Worried about Ivan now too!

[A Mickeyfan]

Originally posted by SnackyStacky
Hurricanes can turn on a DIME.

I actually still believe that Frances could turn. It's a very unstable storm at this point, and it's almost 200 miles off the Florida coast. Floyd got closer than that, and turned north northeast.

Don't worry about Ivan until there's something to worry about. It's over 1700 miles from the Caribbean. It's not time to worry about Ivan yet.

I think the people who live on the east coast of Fl would have loved to see your prediction come true, but unfortunatly it didn't. It came in just north of where they thougth it would. It is easy to say not to worry about it, but when you live hear, it is hard not too. I am already watching Ivan. I am on the SW coast (where Charley came in) & our news is already talking about it & saying that they need to watch it closely. Anyone living on the coast, either FL, GA, NC, SC etc... watch hurricances. When I lived in NY (13 years ago), I never watched them the way I do now. Thank you for your positve thoughts though & maybe Ivan's predictions will not come true. Here is a link for Ivan if anyone is interested in it. This is a link for it's 5 day forcast. http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200409_5day.html

 

[zipDdoodah]

I know what your're saying. It's hard for me not to worry about it when we are scheduled to come to WDW next Thursday, and we need to decide whether or not to change our plans before then. I don't want to put my family in harm's way, but I also don't want to unnecessarily cancel our trip if there is no need to. We have been planning for so long now. It's a tough call, since they really don't know what the storm will do. I think we are definitely warranted in having some concern about the storm even this early in the game because we've seen what the other storms have done this year to FL.

 

[PrincessofQuiteAlot]

Sorry Tyco that the "local" weather stations blew it out of porportion - Charley was a dangerous storm and could definately have blown Orlando away in a blink of an eye - just ask the poor people of Punta Gorda that are still suffering the after effects.

Now we are adding Frances on top of that - think about the poor CSM's of Disney, they don't have the luxury of closing down Orlando and telling everyone to stay home.

But i'm telling you, if Ivan even comes close, three major hurricanes in one month? How much more can we take? Stay home until hurricane season is over please.!!

 

[zipDdoodah]

Just made reservations with our Hilton Honors points at Disneyland just in case we have to cancel WDW at the last minute. Thankfully we live close enough that we can drive to DL and still have a vacation if we have to cancel. Wish I knew for sure what to do right now though.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Everyone that had or has a vacation during the past few or next few weeks...Please Remember the Stress Next Year:

I may be flamed but I understand...Last year in September the only good discount codes where offered to Florida Residents and FTP...NO AP Rates, while many complained and I understood why...I kept thinking maybe it was for the best, because of the busy tropical storm season we where to have and yes we did have a very active season last year...Seven Hurricanes, 14 tropical storms, 62 deaths...but this year Disney offered the great rates for September and I said "Oh well."

I always try and remind people that late August & September are the most active months during Hurricane Season, peaking around September 10th...when they ask for opinions about September...but very few heed the opinion when great discounts and Disney Fever sets in. Living here in Florida it is much easier to cancel a room-only stay, then a Vacation of a Lifetime where airline tickets and vacation packages are involved.

Just my opinion...

 

[LisaSt]

I was just watching CNN and they are saying Ivan is allready a cat 3 storm and it has spun up to that just since Saturday norning could get scary again soon.

 

[PrincessofQuiteAlot]

Magic, standing and clapping - that is exactly what I think as well!!

 

[siac]

I am already watching Ivan. I am on Puerto Rico. It is expected that Ivan is nearest to us Wednesday.

 

[LisaSt]

Here is a link to the projected path as of 9 AM this morning for Ivan


http://www.weather.com/maps/news/atlstorm9/projectedpath_large.html?from=tropupd

 

[LisaSt]

A couple links for Ivan watchers


http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT09/refresh/AL0904W5+GIF/060908W5.gif
projected 5 day path


http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4+shtml/061148.shtml?

Warning issued for Barbados .

 

[ctrabada]

We prepared for Frances and thankfully suffered no damage. We plan to keep our shutters up for Ivan and hope it doesn't come our way. We have a trip planned to Hilton Head, SC in a week and then going to WDW. All we can do is wait and hope for the best. Hurricanes are very unpredictable and anything can happen. Having 3 hurricanes hit our state in one month could be devastating, but we Floridians are resilient and have experience in preparing for them. My heart goes out to those who have lost their homes and I encourage everyone to do what they can to help. I plan to give my excess canned goods and water to those who are suffering. I'll worry about Ivan when there's something to worry about. The important thing is to be prepared and listen to the weather service.

 

[zalansky]

We had to cancel this weekend's trip to POFQ due to the hurricane, and like Magic in my heart said, it was alot easier for us because we had a room only reservation. And just with that we were very disappointed. I can't imagine if we were coming rom out of state and had plane tickets to worry about.
I pray Ivan will stay away. All storms for that matter - because we are supposed to be heading to WL next weekend for my birthday. It doesn't look good. Even if it doesn't hit, we usually get residual rain and for me walking around in the rain is not fun.
As for Frances, today is much worse than yesterday was for us. Our dining room and living room carpet is soaked. Our fence was blown down completely. Luckily we still have power. 6 million floridians are without any power at all right now.

 

[Nathan's Grandma]

We just got off the phone with our friend in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. We track all hurricanes because of him living there and wanted to touch base. In its current path he was more worried about us going to Florida next week(Sept. 9 - 13) than it hitting him. If the weather warrants we will not make the trip. We are going to celebrate three birthdays (Grandson - 9/6, Son-in-law 9/11, and mine 9/12.

We will be donating to the Red Cross today to help out.
Our prayers are with everyone in Florida.


Kathy

 

[tnkrbell]

As for Frances, today is much worse than yesterday was for us. Our dining room and living room carpet is soaked. Our fence was blown down completely. Luckily we still have power. 6 million floridians are without any power at all right now.

I hope your house dries up for you!! We got lucky we only got downed trees. We just got our power back last night.
My mom lives in Jensen beach and just saw her home she lost the roof!!!! I pray we dont get Ivan.

We are also suppose to go to DIsney next weekend (my DD birthday and our anniversary) but I guess we will play it by ear. Just watching Ivan.
On a happy note if Ivan stays away and we get to go to Disney dont forget you lime green ribbon, maybe we will run into each other.

 

[Moosysmom]

One of the Tampa stations was doing an update on Ivan and the 2 anchors decided to chant, IVAN TURN RIGHT.
After Charlie and Frances here in Lakeland, I will shout from the rooftops, IVAN TURN RIGHT.
My thoughts and prayers to everyone returning home now after the storms. Hope all is well.
Lynn

 

[bz8bls]

Originally posted by zipDdoodah
That's just what I was thinking myself when I saw another post this morning about having to think about Ivan now. Then I did some research and realized it could be a problem for our trip. Now I'm kind of freaking out about it because there's no real way to know what's gonna happen probably until we are already there. Hopefully it never develops into anything serious. That would be wonderful!!

We arrived at WDW on 9/01/04 a.m.. Like you I did the reserach about Frances; however, you don't know what the hurricaines will do. I called our airlines to see if we could cancel, but it would have been with a penalty and WDW had not taken a position on cancellations.

My DH was not worried at all, on the other hand, I drove him nuts by being glued to the weather station. Thursday morning (9-2-04), when Gov. Bush said for tourist to cancel plans and re-schedule, that was enough for me. The airlines had finally included the Orlando airport as part of their 'weather waiver'; however, every airport in Florida was booked until Saturday, 9-4-04, when the hurricaine was due to hit the Orlando area (at the time the Orlando airport had not announced its closing). Lucky we had a rental car, and was able to get a flight out of Atlanta w/o any penalty and DVC (Disney Vacation Club ) as well as regular central reservation waived points/rservation w/o penalty.

I couldn't enjoy myself the way DH did because of the possibility of the hurricaine hitting Orlando.

My advice, if you decide to go (and God forbid Ivan has Orlando in its path) make sure you have your own transportation while at WDW; if we hadn't had a rental car, we would have not been able to leave WDW.

Good luck on whatever your decision. I doubt Ivan will materialize, what would be the chance of getting hitting by hurricianes three times in a year so closely.

 

[zipDdoodah]

Thanks for the advice. We are in the exact same place as you were last week at this point. We are due to fly to Orlando Thursday morning. We will have to wait until the last minute to cancel due to penalties from Disney and airlines if we decide not to go, which is stressing me out, because we decided we will drive to Disneyland on Thursday instead if we can't go to Florida. Just wish I knew what we were doing right now.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

My local weather just now has stated that by looking at the path, we need to be concerned, however, it is still far enough to turn away. He went on to say it is something that they will be watching close & will have more of a definate by Thrusday. Now.... I know that is of no help to anyone who will be arriving then. I am sorry, wish I could bring you better news. Just stay tuned to the weather....and pray.

 

[kimmie]

I think we are going to cancel/change again! Although our trip is not Disney , but St. Pete beach. I was glued to the T.V. last week! Changed everything (not an easy task) to this coming weekend. I have been on the phone already with USAir about changing again!

I will wait until tomorrow, but most likely will change again.

btw - USAir policy is the change can be made within 30 days of the original flight, which gives me 'til Oct 3rd!

At this point I am feeling such gloom and doom about the whole thing!

Sorry for the rant, I know that those who live in the path of these hurricanes are suffering much more than me!!

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Originally posted by kimmie
I think we are going to cancel/change again! Although our trip is not Disney , but St. Pete beach. I was glued to the T.V. last week! Changed everything (not an easy task) to this coming weekend. I have been on the phone already with USAir about changing again!

I will wait until tomorrow, but most likely will change again.

btw - USAir policy is the change can be made within 30 days of the original flight, which gives me 'til Oct 3rd!

At this point I am feeling such gloom and doom about the whole thing!

Sorry for the rant, I know that those who live in the path of these hurricanes are suffering much more than me!!

I don't mind the rant... funny you used the words gloom & doom. My son wants us now to take down the boards off of the windows. The other day he wanted them to stay up so he didn't have to put them back up in the event of Ivan heading towards us, now he says the house is too dark & gloomy with them up & wants them off. My husband says the house is depressing with the boards up. I think if I leave them up, Ivan wil turn away. If I take them down, Ivan will come & they will have to go back up! It is my way of being "stupidstitious" never did believe in superstitious. I trully can understand everyone's delima about not knowing what to do. If you cancel, it may not hit, if you don't, it may. It is a gamble. I do think I would wait until the very last minute that you can without being charged a cancelation fee to make up your mind.