Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[goofy4tink]

I was in WDW for Hurricane Charley...beat the storm in by about 6 hrs!!! We were at the CR, North Wing, ground floor. The parks started closing about 3:30-4ish. FtW was evacuated due to the probably flooding! The storm passed right over during the night. We were instructed to get food in one of the convention halls and take it back to our rooms. Then to stay inside the room, away from the windows/sliders, with the drapes closed. Disney played Disney movies/cartoons on about 7 channels all afternoon/night. In the morning, MK opened on time. If I remember correctly, so did Epcot and DHS. AK opened late due to tree damage. We ate breakfast at the CR...the CMs apologized for not having a full menu!! Seems they had been held overnight. They pulled the pool chaises inside, then slept on them! Poor kids.
My dd is currently working for WDW, I'm not at all concerned. Disney knows exactly what to do in a storm. It's actually pretty incredible to watch. Anyone who makes reservations during the late summer up to the beginning of Nov has to know that this could happen. It's a chance we take. Orlando isn't being evacuated, for heaven's sake! It will be very rainy and probably pretty windy. I just can't imagine that being on the far western edge of this storm is going to be worse than in the direct path of it...as Charley was. Yes, there was substantial damage once you left WDW property. It was actually pretty incredible...we couldn't figure out why all the hubbub about damage on the news. We saw very little. But....when we left, to go back to MCO, 5 days later? Oh man...it was a whole different story! That's when I got really impressed with how Disney handles these storms!!!

 

[Irish_Mike]

Does anyone know what it would take to actually close the parks? If it's a tropical storm in the area of the parks, do they stay open?

Just curious

It really depends on the conditions as the storm gets closer - if the storm would put cast and guests in direct harm, or a significant chance of harm, then it's a likely bet that the parks will close.

We likely won't know anything about that until tomorrow morning.

 

[AngiTN]

We are here in Animal Kingdom. It was eerie when all of the phones went off simultaneously with the hurricane warning alert.

We are here until Sunday staying at Pop. We are planning HS tomorrow and hope to get everything done before 2, including our ADR.

I'm bummed about the 7 am EMH MK opening on Friday and our Crystal Palace brunch. I'm doubtful either of those will happen at this point. We did stay in the MK longer yesterday to get all of our "must-do's" in.

We are planning on buying a few (very overpriced) board games tomorrow if they do announce the park closing for Friday.

I've been wanting a couple of the Disney board games, so this may well be the perfect time to pick up one or two!

I found this board looking for how the storm will impact Disney. We are from the Nashville TN area and are passholders until June.. 11 days in the parks so far this year. We leave for our 4th trip tomorrow at 7pm in TN and are supposed to arrive 930ish in Orlando. We plan to do the parks Fri-Mon AM with a flight out Monday evening. We've got passes and already bought the airfare and the time off so we are heading down to see what happens. We are renting a car at the airport for the weekend and have Friday evening Halloween party tickets. We are really hoping for some meh conditions and empty parks... Any suggestions?

My suggestion, leave earlier. We were due to fly in Friday morning and moved to Thursday morning. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a flight later in the the day than about 2:00 on Thursday. I was even worried about waiting till Saturday as I'd be caught up in the folks delayed on Friday. Moving to before was the only option really.

 

[michelb]

Does anyone know what it would take to actually close the parks? If it's a tropical storm in the area of the parks, do they stay open?

Just curious

If there's lightning within a 5 mile radius (or something like that), they close all the outdoor rides so I suspect they would close the park for a major storm. As mentioned in another post, Legoland has already announced that they may close early Thursday and will close Friday. Disney is only saying that they are monitoring the storm but haven't said anything else. Universal doesn't appear to have made a statement.

 

[HopperFan]

I hope so, too. We really don't want to leave FW...

Polynesian Village bungalows, and Saratoga Springs Treehouse Villas are also able to move to safer hotel rooms as well.

could be wrong but thought I read earlier they were putting people up at AoA, maybe because they have suites? Wonder about the people with tents? If you have a RV you can move that to the parking lot but you can't pitch your tent there.

No, you can not stay in your RV.
They are putting you in hotels and assume same with tents.
Moving the RVs is to protect the campground from damage.
They are missiles in a big storm.
Guests are moved for their safety, campers for damage control.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Also if you are driving, there are gas stations along the East Coast of FL who have raised prices and some are running out of gas. This is something to consider if you are taking 95 down now.

 

[Irish_Mike]

If there's lightning within a 5 mile radius (or something like that), they close all the outdoor rides so I suspect they would close the park for a major storm. As mentioned in another post, Legoland has already announced that they may close early Thursday and will close Friday. Disney is only saying that they are monitoring the storm but haven't said anything else. Universal doesn't appear to have made a statement.

Universal has said that they currently plan to remain open normal operating hours for the remainder of the week, but are watching the storm track and will make adjustments.

Essentially the same as Disney, but have yet to take the next step in offering refunds or transfers.

 

[ErinsMommy]

Also if you are driving, there are gas stations along the East Coast of FL who have raised prices and some are running out of gas. This is something to consider if you are taking 95 down now.

When our town was flooded out with Sandy, the neighboring town gas stations that had gas and electricity did this too. Thankfully the governor put a very quick stop to it. Hopefully they do the same there. I hate people that take advantage in these situations.

 

[HopperFan]

When our town was flooded out with Sandy, the neighboring town gas stations that had gas and electricity did this too. Thankfully the governor put a very quick stop to it. Hopefully they do the same there. I hate people that take advantage in these situations.

Most the states around this should have already invoked the gauging laws. I think I heard FL and SC say it in press conferences. Ours in Georgia may still be in place from the "pipe leak"...

 

[HopperFan]

WDWMAGIC.COM ‏@wdwmagic

Southwest Airlines has started cancelling flights arriving into Orlando after 4pm on Thursday. Check your status.

 

[ckb_nc]

If you are concerned about air travel, contact your airline. If you are driving down, and expect to be on the road today on, expect to hit traffic through the Carolina's if passing that way as SC is evacuating. If you planned on taking 95 down in FL on Thursday or Friday, don't. Take 75 and come across 4 from the West.

I-26 is now one way from Charleston to I think Columbia. Saw a picture showing state troopers not letting anyone from i-77 to head south on 1-26. My parents left North Myrtle this am heading back to Charlotte.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Most the states around this should have already invoked the gauging laws. I think I heard FL and SC say it in press conferences. Ours in Georgia may still be in place from the "pipe leak"...

Yes, WESH 2 (I'm watching online) just said Florida has invoked the gauging laws for Matthew.

 

[HopperFan]

 

[HopperFan]

SeaWorld closing Friday, shutting down early Thursday

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/weat...ricane-matthew-approaches-20161005-story.html

 

[Zim]

Well, I am sure our Friday afternoon flights from Baltimore and Durham will be cancelled. We only have this long holiday weekend to do this trip, so I've rented a one-way car (small SUV actually) from the BWI airport with a free cancellation policy. If this storm track doesn't improve or deteriorates further, I'll head down to North Carolina (Durham area, not the coast) to get DD from college tomorrow night. We're going to longways Road Trip it to Atlanta - and then eventually make our way to the Orlando area as conditions improve. If they don't improve, we've got a friend to visit in Sarasota.

 

[HopperFan]

Yes, WESH 2 (I'm watching online) just said Florida has invoked the gauging laws for Matthew.

Yeah ............. except for the gas station by the Outlet Mall, always around $5.99 a gallon.

 

[csgsu]

Yeah ............. except for the gas station by the Outlet Mall, always around $5.99 a gallon.

man I noticed that the last time I was down there I wonder how they stay in business

 

[ErinsMommy]

Yeah ............. except for the gas station by the Outlet Mall, always around $5.99 a gallon.

 

[tizzant]

Any chance we could get the link to the nice online news people that're local in orlando? I'd like to watch!

 

[AngiTN]

Well, I am sure our Friday afternoon flights from Baltimore and Durham will be cancelled. We only have this long holiday weekend to do this trip, so I've rented a one-way car (small SUV actually) from the BWI airport with a free cancellation policy. If this storm track doesn't improve or deteriorates further, I'll head down to North Carolina (Durham area, not the coast) to get DD from college tomorrow night. We're going to longways Road Trip it to Atlanta - and then eventually make our way to the Orlando area as conditions improve. If they don't improve, we've got a friend to visit in Sarasota.

I had set up an alert for our Friday morning flights and forgot to change it. Just got a notice that AA has cancelled the flight we were going to be on from Charlotte to MCO on Friday morning.