Feralpeg
Living and Loving Windermere!
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Messages
- 19,390
Well, we made it through another one. DD, my sister and I checked into the AKL on Friday. We boarded our pets with a local vet. When I made the reservation on Wednesday, the only rooms left at AKL were concierge. We took it, but I probably could have challenged it when we checked in. Many people were leaving as when we arrived. The CM told me that they had rooms but were not taking anymore reservations.
Friday afternoon, we went to Epcot. If you want to avoid crowds, I would strongly recommend visiting just before a hurricane. We walked right on to Test Track! Very light crowd.
The concierge lounge was open on Friday and on Saturday morning. They closed it by noon on Saturday. They said it wasn't safe due to the storm. I think they were just short staffed.
On Saturday, they provided various types of entertainment for the guests. They had a band, african dancers and singers. Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and one of the mice from Cinderella came out about every other hour and stayed out for about an hour. They played with the kids in the lobby and danced to the band. Some of the CMs provided information on the animals. They had coloring sheets for the kids and a little scavenger hunt.
They had a TV set up in the lobby tuned to the Weather Channel. They provided free coffee and hot chocolate to the guests. On Saturday evening, Bomas and Jinkos both had buffets available. Adults were $12. I didn't really pay any attention to the kids price. Mara was closed. The gift shop remained open.
Saturday evening, we were asked to go to our rooms and remain there. We could hear very loud gusts of wind throughout the night. On Sunday morning, they provided box breakfeasts for $3. They provided box lunches for $6. The winds were actually much worse on Sunday than Saturday. Latter in the afternoon on Sunday, they opened the lobby up. We had dinner Sunday night at Bomas.
Although we had a Savanah view, we only saw a few cattle. The rest of the animals were under shelter.
The only damage we saw at the AKL was a leak just below the huge window that faces the savannah. On the drive home from Disney, we say many little trees down. The roads are covered with vegitation and some traffic signals were out.
When we got home, we had no power for a couple of hours. Our neighbors told us it had been out for about 12 hours. The common area in our developement is under water. I had minor damage to my home. My sister has a couple of leaks. We were lucky again.
I don't know if this is a good thing. DD seems to be getting used to the storms. They are talking about Ivan hitting at the end of next week. Her only worry is the amount of time she will have to make up at school. They will be out tomorrow.
All in all, we got through just fine. I give Disney great credit. They tried very hard to make a less than perfect experience the best that it could be. If Ivan decides to visit central Florida, I will probably ride it out at another Disney hotel. Hmmm? Which one should I pick?
View from our room at AKL before Frances arrived:
View from our room at AKL after Frances arrived:
Friday afternoon, we went to Epcot. If you want to avoid crowds, I would strongly recommend visiting just before a hurricane. We walked right on to Test Track! Very light crowd.
The concierge lounge was open on Friday and on Saturday morning. They closed it by noon on Saturday. They said it wasn't safe due to the storm. I think they were just short staffed.
On Saturday, they provided various types of entertainment for the guests. They had a band, african dancers and singers. Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and one of the mice from Cinderella came out about every other hour and stayed out for about an hour. They played with the kids in the lobby and danced to the band. Some of the CMs provided information on the animals. They had coloring sheets for the kids and a little scavenger hunt.
They had a TV set up in the lobby tuned to the Weather Channel. They provided free coffee and hot chocolate to the guests. On Saturday evening, Bomas and Jinkos both had buffets available. Adults were $12. I didn't really pay any attention to the kids price. Mara was closed. The gift shop remained open.
Saturday evening, we were asked to go to our rooms and remain there. We could hear very loud gusts of wind throughout the night. On Sunday morning, they provided box breakfeasts for $3. They provided box lunches for $6. The winds were actually much worse on Sunday than Saturday. Latter in the afternoon on Sunday, they opened the lobby up. We had dinner Sunday night at Bomas.
Although we had a Savanah view, we only saw a few cattle. The rest of the animals were under shelter.
The only damage we saw at the AKL was a leak just below the huge window that faces the savannah. On the drive home from Disney, we say many little trees down. The roads are covered with vegitation and some traffic signals were out.
When we got home, we had no power for a couple of hours. Our neighbors told us it had been out for about 12 hours. The common area in our developement is under water. I had minor damage to my home. My sister has a couple of leaks. We were lucky again.
I don't know if this is a good thing. DD seems to be getting used to the storms. They are talking about Ivan hitting at the end of next week. Her only worry is the amount of time she will have to make up at school. They will be out tomorrow.
All in all, we got through just fine. I give Disney great credit. They tried very hard to make a less than perfect experience the best that it could be. If Ivan decides to visit central Florida, I will probably ride it out at another Disney hotel. Hmmm? Which one should I pick?
View from our room at AKL before Frances arrived:
View from our room at AKL after Frances arrived:
Hopefully Ivan will not drop by, and will fizzle out--he's a Cat. 2 right now.
