Hurricane Irma?

[LadyLeem000]

Yes they do; no way to accurately predict when/where landfall will be. Understand also, this storm is SO huge...it will cover the ENTIRE State of Florida. Just because it makes landfall in one spot does NOT mean all areas of the state will not receive some form of tropical storm force winds/rain and tornados.

We've dealt with tropical storm/winds before. But the idea of a direct impact is making me a little uneasy. Arghhhh...

 

[HarperLeigh]

Great just clarifying before that gets confused by anyone.

Understood.

 

[aleh021]

This scares the hell out of me

Okay, the new model has me a little worried. Do these storm tracks usually wobble back and forth like this? I'm reading so many mixed opinions on this...

yes, and they will keep going back and forth until tomorrow night probably.

 

[ktb2002]

That was my first thought as well, but they've held a press conference and just confirmed the Saturday 5pm close on their twitter. I expect the website will be updated shortly.

That was my first thought as well, but they've held a press conference and just confirmed the Saturday 5pm close on their twitter. I expect the website will be updated shortly.

Ok didn't know they had confirmed it on their own twitter. Multiple news sources have been erroneously reporting the closure all day.

 

[KimBean]

As of 5:11 est Orlando airport website has not changed. But here is their twitter: m

 

[PrincessDuck]

So OIa and MCO same thing right?

MCO is the official airport designator. The news likes to call it OIA just to confuse people. I had to ask my husband because I thought OIA was another airport somewhere... we are both pilots.

 

[Karen46]

Well its over. 9/9-14 was not going to be good. All the planning and excitement has been cancelled. Will pray for all in Florida that things are not bad and that I cancelled for nothing!! Wishing that you all are safe! For us maybe another time!

 

[ekidwell0001]

I'm currently at 6 hours for guest services trying to cancel/adjust my Sept 10 - Sept 15 trip. D: I hope they don't close before we get someone!

It's so draining!!! I've been on hold now for 4 hours, 37 minutes. Music cut out at about 90 minutes. I'm praying that I'm still really on hold!!

 

[DuffyForPresident]

I feel your pain. Three and a half and counting...

 

[Tonyz]

I wonder why American Airlines decided to stop early if everyone else seems to be going until 5:00.

 

[JoeP78]

I just got off the phone with Disney Reservation Center. Only waited about 10 minutes to talk to a CM. She was kind, positive attitude, and willing to help. She was able to move our dates from 9/10-9/14 to 9/12-9/16. Same room rate at AKL, and we were able to keep our Free Dining! She transferred me to Dining, and they moved all our reservations around with no problem. Also rescheduled our Starlight Safari with another lovely CM at AKL who had actually left me a voicemail with her direct number. Done with everything in just 45 minutes. (Although the CM said the Guest Relations line had a 5+ hour hold time.) They also assured me that if things weren't back to normal by 9/12 that I could call back to cancel/reschedule again. We are lucky to have flexibility with our dates and that we are driving from Atlanta, so don't have to deal with flights. I just couldn't believe it....I was expecting the worst and ended up with a really good outcome. So very thankful. Especially since this is a birthday surprise for my husband and our first kid-free vacation in years!

I am going to attempt to do something similar. We are slated for AKL, free dining for 9/9-9/16. Hoping to move to 9/13-9/20 to be safe. First CM (non guest relations person) didn't see any open rooms at AKL for those dates. Maybe guest relations will have more success. I have dining reservations for 9/10,9/11,9/12,9/13,9/14 & 9/15. Hoping to keep a few of those on the end. We have a lot of flexibility in that we can go anytime in September and various days up through mid December. Hoping myself and Disney can work something out. Seems like everyone else is having luck. Thanks for the info! I am at 3 hours 7 minutes on phone, about 2:45 of that on hold with guest relations.

 

[ekidwell0001]

I feel your pain. Three and a half and counting...

Just hit the 5 hour mark, oooohhhhhhh the agony lol. Still no music!?

 

[n0cturnalbynature]

Whew... so finally got through! Moved my Sept 10 - 15 trip up to Sept 21 - 26.
Same resort! They honored the dining plan!
That means weekend crowds and had to pay $300 more though for the resort, but I'm just glad we could get in.

 

[DLM1980]

View attachment 267840 As of 5:11 est Orlando airport website has not changed. But here is their twitter: m

This scares me. Kim go charge your phone!

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

And something else I just thought of...
Those who are planning to drive down to Orlando next week after Irma clears our area....you are going to hit a massive amount of traffic. All the residents coming back home will be traveling the same way as you. Gas will once again be at a premium. Plus having to go around whatever damage occurs from the storm.

This! Last year we had a large family trip planned, taking many members who had never been to universal and WDW. Flight was the day MCO closed for Matthew, so this uber planner decided we'd all drive from Charlotte NC early the next morning instead. Usually an 8.5 hour drive. Finally got there after 17.5 hours, the first 5 in frighteningly torrential rain, detouring a long way through Atlanta since most SC highways were still diverted to flow north and lots of people were also trying to go back home. Had a pretty tense period in the middle searching for gas so we didn't run out on the way. If you are thinking about driving Sat, Sun or Mon please be very prepared to drive carefully, defensively, and gas up at no less than a quarter tank!!

 

[Roxyfire]

I feel your pain. Three and a half and counting...

If only you waited a few more seconds! All 3s! But for real thats awful, I feel for all of you who are having to spend your days on the phone to change/cancel your plans

 

[Clockwork]

I wonder why American Airlines decided to stop early if everyone else seems to be going until 5:00.

Probably to get aircraft out of the area and if landing after 2 and refueling and departure would have taken more than 3 hours they decided it wasn't worth the risk.

 

[ktlm]

I'm trying my hardest to feel reassured but there has to be a reason those seats were available ...This has one layover in Dallas, TX. Would getting out of Texas be a problem with the flooding in Houston?

Dallas is 3 hours from Houston by car. You will have no problems at all at the Dallas airport related to Houston. If they gave you seat numbers, you most likely were lucky and should be fine. In addition to Matthew, we also had to leave Hawaii early last year to outrun Hurricane Darby (what are the odds of having both vacations in a year in different places affected by hurricanes?). We got the last 3 seats on an 11:00 pm flight out- they switched our flight with no charge. The airport was crazy packed with people trying to get out and a lot of people on standby. We had no issues. They wanted to get people out early instead of the mess of trying to rebook everyone from cancelled flights later. Hopefully you will have no issues.

this is a 400 mile wide storm.. so when the tracks say it will be in north fla monday, I assume that means the eye? just wondering about how many days after irma thatflorida will get tons of rain. also, since florida is basically a swamp, will there be threas of sever flooding after? my grown kids are telling me that on wed we may beat the mian storm, but the after affects could be worse (thinking ofhouston, etc.)

We're flying from Nashville to Orlando on Tuesday. Do you think it will be clear by then? Just hoping our flight doesn't get canceled.

Irma is a fast moving storm. It does not have the issue Harvey did with being in the gulf and having currents to stall it out. Assuming it does not slow down and comes through in the Sun-Mon overnight hours. It will likely be sunny Tuesday(the Saturday and Sunday after Matthew were beautiful) I also have a friend stuck down where Irma just came through yesterday and he says the damage is bad, but the weather is nice now. If there is not significant damage at the airport- Tuesday flights we likely be fine (as long as they are not going through where the storm is heading) They want to get flights and planes coming in as soon as possible to get people out who are stuck there because of cancelled flights. I saw you post you moved your flight to Wednesday- I think that is a pretty safe move in case there is any damage to clean up to get flights and things moving again. Hopefully the area won't be too bad and you will be able to get there and have a great trip.

We had the same dates.......we were able to get a saturday morning flight - thought that was going to be the hardest thing - I was wrong. Trying to get ANY room at disney for saturday night was impossible. Only 3 resorts showed availability - and contemporary was $1200 for the 1 night........ I didn't think we'd have an issue adding 1 night to our reservation . Now we are in 1 hotel for sat night and our regular hotel for the rest...it'll be interesting to see how they get us from hotel 1 to hotel 2 on the day the storm is supposed to hit.

I would try again when you get there to see if they can move you into your regular hotel at a decent rate for that first night. As you can see on here, people are cancelling or having their flights cancelled right and left. People are also getting out early. Once you are there talking face to face to people, they may be able to move you over and they may want to get you moved over and have you settled in place before anything hits. There definitely was a time during Matthew when they did not let guests go outside or leave the premises. We met a midwesterner who after the eye and the worst of it was past kept trying to sneak out and look around and got caught and sent back inside a couple of times. They definitely did not get our Midwestern mentality to go look up at the sky and look around outside. It was not really dangerous outside by that point- but they were being overly cautious to keep their guests safe. If things get shut down before your move, you could be stuck at resort 1 in a holding pattern. If they can't get you into your regular resort when you arrive. I would suggest moving as early as possible the next day. They can announce closures at any time. Some things will be played by ear as they watch how the storm is moving.

 

[BattyKoda]

For those of you that have switched days, by moving arrival and departure out... do you incur any fees for the departure? We currently have plans for arriving Monday (wishful thinking I know)... but are thinking of pushing that out to Wed and changing departure from 9/20 to 9/22... Would Jetblue charge a fee for changing the later dates?

 

[wenpop]

Heard there is a curfew already for Orlando on Saturday for 5:00 pm...... Anybody else heard this?