Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[Sargeant Tibbs]

We are at SSR. We have been told nothing. We asked 4 CMs if they had any info, and no one did. We had to wait at Reception to find anything out, and the room is so crowded. I don't know why they can't put a sign up. Not much left in the resort shop. One CM did say they believed Artist Palette would stay open tomorrow but we had to go there at our own risk. I have to say I am a bit disappointed at the total lack of any info from the hotel.

Info about the storm or Disney's preps? I think because both are so up in the air right now the CMs really don't have any information. Think of the ongoing rush off stage right now - the amount of quick thinking and snap decisions that are being made to take care of thousands of nervous and angry guests.

 

[Accident]

If you had a Disney vacation booked for next week...Mon 10th - 16th would you cancel and reschedule?

Too early to say but most likely on saturday disney will appear like nothing happened.. it becomes more about how the airlines are recovered.

 

[gidget1212]

Our flight was supposed to get in tomorrow night, leaving saturday the 15th. Have rescheduled for 10/10-10/17. Have any of you been able to reschedule your rental cars? I prepaid mine through alamo and I'm not sure what will happen if I call the number, or if I should just cancel online and rebook (will be more expensive).

 

[wilkeliza]

We are at SSR. We have been told nothing. We asked 4 CMs if they had any info, and no one did. We had to wait at Reception to find anything out, and the room is so crowded. I don't know why they can't put a sign up. Not much left in the resort shop. One CM did say they believed Artist Palette would stay open tomorrow but we had to go there at our own risk. I have to say I am a bit disappointed at the total lack of any info from the hotel.

Are you in the main building or are all rooms there in the villas not connected to the community hall/reception area?

 

[Marbel]

Any news from campers at Fort Wilderness? Have all campers been moved?

 

[cloudnut220]

Our flight was supposed to get in tomorrow night, leaving saturday the 15th. Have rescheduled for 10/10-10/17. Have any of you been able to reschedule your rental cars? I prepaid mine through alamo and I'm not sure what will happen if I call the number, or if I should just cancel online and rebook (will be more expensive).

we had to cancel our rental car and rebook through another company. The rental car company (hertz) was the only non understanding company we have dealt with.

 

[LadyRayado]

Any news from campers at Fort Wilderness? Have all campers been moved?

The campgrounds were supposedly evacuated by 12pm today.

 

[Marbel]

The campgrounds were supposedly evacuated by 12pm today.

Good to know. Thanks!

 

[Irish_Mike]

Just left AK. Bus lines were medium-long, but seemed like a lot of busses were coming in. We only waited a few min for a shared POR/FQ bus. It's full, but we got the whole line in.

Good to know for now. It at least looks like Disney has enough busses to meet the demand once all four parks close in an hour

 

[pluto377]

Any news from campers at Fort Wilderness? Have all campers been moved?

I have family that was at Ft. Wilderness. They were evacuated last night to CBR.

 

[awalker1015]

Exactly what we did! Booked a room in Prattsville and will just take 65 straight in tomorrow when we have some rest. We stayed late in the parks last night expecting we might have to cut the trip short and are exhausted.

 

[ckb_nc]

Good to know for now. It at least looks like Disney has enough busses to meet the demand once all four parks close in an hour

Based on wait times i would suggest the parks especially AK are pretty empty

 

[ITALIANNYC]

Call me crazy but if I was going to have to ride out a storm on vacation, I feel Disney would be a very safe place to do it. Their staff have been trained and will keep everyone safe.

 

[joquarky]

For those who are not native to Florida:

If you're doing anything later today or tomorrow, please keep in mind that hurricane damage often begins well before the eye arrives. Since hurricanes are tracked by the position of the eye, and since a lot of damage can be done by strong wind gusts well before the eye arrives, you need to adjust any plans by subtracting several hours from the time it is predicted arrive.

Be safe.

 

[Geoff_M]

Info about the storm or Disney's preps? I think because both are so up in the air right now the CMs really don't have any information. Think of the ongoing rush off stage right now - the amount of quick thinking and snap decisions that are being made to take care of thousands of nervous and angry guests.

I find some of these reports surprising. This isn't WDW's first "goat rodeo" when it comes to hurricanes. It's been a while since WDW has had to scramble, but they should has a good deal of institutional knowledge about the kind of protocols and procedures that need to be executed now with regard to guests.

 

[scrapquitler]

Someone remind me....are resort rooms equipped with emergency lights like the hallways are? I know that they only last a few hours, but I'm wondering how dark it's going to be in a hotel room if the power goes out for an extended period of time and the rooms don't have those emergency lights?

 

[need2travel]

I feel especially bad for the CM's, they are giving it their all to make sure all the guests are safe & well looked after but a lot of them have families/pets/homes of their own they need to take care of. If they seem stressed or short to you please keep in mind it's your vacation that's being impacted but it's where they & their families live that's being impacted. Good luck & stay safe to all Disney World guests & most of all Disney CM's & their families. Take care!

 

[ITALIANNYC]

I find some of these reports surprising. This isn't WDW's first "goat rodeo" when it comes to hurricanes. It's been a while since WDW has had to scramble, but they should has a good deal of institutional knowledge about the kind of protocols and procedures that need to be executed now with regard to guests.

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't believe a storm this powerful ever hit that close to orlando.

The difference between a 2 storm and a 4 to 5 storm are insane

 

[goofyintoronto]

@HopperFan Just wanted to say you're awesome, thank you for all of the helpful information you've posted! It really helps!

Ok, i read the closure thread and didn't see it mentioned, other than a couple stores. What is the status for Disney Springs today, Thursday and tomorrow, Friday? Trying to decide what we plan for

I'd just plan on staying at your resort and keeping safe if I were you...disney is closing all day tomorrow, and at 5pm today...im sure you know that already...so there wont be much to do. Stock up on stuff if you haven't yet. Hope you brought some awesome board games!

Stay safe everyone!!!

 

[LilAnn]

I'm so thankful to everyone on this thread! I'm in town for a nursing conference and it's closed early so people could try to get home safe and stay safe. The information on this thread has been so helpful. My original plans included MNSSHP tomorrow night, so my visit to this thread started off merely as a way to see the Disney news. Now it is a wealth of knowledge and updates as my flights have been cancellled and many of us are hunkering down at the hotel. I can say that the area near the convention center was closing down around 2pm if they weren't already closed. Stay safe everyone!!!!