Matthew, my observations

I was at ASM from Monday to Friday. We got gas on Wednesday. Thursday we did 3 parks and hit our favorite rides several times. Got more beer and food at 2 gas stations and watched one run out of gas, and a smart manager lock the door to avoid a riot before they ran out of food. I could not believe how quickly the stress level of the crowd elevated, it was ugly.

Back at ASM, we decided to check the food court. Madness, the line for food was out the door into the bus area. My wife talked to a woman that waited hours for a pizza. Everyone was expecting that they would not be leaving the room on Friday, so they would need food and drinks for a full 24 hours. I saw families with stacks of pizzas, and the infamous box lunches. We ate our sandwiches in the food court just to people watch. I bought and extra 6pk of beer to give away. Found a guy who looked like he needed it, and gave it to him. It was one of the most sincere thank yous I have ever received. The next day, I was up at 7am, and expected it to be bad out. I had planned on taking photos of the storm and it's damage. Wind was 30 or less, rain less than average. Decided to check the food court. Free coffee and breakfast being served. By 9am people were out with small children and packing cars. We left at 11 am, easy drive to Key West.

 

[JohnD]

Boxed Lunches. I was disgusted that Disney could charge $13 for emergency rations, because that is what they were selling. People were told that there would be nothing available on Friday, and Disney wanted to make a 500% profit. I bought a 6pk for a stranger, and one day out of 10 years Disney can't buy a sandwich for its trapped customers. I was prepared and had extra, I can not imagine how it would have felt for some on a tight budget (poor) family from middle America to be stuck in this situation. We have been coming to Disney for 20 years and now that we live in Florida have an AP. This was an opportunity for Disney to really take care of its guests, and it's response is a $13 sandwich.

I wasn't there for Matthew but at home during Hermine in Tallahassee. Regarding box lunches, I'm sure they did lose revenue but that should have been part of Disney's emergency preparedness to guests at Disney's cost. Those things are mass produced. They're edible. That's about all you can say about them. Give them to guests as part of their hurricane preparedness plan, don't make them pay for it.

 

[wdisney9000]

You had me until the highlighted sentence. Poor Family at WDW unable to pay for food on a one day basis at WDW. What would they have eaten if the storm didn't interfere. I've seen it on intersections in the city, but, I have yet to see a family with cardboard signs at the entrance to WDW asking for money to buy a sandwich. Time for a little more reality and a little less hyperbole. Just as a side note or perhaps question what about all those poverty stricken folks that life on the east coast, northern states, southern states or western states? Is it only middle America that would contain a population of poor people that somehow manage to take a trip to WDW?

PS. I'm so glad that you were able to help support the poor alcoholic with a six pack of beer. His family must have been very grateful.

I was cracking up as I read that. And finishing it all with a passive aggressive jab was priceless. Well done, Sir.

 

[FutureCEO]

I believe the cost of free hotel rooms outweigh the cost of charging $13 box dinners

 

[psherman42]

Ok so $13 is a lot for a boxed meal but what was stopping all of these people from going to Walmart or something the day before? It was no secret this storm was coming. And also, I'm sure Disney is going to be comping tons of rooms and park tickets for guests soon.

 

[WDWBryan]

All the people that Disney sells vacation packages to and busses them in from the Airport and bussed back.

Bottom line is the box meals should not have been sold.

They should've been held onto and then given out if there was a need to provide meals due to a loss of power.

In this case they didn't even need them

 

[marni1971]

It's not Disney's fault that the hurricane was over-hyped.

No ones saying that.

You can never overhype a hurricane btw.

Its the fact they charged $13 for a box of paltry rations.

 

[JohnD]

Ok so $13 is a lot for a boxed meal but what was stopping all of these people from going to Walmart or something the day before? It was no secret this storm was coming. And also, I'm sure Disney is going to be comping tons of rooms and park tickets for guests soon.

Many guests arrived by air. Those that did not, it was safer to encourage guests to remain on property rather than to venture out. No doubt some probably did go to the nearest supermarket or WalMart. But then you have more people on the road competing with locals who really did have a need to prepare for their homes. As was already mentioned, buffets or whatever were setup for guests. The debacle was the box lunch which should have been given out. Bottom line: Disney guests would be able to eat without having to leave property. Let's be thankful it was far less than it could have been.

 

[Goofyernmost]

No ones saying that.

You can never overhype a hurricane btw.

Its the fact they charged $13 for a box of paltry rations.

Hell, they charge upwards of $20+ for paltry counter service, inedible garbage in the parks. This seems like a treat. Besides, didn't someone that had a direct connection to a CM that works at a resort (wife, I believe) state that the lunch was an option and if they didn't want the limited menu available in the restaurant area they were giving those boxes to them, not charging for them. What do we have for solid information that they were selling them to a captive audience? And even if they were... I fail to see the evil in it. Wanna bet that those lunches were prepared by outside sources that charged an arm and a leg to work during a hurricane. Oh, and by the way the bad part of the hurricane didn't even touch WDW. High winds, which happen often and torrential rains that also happen quite often and If it hadn't had all the hype of a hurricane everyone would have been there, the parks would have been operating at a limited level due to the wind and rain and the prices would be rack rate even if there was nothing for the guest to do except eat.

 

[Hakunamatata]

It's not Disney's fault that the hurricane was over-hyped.

This hurricane was not over hyped.

 

[psherman42]

This hurricane was not over hyped.

This. Tell that to the people in Haiti. Or look at St. Augustine. Let's be real. If Disney didn't close their parks and this storm was as bad as it was predicted, they'd have been vilified for not caring about the safety of their guests and cast. But the storm shifts to the east at 11:00 at night on Thursday and suddenly it's overhyped and Disney should have opened their parks. They'll never win.

 

[21stamps]

I asked this yesterday, and I thought someone said the counter service and resorts stores were open as well.

Was this box the only option that people had?

Personally, I think $13 for the contents in that box are too high.. In context to where you are though- it doesn't seem like price gouging.

I read that free coffee and discounted breakfasts were available yesterday, so I'm just trying to figure out where the horror story is, and what actually happened.

OP, can you fill us in? Was there other food available on Thursday evening?

 

[disney4life2008]

This hurricane was not over hyped.

IDK. Assuming you do not live in Orlando, on Wednesday evening, the local news had us planning for the end. When you keep getting alerts saying "catastrophic, deathly" people here were frazzled. I went to get my supplies Thursday morning and people were fighting over things. There is a large contingent of people who live in central florida (orlando) that say it was severely overhyped. To the governor and major credit, I understand its best to be prepared.

 

[Gringrinngghost]

No ones saying that.

You can never overhype a hurricane btw.

Its the fact they charged $13 for a box of paltry rations.

@marni1971 they actually can get into really big trouble over the box lunches. Florida Statute 501.160 states that during a state of emergency, it is unlawful to sell, lease, offer to sell, or offer for lease essential commodities, dwelling units, or self-storage facilities for an amount that grossly exceeds the average price for that commodity during the 30 days before the declaration of the state of emergency, unless the seller can justify the price by showing increases in its prices or market trends. Examples of necessary commodities are food, ice, gas, and lumber.

Sad to say with the $13 dollar box, I've gotten better covering Sea World Media events.

 

[rob0519]

Ok so $13 is a lot for a boxed meal but what was stopping all of these people from going to Walmart or something the day before? It was no secret this storm was coming. And also, I'm sure Disney is going to be comping tons of rooms and park tickets for guests soon.

Well it's easy to sit at home and type this. There are comments here from people who tried to go out and saw chaos. A lot of Disney customers ( they do no treat the majority of their customers like guests anymore) arrive by air and take Magical Express to the resort, so they do not have a car. Additionally, the local traffic was horrible, stores were already overcrowded and stripped of food, so Uber, Lyft and Taxi were not really viable options. Add to all that the municipal curfews and you have one emergency situation.

As for the $13 meal, that was a huge PR mistake. However, simply saying "Free Boxed Lunch" in a pressure filled situation may have caused a pushing and shoving fest of major proportions but that price was insane, even by Disney's already insane standards. They should have been free and possibly distributed floor by floor in each of the resorts. If they had people to sl you the box, they had people to distribute the boxes in a more orderly fashion.

 

[Gringrinngghost]

I asked this yesterday, and I thought someone said the counter service and resorts stores were open as well.

Was this box the only option that people had?

Personally, I think $13 for the contents in that box are too high.. In context to where you are though- it doesn't seem like price gouging.

I read that free coffee and discounted breakfasts were available yesterday, so I'm just trying to figure out where the horror story is, and what actually happened.

OP, can you fill us in? Was there other food available on Thursday evening?

Knowing how the parks work, if I take Universal Orlando for example going On-Stage to Back Stage Pricing, that box would have to cost the average person 3.71 to make.

 

[rob0519]

@marni1971 they actually can get into really big trouble over the box lunches. Florida Statute 501.160 states that during a state of emergency, it is unlawful to sell, lease, offer to sell, or offer for lease essential commodities, dwelling units, or self-storage facilities for an amount that grossly exceeds the average price for that commodity during the 30 days before the declaration of the state of emergency, unless the seller can justify the price by showing increases in its prices or market trends. Examples of necessary commodities are food, ice, gas, and lumber.

Sad to say with the $13 dollar box, I've gotten better covering Sea World Media events.

I'm sure Disney will tell you that if you bought each of those items in a Quick Serve location or Sundry Shop in the resorts it would total close to that $13, which is insane, but normal at Disney. Even if it came out to a dollar more, they could defend themselves against a gouging charge.

 

[21stamps]

This. Tell that to the people in Haiti. Or look at St. Augustine. Let's be real. If Disney didn't close their parks and this storm was as bad as it was predicted, they'd have been vilified for not caring about the safety of their guests and cast. But the storm shifts to the east at 11:00 at night on Thursday and suddenly it's overhyped and Disney should have opened their parks. They'll never win.

I can't stress this enough, and said it on another thread yesterday.. You can not compare Florida and Haiti, you just can't. There are 0 similarities in our hurricane readiness, preparation, buildings, response teams, etc etc etc etc...

It was necessary to be hyped that way. It could have been devastating, no- not Haiti level devastating- but devastating none the less.

There is no way to know where a hurricane will actually hit, so everyone needs to prepare as if it will hit them..Even though we all know it won't hit everyone..or even how strong it will be if it does hit. Rick Scott did what he had to do, and I applaud him and everyone else involved for the readiness that was in place. Orlando did not get hit by a hurricane, but they needed to be prepared just in case.

 

[JohnD]

I asked this yesterday, and I thought someone said the counter service and resorts stores were open as well.

Was this box the only option that people had?

Personally, I think $13 for the contents in that box are too high.. In context to where you are though- it doesn't seem like price gouging.

I read that free coffee and discounted breakfasts were available yesterday, so I'm just trying to figure out where the horror story is, and what actually happened.

OP, can you fill us in? Was there other food available on Thursday evening?

It was $13 too high. Even if an option, it should have been provided for free to every guest as part of their emergency hurricane plan. No one can really know with certainty the strength or direction of one. Just give them out. Period. At most, it's a meal while stuck in the room. At least, all or some is a snack or is not eaten at all. Doesn't matter. It's a hurricane preparedness cost incurred by Disney.

 

[Gringrinngghost]

I'm sure Disney will tell you that if you bought each of those items in a Quick Serve location or Sundry Shop in the resorts it would total close to that $13, which is insane, but normal at Disney. Even if it came out to a dollar more, they could defend themselves against a gouging charge.

The point the matter is that when State of Emergency in Florida, food is considered a necessity and the only defence they can use is that the $13 reflects increased costs, such as running an emergency generator, or hazard pay for workers,

 

[Hakunamatata]

IDK. Assuming you do not live in Orlando, on Wednesday evening, the local news had us planning for the end. When you keep getting alerts saying "catastrophic, deathly" people here were frazzled. I went to get my supplies Thursday morning and people were fighting over things. There is a large contingent of people who live in central florida (orlando) that say it was severely overhyped. To the governor and major credit, I understand its best to be prepared.

No, I do not live in Orlando. I lived in Houston during Hurricane Katrina when we were encouraged to evacuate and we did, and nothing happened. I also lived in Houston during hurricane Ike when we were encouraged to evacuate, and alot didnt, and we took hurricane Ike up the .

I also work in the catastrophe response industry. I get to see devastation caused by these types of events as part of my daily life. It is tragic. It is more tragic when people sit back and second guess when storms like this are coming and then nothing happens. So please understand that it's a forecast and safety is the utmost importance.