Who was at WDW during last years hurricanes?

[chiconh]

We were at the WL last year, celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary, when Frances hit. We were unable to get out and had to stay 2 extra days. The hotel was wonderful in accommodating everyone, but here is something I never thought I would say. I was happy to leave! Two days of not being able to leave the hotel and during some of the time, we could not even leave the room! How many times can you watch Brother Bear? There were also very limited food choices. Nothing you can do about it, but make the best of a bad situation. Mother Nature always wins!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We were on the Disney Wonder right before Frances hit. We evacuated all CMs off Castaway Cay on our At Sea day. We were at the YC before the cruise, and were supposed to go back for 3 nights afterward, but after seeing the damage from Hurricane Charley (and reading people's trip reports of being stuck in their rooms), we decided to try to get home instead. I called SWA from our stateroom at 5am to switch flights and was told they gave us the last 4 seats on any flight to PVD for the day. (BTW, both SWA and the YC staff were wonderful and helpful in changing/cancelling our reservations and we did not lose any $$).

We spent Thursday at MK and caught a late flight out. It was madness on the roads and at the airport, and we nearly missed our flight because lines were long and we were chosen to be searched (yup, we were standing there in bare feet minutes before our flight was due to leave, LOL). DH had gotten a huge picture on the ship for our living room wall and we had to literally run through the airport dragging that as well as our bags and our kids! If we hadn't absolutely had to be back to work on Monday we probably would have ridden it out, but as it was MCO was closing on Saturday and Sunday and we knew our Sunday flight would be cancelled and God knows when we would have gotten home.

It was the best thing to leave but boy, was it hard. At the Poly we ran into Dis friends from the cruise who had no choice but to stay until Tuesday since all flights to England were cancelled until then. They were relaxing at the pool- pina coladas in hand - and having a great time. It was so tempting to join them (they got a great discounted rate at the Poly)!! We sat in that lobby for quite a while hemming and hawing about whether to leave, but ultimately common sense gave in and we reluctantly made the drive to MCO.

We've done other trips in September and never had a problem before.

 

[4formickey]

we played at wdw when ivan was going up the gulf. everyone wanted use to cancell our trip but we where going on dcl also. The parks was empty. You had your pick of the rides with very little wait. It was great! The cruise was great but we lost a day because of jeanne about to hit. We left mco at 12pm and the airport was closing at 5pm. We had a great time

 

[Figment1964]

We were there at that exact time last year for Frances. We were staying offsite at a timeshare condo and I'm so glad we were. Since we had to stay inside for 48 hours I can't imagine how I would have maintained my sanity with my dh and our 2 boys if we just had a hotel room instead of 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms! I stocked up at the grocery store so we had regular home-cooked meals and the condo had 4 TV's so we each had our choice of what to be watching. The Saturday night when the hurricane was due we moved the boys into the master bedroom with us and put a mattress up against the window, just in case. We did fine.

The parks were like a ghost town on Thursday and Friday. Made it so easy to get all that we wanted to done!

I don't think we'll travel again at that time of year only because of the stress it caused our family back home. My parents were nervous wrecks, especially about *their* grandchildren...never mind that it was their daughter and son-in-law who were there as well!

We left about 36 hours later than originally planned and were delayed out of Orlando because of problems due to the hurricane at the airport. Since we live in Oregon driving wasn't an option for us at all. We got home at midnight our time (3am in Orlando) and the boys had to start school the next morning. They actually were up in time (body clocks still on east coast time I guess) and went to school!

 

[dsnycrzy]

We were there for hurricane Charlie. I was off site at HoJoMGE. We were trying to plan a birthday party for my baby age 2 and my nephew 13 and that night the hurricane hit and the power went out and the cake went bad in the fridge. I am from NY originally and have never seen a hurricane, so my crazy self was trying to tape it

 

[Goobergal99]

We were there during Frances and it happened right smack in the middle of our vacation :0( we were so mad that we missed out on so much. We too stayed at POP and let me tell you those not perishable meals of peanut butter and jelly, cheesecakes, cereals and sodas got old really, really fast!!!

This year we are going at the end of july- beginning of august, a little sooner then peak hurricane season. We would rather have the heavier crowds then have to stay in our rooms for two days all over again. I will say that Disney was very accomodating (bringing the characters to the resorts, lowering the food cost) we were even reimbursed for the tickets for the days we missed. (I sold them on ebay for a nice profit LOL)

 

[PrincessCandaceMarie]

I was there through them all, on both coasts too....and Disney did a great job taking care of me and I had no complaints! And even made tons of new friends during the 'cane.....

Keep in mind, no one can predict the weather...last year was totally different.....

 

[Asuneda]

I lived in Celebration during all 3 hurricanes last year.

Disney is very prepared to deal with hurricanes. They have a detailed hurricane threat plan that goes into effect days before a storm is due. It works sort of like the Homeland security system in that it raises levels the closer the event becomes. This plan is put into effect throughout the entire WDW operations: resorts, parks, retail, food service, and office space. CM's are given their "disaster" duties. They are brought on site with their families (and often pets) and kept there throughout the storm. This allows them to mantain a high level of service under enormous stress. They are truly wonderful at keeping people calmed, informed and entertained.

The food service personnel also do a great job. Remember, they are having to feed their entire resort (guests and CM's) for the duration, when typically peoples dining choices are spread out over the entire WDW and Orlando. That's a lot of concentrated eating!!

I've been told that Disney resorts are designed to withstand sustained winds in excess of 220 miles an hour. Considering that all the damage I observed was foliage, I'd believe it. After the storms pass, before most people can catch thier breath, Disney has crews out cleaning up and checking all rides and exhibits for damage. They typically open the next day, except for Animal Kingdom and thats because the animals need to be calmed and their habitats require longer to be put to order.

We loved being in the parks the day after the storms. It gave us something to do except look at damage (although Celebration faired very well, except for some trees). The parks were so empty feeling because most of the guests were resort guests. It made it very nice to walk up to practically any ride.

 

[Dancind]

We were at BCV during Charlie last year, DD and I. BCV is fairly new, and so well built that it seemed like a normal FL thunder and rainstorm outside, just a little windier than usual. Not even very noisy. We even had internet access, and were posting on the DIS boards during the storm. And fielding calls on the cel phone, which worked during the storm too. We ate at Cape May earlier on Friday, and they also had sandwich boxes in the BCV lobby. Of course, people were grabbing them like they might never eat again.

We went to the Studios the next day, and looked around at the damage, which seemed to be all foliage at WDW. The real shocker was heading back to the airport on Sunday, so glad we hired a towncar. Lots of damage to Orlando, and at the airport. I think we had one of the first flights that got to leave.

So, don't worry too much if a hurricane heads your way while at WDW. Just be prepared to be flexible about getting home after. I think WDW was very helpful to people that were stranded, as long as they were already staying in a room.

 

[Jen D]

We were there for Jeanne and because we didn't succeed in getting an earlier flight out we ended up staying two extra nights. This was Disney's fourth hurricane of the season so they had the whole thing down to a science. The notes under the doors, the flashlights, the box lunches, the movies, the extra entertaiment in the lobby... there were characters and acrobats and musicians and all of it and the restaurants were open. The CMs were wonderful.

The storm came at the end of the trip. The good part about this is that it didn't really interrupt our touring. The bad part is we had to pay for an extra two nights at the Poly at the end of a trip where we'd already gone way over budget!