Hurricane Season

[Erin13178]

We are going to WDW during hurricane season, as are a LOT of people, but I was just wondering if anyone has actually had to deal with a hurricane while there?

My Mom asked one of the Disney representatives about the park during hurricanes, and they said they've only shut WDW down 1 time in the history of the parks. To me that seems surprising.

Any thoughts on this? Anyone been there during a hurricane?

And yes with my luck, we will get hit, lol.

 

[Aliceacc]

First of all, I just read your ticker: CONGRATULATIONS ON THAT AMAZING WEIGHT LOSS!!!!!

Now, back to the point:
I've read lots of posts from people here who have been during a hurricane. Since none of them seem to be up yet, let me tell you what I've read:

For starters, Orlando is an hour inland. By the time a storm has traveled over land for that time, it has lost a lot of its strength.

Secondly, when they built WDW, they were well aware of the risks. People have said that were told to remain indoors until the storm had passed. (in a value or mod, with outer hallways, that meant in their rooms. In a deluxe, they had a few more options since the hallways are interior) Fort Wilderness campers were evacuated to other resorts.

The parks opened the next day with very few signs of the storms.

We're going 4 weeks from today. I'm not at all worried about hurricanes.

 

[Erin13178]

The only reason I worry is because of the impact hurricane Charlie had on my Aunt who lives in New Smyrna Beach. The storm came onshore on the gulf coast, and by the time it got to the east coast it hadn't weakened much and her house and yard were a mess, trees everywhere, her house had major damage etc.

I know storms like that don't happen often at all, but still, yes I'm a worry wart and I guess I need to join the special thread for us, haha.

And thank you for the congrats on the weight loss!

 

[Disneychix]

I was there for Hurricane Wilma (when it reached Orlando area it was only a storm). Wilma came from down south (keys area) and they were tracking the storm the whole weekend. The hurricane was supposed to hit Sun night/Mon morning. My family were all leaving Monday morning so they were trying to contact the airports to see what would happen. On Sunday night we ate in Mexico at EPCOT. The servers were trying to hurry us up saying they wanted to get home to board up their houses. At ESPN Zone they told us the morning staff had to report to work at like 3:30am or so and they would have to stay indefinatley until the storm let up and another shift could come in.

Monday morning came and it was raining hard. The parks were closed until 2pm and then they only let resort guests in. Turned out to be a beautiful day. No one in the parks at all! We even did a fireworks cruise that night! my family all got out of MCO and only one group had to be rerouted as they were headed to Miami and couldn't get there.

Wilma was only a tropical storm but I that was my experience. All the CMs were nice but the hallways/dining halls and arcade area were insane with people stashed everywhere.

 

[RMulieri]

Ahh ,don't worry.when hurricaines are forecasted, people move inland TO orlando.The resorts have confined people to their rooms during some of the heavier storms, and they have shut the parks down .But it really is not that big of a thing( I am slightly jaded on this one since I lived in Charleston,SC for many years and experienced some doozies in the hurricaine dept)

 

[PoohGal05]

My family was at Disney in August of '06 during a tropical storm/hurricane threat. I had a friend down there before we got there and she would call me every day to give me updates on the weather. The news reports made it biggger than it was.

I think there was actually one day when we were there that there was a day where the weather stations ran it across the television that the local schools would close early because of the impending weather. We had and ADR for a specialty dining. I called reservations and switched our dining to the following day without a problem.

One of the days we we went to Animal Kingdom. It was raining a little bit when we went there, but we grabbed our umbrella and off we went. It was the best day we ever had. Not only had we gone during value season, but AK wasn't crowded at all because the schools in the south had gone back to school. We were able to walk on ever ride without a Fast Pass. When we went on Kilamanjaro Safaris, because of the cool weather, LOTS of animals were out and about. Our tour guide even told us that the male lion might be up and about, which is a rarity. And he WAS! He didn't roar as we hoped, but he was awake! Afterwards we went to breakfast at Tusker House. The CM behind the counter asked us how our morning was and we told her it was AMAZING, that we had just been on Kilamanjaro Safaris. She asked if the lion was awake and we told her he was!

What was the question again?

If it's not a downpour, I would just grab an umbrella and/or a poncho and go to the parks.

 

[Schmeck]

We arrived at WDW the day after Charlie hit - there was significant damage in Orlando and on WDW property. WDW had the resorts and parks cleaned up as best they could, but there were trees uprooted at MGM, and some minor structural damage (those globe lights on the overpass to MGM from EPCOT) when we went to the parks. The roads between parks had many trees down on the sides as well.

 

[Disney1976]

For starters, Orlando is an hour inland. By the time a storm has traveled over land for that time, it has lost a lot of its strength.

This may be true most of the time, but not always. Hurricane Charley hit in 2004 (August 14th, 2004, to be exact) and some parts of Orlando got sustained winds of 110 mph, which made that storm a strong Catagory 2 if not a 3.

That being said, to the OP, I really wouldn't worry. The chances of a storm hitting while you are here are remote, and the resorts are solid concrete block with strong roofs. You're a heck of a lot safer than many residents even are! Plus, Disney never even lost power during Charley (I've heard Disney's powerlines are underground, but I can't confirm that). Many residents were without power for up to a week!

In the event of a storm, follow the directions of the CM's at the parks and resorts, and you'll be fine.

 

[badblackpug]

I go every year during hurrican season and I yet to be "blessed" yet. Maybe some rain, but that is it.

Others may correct me if I am wrong, but I think the only time they closed WDW was 911.

 

[Taja]

We had a lot of rain from outer bands of a weakening hurrican in August, 2003. We didn't turn on the news so we didn't even know what was happening until much later. It rained all day--a bit of a novelty to us (we're from Los Angeles and Phoenix). We weren't restricted at WDW (except Storm-Along-Bay), but we elected to have our day off a day early. Good decision--both of us were tired!

 

[Taja]

I go every year during hurrican season and I yet to be "blessed" yet. Maybe some rain, but that is it.

Others may correct me if I am wrong, but I think the only time they closed WDW was 911.

They did close it for one hurricane. Can't remember which one. A friend was there for both closings--we joke about not visiting WDW the same time she does! :lol:

 

[Schmeck]

Don't forget that they can get tornadoes there too - we were in 'lock down' on the school trip last month because of a tornado watch in Kissimee (sp?) that was headed towards the Orlando region for a bit.

 

[Erin13178]

Thanks for all responses. I really appreciate it.

 

[disney_family_1247]

Not that you don't have valid concerns, but it cracks me up when people talk about going in Hurricane Season, like it's a tiny window of time. It lasts from June until November! Half the people who go to Disney go during Hurricane Season .

I'm not making fun; I have just lived my entire life in Florida and southern Louisiana. Even after the damage and stress we had during Katrina, I forget that we're in the Season until there's an actual storm coming .

 

[squirrel]

I was there in 1999, when the parks closed! As you can see, I'm heading back this year at the same time. I much prefered Sept. over Dec.

Disney World CM's were excellent. They closed two parks at 1 pm and the other two at 2pm. The line ups for buses were so long, but they had buses coming every 2 mins or so. We were all on the buses in no time. They must have pulled buses from the other parks or something.

I felt bad for the CM who was incharge of the patio furniture around the pool. He was putting it away and setting it up lots that day! They kept clearing the pool area, when they thought it wasn't safe. They were also trying to keep the pool open as there were so many guests with nothing to do.

 

[disneymom06]

We checked into CR as Hurricane Charlie was about one hr from arrival. We had hit the outer bands as we were driving into town so we knew that something was up. When we left NY, the weather wasn't a problem yet in FL. We checked in, and we told that they would strongly prefer if we did not leave the building. They gave us diapers since we had left EVERYTHING in the car and they had arranged for us to get something to eat. (We had been driving for 20 hours!) They kept us updated and put movies on several channels. We slept and in the morning went to the parks, (I think that only AK was still closed due to cleanup). Disney took real good care of us and it really didn't interrupt our plans.

(We did go into town to get a few groceries, power outages and trees down, roofs torn off, etc. )

PS We have been back every August since with the free dining promotion!

 

[Dis_Tink_13]

We were there in Oct. 2005 and they shut the parks down for a couple of hours and told everyone to stay in their hotel rooms. Several hours later it stoped raining and parks were open to hotel guest only! Another perk of staying onsite.

 

[Jenvenza]

They have shut down WDW only one time for a hurricane and my parents were there when it happened. It was eally bad for them, because they evacuated almost the whole state of Florida, and they had driven there. So trying to get out of Florida was a nightmare for them.

And then the hurricane turned - as they so often do - and didnt even hit Florida.