MICKEY'S DREAMERS
WDW or Hawaii? This is the question!
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2002
- Messages
- 4,187
First time we heard about Charlie, it was a tropical storm supposed to hit the EASTERN coast of Florida. We had to drive toward east to board the Disney Magic 
for the cruise, but were not too much worried (yet). Then Charlie took shape and direction and it was clear that was not the usual tropical storm but that it was a real hurricane. It changed direction and was now expected in the WEST coast, Tampa area, on Friday the 13th (looks like the title of an horror movie: FRIDAY 13th THE HURRICANE DAY 
). At the beginning we were glad (no need of driving toward a tropical storm); then we realized that it was a serious thing, one million of people was evacuated, the hurricane was expected to reach level 3 (level 5 is the maximum strength of an hurricane), devastating Tampa area and then to proceed toward Orlando
we were supposed to be hit by the hurricane on Friday evening!
So Thursday evening, back from the Hoop- Dee-Doo Revue we found a message saying that all the parks would have had early opening on Friday, but that an early closing was also expected; we had wait for more news on Friday morning. MK, Epcot and MGM were open until 1PM only for resort guests, while AK, the water parks and Downtown Disney were closed all the day. Hoop-Dee-Doo Review and Spirit of Aloha dinner shows were cancelled.
Fort Wilderness Campground was evacuated, no idea about what happened to the guests but we saw a couple of them wondering in WL lobby with a pillow and a blanket
We had planned an AVIS pickup on Friday, 4PM, to get our rented car (we had to drive on Saturday to Port Canaveral), but considering the expected weather conditions in the afternoon we changed our plans and arranged the pickup in the morning. To drive from the Hilton hotel to WL was an experience
: very few cars and lot of security blocking accesses to Downtown and Fort Wilderness. Also WL seemed different from the usual: lot of characters were in the lobby (never seen them there before), while cast members were reinforcing WL mobile structures:
LAMPS TIED AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE RESORT
CM PROTECTING WINDOWS AND FIXING LAMPS
lamps outside of the lodge were tied and bags were protecting windows in strategic points.
WL LOBBY MAJOR WINDOWS PROTECTION
PROTECTION BAGS (bottom/ right side)
We spent most of Friday in the hotel watching news on television and looking outside the windows, while packing for the (hopefully) next cruise
Fortunately, the day before, ranger Stan spent some time to ensure us how resistant WL structure is (in spite of wooden appearance) and how safe one will be inside the lodge. At 2 PM a major storm started in our area but we were still waiting for Charlie, which was supposed to arrive in the evening and was just upgraded to a level 4 hurricane . (to be continued)
FIRST THREE PARTS OF THE REPORTS ARE AT
http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?s=&threadid=631470 (PART1)
http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?s=&threadid=632219 (PART2)
http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?s=&threadid=633676 (PART3)
for the cruise, but were not too much worried (yet). Then Charlie took shape and direction and it was clear that was not the usual tropical storm but that it was a real hurricane. It changed direction and was now expected in the WEST coast, Tampa area, on Friday the 13th (looks like the title of an horror movie: FRIDAY 13th THE HURRICANE DAY ). At the beginning we were glad (no need of driving toward a tropical storm); then we realized that it was a serious thing, one million of people was evacuated, the hurricane was expected to reach level 3 (level 5 is the maximum strength of an hurricane), devastating Tampa area and then to proceed toward Orlando
we were supposed to be hit by the hurricane on Friday evening! So Thursday evening, back from the Hoop- Dee-Doo Revue we found a message saying that all the parks would have had early opening on Friday, but that an early closing was also expected; we had wait for more news on Friday morning. MK, Epcot and MGM were open until 1PM only for resort guests, while AK, the water parks and Downtown Disney were closed all the day. Hoop-Dee-Doo Review and Spirit of Aloha dinner shows were cancelled.
Fort Wilderness Campground was evacuated, no idea about what happened to the guests but we saw a couple of them wondering in WL lobby with a pillow and a blanket
We had planned an AVIS pickup on Friday, 4PM, to get our rented car (we had to drive on Saturday to Port Canaveral), but considering the expected weather conditions in the afternoon we changed our plans and arranged the pickup in the morning. To drive from the Hilton hotel to WL was an experience
: very few cars and lot of security blocking accesses to Downtown and Fort Wilderness. Also WL seemed different from the usual: lot of characters were in the lobby (never seen them there before), while cast members were reinforcing WL mobile structures:
LAMPS TIED AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE RESORT
CM PROTECTING WINDOWS AND FIXING LAMPS
lamps outside of the lodge were tied and bags were protecting windows in strategic points.
WL LOBBY MAJOR WINDOWS PROTECTION
PROTECTION BAGS (bottom/ right side)
We spent most of Friday in the hotel watching news on television and looking outside the windows, while packing for the (hopefully) next cruise
Fortunately, the day before, ranger Stan spent some time to ensure us how resistant WL structure is (in spite of wooden appearance) and how safe one will be inside the lodge. At 2 PM a major storm started in our area but we were still waiting for Charlie, which was supposed to arrive in the evening and was just upgraded to a level 4 hurricane . (to be continued)
FIRST THREE PARTS OF THE REPORTS ARE AT
http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?s=&threadid=631470 (PART1)
http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?s=&threadid=632219 (PART2)
http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?s=&threadid=633676 (PART3)
