Hurricane worries - New policies in force

[Metro West]

I thought everyone would like to see this article in today's Orlando Sentinel regarding WDW and Universal's policies during hurricanes.

Hopefully it will ease the minds of those concerned:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...0406aug04,0,1454662.story?coll=orl-home-promo

 

[TSR6]

Disney parks lost a full day to Hurricane Frances in 2004, along with one to Hurricane Floyd in 1999, and also had to close for partial days for Charley and Jeanne in '04 and Wilma last year.

Pretty good track record if you ask me.....

 

[jwfla422]

Thanks for posting! It's about time!

I can't tell you everytime we book a WDW resort in the summer/fall, a hurricane ends up threatening somewhere from here to Orlando. And, I end up fighting with the WDW reservations' CMs about rescheduling my trip! (happened last year when Katrina threatened our area in FL, but not Orlando) I had to call back 3x until I got a cooperative CM just to reschedule our trip for 2 days later during an off-peak time!

This year we went to WDW in July and for once I was happy not having to worry about any tropical systems...or was I?? Ironically I called about something and I made a remark about no hurricanes for a change and the CM told me there was a tropical depression that was threatening FL!! I was always "right on the ball" with them (I have every hurricane site bookmarked LOL!)..but he said they were monitoring it. I couldn't believe they told me about it and said if it were to develop further there would be no problem changing our reservations! YIPPEE!!

Very smart move, because I've gotten very hesitant about planning WDW trips in the summer. We stay at the S/D a lot and I've never had any problems rescheduling/cancelling with them. Glad to hear WDW is finally more cooperative about this because I BET they've lost some business due to people being concerned about going this time of year. It's already a slow time of year in August/September, how coincidental that they added the free dining this year through the end of Sept.

So, this may be a little "picky"...but I got to thinking and decided to add this to my post. Our next trip is planned for late Sept/early Oct. My dd really wants to go to the Halloween party, if I purchase tix in advance and have to cancel our trip due to a storm, do you think they'd refund our tix?? Or if I wanted to make an ADR that needs a cc hold and has to be cancelled 48 hrs in advance do they make the same exception as if I was holding a resort reservation? Just more to think about...

 

[denecarter]

Disney parks lost a full day to Hurricane Frances in 2004, along with one to Hurricane Floyd in 1999, and also had to close for partial days for Charley and Jeanne in '04 and Wilma last year.

Pretty good track record if you ask me.....

Just wondering... BEFORE these closings, were no other hurricanes ever close enough to directly affect the parks?

 

[Friendly Frog]

Interesting. So maybe they are thinking a formal policy released might be a less expensive way to get people to come in Aug. or Sept. VS. free dinning? ( I hope not, long live free dinning.)

In Disney's case, vacationers can cancel or reschedule if the National Weather Service posts a hurricane warning for Orlando, or for their hometowns, within seven days of their planned asrrivals.

I wonder if this includes your air if you booked through Disney? If so that would be great!! ( Darn, I booked direct with the airlines..non-refundable. )

Hmmm, what if you are already there when the storm hits? Will they credit you for any closed days?

 

[disnut8]

I've had two hurricane related Disney World trips. Floyd and Frances. With Floyd, we were flying in and the airline (Northwest) easily and without penalty moved our reservations one day forward going and one day forward coming back. There were absolutly no problems at all. Disney easily extended our stay by one day as well. We were meeting my father and stepmother, the reservation was in my name but they would be there a full day before us. Not a problem.

For Frances, we actually were stupid enough to drive into the hurricane and were in a lockdown for 24 hours. When we arrived, the hurricane was far behind us. There were many, many people hoping to stay since their flights had been cancelled. Disney World made sure everyone had accommodations.

I think this has always been the Disney unofficial policy but now it's official. One of the reasons we went during Frances was because I knew if it did go through (and boy, did it!), we'd still be safe. When my family lived in the Keys for a decade, they would evacuate to Disney World because they knew they'd be taken care of.

And with both of these instances, if the entire Disney World parks are closed down, the one day was refunded. But if one park is open and you can get there, it won't be. With Frances (we arrived later for Floyd), the entire Disney World area was back to normal within 24 hours.

As with everything else, Disney World does hurricanes right.