Hurricane Irma

[North76]

We have a trip scheduled to Disney with arrival on 9/16 later this week. Right now we plan to keep our reservations. Any recommendations on if we should reschedule to a later week or do people think everything will be functioning by this weekend at Disney and Orlando airport by then? It sounds like clean up is underway. Any concerns of food and water shortages at Disney?

 

[Horizons '83]

They were already in relief mode even before Irma hit florida. Just because it's not in the news.. doesn't mean its not happening. The big thing there is getting the core infrastructure up to avoid the health issues. Power and water. While many structures are impacted and likely uninhabitable.. its not like the place is leveled. The islands are used to losing structures. Dutch and British had navy based relief moving in right after the storms.

Don't know where to begin with this one because that's completely false...

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Damage around the Boardwalk...

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Wilderness Lodge boat dock area...

 

[flynnibus]

Don't know where to begin with this one because that's completely false...

Seeing structures down does not mean all are - or structures with roof damage does not mean total loss, etc. They took wide spread damage, the entire place didn't get leveled. When you go there, you see cheap block construction with crappy tin roofs... they clean up and put another crappy roof on. The resorts rebuild their lightweight structures... Roofs are covered and rebuilt.

This is a cycle for these places. Here the damage is more widespread because of the direct impact of a major storm, but the kind of damage is same as they're used to.

The flooding in the northern keys may actually be more catastrophic... but there is less there.

 

[ToyStoryMiss]

We have a trip scheduled to Disney with arrival on 9/16 later this week. Right now we plan to keep our reservations. Any recommendations on if we should reschedule to a later week or do people think everything will be functioning by this weekend at Disney and Orlando airport by then? It sounds like clean up is underway. Any concerns of food and water shortages at Disney?

Everything should be fine by the time you arrive. We're due to fly in tomorrow (as we're on one of the limited flights going in) and most of the parks, with the exception of Animal Kingdom, should be up and running again, as well as Disney Springs. I'm assuming the airport will resume normal flight operations on Wednesday or Thursday.

As for the food/water shortages, I'm not aware of any at the moment. Have a safe trip!

 

[21stamps]

Don't know where to begin with this one because that's completely false...

To be fair, the media isn't even covering parts of our own country that were hit by a Category 4 hurricane right now.
People are just left in the dark. Social media is going a better job that the mainstream media with Irma. It's One time that I'm in love with that form of media actually.

I'm sure more info on all of the Caribbean and Florida will come out in the days to come.

 

[38053WDW]

We have a trip scheduled to Disney with arrival on 9/16 later this week. Right now we plan to keep our reservations. Any recommendations on if we should reschedule to a later week or do people think everything will be functioning by this weekend at Disney and Orlando airport by then? It sounds like clean up is underway. Any concerns of food and water shortages at Disney?

We kept our reservations during Ivan and couldn't be happier .. Did some of our plans gets messed up, sure, but the place was empty. Today is day one so who knows how much damage was done and power loss. Tough call to make and I'm sure Disney will understand either way and work with you. I have family in Boca Raton and they were supposed to go but cancelled .. they have more things to worry about this morning .. Your airline should be able to tell you about MCO (Orlando) schedule..

 

[nor'easter]

The hub doesn't look too bad, at least centrally.

View attachment 228426

It's lost all its trees!

 

[Horizons '83]

Nope.. but not gonna argue with you anymore, that's just ignorance... there is always one

 

[Mem11]

Numbers reflect customers, not individuals. A customer may have 1 to 10 people in their household.

Right now, about 60% of customers are without power in Florida. And about 60% in Orange County are without power. https://poweroutage.us/Area/State/Florida

WDW's saving grace is buried power lines.

Which means, everyone should respect the curfew. There are a lot of downed lines in the area in which the lines aren't buried -- and they are very dangerous.

This also means there are a lot of downed trees blocking roads.

Let the professionals make things safe without people being lookie Lous or deciding they deserve a table service meal every six hours.

Exactly, I've seen this misconception all over the internet. The numbers reflect customers not people, we're probably looking at 10-12 Million people without power, over half the population in Florida. Many will not have power for weeks if not a month or more.

Please listen to authorities and let the crews do there job.

 

[Horizons '83]

To be fair, the media isn't even covering parts of our own country that were hit by a Category 4 hurricane right now.
People are just left in the dark. Social media is going a better job that the mainstream media with Irma. It's One time that I'm in love with that form of media actually.

I'm sure more info on all of the Caribbean and Florida will come out in the days to come.

One thing that is interesting is that TWC had 20 people in Florida recording the storm, some standing in the middle of the eye but yet not one reporter was there when Irma hit the islands.

 

[38053WDW]

I still say lol.

LOL I would say most will not

And if you get one little cut, who is at fault? I am good.

I agree .. please do not help ..

 

[21stamps]

One thing that is interesting is that TWC had 20 people in Florida recording the storm, some standing in the middle of the eye but yet not one reporter was there when Irma hit the islands.

Not one TWC reporter was in the Keys either.

Not as extreme as they want us to think they are I guess. Not saying that I don't blame them... but it was a dan Cat 4 on American soil.. yet barely getting any coverage. They'd rather stand out in 65mph gusts and show how in-shape they are.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

We have a trip scheduled to Disney with arrival on 9/16 later this week. Right now we plan to keep our reservations. Any recommendations on if we should reschedule to a later week or do people think everything will be functioning by this weekend at Disney and Orlando airport by then? It sounds like clean up is underway. Any concerns of food and water shortages at Disney?

Being here right now, I'd say keep your reservations. Windy with blue skies already, and this isn't Haiti. The main food concern is not gaining too much weight.
With all due respect for people who lost a lot in this storm, life does go on and tourism is people's livelihood here.

 

[Gabe1]

At AKL they aren't letting us anywhere near the debris. We are only allowed to be in areas where there is structured coverage like a roof above us.

They tried that at Wilderness but guests went out anyhow. Natives seem to be wrestless. A parade of resort boats now. Tons of staff walking around aimlessly in clusters of 3-6 CMs. Management walking 3 to a group in circles. Interesting to cast watch. No attempts to clear either pool. Lifeguards dressed and ready though

 

[blueslegend]

A question to any horticultural experts out there-if a tree is uprooted, is there any chance of propping it back up and having it root again, or is it a goner as soon as the roots are snapped and the tree falls? Some of the trees we are seeing in the pics posted here look like a few roots are still in the ground; it would be a shame if all of the uprooted trees will be gone.

I am afraid a goner. I suspect many of the trees that have fallen are those planted following a project or refurbishment and have no root structure to anchor, for example Polynesian.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I'll bet you're proud of the Bears, too... #RiseUp

I'm one of the small majority that doesn't watch sports so much....

 

[flynnibus]

One thing that is interesting is that TWC had 20 people in Florida recording the storm, some standing in the middle of the eye but yet not one reporter was there when Irma hit the islands.

TV crews drive in trucks/vans. It's much easier to move with the storm on the mainland than it is to pick an island and hope that's the one that gets hit.

St Thomas averages a major hit every 20 years.. and is brushed by storms every 3 years
http://www.hurricanecity.com/city/saintthomas.htm

It's part of the locale...

 

[ABQ]

Not one TWC reporter was in the Keys either.

Not as extreme as they want us to think they are I guess. Not saying that I don't blame them... but it was a dan Cat 4 on American soil.. yet barely getting any coverage. They'd rather stand out in 65mph gusts and show how in-shape they are.

That dipwad Jim Cantore was in Miami and appeared genuinely disappointed when the storm veered westward and avoided a direct hit on Miami. Sorry Jim, Mother Nature wasn't in the mood to contribute to the sensationalism of The Weather Channel and their hashtag style of reporting.

 

[Melbelg]

Any news on Epcot and DHS?

 

[Kristamouse]

Actually, I should add this-

To all Parents of School Aged Children and PTA members-

One creative thing that our school has done is to create "out of uniform days" for extra donations above what the individual classrooms are doing. (Right now this is for Harvey, but I'm going to make sure we do another week for Irma too)

All week we have different themes- today is "school appropriate out of uniform choice"
Tomorrow- "spirit wear"
Wednesday- high school spirit wear.
Thursday- college team spirit wear.
Friday- NFL team spirit wear.
$5 per day.

Please suggest something similar if your schools aren't doing this. It's a fun way to raise money . We are expecting 100% participation.

Our small Catholic school did this for Harvey and will for Irma.
They raised about $1700.00! Friday is Out of Uniformnfor Irma