Hurricanes in WDW

[KrazyKemp]

I am going to WDW in September (woo hoo!) and I was reading on mousesavers that August and September are hurricane months in Florida.

What are the chances that a hurricane will hit WDW? Has it ever happened before?

Should I worry about Hurricanes while I am in the World?

 

[ZambeziZelda]

I think Walt Disney World has closed twice due to hurricanes in it's entire existence. I wouldn't worry.

 

[Tiki_Tiki_Tiki]

and i also know that if a hurrican does come near, the hotels take very good care of you and they cater to you very well


i wouldn't worry either


orlando is inland also so the hurricane (if one did hit) would loose much of its power by the time it reached disney property

 

[bsandersjr]

What are the chances that a hurricane will hit WDW?

I don't think anyone can answer that question until some storms start popping up.
I will say that if I had to be anywhere while a hurricane is hitting, it would be WDW. The resort buildings seem very sturdy and durable.

 

[kal1484]

There's a good chance there will be one before or after you are there, or even during. Don't worry about it. Disney will take good care of you and as the other said it won't be too bad by the time it gets to the middle of the state. Just go, and have fun, but just bring a your rain gear just in case!

 

[disney9752]

if i recall properly off top of my head wdw has closed 5x since 1971 due to hurricanes. 3 of those were in 2004. there are other threads here that i have read with accounts of guests staying in wdw resorts when the parks closed & how the resorts took care of them, as well as news on the news & info pages from 8-13-04 for charley, thru september when jeanne hit. should provide some good help. it seems the parks close early day b4 the storm hits & most open by noon or 1pm day after it blows through.

 

[Kadee]

I wouldn't even guess as to what is going to happen this year. Big storms were rare until 2 years ago. Florida and Alabama got hit hard. Then, last year, The entire Gulf Coast got it hard. Some "experts" are saying this year is going to be worse and other "experts" are saying it is going to be milder. I would love to ride one out at WDW! I would feel safer there than at my house during one.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I can tell you from experience that Disney takes good of the guests on property when there is a hurricane. They opened the food court late so that people could eat after the storm went through and even the day Hurricane Andrew hit, the park was still open to resort guests. Don't worry. Keep your eyes on the weather. You'll be fine!

TheDisneyGirl02

 

[world_showcase]

That's correct...we do take excellent care of our guests when hurricanes strike.

All i have heard is that they have predicted 6-8 hurricanes hitting Orlando this season, but they are likely to be Cat. 1 or 2, as they will loose power as they travel inland.

Nothing to worry about! You will be fine

J.

 

[Nansafan]

A co-worker and her family was staying at the Poly during Charley, in 2004. They had to evacuate the park and return to their resort. The restaurants were offering basically "cold" meals, salads, cold sandwiches etc. There was entertainment in the lobby. She brought home some awesome pictures taken through the lanai doors. The next day all the parks were open "free", guests did not have to use a ticket to enter the park. She said it was amazingly clean with very little debris visible to the guest. She did notice that there were dents in the roofs of the popcorn stand where it had been tied to the ground and the cart tried to lift off. All in all, they had a great vacation and were impressed with the service Disney offered to all staying on property.

 

[Hakunamatata]

How quickly we forget. Wasnt it summer before last that there were like three 'canes that affected WDW?

 

[mgoodwn]

We were there during Jeanne in 2004. Not sure how it is with all the other resorts because we were fortunate to be staying at AK Lodge. There were numerous things to do throughout the building, we just couldn't go outside. Basically we lost one day to the storm. The parks closed at 7 pm Saturday, the day before it hit The worst part of storm was Sunday between 4am and 11 am. We were able to go outside by 6-7 pm that evening. All the parks opened by noon the next day. We were told the delay was to clean any debris.

 

[napnet]

Remember that Orlando is about 80 miles inland from the ocean so even in the event of a Cat 5 hitting directly that direction, it would probably be a cat 3 by the time it got to WDW. Even with the 2004 storms, 2 cane's hitting Orlando did very little damage to the parks. You can still see alot of tree damage from the monorail but most of the damage to the City of Orlando were older houses roofs.

 

[MadMax11]

Remember that Orlando is about 80 miles inland from the ocean so even in the event of a Cat 5 hitting directly that direction, it would probably be a cat 3 by the time it got to WDW. Even with the 2004 storms, 2 cane's hitting Orlando did very little damage to the parks. You can still see alot of tree damage from the monorail but most of the damage to the City of Orlando were older houses roofs.

A cat 5 would be big trouble for DisneyWorld.

I live in Houston...about 65-70 miles inland. If a Cat 5 strikes the Texas coast around Galveston, Houston's in trouble. Orlando is no different. Even if, as you say, the winds die down to Cat 3 level...that's a very, very significant event. Tons of wind damage...and hurricanes spawn tornadoes left and right.

I'm with you all, though. I'm sure Disney does a bang-up job taking care of its guests in these events.

world_showcase -- 6 hurricanes hitting Orlando??? this season? i'd say maybe 6-8 will make landfall somewhere along the Gulf Coast...but I'd hesitate to say 6-8 will directly affect one city.

 

[disneydata]

Best part - as soon as the parks open again, there's like 50 people there and everything is a walk-on for a few hours!

 

[Hakunamatata]

A cat 5 would be big trouble for DisneyWorld.

I live in Houston...about 65-70 miles inland. If a Cat 5 strikes the Texas coast around Galveston, Houston's in trouble. Orlando is no different. Even if, as you say, the winds die down to Cat 3 level...that's a very, very significant event. Tons of wind damage...and hurricanes spawn tornadoes left and right.

I'm with you all, though. I'm sure Disney does a bang-up job taking care of its guests in these events.

world_showcase -- 6 hurricanes hitting Orlando??? this season? i'd say maybe 6-8 will make landfall somewhere along the Gulf Coast...but I'd hesitate to say 6-8 will directly affect one city.

Hey Max, did you enjoy last years evac too?

 

[napnet]

A cat 5 would be big trouble for DisneyWorld.

I live in Houston...about 65-70 miles inland. If a Cat 5 strikes the Texas coast around Galveston, Houston's in trouble. Orlando is no different. Even if, as you say, the winds die down to Cat 3 level...that's a very, very significant event. Tons of wind damage...and hurricanes spawn tornadoes left and right.

Oh yeah it would be bad, but they were built to withstand alot of it. most of the damage would be to smaller structures but overall the parks would probably open in a day or two.

 

[ctwhalerman]

A cat 5 would be big trouble for DisneyWorld.

A Cat-5 is big trouble for anybody...

Remember that Katrina was only a Category 4 when she hit land in Mississippi, and the wind still managed to completely pulverize the coastal towns there.

Anything over a Cat-2 would be devastating to WDW, as there are a lot of structures that I think would not hold up well, particularly the very detailed facades of World Showcase, Animal Kingdom, and the Magic Kingdom lands. At MGM, we would be able to say goodbye to New York Street, because I believe those facades were designed to face only 100 mph winds, while Cat-3 starts at 110 mph

Nonetheless, WDW is in a very good geographic position, making it very difficult for the area to be affected by a head on hit. The wind patterns of the Atlantic to the east usually direct hurricanes to move north up the coast, which is why North Carolina always gets slammed, while the Gulf of Mexico wind patterns usually pull hurricanes toward the northern Gulf Coast, from the Fla. panhandle to Texas. Of course there are exceptions, but usually WDW is safe.

So, there's really no need to worry about hurricanes hitting WDW, any more than someone needs to worry about a major earthquake hitting California. The possibility is there, but it's normally a rare event.

 

[col]

disney is one of the best places to be during the hurricaine season!! they move the guests to the convention centres at coronado springs and the contemporary resort (not sure on the last one). at the convention centres shows are laid on using CM's and they have entertainment laid on aswell, plus disney has back-up genorators and so on.

 

[luv2vacation]

A Cat-5 is big trouble for anybody...

Remember that Katrina was only a Category 4 when she hit land in Mississippi, and the wind still managed to completely pulverize the coastal towns there.

Actually the majority of the damage shown on the news was mostly caused by the storm surge and not by wind. There was some wind damage but the catastrophic damage to the coastal properties was caused by the unusually large storm surge. ( FYI - I live on the Gulf Coast.) Inland properties would not receive that type of damage unless there were tornadoes.