Tornado Warnings

[bamamouse]

Has anyone ever been at DW when there were tornado warnings for that area? We are going in the summer and the thought of thunderstorms and severe weather come to mind. Do they announce the warning and tell you to take cover?

 

[allie1078]

when we were there last summer, there were a couple of times for sever thunderstorm warnings. we were in our room each time we saw on it on tv. so not sure what goes on in the parks. the one day we were in MK and a severe storm went through and any ride that was open to the outside was closed down until the lightning was over. Not sure if there were in warnings issued with that storm or not.

 

[Z.Black]

I’m not sure if warnings are issued for severe storms, but it’s a good bet that if there is lightning, then the big rides and any outdoor ride are closed. I think they wait 20 minutes to re-open the ride after the last bit of lightning is seen.
I was there during a pretty nasty storm, lots of lightning, rain, and wind, but everyone just stayed in the shops or restaurants. I do know that everywhere in Disney has emergency plans and safe places specifically for tornados and tornado warnings. I’ve never been there when anything like that has had to be used though, but all of the parks, as well as DTD have these plans.
I don’t think Disney’s ever had a tornado… or even a tornado warning really, but they are plenty use to hurricanes, you’re going a little early for those though, they usually hit September-ish. And even with hurricanes, only with the most severe do they close the parks.
If you ever get concerned though, ask any cm with a radio. If the weather’s bad, they track it pretty much continuously so that they can have an idea on ride times. They’ll be able to tell you if the storm is looking to last longer, or if it’s looking to get worse.

 

[Manda]

We were there in September 07 when severe storms and tornadoes hit Central Florida. We didn't realize the severity of the situation until the news coverage of the damage the next morning.

We had just got off the Monorail at the TTC and were walking back to Poly when everything just exploded. We took off running in the rain and lightning and a Poly CM in a golf cart stopped to tell us that we shouldn't be out in the lightning. Clearly he didn't notice that we were running for our lives? Like we'd choose to be out in that - and with kids in strollers. My in-laws had stayed at Epcot for Illuminations and they said it was like the first firework went up into the sky, and everyone looked up, and then BAM! - the skies broke open and everyone started running and screaming.

When we got back to the room, we saw on TV that there were tornado warnings out for the area. It's very confusing to watch those reports from you aren't local because they start listing off county and city names and you don't really have any idea where you are in relation to those. But we never heard any official word or warning from Disney and I didn't hear any tornado sirens go off in the area either (we have tornado sirens in the Midwest, so I'm used to listening for those as warning for duck and cover). Do they even have tornado sirens in the Orlando area (or on Disney property)?

 

[mjones73]

We had a nasty storm come through when we were in HS last year. We were on our way out for the afternoon when it first started, at first we thought it was a passing storm which was nice cause it cooled us off. By the time we hit the front gate you could tell it was much worse. We ended up waiting it out under the main entrance and you could see they had packed everyone else into any indoor place they could for protection. I did have a nice view of all the strikes out in the parking lot area.

When we got back to the hotel we had found there were tornado warnings in the Lake Mary area but not where we were.

 

[MiMi2Three]

We have had this happen on two separate occasions, high winds-heavy rain while we were in the parks. No warning sirens, no "heads-up" from CMs, just took cover out of common sense(we also live in AL and are no strangers to tornados) Then back at resort turn on local news only to discover that there had been tornados in the area. I don't remember which park the 1st time it happened, but the 2nd time we were in the WS in Epcot. No easy solution to head out of the park from the America area, we were stuck in the gift shop and the rain was blowing inside the pavilion. News that night reported tornado in Epcot area.

 

[Stasieki]

If I knew how to post pictures, I would show you one of us stuck on the monorail platform during a bad storm. I did hear a funnel cloud was spotted by the Grand Floridian (we were at MK) - not sure how true that was. I remember that the boats couldn't steer straight and things were flying off of them. Everyone was cramming in under the monorail cover and CM's were telling us to move foward (uh... don't think so, we had our DD2 with us and it was quite scarey - and we lived in FL). When it was over, we walked knee deep through the entrance (the finger scanners were down so there was only one line to get in). My DH thought I was nuts still wanting to go in the park, but then he was very happy when there were no lines for anything and it didn't rain again. They can pop up fast. We were in the front of the monorail going to MK when it just started to drizzle. Sorry this is lengthy.

 

[bonybroad]

A tornado DID come through when we were there Feb 2007. It went around Disney and into the neighboring town. I forget what that town is called, but it was freaky.