Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[dburg30]

I am surprised at the few posters here, that suggest the absurd notion that guest's had ample time to prepare and get themselves food and supplies! Many, if not most of the guest's staying at WDW are not from the area and likely hopped on Magic Express straight from the airport to their resort! How in the world can anyone expect those people to venture out and get supplies and food!!

I am guilty of being one of those people, who's extent of knowledge of Orlando outside of WDW is what I see out of the window of Magic Express! And my knowledge of Hurricanes is just as limited! Now throw me a snow storm and that I can prepare for!

That being said - I am sure and confident that WDW and every cast member is doing the very best they can to accommodate the thousands + guest's on their properties!

This is me. I could not tell you how to get from Epcot to AK via roads.. No clue.. BUT, I know there are people that will come in a yellow car and take you wherever you ask them. Or, just by research, I know there is a gas station close to Boardwalk. Take a bus, walk over, get stuff, take it back. OR head to a DVC resort, they have markets with normal, but yes, disney priced food. IE: PB and Jelly, bread, canned soups, chips, dips, stuff that doesnt need a fridge. So I dont totally buy the whole how do you expect them to get out and get food / supplies.. I wont get into grocery delivery or amazon now stuff.

 

[maxiesmom]

I am surprised at the few posters here, that suggest the absurd notion that guest's had ample time to prepare and get themselves food and supplies! Many, if not most of the guest's staying at WDW are not from the area and likely hopped on Magic Express straight from the airport to their resort! How in the world can anyone expect those people to venture out and get supplies and food!!

I am guilty of being one of those people, who's extent of knowledge of Orlando outside of WDW is what I see out of the window of Magic Express! And my knowledge of Hurricanes is just as limited! Now throw me a snow storm and that I can prepare for!

That being said - I am sure and confident that WDW and every cast member is doing the very best they can to accommodate the thousands + guest's on their properties!

I used Magical Express too. Yet I still know there are cabs at every Disney resort. And if I had wanted to, I could have easily hopped into one and gone to a grocery store.

People did have plenty of time to prepare, if they chose to do so.

 

[Number Six]

I've seen tons of spaghetti models. When one or two deviate from the other dozen or more I tend not to get too concerned about them.

 

[HopperFan]

Universal is stating they will resume operations tomorrow morning so hopefully Disney has put what it needs in place to do the same.

 

[Sorrel]

If Disney are telling us via message to stay indoors, why are the foodcourts open in hotels where you have to go outside to get to them? Breaking their own guidelines? In SSR we have been told the courts are closed and to stay in, but are they actually open? How the heck would I know?

 

[PuppyJonathan]

I am surprised at the few posters here, that suggest the absurd notion that guest's had ample time to prepare and get themselves food and supplies! Many, if not most of the guest's staying at WDW are not from the area and likely hopped on Magic Express straight from the airport to their resort! How in the world can anyone expect those people to venture out and get supplies and food!!

I am guilty of being one of those people, who's extent of knowledge of Orlando outside of WDW is what I see out of the window of Magic Express! And my knowledge of Hurricanes is just as limited! Now throw me a snow storm and that I can prepare for!

That being said - I am sure and confident that WDW and every cast member is doing the very best they can to accommodate the thousands + guest's on their properties!

I've driven around too much right off property too not know around Orlando. Honest the God if it weren't for my sisters CP my off-property knowledge would've been universal and some weird sketchy resort near celebration. Now I at least know the way around Orlando, it's easy to get stuck in that mindset!

The internet is a funny place

I have to agree - throw some southerners (calm down, I'm sure it's not you who are reading this ) in a true blizzard and at least a handful of them would assume snow is just pretty water that makes everything a winter wonderland.

Northerner here, those memes make me laugh, mainly the ones with 17 feet of snow and school isn't canceled. That may be an exaggeration

Glad to see good news coming along!

 

[TLSnell1981]

I guess. But in my mind it actually works against the next time when folks hear that and say, that's what you said for Matthew and nothing happened. The old boy who cried wolf. I think you can communicate seriousness without being quite so dramatic

Shep Smith covered Katrina and her aftermath. He saw first hand, what happened to those who didn't evacuate.

 

[Lynzer4]

I have been reading about the crazy box lunch prices.... Just to put it in prespective I order catering box lunches often from places like Panera Bread, Jimmy Johns etc and there box lunches are $8-$13 too and they only have a sandwich/salad, chips and cookie.

So I don't think that is an over the top price. At a quick service a "meal" which is the sandwhich and Chips are about the same prices and you have to purchase a drink.

To the person that said it should (could) be alike a FP and Disney give each guest a box per person in the room. Disney isn't required to give anything free out to people. Now if this storm ended up being way worse and power was lost and people couldn't leave because it was dangerous for multiple days then it a difference story and Disney would do things differently.

 

[HopperFan]

Disney's current message -

October 7, 2016
Based on the most recent forecasts for Hurricane Matthew, Walt Disney World theme parks, water parks, Disney Springs, miniature golf courses and ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex will be closed through Friday, Oct. 7. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom Theme Park is also canceled for tonight.

 

[DisAuntie]

If Disney are telling us via message to stay indoors, why are the foodcourts open in hotels where you have to go outside to get to them? Breaking their own guidelines? In SSR we have been told the courts are closed and to stay in, but are they actually open? How the heck would I know?

I agree. Either you're supposed to stay in your room and nothing is open or it is ok to be out and about since they are opening restaurants/food court/gift shop, etc.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

People did have plenty of time to prepare, if they chose to do so.

There are reports of people trying to get "one more castle picture!" at the 5PM hard closes. People knew all day that it was serious enough Disney was shutting down. Many of them tried to get every last second in the parks, but then were surprised getting back to their resort that things were chaotic, or that they wouldn't be able to make their Friday resort ADR.

I think some people don't know what "we're shutting down for this" really means. There are others who definitely embraced the bubble and felt that somehow Disney would pixie dust everything. No food court is designed to handle every person staying on resort in queue at once; people are complaining about the lines. Well, duh, there are lines.

 

[HopperFan]

Gift shop is open!

That was posted an hour ago so that is a good sign that things may slowly be opening up all day especially at the resorts.

Note: It still does not mean one should travel to other resorts, yet.

 

[maxiesmom]

I agree with the comments about trip insurance. If you can't budget for a few extra nights in case of emergency, then certainly you should budget for trip insurance that would cover those extra rooms. Just a lesson for future trips.

I know the money I had set aside for lots of gifts was hoarded until I knew if we were leaving or going to stay and try to ride out the storm. Sure I still had credit cards, but I figured lots of cash couldn't hurt either.

Looking back, I shudder at how my parents used to vacation. When we were little it was a huge deal to go anywhere out of state. I know one time we got stuck at a friend's house because a tire blew, and my parents didn't have the extra $50 needed to replace it. I can't imagine vacationing that way.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Northerner here, those memes make me laugh, mainly the ones with 17 feet of snow and school isn't canceled. That may be an exaggeration

Not an exaggeration where I'm from. That's "school is delayed 2 hours."

 

[rteetz]

If Disney are telling us via message to stay indoors, why are the foodcourts open in hotels where you have to go outside to get to them? Breaking their own guidelines? In SSR we have been told the courts are closed and to stay in, but are they actually open? How the heck would I know?

Because people don't listen and leave anyways.

 

[PuppyJonathan]

Call me crazy but if I were there now and staying in one of the open area resorts, I would be out now taking a crap ton of pictures. I would have my phone on me for alerts just incase but as someone who takes a ton of photos of the parks and resorts, I think this would be an interesting photo op

 

[tinkerone]

This is me. I could not tell you how to get from Epcot to AK via roads.. No clue.. BUT, I know there are people that will come in a yellow car and take you wherever you ask them. Or, just by research, I know there is a gas station close to Boardwalk. Take a bus, walk over, get stuff, take it back. OR head to a DVC resort, they have markets with normal, but yes, disney priced food. IE: PB and Jelly, bread, canned soups, chips, dips, stuff that doesnt need a fridge. So I dont totally buy the whole how do you expect them to get out and get food / supplies.. I wont get into grocery delivery or amazon now stuff.

Maybe you aren't getting the fact that not everyone knows what a hurricane is all about. Not sure where your from but I'm from Canada and hurricanes are pretty much unheard of. To most of us, we would think its a big wind storm with heavy rain. Buck up, its only water. I know that is what I was thinking when I was caught in Hurricane Kenna way back when in Mexico. I was very surprised at what a hurricane actually was. Also, to think that everyone on vacation is plugged in is wrong. We don't even watch tv when we are away so I would not only be unprepared but out in la la land with a hurricane warning.

As a pp said, if its a snow storm I'm ready. I know what to do and how to prepare. I would guess that there would be lots of people from down south who would think, 'Its just snow. Not going to stop me from going out to dinner'. I had more than a few guests who had that mind set.
Don't think badly of those of us who don't have the knowledge you do. It could be reversed.

ETA--Since sometimes reading what is written is different than what is being said I would like to clarify that I am not saying that Canadians have never heard of a hurricane. I am saying that in Canada we seldom have hurricanes. So when you read 'unheard of' do not think that I am saying we shake our heads in wonder at the word, I am saying that we seldom get them.

 

[nikapluto]

I would like to note, I have never been so jealous of ducks in my life.
They appear to be having the time of their lives having Stormalong Bay to themselves.

Showoffs....

 

[The Sasquatch]

WOW...

So reports from Orlando that its not bad at all, never lost power, etc. The worst has passed and now WDW is confining people to their rooms and there is no food or water available? All of the restaurants are closed and some of the resort main buildings. Cant wait to see how this goes! Sounds like a nightmare and people are going to lose their mind...

 

[PuppyJonathan]

Not an exaggeration where I'm from. That's "school is delayed 2 hours."

My district was weird, sometimes when it should've been closed it wasn't and sometimes it closed when nothing bad happened. The former happened more often but we're a hilly community, so if we were cancelled, it actually was a concern