Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[wilkeliza]

This is a great plan. I worry that people think that tomorrow they'll be able to go out to food places or spend time out in the resort. If someone is in one of the "motel" rooms where your door opens directly outside, that's not a good plan, and could prove very dangerous to not only the guest, but the Ride It Out cast members the guest will expect to come help them at risk to their own lives. Have supplies for 36 hours, and expect to spend it in the room.

I joked that since it is their honeymoon hopefully they don't come back with a little matthew of their own hahahahaha.

 

[Ndusmama]

I just saw this life hack on Facebook and thought people who get disasters near there home could use. Use your washing machine as a cooler and when ice melts the water drains away.

 

[FeralCatRogue]

About the hotel preps. They must know what they are doing, so why not tell us? I am not angry at them, and I appreciate they will be super busy, but surely the guests' safety is important too? They must have an emergency protocol, and it has surprised me how.

They probably are not allowed to. I know working in a school that we were not allowed to discuss it due to the fact that emergency procedures were not just used for acts of nature.

 

[muenginerd]

Does anyone know how AK cares for the animals in these conditions? I know that seems a strange thing to worry about, but I'm a worrier!

I can only imagine how hard and fast the CMs are working, and I imagine there are many hunkering in at work rather than going home to their families.

Thanks CMs for doing what you do.

Stay safe.

As others have said, their barns are built as hurricane shelters. Next time you are there, if you ride the train from AK to Rafiki's Planet Watch you can see some of the barns. We were told their keepers will stay back and ride out the storm in the barns with the animals.

 

[AngiTN]

Been at Epcot don't about 12:00. Weather so strange, sunny part of the day, rainy others. We are at Via Napoli now. Heading back to Swan here soon

 

[AppleSister1]

As others have said, their barns are built as hurricane shelters. Next time you are there, if you ride the train from AK to Rafiki's Planet Watch you can see some of the barns. We were told their keepers will stay back and ride out the storm in the barns with the animals.

That might be scary! I can only think the animals will go nuts from the air pressure, wind, etc! Those trainers are awesome.

 

[uagirl]

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.

Safe travels. Not sure what time you will get in, but Chappy's Deli is a nice spot to eat. Very friendly and very nice owners. If you have kids, they eat free. The Montgomery locations are one of our favorite spots to eat. I live in Montgomery.

 

[sabrecmc]

I agree, generally - I just responded to someone's post about Katrina because there are some panicked people on the thread already, and I wanted to point out that the main thing that made Katrina so particularly awful (beyond just the storm strength) is not a problem in Orlando.

With respect, since it was my post you replied to, to clarify what I said was that Matthew has a dual eyewall, which is what Katrina had. For those who do not know, a dual eye wall tends to spread out the hurricane force winds over a larger area. I think that is relevant to people making decisions about their vacations and travel plans, but if the mods disagree, they are free to remove it.

 

[mjallemand]

I just saw this life hack on Facebook and thought people who get disasters near there home could use. Use your washing machine as a cooler and when ice melts the water drains away. View attachment 199389

I prefer this picture:

 

[Shel]

We're here now. I haven't read all the threads, so forgive me if I repeat myself. The Magic Kingdom closes at 5:00. Parks are closed tomorrow. We're staying at the All Star Movies and our food court will also be closed tomorrow. Yikes! Stay safe everyone.

 

[cloudnut220]

my sat am flight (9.45am from BWI to MCO) was just cancelled. Looks like MCO isn't expecting to reopen...

 

[Mr. Drauer]

There's two factors, the category of the storm and the proximity to Orlando. It was mentioned "up-thread" that Charley was a lesser storm, but Orlando was in the direct path and the winds that hit WDW then were similar to what is now forecast for tonight.

This is forecast to be the largest and strongest storm to ever hit Central and North Florida. The winds may be similar to Charley, but that moved through so fast (1.5 hours) while this may be hitting for 12 - 15 hours. At least they have had time to prep, unlike Charley which changed course around 11:00 am and hit Orlando around 8:00 pm.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Update

View attachment 199387

Thanks! This latest update now posted in Post #559.

 

[emacat]

Does anyone know how AK cares for the animals in these conditions? I know that seems a strange thing to worry about, but I'm a worrier!

I can only imagine how hard and fast the CMs are working, and I imagine there are many hunkering in at work rather than going home to their families.

Thanks CMs for doing what you do.

Stay safe.

Some posters mentioned earlier that the animals have a hurricane shelter that they were being moved to. Sounds like they'll be okay!

 

[ITALIANNYC]

Floyd was a 4 - it prompted the first closing of WDW in 1999. Let's hope that this one ends as well.

Floyd was a 3 and it wasn't anywhere near as close as this one is.

 

[Sorrel]

It may not be information they can provide. The best they can tell anyone right now is to grab some food and water and be prepared to have to hunker down and wait for further notice from the hotel. When it becomes 100% clear what they want you to do CMs will begin telling guests and an auto-call will go out to all resort cell phones. If after the storm power goes out but it is safe to leave then someone will be tasked with going door to door to alert people however since the phones are corded to the wall they don't actually require power to work (and thus why it is important to always have an emergency corded phone).

That is what I mean. They haven't even told us that, or that there are box lunches for example. What to do for food when there is none left to buy in the shop. Whether to bring in the patio furniture for example. Simple things that need considering now. We are sensible people, with no previous hurricane experience, and can muddle through, but it would have been nice to have been told yesterday to get food in the room earlier, rather than when there is hardly anything left in the store.

 

[flatlandcycle]

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.

What do you need? If it's food I would walk over to Disney Springs. The surrounding Downtown Disney Hotels may have stuff you want. There's a Speedway Gas/Carryout across from the old car park at Disney Springs. There's also a Goodings Grocery (pricey for a grocery) in the area.

Go now, you should have food and water on hand (at least snacks) to last until Friday afternoon. At some point you will likely be told to stay in your room. The worst weather for Disney is likely to be at about 8 a.m. and it could be bad for 4-6 hours (before and after).

 

[awalker1015]

Safe travels. Not sure what time you will get in, but Chappy's Deli is a nice spot to eat. Very friendly and very nice owners. If you have kids, they eat free. The Montgomery locations are one of our favorite spots to eat. I live in Montgomery.

Oh thank you! We've only been through once a long time ago on the way to the beach.

 

[AppleSister1]

my sat am flight (9.45am from BWI to MCO) was just cancelled. Looks like MCO isn't expecting to reopen...

Could be that the airline just isn't sure that they can get the planes there in time. Once they start grounding flights, it takes them some time to get all the aircrafts to where they need to be for scheduled flights.

 

[Sorrel]

What do you need? If it's food I would walk over to Disney Springs. The surrounding Downtown Disney Hotels may have stuff you want. There's a Speedway Gas/Carryout across from the old car park at Disney Springs. There's also a Goodings Grocery (pricey for a grocery) in the area.

Go now, you should have food and water on hand (at least snacks) to last until Friday afternoon. At some point you will likely be told to stay in your room. The worst weather for Disney is likely at about 8 a.m. and it could be bad for 4-6 hours.

Thanks. Disney Springs closes at 5. We have water and milk etc, and we won;t starve. It just would have been better to have some info and know what to expect upfront. I don;t know what i expected, it was probably just more info of what to do before the last minute. I was probably expecting too much.