rest of the week was beautiful weather and lowest crowds ever.

Hope everyone is safe and has a great trip, even with a little Matthew.

 

[pwdebbie]

I've been seeing the governor of Florida on the news all day (I'm in Pennsylvania). He traveled throughout the state today (Tuesday) saying to prepare for a direct hit from Matthew and evacuations may be likely. He has already declared a state of emergency.

 

[Ametista]

We were there during hurricane Jeanne. We were quarantined to our hotel room, told to fill our bathtub, and given a glow stick. Fortunately we somehow never lost power. We were hunkered down for a day, and by the next day everything was open by 10, and the rest of the week was beautiful weather and lowest crowds ever.

Hope everyone is safe and has a great trip, even with a little Matthew.

Yeah, I'm hoping the silver lining to losing a day of our trip is that crowds will be LOW!!!!

 

[mswhittaker]

So we are set to fly from manchester at 6:30 friday to land in orlando at 9:30 am. I've spoken to southwest and they won't let you change airports at all, and there are no flights I can get my group of 7 on for saturday, and this was a 4 day/3 night trip so we don't have many options. We'd have to reschedule within 14 days which isn't possible with work and school schedules, so we're waiting it out. If the flights are cancelled, we get a refund. And Disney said we can even call on Friday and change our reservation to a future date, so we won't lose any money there. We're going on the "pack and get ready as if we are going" assumption with the knowledge that in all likelihood, the weekend will be cancelled on us.