Just back...lived through the hurricane. Any questions??

[snowgooseltd]

Greetings all....just arrived home from WDW. We lived, very comfortably, through Frances. I'll answer any questions I can.
This board rocks!!!

 

[disneymom3]

Will you give us a bit of a rundown as far as dates of your trip and overall experience?

Glad you are home safe! And hope you had a great trip in spite of Frances!

 

[snowgooseltd]

We flew in on Thursday morning, knowing we were headed into a hurricane but determined to surprise our youngest daughter and two friends who were also flying in. We accomplished the surprise and were accommodated at Partierre Place in Riverside. It was newly opened, after renovations, and we were the only two rooms occupied. The rest of the building soon filled with "volunteer" cast members and their families. The CMs were designated in various capacities, not always their regular duties. We saw a chef, front desk people, maids and more...all doing anything they could to make us comfortable. The other theme parks closed early on Friday but Disney closed at their regular times. They announced closings for Saturday and notified everyone to be ready for a "lock down" and to have about 30 hours of food available. We heeded their notes and stocked up on water, snacks, soda and sandwiches. The hotel closed down at 4:30pm on Saturday and we stayed close to our rooms ( made a couple of trips to the pool and walked around abit ) until the hotel reopened for food at 5:00pm on Sunday. We never lost power and except for alot of twigs, branches and leaves, the resort sustained no visible damage. The parks, MK and Epcot, opened on Monday morning, an hour late, and stayed open for regular hours. There were alot of things closed but most rides operated. AK and MGM were scheduled to open today. We had scheduled flights out at 12:30pm and were told to be at MCO at least two hours early because they expected much confusion and tons of people. It took us 15 minutes from the time we dropped the car at National (Thanks to mousesavers.com for a great rate!) until we were sitting at our gate...a full 2 1/2 hours early!! Everyone at Disney did a wonderful job making us as comfortable as possible. Our trip was a quick weekend excursion and, although the storm put a crimp in our plans, we made the best of a bad situation. I felt very sorry for families who had planned for a special trip, maybe their only vacation of the year, and were faced with the storm. We met lots of people, many from out of the country. Pretty much all felt the way we did. We only saw a few instances where someone was really angry and making a scene.

 

[Cinderpals]

Glad you made it back! How was it having to stay in your room for 30 hours? Of course, I figured that you were free to roam around at times. How were the winds? Could you hear it at night?

It was just me and my two children that went for a WDW vacation just before school started back up. We arrived on Sunday, and spent the next couple of days in the Magic of WDW. On Tuesday night, (my husband and I were on the phone watching the weather channel), we decided to head home on Wednesday because: We don't do hurricanes! Eventhough this was our 1st visit to WDW, we didn't want our trip to be that memorable of an experience! We figured that flights would start getting booked up by Thursday.

We really wanted to stay until Friday.
I just couldn't take the chance of getting stuck there and having my kids freak out with the then expected heavy rains and strong winds. For one second, I did think that the CBR and WDW wouldn't be such a bad place to ride out the storm. I even fantasized for a moment that we, all who were left, would be led to a secret 'safe' room in Cinderella's Castle. Wouldn't that have been cool? Of course, everyone and their uncle checked into WDW to ride out the storm. What was I thinking?!! (all who were left!)**1/2 the state of Florida***

My DH was so relieved when we got back, he took us away for the rest of the week to our vacation house.

I'd love to read about what I missed/spared my children from....
Tell us!! Sorry, just read your newest post which answers a lot of the above questions. I'll just post this as originally written anyway

 

[JennSaint]

Snowgoose how were the newly renovated rooms at POR? Any idea exactly what was done to them?

Glad you made it through the storm ok

Thanks!

 

[snowgooseltd]

The rooms at Riverside, in Partierre Place, were given fresh paint, new bed skirts and very puffy comforters. There is a 4 cup coffee maker in each room with a supply of regular and decaf coffee packets. Our maid was generous with the decaf when she saw it was the one we used. After the first day, she left a couple per day. The refrigerators, which I saw online, that were supposed to be in the room (complimentary) have not been put into POR as yet. I understand that CS is the only moderate that has them right now. There is new tile in the dressing/sink area and bathroom floors and, best of all, a new sliding privacy curtain to close off the dressing/sink area from the sleeping quarters. It certainly will keep dressing and washing up separate from little peepers. I love POR ( or Dixie, as it will always be in my mind ) but I hate the marble counter, over the sinks. It's just not wide enough to accomodate all the extras a family totes along. Thanks for asking.......