Hurricane Dorian / WDW Theme Parks Discussion

[TheSouthernBelle]

We were at WDW when hurricane Jeanne hit. I believe it was a
Cat 3 when it hit. We were at Fort Wilderness in our RV with 4 kids under 9. Disney moved us to All Star Music and two rooms! Way more than what our campsite cost!

The storm hit that night and you could hear it against the window. But, the rooms are built hurricane tough. The next day it just rained and rained. We went a got pizza and sat in our room watching cartoons!

The next day the parks were open. There were trees down in areas but otherwise everything was ok. It sure cleared out the parks! We had a nice time.

Everything turned out great but I would also say, you never know either! Very difficult decision but Disney does try to go above and beyond (at least when we went through it).

I remember Jeanne, I had to drive to North Florida for work and a lot of road signs were down. That was the first time in living in FL all my life I had seen hurricane damage that far inland. That was an active hurricane year and so was 2005.

 

[poohbear999]

Update: I spent about an hour on hold, but the agent was able to cancel my resort reservation for a full refund, no problems at all. Best of luck to all those traveling or living in the Orlando area!

 

[SL6827]

I know it sounds weird, but its just second nature. What gets me is the after the storm. That is what always makes me want to leave, not the storm itself.

Ya, that is a perspective I would have never thought of.

 

[stitchrulz]

Something else to think about for those who might be driving. There will be issues with obtaining gasoline. Some stations might run out of fuel, and some might be unable to operate due to no electricity. On our trip, some stations limited the amount of gas you were allowed to purchase, and on the return trip, the prices increased dramatically. I recall we paid around $5.00 per gallon at one stop and that was back in 2004. Be sure to keep an eye on your tank and don't risk getting too low, if at all possible.

 

[BeachPrincess]

Something else to think about for those who might be driving. There will be issues with obtaining gasoline. Some stations might run out of fuel, and some might be unable to operate due to no electricity. On our trip, some stations limited the amount of gas you were allowed to purchase, and on the return trip, the prices increased dramatically. I recall we paid around $5.00 per gallon at one stop and that was back in 2004. Be sure to keep an eye on your tank and don't risk getting too low, if at all possible.

I live in the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area and there are already reports of stations that have completely run out of gas.

 

[Searc]

I haven't said much today, because I am having my usual Katrina anxiety and I don't want to be accused of being dramatic.

My dear friend from Chalmette currently lives in Delray Beach and I am worried sick about him right now.

For those unaware, today is the anniversary Katrina made landfall in 2005.

 

[MGMmjl]

For those unaware, today is the anniversary Katrina made landfall in 2005.

Hard to believe it has been 14 years. I was in meteorology school during the busy hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, and that was definitely an interesting time to be a meteorology student!

 

[RBZ]

Update: I spent about an hour on hold, but the agent was able to cancel my resort reservation for a full refund, no problems at all. Best of luck to all those traveling or living in the Orlando area!

That's good to hear! We are supposed to fly in on Monday, but obviously there's a strong powerful hurricane coming (if you hadn't heard), so I expect our flight to be cancelled. We were thinking about rescheduling, but it's going to be difficult. We would really like to cancel, but we've been waiting to either see a hurricane warning or we get word from Disney. This is the first I've heard that anyone was allowed to cancel without penalty, which is encouraging. I think we're going to give it one more day before calling Disney.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

While I know it's hard and borderline impossible, let's try to err on keeping the conversation relevant to theme parks, your WDW plans, park and event tickets, etc.

There are other Dorian threads around the DIS that are suited for general chit-chat, past storms, etc, such as this one on the Community Board thread.

The Resorts Board has a thread for Dorian resorts discussion here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/tropical-storm-dorian.3767113/

There are a few transportation related threads on the Transportation Board: https://www.disboards.com/forums/transportation.16/

And there's a lighthearted group discussion on the Doing the Happy Dance Sub-forum here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/determined-to-make-the-most-of-this-weekend.3767166/

Still lots of unknowns here and the cone of uncertainty is quite large. We'll all get through this together by sharing our theme park and WDW related information and experiences.

Thanks all.

 

[Oozma_Kappa]

I now want to cancel. Do they refund my dvc points and meal plan? My house flooded in Katrina in Mississippi. A cat 4 is no joke!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I now want to cancel. Do they refund my dvc points and meal plan? My house flooded in Katrina in Mississippi. A cat 4 is no joke!

Here's a link to Disney's hurricane 'policy', it's a good place to start for their basic info, then call if you'd like to discuss your specific situation: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/hurricane-policy

 

[Jennasis]

I now want to cancel. Do they refund my dvc points and meal plan? My house flooded in Katrina in Mississippi. A cat 4 is no joke!

When we had to cancel due to Irma a few years back, member services put our points back in our account, and there was NOTHING available for us to rebook for anytime in the next several months. So we used them to book a "makeup" trip in May the following year.

 

[miamimama]

I live in the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area and there are already reports of stations that have completely run out of gas.

Yes -I was just going to say, having lived through hurricanes in South Florida and North Carolina , gas shortages can be a huge problem days before the hurricane hits, and for many days after it’s gone.

 

[rteetz]

While I know it's hard and borderline impossible, let's try to err on keeping the conversation relevant to theme parks, your WDW plans, park and event tickets, etc.

There are other Dorian threads around the DIS that are suited for general chit-chat, past storms, etc, such as this one on the Community Board thread.

The Resorts Board has a thread for Dorian resorts discussion here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/tropical-storm-dorian.3767113/

There are a few transportation related threads on the Transportation Board: https://www.disboards.com/forums/transportation.16/

And there's a lighthearted group discussion on the Doing the Happy Dance Sub-forum here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/determined-to-make-the-most-of-this-weekend.3767166/

Still lots of unknowns here and the cone of uncertainty is quite large. We'll all get through this together by sharing our theme park and WDW related information and experiences.

Thanks all.

And Rumors and News!

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

If you plan to drive in just know that it might be possible you won't find any gas once you get into Florida. Could be a good idea to get a container and fill it up before so you have some on hand. The storm looks like it's going really slow, I could see the parks being closed both Monday and Tuesday it depends how long it takes to get across the state.

Jacksonville has had lines for gas the last two days, and most of the grocery stores are getting emergency deliveries of water/bread/etc at least once a day.

Another thing to remember, is that if there are evacuations, you'll be driving back in with all those displaced people. Plus, there could be damage to the roadways.

 

[to be tink]

Friends of mine were able to switch from Monday to Friday.

We too have tickets for Monday night's MNSSHP. If anyone has any luck getting a refund on the tickets because of Dorian, it would be great if you could post your experience here.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

And Rumors and News!

Oh yeah, good point. If you want to cause trouble and break DISBoard guidelines, go to that board.

 

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

My flight flies to MCO on Wednesday. I was planing to wait until Monday morning to see what to do. Is this a bad idea?

 

[foodiddiedoo]

Can anyone who is familiar with Hurricanes (only really experienced Sandy and Irene which was only a tropical storm in my area) explain the different prediction models and which one is the one that Floridians actually care about?

 

[monkyby87]

My flight flies to MCO on Wednesday. I was planing to wait until Monday morning to see what to do. Is this a bad idea?

Unfortunately it's still too early to tell. Most forecasts show the hurricane being in central Florida by Tuesday, but the exact path and where it will end up is still unknown.