Newsworthy Things That Happened During Your Vacation?

mf1972

mf1972

Well-Known Member
mf1972 said:
we were there when the Orlando area got a tail end of a hurricane. do
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sorry, typo...don't remember the name of the storm. could've been 7-8 years ago. when it was over, they later opened the parks to resort guests only.
MK looked like it was half full. not much of a wait to get on rides. we felt like we had some VIP treatment.
 
Disney4family

Disney4family

Well-Known Member
Slipknot said:
People mentioning hurricanes reminded me of one of my all time favorite memories: I was working in Tomorrowland during hurricane Wilma and close to no one was in the park. It was obviously raining all night and I was working Astro Orbiter. Since no one was wanting to ride it in the rain, I had to run it, with no one riding, every so often or the mechanics screw up (I don't know the specifics). So there I am, enjoying the weather with a light mist around me because I was under cover running a ride no one wanted to experience in a hurricane.
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Thank you for being there with the awesome dedication we all admire of all of the CMs at WDW! :happy:
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
Slipknot said:
People mentioning hurricanes reminded me of one of my all time favorite memories: I was working in Tomorrowland during hurricane Wilma and close to no one was in the park. It was obviously raining all night and I was working Astro Orbiter. Since no one was wanting to ride it in the rain, I had to run it, with no one riding, every so often or the mechanics screw up (I don't know the specifics). So there I am, enjoying the weather with a light mist around me because I was under cover running a ride no one wanted to experience in a hurricane.
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The parks are pretty surreal right before a hurricane.
I was in Epcot the afternoon before Irene (the 2005 one) was supposed to come over.
There were crews going around the park with bolt guns or something, putting down anchor points to strap down the various popcorn and drink carts.
I thought it was kind of odd that they didn't just wheel them inside somewhere, but on the other hand the storm never ended up coming like it was supposed to.

When it came time to drive back home that evening, the Florida Turnpike was free and had was practically deserted, since everyone had evacuated that morning and afternoon. All the lanes had been turned northward.

Of course, Katrina would hit 2 weeks later...

 
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DisneyPrincess5

DisneyPrincess5

Well-Known Member
Hah my family and I were just talking about this. During our Disney stays, the world has experienced many things. Oaklahoma City Bombing, Columbine, Osama Bin Laden's death, William and Kate's wedding, and probably more.
Oh also we were there when there was that Soarin incident where something like two guests mysteriously escaped their locked seat belts before the ride started so they shut it down for many days to investigate how and repair the issue so it wouldn't occur again.
 
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Slipknot

Slipknot

Well-Known Member
mf1972 said:
sorry, typo...don't remember the name of the storm. could've been 7-8 years ago. when it was over, they later opened the parks to resort guests only.
MK looked like it was half full. not much of a wait to get on rides. we felt like we had some VIP treatment.
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Florida hasn't really had any major hurricanes since 05. That was such a busy year the list of names was complete and they started naming them Alpha, Beta, Delta. I don't remember any hurricanes but we've had some big tropical storms that could have been categorized as hurricanes but nothing like 04 or 05 for sure.
 
coachwnh

coachwnh

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Was in WDW over Thanksgiving for the Tiger Woods crash, for the initial Casey Anthony saga (still makes me sick) and then again for her trial verdict.
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
We were staying offsite when the Station Nightclub fire happened, killing 100 people. The next day we were going to Beaches & Cream so the guard looked at my husband's ID and asked us if we had heard about it. We had, in fact it was only a few miles from our house.
 
StarWarsGirl

StarWarsGirl

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I was there for Hurricane Charlie. We were staying at Wilderness Lodge. I was a kid and just thought hanging out on the top bunk watching movies was cool.

We were going down to WDW the morning that terrorists tried to use liquids to make a bomb on the British flight. All of the sudden, the TSA had to ban liquids. Trust me, you did not want to be travelling that day. The airport was a madhouse sinc suddenly you could not longer take liquids with you.

I was in Disneyland when Michael Jackson died.

I was in Disneyland when they were premiering The Lone Ranger in DCA (although it was a great and mighty flop). Still cool to know that Johnny Depp and others were not that far away from me.

And last but not least, I was in Epcot eating dinner at La Hacienda when I learned Robin Williams had died. I was so shocked and sad. I felt like crying right then and there, but waited until returning to my room. He was the first celebrity I ever cried for, the second being Leonard Nimoy. The rest of that vacation, although still fun, kind of had a cloud hanging over it. :(
 
nelsonj3

nelsonj3

Well-Known Member
This wasn't major news, but I was at Hollywood Studios (then Disney-MGM Studios) when Neil Patrick Harris came as a celebrity guest to put his hands in the cement in front of the Chinese Theater. They did a parade for him, and we got some really good pictures. He was most famous for being Doogie Howser, M.D. then, but I've always been a fan of his (especially on How I Met Your Mother). I think that was like 1989 or around that time.
 
Chip&Dale

Chip&Dale

New Member
We were there during 9 / 11, the Boston bombings, Casey Anthony trial, George Zimmerman trial (both trial verdicts). We joke some tragedy always happens when we are there.
 
TaoBoxer

TaoBoxer

Well-Known Member
This past summer, while staying at the Contemporary. This might not be considered "big", but to me being a huge Yes fan, was finding out about the passing of Chris Squire.
 
HolleBolleGijs

HolleBolleGijs

Well-Known Member
nelsonj3 said:
This wasn't major news, but I was at Hollywood Studios (then Disney-MGM Studios) when Neil Patrick Harris came as a celebrity guest to put his hands in the cement in front of the Chinese Theater. They did a parade for him, and we got some really good pictures. He was most famous for being Doogie Howser, M.D. then, but I've always been a fan of his (especially on How I Met Your Mother). I think that was like 1989 or around that time.
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I saw LeVar Burton do the same - if I can read the cement clearly, it was March 23, 1999!

That's the only semi-noteworthy thing that has happened to me during a Disney vacation, although there have been a number of celebrity deaths during my non-Disney trips!
 
graphite1326

graphite1326

Well-Known Member
Chip&Dale said:
We were there during 9 / 11, the Boston bombings, Casey Anthony trial, George Zimmerman trial (both trial verdicts). We joke some tragedy always happens when we are there.
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I have often wondered for those quests who were there during 911 and all flights were cancelled; some people must have been stranded there while some could not fly in for their vacations, did the stranded people just stay?
 
JillC LI

JillC LI

Well-Known Member
Chicken-me was sitting on the wall outside TOT while my hubby and kids were riding it, and a lady was looking at her iPhone when suddenly she cried out. I asked if she was all right, and she said the Sandy Hook school shooting had just occurred. I did not have a smartphone then so the only information I could get was from her until my family got off TOT. I did not want to frighten my kids and knew it would be all over the news, so when I quietly had a chance to tell my husband, we made a point of not turning on the radio in the rental car or the TV in the room to any news stations for the rest of our trip. We wound up not hearing any of the details until we got back to NY a few days later. I'm actually kind of glad we were removed from the tragedy at the time.
 
R

RedBaron

Active Member
nelsonj3 said:
This wasn't major news, but I was at Hollywood Studios (then Disney-MGM Studios) when Neil Patrick Harris came as a celebrity guest to put his hands in the cement in front of the Chinese Theater. They did a parade for him, and we got some really good pictures. He was most famous for being Doogie Howser, M.D. then, but I've always been a fan of his (especially on How I Met Your Mother). I think that was like 1989 or around that time.
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That is a riot. I was there that day too. It was a long time ago, but I remember him riding around in a convertible and waving.
 

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