Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[DLM1980]

Must be very localized. I'm at CBR. In the last 4 hours it has rained a total of 10 minutes lightly. Winds are moderate, maybe 15-20mph. No trees bent over, not even close. Rather nice out and lots of people walking about the walkways. Joggers too.

My original post was almost four hours ago. Things most definitely have changed since then but it is still gusty with an occasional misty sprinkle

 

[HopperFan]

NO... the curfew was cancelled an hour ago. BUT, there is still rain and heavy winds in some areas. We just drove back from Tampa to East Orlando..... the area around WDW was pretty calm but as we traveled east the wind & rain got much worse. IF you must venture out, be careful. There are still fallen branches and falling branches and the wind & rain is supposed to increase. Thank God this wasn't as bad as it could have been!

You are way behind.
I get it's a long thread and moving fast.
That post was from 10:30 this morning.
Curfew was still on and was even "renewed" at 11:00 am.
The curfew has been kept up to date all day on here.

 

[robinb]

I'm sure glad that Disney is opening up their mall for guests tonight!

 

[nikapluto]

You mean the ghosts and happy haunts got loose from the mansion?!?!? Sorry.... Couldn't help it. Hope y'all can get out and about ASAP!!!

Dang auto correct lol!!!!

 

[DLM1980]

I'm on the phone with guest services and they're reporting Disney Springs is not opening at all today. They also said transportation is still haunted until tomorrow.

I really hate haunted transportation unless it's a doom buggy

 

[LauraLea]

Curfew was for evening, not during the day. Disney was just requesting their guests remain in their room. Out there has nothing to do with Disney either

Are you here in Orlando following the local news? Curfew was for all day today up to 7 AM tomorrow, not just the evening.
This was however just lifted at 2 PM. Also 6 individuals were arrested during this period for breaking curfew and looting.

Laura

 

[uagirl]

I would love to see what that looks like now....

I saw video of water over the sea wall at the Castillo. Not where I would want to be.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

This might be stupid to ask but I am just so torn what to do...
We were supposed to come to universal Orlando Tomorrow,Sat, -Wednesday. (Driving to Naples and staying Wednesday - Sunday for family wedding)
Our only option now is to reschedule Orlando trip months from now (not ideal bc we still have to travel to Naples Fl for the wedding so 2 trips to Florida)
Or...
Get next available flight Monday morning and leave early thursday. We'd have 1/2 day Monday and full days T/W in parks.

Thing is weather doesn't even look great those days at least on weather channel app 7 day forecast ...anyone watching local news know what the weather should be like Monday-Wednesday in Orlando?!
I know you can never predict the weather but we are in a situation where we can cancel without penalty and I think that'd be worth doing if the days we are getting are going to be rainy anyway.
Omg I just can't believe the stress of this! I can't decide what we should do!!! Anyone care to share what they'd do in this situation?

http://www.winknews.com/weather/

Above is a link for Naples local weather. Personally I would go. Weather down here tends to look normal for this time of year. Now that is, they don't know what Matthew is going to do. Can it loop back, yes. Will it, they don't know. Where will it go, they don't know. They do know it won't be as strong as it has been.

 

[NanaDisney]

Our Curfew for Orlando/Orange County was lifted about an hour ago. I still wouldn't advise venturing out. There are downed power lines, fallen branches and branches still falling due to high winds.

 

[KimBean]

How can Orlando have direct hit, yes the eye can pass over but it must travel through several Counties prior to arrival in Orlando, Orange County....reguardless of the direction it comes from? So which ever coastal city it enters from gets the full direct hit. As it travels across land the wind does weaken. The warm waters are what keeps the winds intense. So yes, it will never get the head on full force direct hit.

Yeah I think that is what they meant... The eye passing directly over it not where it first hits land.

 

[LauraLea]

Our Curfew for Orlando/Orange County was lifted about an hour ago. I still wouldn't advise venturing out. There are downed power lines, fallen branches and branches still falling due to high winds.

Plus, nothing is open..............

Laura

 

[Lisa F]

I didn't say WDW's bottom line, I said the "unit"... meaning the local foodcourt's. I have no doubt that each food outlet at WDW is primarily evaluated on the amount of sales volume and earnings generated at that location.

As for the whole economic impact of the shutdown for WDW, it might not be as bad as you think, and might even be near neutral or even positive for Disney. This might be an interesting discussion. Let me preface what I'm about write by stating that this assumes that Disney doesn't automatically give each person with a ticket that was "active" today a free 1-day park hopper that can be used later. On the negative side, Disney lost out on some food and merchandise sales today (particularly from off-site guests), though people "trapped" on-site are still going to largely pay Disney for food, $13 box lunches or not, and unless it's the last day of their trip people will still have the option to by merchandise while at WDW. They also lost some resort room revenue for people that canceled before the storm, through it appears that others took many of those rooms (put perhaps at a discounted rate). Now let's look at the parks. Since non-expiring tickets are a thing of the past and now tickets turn into a pumpkin 14 days after first use, the clock keeps ticking on everyone's partially used ticket even if the park isn't open today. So the closure today doesn't impact Disney's ticket income, except for the people that would have walked up and bought a 1-day ticket today. The biggest expense for almost any company is payroll. Today, the hourly workers at WDW that operate the parks are largely sitting at home and will not be paid for this "day off" since it was due to an "Act of God." Even though there are a lot of CMs working the resorts, and there are small "ride out" crews at the parks, that's still a BIG plus in Disney's financial column. So basically, you have people with tickets that cannot be used today, Disney will still have a lot of food sales, guests will still take home merchandise, their payroll costs will take a BIG dip this week, not operating the parks today will cut their utility costs, and their rooms were at (or almost at) full occupancy. Unless I'm missing something (and I could be), I don't see Disney taking it in the shorts financially over all of this.

I don't think the price to charge for things is a "unit" decision though. I think that comes down from corporate. How else do you explain that the vastly different box lunch options are $13 everywhere?

I think they make a lot of money at the park restaurants and merchandise locations. I think I read somewhere that the resorts are always operating somewhere around 80% occupancy regardless of season (they release discounts and incentives to ensure that in lower seasons, and I assume that does not include the super high busy seasons when it might be at 100%) so that's pretty much a constant, and that crowds in the parks are far more driven by people who are staying in the surrounding area and day trippers. So the question really is, do the parks cost more to run than they take in? I know a huge part of what they take in are in admissions but Disney is not going to be able to allocate a full day of admissions for all of the parks to that date... for most people on non-package tickets it won't matter because their tickets still can be used the next couple of days and their flights were likely cancelled anyway but for people on packages they will likely extend them. Also people who were supposed to fly in for short holiday weekend trips are all cancelling as well - yes the rooms are being filled by people who can't get away but the people who were going to be using park tickets today will be filling those places... still leaving a hole for today and overall lower admission numbers on the week.

This is going to cost them money, no matter how $13 box lunches they sell and even keeping CM's home for most of today... though I am sure many are going to be called into work when the curfew is lifted so all hands can get the park ship-shape and they will be working through the night to make sure it is guest ready tomorrow. All of that is money going out without a lot coming in.

 

[goofyintoronto]

You mean the ghosts and happy haunts got loose from the mansion?!?!? Sorry.... Couldn't help it. Hope y'all can get out and about ASAP!!!

Dang auto correct lol!!!!

 

[HopperFan]

I'm on the phone with guest services and they're reporting Disney Springs is not opening at all today. They also said transportation is still haulted until tomorrow.

Lots of reports from reliable sources. Could they be wrong, yes, but they do have connects to actual DS employees. Phone CMs are not the most reliable.

Seen some reports myself direct from employees of 3rd party places getting ready to go to work.

Again, maybe there is some misunderstanding but DS is one place that can be opened very quickly.

 

[nikapluto]

Ok! Front desk confirms Disney Springs to open at 5 with buses also running at 5. I won't need the buggy after all

 

[tink2020]

They have characters at the moderates too. Goofy was here at CBR this morning.

They have characters at the moderates too. Goofy was here at CBR this morning.

I don't know that it's cut and dry this resort or that (or this kind or that).

Saratoga Springs (Deluxe Villa) had chip and dale taking pictures, while at CSR (a moderate) there were massive dance parties going on.

I think it's all up to who is on the Ride it Out crew. Hopefully nobody is getting grief for it, even with as little as was going on at our resort the CMs were working super hard!

 

[DLM1980]

 

[HopperFan]

I saw video of water over the sea wall at the Castillo. Not where I would want to be.

My heart hurts ....... bad ...........

 

[goofyintoronto]

I have a question....might be a silly question but im curious...where do they place the animals in AK during hurricanes/tropical storms? Obviously there's shelter. Hmmmm, maybe i'll google it.

 

[tink2020]

I'm on the phone with guest services and they're reporting Disney Springs is not opening at all today. They also said transportation is still haulted until tomorrow.

This made me chuckle. Not at you, but cause they (and the website etc) were the last to know everything yesterday too