Hurricane warnings/watches and WDW employees?

[Forevermarypoppins]

I've always been a weather watcher whether it's local, my state or anywhere across the country. I've always wondered about WDW and what occurs during a Hurricane when it's in the area.
Currently, it looks like Milton will cross over WDW in some fashion. I am curious as what does the Disney Co expect of its employees during an event like this? Obviously there will be guests staying there and possibly staying longer than they intended. If there are guests than those guests will need employees for services at some time. Does anyone know an employee who has been thru a situation like is, about to happen? do they ask for 24/7 stay in place? do they provide rooms for the employees to sleep and shower? Do they call and ask for volunteer attendance so others can stay home and do as needed for their own families? I would think within a certain timeframe no one wants to be driving on the roads. I'm interested in knowing.

 

[footballmouse]

From my understanding, they ask for volunteers and have rooms for them.

 

[Selket]

I'm interested in knowing.

CM's sign up to be on "ride out" teams for hurricanes. This is something they indicate in their employment profile that they want to do. If a hurricane appears to be pending and Disney thinks ride out teams are needed, my understanding is they contact those who signed up (probably via email) a couple days ahead and double check they are still available for being on the ride out teams. I think they can decline if their situation has changed. I believe yesterday they started contacting CMs with their assignments. I think they're given housing of some sort and probably food. No idea how their work hours are counted. My son is a CM and so I've gleaned this from him.

He used to work at MMRR and he said they (at least sometimes?) would have ride out teams stay in the attractions if indoor was his understanding, in case there are problems. He was signed up to be on ride out teams up until May but took himself off the list currently due to some other obligations.

I also get the sense that a lot of the college program participants like to sign up for these ride out teams (he was a CP last year before he became a CM). So many of them could be young and not used to hurricanes and probably a bit excited to see what happens - haha! But these kids are Disney trained and know it is a big responsibility. Hope everyone stays safe - I know it is making me nervous.

 

[dvczerfs]

CM's sign up to be on "ride out" teams for hurricanes. This is something they indicate in their employment profile that they want to do. If a hurricane appears to be pending and Disney thinks ride out teams are needed, my understanding is they contact those who signed up (probably via email) a couple days ahead and double check they are still available for being on the ride out teams. I think they can decline if their situation has changed. I believe yesterday they started contacting CMs with their assignments. I think they're given housing of some sort and probably food. No idea how their work hours are counted. My son is a CM and so I've gleaned this from him.

He used to work at MMRR and he said they (at least sometimes?) would have ride out teams stay in the attractions if indoor was his understanding, in case there are problems. He was signed up to be on ride out teams up until May but took himself off the list currently due to some other obligations.

I also get the sense that a lot of the college program participants like to sign up for these ride out teams (he was a CP last year before he became a CM). So many of them could be young and not used to hurricanes and probably a bit excited to see what happens - haha! But these kids are Disney trained and know it is a big responsibility. Hope everyone stays safe - I know it is making me nervous.

That is exactly how it’s done. They are put up in hotel rooms, at max room capacity and they are compensated very well. Cms who live in apartments, no kids, like doing it because the biggest issue in central Florida during a hurricane is power. They rather stay, sleep at work with AC than sweating it out in an apartment. lol.

 

[Mle8308]

As a former hurricane coordinator at Disney (when I was an attractions manager - I did lots of things when I was a CM), CM's don't sign up for it when they accept their jobs, it's not a contract. Usually when it's the season, Disney will ask for volunteers for the rideout crew. For the parks, except for DAK, the employees used to stay/sleep in the parks, usually in a restaurant. You would bring your own bedding, it could be fun. And yes, food was provided, though it wasn't anything fancy. For DAK, due to the animals and safety issues, the only CM's allowed to stay in the actual park were the animal keepers. All other rideout crew were given rooms at the resorts in the area (I was lucky and got AKL). It was a lot of physical work in the parks to prepare for a hurricane and again one it passed. Resort CM's are usually given rooms where they work, they do usually share. That way they are there to continue to assist guests. For hourly employees it was a great opportunity to earn OT. For those of us who were not hourly, it was some very LONG days! However, we were sometimes given a comp day for future use. And yes, it was better than being at home where most of the time, the power was out (and I was lucky I never had to share a room, though my roommate one year did come and stay for a day or two until our power was restored).

 

[Karin1984]

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but Adam Hattan (former CM and UK Vlogger) did a video a few years ago when there was a hurricane/storm coming.
He shows some little things that were happening and tips about what to do.
Like no skyliner, reduced opening hours, how around the hotel they were removing / tying up things to make sure they weren't blown away, but also things like waiving no-show-fees for restaurants.

 

[dvczerfs]

As a former hurricane coordinator at Disney (when I was an attractions manager - I did lots of things when I was a CM), CM's don't sign up for it when they accept their jobs, it's not a contract. Usually when it's the season, Disney will ask for volunteers for the rideout crew. For the parks, except for DAK, the employees used to stay/sleep in the parks, usually in a restaurant. You would bring your own bedding, it could be fun. And yes, food was provided, though it wasn't anything fancy. For DAK, due to the animals and safety issues, the only CM's allowed to stay in the actual park were the animal keepers. All other rideout crew were given rooms at the resorts in the area (I was lucky and got AKL). It was a lot of physical work in the parks to prepare for a hurricane and again one it passed. Resort CM's are usually given rooms where they work, they do usually share. That way they are there to continue to assist guests. For hourly employees it was a great opportunity to earn OT. For those of us who were not hourly, it was some very LONG days! However, we were sometimes given a comp day for future use. And yes, it was better than being at home where most of the time, the power was out (and I was lucky I never had to share a room, though my roommate one year did come and stay for a day or two until our power was restored

Hi MLE. I sent you a PM.

 

[dvczerfs]

Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but Adam Hattan (former CM and UK Vlogger) did a video a few years ago when there was a hurricane/storm coming.
He shows some little things that were happening and tips about what to do.
Like no skyliner, reduced opening hours, how around the hotel they were removing / tying up things to make sure they weren't blown away, but also things like waiving no-show-fees for restaurants.

We were at Boardwalk one year for a hurricane park closure, we had a blast. They had food in the conference area, wasn’t expensive at all, had a few big screen tvs. They had a few mobile bars set up, it was great. The power blinked once for a split second, had a few drips of water but it was great. Power stayed on and if you didn’t look outside, you would have no idea what was going on.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

Thanks for info. I am praying for ALL, that there no loss of life!
I give my applause and hats off to all the employees who are choosing to be there.
I am traveling to WDW in 3.5 weeks so the current weather situations are something to think about.

 

[Karin1984]

There are several (former) cast members on tiktok who made videos about the ride out crew, basically saying the same thing.

An interesting one is Jenstopit. She was a CM for 10 years and is now a metereologist. She made 2 videos on Tuesday. Also The Dapper Danielle did a good video on this topic.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZIJWjJPg4/

 

[robinb]

I rode out Hurricane Charley at Pop Century 20 years ago. They hard-closed the parks at around 1:00 (no stores or food open … get out!). We were at the MK and they had already tied a lot of signs/etc down so the winds would not take them.

I grabbed the car when we got back to the resort and ran out to Publix to get snacks and sandwiches just as the outer bands were hitting. They shut the food court down around 3:00 we hunkered in for the storm. The hurricane went right over us about 5-6 hours later. It really shook the windows. I went out for a walk around midnight after the storm had passed. The food court had reopened and there were a couple of characters there meeting guests. Damage was mostly contained to trees being ripped up.

We went to Epcot the next day which opened late. We saw more trees toppled over and some storm debris but not any real damage. When we left about a week later we saw one of the airport hotels has lost a number of windows.

If I were to ride out a hurricane at WDW again, I would choose a Deluxe resort. It was a bit isolating sitting in a value hotel room that we could not leave for 9 hours. I wish I had packed in more food since we were told to stay in the room and the food court had closed. I read that deluxe resorts restaurants were open longer (although food was limited) and that characters and entertainment was offered in the lobby.