Major Storm Damage at USO

[WDW1974]

A tornado within 5 miles of MK means you need to get guests to shelter.

You won't get an argument from me over that.

I've just never seen it done. And I have been at both WDW and UNI during some truly scary weather. (I was also at TDR during a 6.9 earthquake, but totally missed it!)

 

[IAmALocal]

Harsh it may be. I wouldn't put it past some people on here to make up a story just to get a particular response. A posting about how CMs supposedly turned people out into a storm because they weren't AP holders could be designed to elicit the "Disney s bad..." response.

I wasn't trying to promote the whole "Disney is bad..." idea. My whole family revolves around Disney. My sister is a lifeguard at Typhoon and my father was a high level director (Man do I miss golden football parking). My immediate family all have annual passes. Anyways, I think you get my point. I guess you're going to need proof for this as well...

 

[IAmALocal]

I was there at 4:00pm - it stopped raining at about 3:55pm. The sun was out by 4:15pm. All of the warnings had been lifted - I could see cast members asking guests not to come in if the rain had ceased.

Ha, I knew that didn't sound right. My timeline for today is a bit messed up. It's been a long day.

 

[flynnibus]

Anyone know how solid Disney is? How bad does a tornado have to be to damage the big buildings? (That sort of thing.)

The thing is tornados are EXTREMELY localized.. often the impact area is only a few hundred feet across or less. Disney is built to take hurricane hits even tho it's far inland.

 

[TP2000]

... wonder where that post went? Maybe it got smart and went to DLR!

Today 3/24/13 at Disneyland it was a cloudless blue SoCal sky, with a light sea breeze, and at 2:05PM in Anaheim the high temp for the day was reached at 75 degrees on the nose with low humidity. Clear skies tonight, current temp of 63 degrees, and I'm watching the Disneyland fireworks explode over Orange County out of my den windows now at 9:40PM.

The pictures and video in this thread are amazing, and I'm reminded of the years I spent living in the South and the wild weather that can blow up out of nowhere. I can't even imagine the absolute panic that would ensue if this type of weather ever hit Disneyland. SoCal gets a steady drizzle about 10 or 15 days per winter, and the locals lose it. If Disneyland ever got a storm like this, or even just half this intense, there would be absolute pandemonium from CM's and visitors alike.

 

[WDW1974]

The thing is tornados are EXTREMELY localized.. often the impact area is only a few hundred feet across or less. Disney is built to take hurricane hits even tho it's far inland.

True, but I remember the devastating killer tornados that swept thru Central Fla (a trailer park in Kissimmee was flattened) in 1998 that caused UNI to delay opening Twister. If one of those hit a park during operating hours you'd be looking at hundreds of dead, maybe more. ... FL isn't really supposed to be a tornado state. Hurricanes and violent thunder storms and more lightning than anywhere else, but not the twisters.

 

[WDW1974]

Today 3/24/13 at Disneyland it was a cloudless blue SoCal sky, with a light sea breeze, and at 2:05PM in Anaheim the high temp for the day was reached at 75 degrees on the nose with low humidity. Clear skies tonight, current temp of 63 degrees, and I'm watching the Disneyland fireworks explode over Orange County out of my den windows now at 9:40PM.

The pictures and video in this thread are amazing, and I'm reminded of the years I spent living in the South and the wild weather that can blow up out of nowhere. I can't even imagine the absolute panic that would ensue if this type of weather ever hit Disneyland. SoCal gets a steady drizzle about 10 or 15 days per winter, and the locals lose it. If Disneyland ever got a storm like this, or even just half this intense, there would be absolute pandemonium from CM's and visitors alike.

Yep. I've said in other threads, but I miss living there and seeing Dallas Raines on KABC breathlessly talking about a rain event that might drop a quarter of an inch on Artesia. People go nuts. I used to go to the movies, the mall or -- shocking! -- a near desolate DL!

BTW, did I mention it was 90 here today?!

 

[flynnibus]

True, but I remember the devastating killer tornados that swept thru Central Fla (a trailer park in Kissimmee was flattened) in 1998 that caused UNI to delay opening Twister. If one of those hit a park during operating hours you'd be looking at hundreds of dead, maybe more. ... FL isn't really supposed to be a tornado state. Hurricanes and violent thunder storms and more lightning than anywhere else, but not the twisters.

yeah, neither is this area.. but in recent years we've gotten more of them. I mean you hear of clouds.. and microbursts.. but never a bonified twister on the ground doing severe damage when I was growing up. And then we get something like this..

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/Historic_Events/apr28-2002/laplata.htm

F3 tornado right through a town.. it's crazy when you can see the 'finger of god' in the satellite images from the damage..

 

[Californian Elitist]

Today 3/24/13 at Disneyland it was a cloudless blue SoCal sky, with a light sea breeze, and at 2:05PM in Anaheim the high temp for the day was reached at 75 degrees on the nose with low humidity. Clear skies tonight, current temp of 63 degrees, and I'm watching the Disneyland fireworks explode over Orange County out of my den windows now at 9:40PM.

The pictures and video in this thread are amazing, and I'm reminded of the years I spent living in the South and the wild weather that can blow up out of nowhere. I can't even imagine the absolute panic that would ensue if this type of weather ever hit Disneyland. SoCal gets a steady drizzle about 10 or 15 days per winter, and the locals lose it. If Disneyland ever got a storm like this, or even just half this intense, there would be absolute pandemonium from CM's and visitors alike.

It would be the end of ze world in SoCal... Beyond panic. I can't even imagine dealing with Florida's weather. I don't go out at all when it drizzles, let alone pours.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

...And I have been at both WDW and UNI during some truly scary weather. (I was also at TDR during a 6.9 earthquake, but totally missed it!)

* mental note - stay away from this guy - he attracts trouble *

 

[luv]

I think Disney''s buildings are build to withstand a Cat3/4 hurricane which is in the 145mph ballpark.

That's not much for a tornado. Scary stuff.

 

[marni1971]

Anyone know if Disney went into Plan C?

Nothing at the MK. It was disorganised chaos. And scary for foriegn tourists.

 

[PirateFrank]

The problem with Tornado warnings (not watches) is that you only have a few minutes to react and make intelligent decisions, and the worst thing you would want to do is make a bad situation worse by creating a panic. (Yell fire in a movie theater scenario). I am pretty sure that someone in an operations center on property was tracking this and starting to make notifications and getting resources lined up. Keep in mind too, the Tornado warning while close was not specifically for the WDW area. All of the parks and resorts have PA systems to alert guests to these types of emergencies, and it may be easy to say just plan C it, but in my years as a first responder, I've seen a lot of people do stupid things in emergency situations over and over and over to know that in a crowded place the evac could be just as dangerous as the event causing it.

This!
quoted, underlined and boldfaced....for truth and reality!

 

[openendedsky]

Thats my hurricane charlie video from 2004. I did it under a pseudonym because i worked for the moouse.

Thanks for the video. This is pretty spooky.

True, but I remember the devastating killer tornados that swept thru Central Fla (a trailer park in Kissimmee was flattened) in 1998 that caused UNI to delay opening Twister. If one of those hit a park during operating hours you'd be looking at hundreds of dead, maybe more. ... FL isn't really supposed to be a tornado state. Hurricanes and violent thunder storms and more lightning than anywhere else, but not the twisters.

More and more, in recent years, though, we are becoming one, and nobody can really deny that.

 

[devoy1701]

The entrance to Test Track Flooded,
http://twitpic.com/ce3lyu

well that's nothing new. Have you not walked around the World Showcase during/after summer storms? 8" of water on the walkways is the norm!

 

[71jason]

I know for a fact (from friends) that Disney did not communicate the dire emergency of the weather to the guests.

God help them if a tornado ever does hit a park.

Sea World was also bad. A localized announcement in front of Kraken (just as we were about to get on) that it was shutting down because of lightning in the area. No other warnings. Being Sea World, with its lack of indoor space (even half the restaurants are uncovered outdoor seating), a lot of people rode this storm out, wind and all, under a canopy.

 

[Nemo14]

Sea World was also bad. A localized announcement in front of Kraken (just as we were about to get on) that it was shutting down because of lightning in the area. No other warnings. Being Sea World, with its lack of indoor space (even half the restaurants are uncovered outdoor seating), a lot of people rode this storm out, wind and all, under a canopy.

Any damage at Sea World?

 

[71jason]

Any damage at Sea World?

Plenty of branches down--nothing you can't step over, but could definitely see a storm went through. Lightning hit Shamu Stadium, took out the sound system for a few hours (they did an afternoon show with just the whales, no audio), but it was back up by Shamu Rocks.

 

[Nemo14]

Plenty of branches down--nothing you can't step over, but could definitely see a storm went through. Lightning hit Shamu Stadium, took out the sound system for a few hours (they did an afternoon show with just the whales, no audio), but it was back up by Shamu Rocks.

Thanks for the info. I ove SW!

 

[pixargal]

My family was in Downtown Disney last June when a very powerful storm hit the area. As we were driving in we could see the clouds gathering. They were very dark and very tall. We knew it was going to be intense. Soon after arriving, the skies opened up. No sprinkles to warn people, just a sudden downpour. There was lightning and rather strong wind gusts. We managed to run into the House of Blues gift shop. The CMs that were there did a wonderful job of keeping people safe. They locked the doors to try and keep people in and kept people away from the windows. There was a child (around 10 years old) that had gotten separated from his mom. The CMs were very comforting to this child and stayed in constant communication with the other CMs who were with his mom. I was impressed with how they handled the guests during the violent weather.