How will Tropical Storm/Potential Hurricane Fay Affect WDW?

[ThinkTink721]

I viewed recent reports that Fay may hit the west coast of Florida by Tues. of next week. Hopefully, WDW will not receive damaging winds or too much rain.
If a hurricane does form, how would it affect WDW?
Does everything close if the winds & rain get too bad?

 

[Space Mountain]

WDWR is prepared and ready to take action if the hurricane hits hard.

 

[RedFoxRunner]

I'm flying in Monday evening to WDW.. I'm hoping we can get in before storm hits. I've never experienced a hurricane or tropical storm. If it hits as either, how long can we expect it to last? weather.com shows it over the Orlando area for about a day or less? Is this accurate?

I'm very bummed.. that's potentially a day or two of down pour that ruins outdoor rides and water parks. :brick:

 

[tn1999]

If it hits as a tropical storm, park hours will be unaffected. I was working during TS Alberto in 06, and it was really bad. I worked under Spaceship Earth in the Camera Center and watched as guests litterally got blow around, and drenched, and screamed like little girls. Cat 1: Parks closed for appropriate 8 hour breadth of storm. Cat 2+ all park hours cancelled, with AK not opening until atleast 48 hours for foliage clean-up. DD, MK, & Epcot should resume operation the very next day. Hollywood is a toss up, they will most likely just keep it closed because of low attendance/labor.

 

[RogueHabit]

We were there the day after Charlie a few years back and I have to say that Disney's clean up operations were amazingly efficient.

We were at the CBR and on the afternoon we arrived there was a palm tree just outside our room that had been uprooted and split. We went to bed at 10pm, when we woke at 7am the next morning a workcrew were just finishing planting a new tree and the old one was on the back of a truck, cut into manageble chunks and we didn't hear a thing!!!

In fact the worst thing we saw was the state of Orlando International Airport where the roof had sprung loads of leaks and the drop ceiling had all b ut been destroyed by winds getting into the terminal...

 

[DisneyEverest]

If it hits as a tropical storm, park hours will be unaffected. I was working during TS Alberto in 06, and it was really bad. I worked under Spaceship Earth in the Camera Center and watched as guests litterally got blow around, and drenched, and screamed like little girls. Cat 1: Parks closed for appropriate 8 hour breadth of storm. Cat 2+ all park hours cancelled, with AK not opening until atleast 48 hours for foliage clean-up. DD, MK, & Epcot should resume operation the very next day. Hollywood is a toss up, they will most likely just keep it closed because of low attendance/labor.

Thanks for that information, very interesting.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Lets hope it doesn't hit WDW

 

[krankenstein]

If it is a Tropical Storm do not expect much. Life normally goes on like normal when the come in b/c they aren't any worse than a bad rain storm, normally. Put on a rain coat and do whatever it is you want.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Most likely on Tuesday and Wednesday, you will get wet. Most outdoor events will be cancelled. Depending on the severity, there may be more restrictions closures if the storm passes directly over WDW.

The days after will be particularly beautiful!

 

[surfsupdon]

We arrive on Tuesday via airplane, and am nervous about that aspect of the trip. Disney will be fine, ha ha.

 

[disneyfan56]

In 2004, Charley was coming in the day we were leaving. In fact we had the last flight out back on Spirit Airlines to NJ.

We saw some of the preparations that Disney employees do to maintain the environment. Potted plants and small trees were removed. Anything not nailed down was removed.

I think I remember that the parks closed the day of the storm, but opened the next day with no major problems.

 

[Vince3]

WDW should be fine, but, it's really to early to tell.
It all depends how Fay turns. In 2004 Charley was heading right for us here in Tampa,
then within the last hr. it veered east quicker than expected. So, just keep monitoring,
I know I will ! Most importantly use common sense , yeah I know , it's not that common!

 

[Dottie51460]

Tropical storm

I'm abit concerned my daughter is working down there and I was wondering do they make provisions for the college students in the program? She has housing through them, but what about the storm? It would be her first and I'm just a nervous wreck being so far away.

 

[dandaman]

Fay is projected to (eye-wise) stay off the coast. Effects based on the Weather Service model would likely be minimal for WDW et al. :wave:

 

[kaylasmom]

About the only thing I can think of being worse is traffic on I-4. The coastal areas of west coast Florida will likely be evacuated. A lot of folks will head inland. I know when I evacuate, I always head for Orlando! During Hurricane Charley and Jeanne, we evacuated and stayed at the Rosen Centre hotel on I-Drive for $44/night. (They called it a hurricane refugee rate). 9 days without power at home was made nicer by staying in a lovely hotel with maid service!

It should be rainy, and maybe some stronger gusty winds. But since the track has moved up more towards my neck of the woods, I don't think the Disney area will get too much of anything, because the storm isn't all that big. (size wise)

 

[Roxas]

Y'know Fay is expected to reach Hurricane 1 status before it makes landfall...

 

[drp4video]

I was there for Hurricane Charley. We were staying at POP then. The day Charley hit, the parks were open until 1:00 p.m. as Charley was expected late that night. Everyone got a free day in the park (we had AP's so it didn't matter). But they didn't count your ticket that day. When the parks closed, everyone went back to their resort, and I know our food court was insane.

The lines were super long so we ordered a pizza for everyone as that was the shortest line and we didn't have to wait in separate lines. I also got fruit, cheese and crackers and snacks as I was concerned about dinner.

We went back to our room, and disney was great about leaving phone messages, updating us on the storm. Outside of our room, there were CM digging in the center of a grassy area as one of the drains wasn't working or something. They worked for hours, even when it began to get nasty.

We went down to the food court about 6 p.m. and sure enough it was closed. They were handing out any kind of chips or munchie you could want. (one person got beligerent with a CM because he demanded they open the food court as he couldn't feed his infant chips..we all suggested that maybe HE should have planned for that earlier in the day, and he left). We hit the snack machines for drinks and candy. We had so much junk, plus what I had bought at lunch. Disney cartoons were running on all the disney channels so we could watch those.

CM's came around with flyers telling us that everything was closed, stay away from the windows, etc. About 9:50 I think the hurricane hit.

I had put my daughter and her friend, both 16 in the tub, as it is down low, and I sat in the bathroom on the toilet with the lid closed. (with the door open so I could watch the t.v. lol, which the station was ru nning because of a generator) As we were on the top floor, we could hear the wind coming through the bathroom vent. Very scary. It did not last long.

Later, about 11:00 pm I got a call that said the food court was open if we wanted to go. Both kids were so exhausted from the excitement that they had already gone to sleep.

The next day we went to (Dont cringe) Universal. The traffice on 4 going back west was non-stop bumper to bumper., The most damage we saw was twisted and downed trees, and signs, some roofs that were missing shingles, and lots of blown debris, leaves and dirts and stuff. Animal Kingdom was closed for two days, but all in all, Disney did a great job of informing their guests and helping to keep us safe!

 

[lac628]

WDW should be fine, but, it's really to early to tell.
It all depends how Fay turns. In 2004 Charley was heading right for us here in Tampa,
then within the last hr. it veered east quicker than expected. So, just keep monitoring,
I know I will ! Most importantly use common sense , yeah I know , it's not that common!

Yeah! It turned and hit us!!!!!!!!
Fay was predicted to make that same charley path this a.m., but they have since change the cone!! Yippee!!!!!:sohappy:

 

[crowdcontroltap]

I worked there during two hurricanes back in 2004 when the hurricane season was really bad. Everything will close the day the hurricane hits and it depends on if it stays around for another day as to if the parks will re-open. One hurricane I rode out working at Disney's Wilderness Lodge and it was something else when the guest could not do anything for three to four days. Three of those days it was the same thing going on when you looked out the windows so everyone kept their curtains closed in the rooms.

So if the hurricane stays around two days then the park maybe will be closed for three...it depends on if any damage or flooding. Magic Kingdom got hit by some damage and so did the Studios during that hurricane.

If anyone is going down, you might want to change your plans. I felt for the people who's vacations were ruined due to the hurricane.

 

[teebin]

I lived through Charley... look at the white area and not the line. Charley did something outside of the line and something within the white. I believe that AK was closed for TWO days following Charley. I was without power for 7 days. It wasn't pretty... and most of it was from hurricane induced tornadoes.

So... touring types... if they tell you to stay away from your hotel windows... please do so... or you might get a sign from 5 miles away on Route 192 imbedded in your family. That is what can or may happen. I am 48 and many of the out of state cms here that have commented, though they mean well are in there 20's and they like me at that age think they will never die and that it is just "cool" and do not own property in the area. I do.

Disney buildings are for the most part above code... but follow their instruction seriously. Make it fun for the kids... but don't play it as fun on your own part.

The cool fun part is that WDW is soooo empty on the day before and days after a hurricane. It is almost not fun it is so deserted.The people make the parks.

Marvel at the force of the hurricane... but do not treat it as a lark or joke.

Teebin.