Hurricane Irma?

[Grmnshplvr]

We are driving down to Disney from Ohio in 6 weeks. Based on how bad the flooding etc is should we just go ahead and reschedule? Praying for all who have been impacted by this horrible storm.

The way Disney works I'd guess by Friday this week you'd never know a hurricane hit there.

 

[HillsboroHoppers]

I'm just so curious...power is down in Orlando, as it is in most of the state of FL. The hotels have generators, so that's fine. Curious how theme parks could possibly open by tomorrow with no power? I mean, I know Disney/universal/seaworld/etc. have a lot of man power and are prepared for bad scenarios...but a huge natural disaster like this? It could take weeks for power to be restored. From my understanding Orlando is taking a pretty bad hit. Is it possible to run a theme park on generators?!

WDW has its own power grid. Hotels here are not running on generators, the power did not go out. Lots of locals here niw, staying at WDW for that very reason.

 

[otten]

I'm just so curious...power is down in Orlando, as it is in most of the state of FL. The hotels have generators, so that's fine. Curious how theme parks could possibly open by tomorrow with no power? I mean, I know Disney/universal/seaworld/etc. have a lot of man power and are prepared for bad scenarios...but a huge natural disaster like this? It could take weeks for power to be restored. From my understanding Orlando is taking a pretty bad hit. Is it possible to run a theme park on generators?!

I highly doubt the power is still on at the resorts thanks to generators. Rather, the fact that most of the power is underground and not nearly as susceptible to wind damage and the fact that a company like Disney would have redundancy built into their system is a more likely explanation. I wouldn't assume the power is out at the parks.

 

[paradesintherain]

I did a walk-about Pop Century. Lots of trees and brush down. Ground floor rooms look to have gotten water under the door...some rooms had sandbags and many more had towels along the bottom of the door. Main building is still closed, no idea when they will open. I have not been sent any information regarding tickets/dessert party , etc. Hope to be able to talk with front desk today about hopefully giving me tickets to use on anot her trip. Hoping the parks open tomorrow so I can get one more day in before (hopefully) flying out Wednesday am.

For those that regret having cancelled their trip, dont. I totally understand being disappointed but this is NOT the Disney trip you had planned. Disney has done a great job keeping us safe and fairly good at keeping us informed . I think some of the moderate and deluxe resorts brought in entertainment and made the arcades free..but Pop closed the main hall...no food, no arcade, no guest services. Not a complaint, just a statemett of fact.

It's strange you say that cause I've seen posts of people in the main hall, arcade, whatnot at Pop until 7 pm when that curfew went into effect?

 

[ErinsMommy]

Wonder what the domino effect will be at the aiports - for example if MCO is expected to open tomorrow that's great, but I'm assuming (maybe incorrectly) that Miami and other Florida airports may not be so lucky because of the storm surge/flooding so wouldn't all those Miami and other airport flights have to come into Orlando instead and cause major delays and cancellations for flights that are scheduled to fly into Orlando?

 

[flatlandcycle]

I'm just so curious...power is down in Orlando, as it is in most of the state of FL. The hotels have generators, so that's fine. Curious how theme parks could possibly open by tomorrow with no power? I mean, I know Disney/universal/seaworld/etc. have a lot of man power and are prepared for bad scenarios...but a huge natural disaster like this? It could take weeks for power to be restored. From my understanding Orlando is taking a pretty bad hit. Is it possible to run a theme park on generators?!

Ready Creek Energy Services (I think it's owned by Disney) has it's own power plant (Natural Gas Fired.) It's not big enough to provide all the power needed for all Disney operations.

 

[Travelgrrl]

I saw the photo of the tree down at Poly. It looked to be one of the trees that was planted vs. grew so that may have contributed to it coming down, roots hadn't taken hold. Could be wrong too. Hope no one was in the Bungalow!

When I lived in northern MN, a 40-50 foot tree in my front yard fell down (2 days after buying my house!) It was so large, it crossed my yard, my next door neighbor's yard, and the yard after that. The root ball was TINY. It was barely larger than the trunk of the tree; similar to the downed tree at the Poly.

This tree was planted decades before, if not just spontaneously grew from a seedling in our heavily wooded area of MN. Some trees just have way shallower root systems than one might think.

 

[wisblue]

We are driving down to Disney from Ohio in 6 weeks. Based on how bad the flooding etc is should we just go ahead and reschedule? Praying for all who have been impacted by this horrible storm.

You have to make your own decisions, but from what I'm seeing so far the flooding is not that widespread in the central part of the state (though there are some spots). It's not going to be anything like the images from the Houston area.

The biggest short term problem seems to be removing downed trees and other debris and getting the winds to die down to begin the process of restoring power, which they are saying could take weeks in some areas, especially more remote areas.

I wouldn't be thinking about rescheduling something this far out. You'll have a lot better idea just within the next few days, and definitely in the next week or so.

 

[Alice Hart]

Ready Creek Energy Services (I think it's owned by Disney) has it's own power plant (Natural Gas Fired.) It's not big enough to provide all the power needed for all Disney operations.

They also have a huge new solar field

 

[;-)]

Of coarse Disney would have their own power supply..its Disney! LOL. I was just so curious because reality is that power will most likely be out for weeks in parts of Florida. We're coming down in 3 weeks, that was the amount of time it took to get our power back from Sandy. If that's the case that a lot of locals retreated there then I would feel horrible coming down anytime soon and using the room. We had a lot of people come from out of town for the NYC marathon the same weekend Sandy hit. They were turned away because locals needed the room more than they did. I know Disney wouldn't do the same, but it's such a shame because they have the resources!

 

[Disneybuckeye]

My mom lives in Lakewood Ranch near Sarasota. We pulled her out last Wednesday. We just heard from one of her neighbors that stayed that there are lots of downed branches and debris, but no homes appear to be damaged. They also never lost power. We are very thankful that all her friends who stayed weathered the storm safely. That we don't have to repair her home is just a bonus.

I am still glad we got her out of there so we did not have to worry about her safety.

 

[lawboysam]

MCO just tweeted - doesn't sound like the noon thing tomorrow is confirmed: https://twitter.com/MCO/status/907240825616257024

 

[patrickpiteo]

Of coarse Disney would have their own power supply..its Disney! LOL. I was just so curious because reality is that power will most likely be out for weeks in parts of Florida. We're coming down in 3 weeks, that was the amount of time it took to get our power back from Sandy. If that's the case that a lot of locals retreated there then I would feel horrible coming down anytime soon and using the room. We had a lot of people come from out of town for the NYC marathon the same weekend Sandy hit. They were turned away because locals needed the room more than they did. I know Disney wouldn't do the same, but it's such a shame because they have the resources!

I don't think Disney supplies all its own power. I believe they also buy some of it.

 

[Geoff_M]

AK is still too windy to begin damage assessments. When it does die down, they also have a unique requirement that they have to wait for the zoo staff to confirm that all of the animals are account for and the area is safe for humans!

 

[HarperLeigh]

We are driving down to Disney from Ohio in 6 weeks. Based on how bad the flooding etc is should we just go ahead and reschedule? Praying for all who have been impacted by this horrible storm.

I would wait and make my decision after the storm dissipates in a few days. Then, you'll have the full scope of damage throughout ATL and surrounding areas.

 

[otten]

Of coarse Disney would have their own power supply..its Disney! LOL. I was just so curious because reality is that power will most likely be out for weeks in parts of Florida. We're coming down in 3 weeks, that was the amount of time it took to get our power back from Sandy. If that's the case that a lot of locals retreated there then I would feel horrible coming down anytime soon and using the room. We had a lot of people come from out of town for the NYC marathon the same weekend Sandy hit. They were turned away because locals needed the room more than they did. I know Disney wouldn't do the same, but it's such a shame because they have the resources!

Keep in mind that not everyone in Florida is without power. The majority yep but not all. It's not a single outage. It's hundreds (maybe thousands?) of smaller ones. Some will be easy to repair and others will be difficult depending on exactly what the cause was.

 

[HillsboroHoppers]

It's strange you say that cause I've seen posts of people in the main hall, arcade, whatnot at Pop until 7 pm when that curfew went into effect?

Yes they were open yesterday until 7pm. They were closed this am with a sign posted on the doors. On channel 3 (resort info channel) it says we are still under curfew and to please stay in room until further notice. I did not intentionally violate curfew , didn't realise it was still in effect today until I got back and looked for more info since the main hall was closed.

 

[HillsboroHoppers]

It's strange you say that cause I've seen posts of people in the main hall, arcade, whatnot at Pop until 7 pm when that curfew went into effect?

Yes they were open yesterday until 7pm. They were closed this am with a sign posted on the doors. On channel 3 (resort info channel) it says we are still under curfew and to please stay in room until further notice. I did not intentionally violate curfew , didn't realise it was still in effect today until I got back and looked for more info since the main hall was closed.

 

[Joshua Porter]

I would wait and make my decision after the storm dissipates in a few days. Then, you'll have the full scope of damage throughout ATL and surrounding areas.

We fly in from the UK in six weeks as of today. I would assume the main tourist areas will be up and running with power by then mainly because I heard on CNN that the priorities for the authorities are Hospitals and Care Homes and then Tourist spaces. I'm not sure how true that is, though. As a tourist, I can take lack of luxuries. I'm a a visitor, I would rather the people who live with it every day have life back on track and homes and power.

 

[ShadeDK]

Ready Creek Energy Services (I think it's owned by Disney) has it's own power plant (Natural Gas Fired.) It's not big enough to provide all the power needed for all Disney operations.

flatlandcycle is correct - Reedy Creek Utilities Company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney) operates several utilities serving the Reedy Creek Improvement District (which, surprise, happens to include Disney). Although this includes an electric system, RCUC only generates about 20-30% of the electricity used in the district. The remaining amount of electric power (70-80%) is purchased through numerous lease agreements with other power companies in Florida. If you want to know more than you ever wanted to about the electrical and other utility systems servicing WDW (which I did, because I'm a glutton for punishment), you can take a look at the annual report for utility systems on Reedy Creek Improvement District's website - the most recent one is for 2015.

So what does that mean? It means that a large percentage of WDW's power is coming from outside its own utility system and may be affected by disruptions that those service providers are having. I say may because I don't know whether, in a situation like this, RCUC can generate enough electricity on its own to cover basic functions (or more) without purchasing or relying on outside power. While it's all horribly complicated, the simple test is as follows: look up and see if the lights are on. If so, things are pretty good and I wouldn't worry too much.