WDW Info for Today -- Charley

[PamOKW]

Originally posted by BigTigger
Sorry to not post sooner, but going online wasn't the first thing I thought of. We were at OKW in a 2 BR (2330) until yesterday morning (Friday).

That's an understatement! Thank you for taking the time now to post with such detail. Glad to hear everything worked out for you although I'm sure you had some tense moments last night.

It's really shocking to see the pictures on the West Coast today. My friend's MIL was missing since 5:30 p.m. last night when the roof of the house she was staying at blew off. They lost all contact with her until late today. She's okay but very shook up and has some damage to her own home. She's also terribly upset about the devastation all around her. Her other son is heading down to see if he can help.

Glad to hear you made out okay and safe rest of the trip!

 

[lenshanem]

Thanks BigTigger. That was the most detailed report I've seen yet. Glad everyone stayed safe.

Did you happen to see the damage to Cirque? I had read the roof was ripped off. I had also heard DTD got hit hard, but your family went there? Must be OK!

Thanks again!

 

[bjakmom]

Thanks to all who are taking the time to post updates and keep us informed. My sister and her boys survived the storm at the airport - they are safe but shaken and beginning their fla trip in reverse, going east/south/west instead of west/south/east and ending with relatives in Ft Myers and Tampa to give them time to recover - they will probably not stay in Ft Myers now as her fr-in-law is helping his friends whose homes were damaged in the mobile home park - he only lost his porch, neighbors lost windows and roofs - no electric on yet.

I'm flying down on Sat to meet them at Universal and then to BWV on Sunday to start their WDW stay - I'm so glad to hear that the resorts took such good care of everyone - we are cautiously watching 'Earl', so these things are good to know.

Stay strong Florida ! - help is on the way - those of us enjoying our fully-functioning/intact homes this weekend are sending our donations your way !!

 

[RobDoc]

We leave for MCO in an hour for our flight home.

All parks are open today and there is a small army of landscape maintenance CM's out attacking the leaf litter on the beaches, lawns and walkways at all of the resorts. Yesterday seemed to be devoted to getting the parks reopened and providing a safe environment for guests. Today they are able to concentrate on getting things back to normal.

In light of the damage to nearby areas in central FL, it is amazing how WDW has come thru this emergency. They addressed guest safety in the resorts in great fashion with opportunities for dining and entertainment in a secure setting Friday night. They managed to move a lot of guests into parks on Sat and now are returning everything to it's expected condition.

I'm truly impressed with the level of preparedness and organization demonstrated by the entire WDW team. Kudos!

 

[Patty3]

Doc, thank you for all the information you and others have provided. I am glad that you all stayed safe! WOW Doc, how great that you were upgraded to a room in the main building. We stayed in one of those rooms about 5 years ago and it was pure heave and my absolute favorite. Good things happen to good people!!!!

 

[Conniesaurus]

We were at the Beach Club Villas on Friday which was also the last day of our trip. We left Saturday and our flight was canceled so we had to drive to Jacksonville for a flight at 5:10pm. On Friday at the Beach Club in the lobby they had characters out, Mickey, Stitch, Chip and Dale. They were also giving out activity books and a man was making balloon animals. The lines were very long for Cape May Cafe and the gift shops to get food. They were selling snack bags with sandwich, apple, cookies and macoroni salad for three dollars. We were supposed to go to Ohanas for my daughter's 20th birthday but we couldn't get there so we ate at Cape May Cafe, waited about an hour. When we finished our dinner the line was even longer to get in. They were offering take out boxes for people who didn't want to wait. They charged them the same price as a buffet and they could come in and put food in the take out box and then leave. We didn't get much damage that I could see. We did see some knocked over signs and trees over but other then that it was pretty good. Just glad we made it out! The earliest we could have gotten out from Orlando was Monday!

Oh and hear this during the storm, before it got worse we saw a couple adults in the villa pool! A CM had to go out and tell them to get out. Sheesh.

 

[kathleena]

Sounds like they take care of the guests very well indeed! And how wonderful that CMs like those characters still work thru the storms to cheer guests!

As for the pool guests, I would say something about them, but I'm always concerned that it will be someone on the boards. So I will just smile and say that maybe they just didn't understand.........................

 

[MarkRG]

Make it home ok, Doc? How would you describe conditions at MCO?

 

[sparkspeak]

Originally posted by WebmasterDoc
...In light of the damage to nearby areas in central FL, it is amazing how WDW has come thru this emergency. ... I'm truly impressed with the level of preparedness and organization demonstrated by the entire WDW team. Kudos!

Thanks to DOC and all others who took the time to post. It seems that WDW releases only general information to the media. With all of the surrounding devastation, I too am impressed with Disney's disaster preparedness and recovery procedures. This forum is a unique news service!

 

[RobDoc]

Just got in the door.

MCO was a mess, but we had no problem getting out. Lots of damage to the terminals and apparently there was some damage to the control tower which was part of the reason for the closure on Sat morning.

Lots of billboards were torn down and many, many trees were down along the drive from WDW to MCO.

The Delta terminal suffered damage to ceilings (standing water on the floor and ceiling tiles in pieces all over the place).

There were long lines waiting to check in, but no wait at the security area. We had printed out boarding passes at the resort, so we didn't need to wait thru the long lines for that.

Trip home was eventless. The trip itself was very memorable!

 

[BigTigger]

Originally posted by lenshanem
Did you happen to see the damage to Cirque? I had read the roof was ripped off. I had also heard DTD got hit hard, but your family went there? Must be OK!

The kids wanted to go to the World of Disney store, so we didn't park near Cirque to get a close up look. I did see that the first entrance was blocked off, so that must have been to keep cars away from that area. The HOB TV sign was all messed up picture wise - more like a test pattern than a sign. The biggest thing we could see on the east side was lots of tree stumps where trees were cut where they fell. A lot of the awnings were hanging on by a thread on one side or the other, but still attached on the other sides. Most of the temporary signs for Elvis Island at PI were gone - I assume taken down or blown away.

The only other items to note were the gas stations at Disney were quite busy yesterday and today as most stations east of I-4 didn't have power and people drove over here to get gas and this morning you could here chain saws and chippers everywhere on property as the clean up continued. I rained again heavily this afternoon for the second afternoon in a row. That's not good news for the people who lost roof shingles and had trees land on roofs. Osceola, Orange, and Volusia counties seem to be the hardest hit in the areas with schools closed Monday and Tuesday in all three. Each county has between 110K and 140K people without power still. Emergency agencies say it could be next Saturday before all power is restored. Orlando International said that 80% of flights went out today with many delays and cancellations due to Charley's effect on the northeast airports. A lot of CM's went above and beyond to keep Disney safe and running. Quite a few had house damage and no power, but still came to work. I hope Disney realizes their dedication. I know my comment cards will note it first and foremost.