Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[ErinsMommy]

creepy infrared pic of Matthew

It looks like the grinch. How appropriate!

 

[SpaceMtnGirl]

Ok, we are at Disney now and I'm starting to worry!

All flights to our home from MCO are sold out today.

We are supposed to fly out Saturday evening.

I have no idea what our options are at this point other than to ride out this storm.

Is there a chance flights will be operating by Saturday evening ??

 

[TwoMisfits]

Ok, we are at Disney now and I'm starting to worry!

All flights to our home from MCO are sold out today.

We are supposed to fly out Saturday evening.

I have no idea what our options are at this point other than to ride out this storm.

Is there a chance flights will be operating by Saturday evening ??

Have you tried flights tomorrow morning (seems those should probably go)? Can you drive home?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Nobody knows at this time what will be happening Saturday evening.

If you haven't changed your flights already, there's likely slim pickings out there.

 

[tizzant]

This is NOT a tropical storm - this is a CAT 4 Hurricane, even at this point. This is like a tornado continually hitting your area with wind and driving rain for HOURS. If it glances Orlando, you likely get the hoped for tropical storm effect. If it hits with more than a glance, you get a CAT 1/2. If you hit dead on, you will have what NOAA calls Catastrophic damage which will take weeks/months to recover from. Everything outside in a CAT 4 can be a projectile - trees, cars, mailboxes, trashcans, etc. Even if you are in a rated room for the winds, these locations are not rated to withstand tree hits, car hits, etc...you are not safe in the area, even in somewhere like Disney. You are safe in Canada, NY, Tennessee, etc...

It's definitely not the best situation and Florida isn't built to withstand this kind of stuff (for who knows what reason, I'm from there, I have no idea why we don't build heavier other than the worry of florida sinking into the ocean I guess) by and far. Though Disney is pretty hardy. Even a Category 1 or 2 might knock down some eaves on buildings but those would be up in a day or two unless the storm just decides to sit and have a picnic over the park. It being a category 4 is pretty impressive. Florida's had a lot of pretty quiet years and the Atlantic looks to be gearing back up again. I'm interested to see if that impacts "hurricane season" crowds if it continues in the future.

 

[HappyGrape]

I thought October isn't Hurricane season



stay safe all

 

[MakiraMarlena]

After 2004 Disney had to have "free dining" to keep guests coming back in hurricane season. So yes, if Matthew is bad there will be an impact, as in guests swearing off travel between August and December most likely. (Hurricane season is June 1- November 30 but peak is August-September). Whether it will be enough that discounts will be needed to lure them back, time will tell.

 

[tizzant]

I thought October isn't Hurricane season



stay safe all

Hurricane season is all year round in Florida, it's just "officially" until November 30th from June 1st. But they can pop up any time technically. They're just more likely in that period.

 

[Nayan]

I thought October isn't Hurricane season



stay safe all

Hurricane season runs from June 1st until NOVEMBER 30th.

 

[Accident]

My relative in downtown Orlando is evacuating to the west coast - and she had hurricane supplies and a Cat 5 rated house...if the locals are leaving, that should be a message...

Why not do a long weekend in tampa and enjoy the west coast of florida! I'm not concerned about the storm but was considering that maybe it's a good time to get over there for a mini-cation and hit busch gardens and the beaches and some family I haven't seen in a couple decades. they are expected to have nothing during this.

So Thurs/Fri and over the weekend would be the worst of this? Will it still be affecting the area the following weekend directly? I understand there will be after effects.

local news is basically saying mid afternoon thursday we'll start to see some higher winds and weather from this. overnight (friday about 2amish) is when the higher forced stuff will get into the area and most of this storm and the hard stuff will be friday and possibly a little bit of the end early saturday. now local news covers the entire area so it's a generic central fla report and not a disney area specific report so there wil be some deviation from that.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I thought October isn't Hurricane season



stay safe all

Hurricane season is through the end of November.

 

[SpaceMtnGirl]

Have you tried flights tomorrow morning (seems those should probably go)? Can you drive home?

Only flight left tomorrow is at 5:50 pm and renting a car would be $$$

 

[TwoMisfits]

Only flight left tomorrow is at 5:50 pm and renting a car would be $$$

Can you get a flight from Tampa? Would the $$$ even out with the refunded hotel nights for the rental?

 

[HopperFan]

I thought October isn't Hurricane season



stay safe all

June through November. The middle time frame is peak.

 

[Accident]

We are supposed to fly out Saturday evening.

I have no idea what our options are at this point other than to ride out this storm.

Is there a chance flights will be operating by Saturday evening ??

I think so.. it seems the stuff that is more than a good rain will be friday. saturday evening should be pretty clear with some residual rain and such..

Also check tampa for flights.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I think so.. it seems the stuff that is more than a good rain will be friday. saturday evening should be pretty clear with some residual rain and such..

Also check tampa for flights.

The problem with Saturday night flights would be if they relocated all the planes before the event, they would need to 1st fly them all back to Orlando before they could operate Orlando-departing flights...not sure that would be enough time if this keeps its slowed down schedule...

 

[PSUGuy]

Best wishes to all there now and over the weekend. We're sticking to our plan to fly out of PHL on Wed., Oct 12 with a possible modification of our plan for a grocery stop at Publix on the way to Board Walk. Regarding that possible 'loop', it looks like by Mon the 10th. Matthew will barely be a cat 1 and will be well away from the coast. We'll see.

Bill From PA

 

[Geoff_M]

This is NOT a tropical storm - this is a CAT 4 Hurricane, even at this point.

Not to overly minimize things, but Matthew, based on current NOAA reports, is no longer a CAT 4 storm. Its wind speed has continually dropped over the last couple of days from 140 MPH to a reported 120 MPH now. That's only 10 MPH above the upper limit of a CAT 2. Projections say that by the time it is near Daytona it will "only" be a CAT 2 at most. This slowdown will likely be due to the fact that the western half of the storm will be over land that will deny it the open water needed to powers such storms. While ANY hurricane is not something to be take lightly, this thing isn't going to likely be a "monster" by the time it nears Orlando.

 

[tizzant]

Not to overly minimize things, but Matthew, based on current NOAA reports, is no longer a CAT 4 storm. Its wind speed has continually dropped over the last couple of days from 140 MPH to a reported 115 MPH now. That's only 5 MPH above the upper limit of a CAT 2. Projections say that by the time it is near Daytona it will "only" be a CAT 1. This slowdown will likely be due to the fact that the western half of the storm will be over land that will deny it the open water needed to powers such storms. While ANY hurricane is not something to be take lightly, this thing isn't going to likely be a "monster" by the time it nears Orlando.

They've said repeatedly that it's going to rev back up once it's over the water again. Though of course that's just estimation and can change any old time. Projections are different depending on what you look at. Weather.com is still pretty hardcore about it.

 

[AngiTN]

I'm actually rather amused at the two sides in the thread. There are a few doomsday folks on one side saying it's going to be akin to Armageddon and everyone should stay far, far away. You risk life and limb by going (well, maybe no one has said that but they've been VERY alarming)
And the other side sees a 24, maybe 48 hour window where it's going to be dicey but in no way a harm to be there. Could even be called fun
Seems to be very little in between.
I've ridden out a hurricane and am not going in to this trip blind. I also know to only read limited sources for it. The same type of "alarmist doomsday folks" run some of the weather sites too. Sure does increase their hits, doesn't it. Makes you wonder....