Just found this on disneyworld.com (weather and park hours related)

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by peter11435
The animals were put into their night house's. These are built to withstand a hurricane. The Media is very misinformed, today they reported all parks were closed than that they were open but had reduced hours, When infact they extended the hours at the MK.

The media does their best with what they can in situations like this. do you work at AK? I would imagine you did seeing you seem to be giving first hand knowledge.

 

[kathleena]

I have taken the Backstage Safari twice and the CMs said all of the animals are brought in at night for feeding, shelter and daily inspections. (I'm not sure about the crocs, I just can't imagine them responding too well to a dinner call.......).

All the animal barns that I was in were massive concrete and steel structures. The walls have to be very thick for the elephants and rhinos especially - even the inside walls in the elephant barn are 12" thick at least.

If you are ever there just before 5 or 6pm, you will see the animals pacing to go back in for dinner. The tigers especially - just like cats at home waiting to be fed. They hovered around what I figured was the door to let them back to their barn.

I would expect that they are keeping the park closed for animal safety - they need to inspect that whole safari area, plus all of the animal living areas to ensure nothing will harm them.

And of course - to inspect it for guests as well!

And the AKL animals can use the same barns and vet facilities. The savannahs back right up to that area. If you look at the far end of the Uzima savannah you can barely see the buildings.

 

[skiwee1]

I've seen the buildings plenty of times. What I was just relaying is what I heard on the news. They made it sound as though if the storm was too strong then the animals would be moved from their usual nightly quarters to safer buildings. If that didn't happen then the keepers must have decided that the storm wasn't strong enough to move them.

 

[JayBee]

Originally posted by skiwee1
I've seen the buildings plenty of times.

Gosh, I've just seen info about the night cages...how have you seen them "plenty of times?"

 

[rip109]

Or as I call him, DS what he had heard was that there was damage to the Tree of Life and some of the buildings in Asia. They also have to check all the barriers of the animal areas and make sure they are secured.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Originally posted by JayBee
Gosh, I've just seen info about the night cages...how have you seen them "plenty of times?"

We have taken several backstage tours of AK, and you get to see all the night quarters as well as where the animals are housed when they are not "on stage". The rhino you see out at 9 am will not necessarily be the one that is out at 12! They move animals around to insure that they stay visible to the safari guests. BTW, the barns are amazing! After seeing them, I am quite certain they would withstand a hurricane. The backstage areas are magnificent!

 

[peter11435]

Originally posted by skiwee1
I've seen the buildings plenty of times. What I was just relaying is what I heard on the news. They made it sound as though if the storm was too strong then the animals would be moved from their usual nightly quarters to safer buildings. If that didn't happen then the keepers must have decided that the storm wasn't strong enough to move them.

Trust me, there are no plans to move animals some where other than there night houses. For one thing there are few buildings strong enough to contain animals such as elephants and rhinos, also the night houses are as sake if not safer than almost any other structure during a hurricane. Not to mention the transfer and new area would be very traumatic for the animals. These night houses are visible on backstage tours as well as the Wildlife Express.

 

[princesstommi]

I bet the AK (the safari area mainly) will take quite a bit more cleanup. It's 100 acres (IIRC) of open land that will most likely have downed trees, fences, barriers, etc.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Do any of the barrier fences need electricity? I wonder if they didn't want to take any chances if there was a power outage today. I think there was still some stormy weather today. I hope all is ok.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by JayBee
Gosh, I've just seen info about the night cages...how have you seen them "plenty of times?"

They show you the night cages on the Rafikki watch ride. I've been on that ride a few times.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by peter11435
Trust me, there are no plans to move animals some where other than there night houses. For one thing there are few buildings strong enough to contain animals such as elephants and rhinos, also the night houses are about as safer than almost any other structure during a hurricane. Not to mention the transfer and new area would be very traumatic for the animals. These night houses are visible on backstage tours as well as the Wildlife Express.

I was just wondering if you had some insider info. I had read on another board that there was a possibility that they had to round up the birds. It would have been an interesting story to hear!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by JayBee
Gosh, I've just seen info about the night cages...how have you seen them "plenty of times?"

They are part of the backstage tours, and quite secure.

 

[LibertyBelle]

Just wanted to post on the Cirque building. There was NO damage to the building itself. What was damaged was the Giant canvas "sails" that come down from about half way up the building to ground level that make it feel like a circus tent. These are not a structural part of the building but are cosmentic and add shelter for the eliments. if you have seen the building it is the white canvas that comes down in the front by the gift store, box office and the stairwell up to the theater. They secured the area and the shows this evening went on as planned. It looks (and sounds) a lot worse than it is... but again those were not structural they were cosmetic.

 

[dcgrumpy]

Accordint to what I saw on the news, it had nothing to do with the animals. A lot of CM's could not come in to work because of damage to their own homes etc... There was not enough people to open all 4 parks so they decided to keep AK closed since it is the least popular.