Not so bad.

[paulcmartens]

Just came back from a quick tour. Celebration is bad...looks really ugly with all the trees down. See the photos.

Essentially, there is no power on 192 from where 417 crosses over (by Publix) all the way over past Celebration Place entrance (where there was a downed street light pole) all the way past (under) World Drive.

World Drive is dark until the first entry...then the lights are on.

You'll see some snapped signs and a lot of crap on the road (wherever there are decidious trees...i.e. on the drive to contemporary from Magic Kingdom Entrance.

Lots of downed trees everywhere. Didn't look like much damage to Contemporary or any other resorts, aside from trees leaning on the buildlings.

http://homepage.mac.com/paulcmartens/PhotoAlbum35.html

 

[paulcmartens]

Again, I have to apologize for the title...its really a total first gut feeling...not bad for me meant at the time: great, my roof didn't get torn off!

Its still pretty ugly out there...with some entrances being blocked by fallen trees. The decidious trees made a lot of mess and you have to drive over a lot of crud.

Fort Wilderness must be abs. awful.

Again, it looks like Celebration looks extra nasty...I think because the trees are relatively new (or not as well rooted as WDW trees)...many have been snapped or broken off etc. Very ugly.

 

[Woody13]

Thanks for the update! Glad to see all those exotic palm trees on the ground.

 

[paulcmartens]

Excuse me? I live there...those are nice palms spider-boy! Oh...sorry, just saw all those red squares...because your a bleeding heart right?

 

[Woody13]

Excuse me? I live there...those are nice palms spider-boy!

No. They are not nice. They are exotics and don't belong in that area regardless of your personal preference. Facts carry more weight than insults.

 

[paulcmartens]

And your ignorance weighs more than my design preference, obviously.

Speaking of 'not belonging in an area'...what do you think those red squares should be saying to you?

 

[DigitalDisney]

Back on topic...

I wonder if there was any damage to the parks. I'm sure that the buildings are all fine, but I'm curious how the small details (signs, scenery, etc) all held up.

What's even more intriguging is how Universal held up. The eye hit relatively close to downtown Orlando, and Universal is right down the road from that area.

I have a feeling that the crews at all Orlando parks are going to be putting in a good amount of hours sprucing everything up tonight, so the parks look like nothing ever happened when they open tomorrow morning.

 

[POOHKILLEDTOAD]

relief in sight

i'm a cop up here in tallahassee. we just spent the past 12 hours escorting 126 bucket electrical trucks from out of town. they will stay here until 6:00 in the morning. at that point they will head down south to help everyone down there.

i left at 12:30 am. we were still waiting on other trucks as well as food relief trucks. hang on help's coming!

 

[paulcmartens]

I can say that there are a few signs that have been torqued or snapped.

The roads in the resort area can be nasty, with a few trees down. We'll see if those are taken care of over night (so far, nyet).

I was not in the parks (obviously), but I would say (this is a guess, from monitoring the radar all night) Universal/Sea World might have been hit harder.

Looking at the Doppler 100 mile radius images, this area (celebration) didn't get the eye of the storm, just about 10 miles to the east did (poor kissimee!)

Sea World would have been close, so would have Universal...but its really premature for me to say, as I've only wandered around WDW resort on World Drive and the 536. (see pics)

 

[awallaceunc]

Well, luckily no major damage must have occurred, or we'd know by now. It'll be interesting to see if any minor damage was sustained... hopefully not.

-Aaron

 

[STGRhost]

How would we know? Who would tell us? It's 2 am - even if there were major damage in the parks, they would likely be more interested in getting it fixed (or at least secured) than they would letting the public know what happened.

The Weather Channel is no good, CNN seems to be looping ittself, and the websites haven't been updated in a while (though I'm sure they have better things to worry about.)

It's killing me, being so far away right now. :brick: I have friends all over the area, including Kissimmee, and the more I hear that Kissimmee looks bad, the more I worry about them. I haven't spoken with any of them since this afternoon - well before the worst of the storms hit...

Thanks to those of you who are able to provide updates! Stay safe!

 

[lebernadin]

great pics, paulmcmartens, thanks for the insight for that area.

if you have a chance, could you checkout kissimmee gateway airport? specifically marathon fbo? i always forget the name of the road going down to it off of 192, but from what it sounds like, kissimmee had the eye, so i'm curious how marathon's new fbo that they just built a couple of years ago held up. they're nice people and one of the better fbo's we fly into.

as i said, if you get a chance, i realize you just sat through this, but in the next few days if you were on that side of kissimmee to take a drive down to the ap....

btw, when did you guys move to celebration? buy?rent? aside from a 50 year hurricane, how are you enjoying it?

 

[TURKEY]

I survived.

I was ready to report to work at 3 after the first band passed, but they didn't want anyone else coming in, even though I was on the rideout crew.

Power at my apt (about 5-10 miles from AK) depending on your path, went out about 9 pm and came back on just before 6 am.

I got lucky the eye went just east of here. I went out after the eye had moved on up closer to downtown Orlando and it appears my car is safe and not too much damage here at the apt complex except some limbs (nothing major). As it becomes more light out, I'll be headed out to take a better look at the complex.



Orlando Executive Airport had major damage to many of it's small planes. OIA had damage to all of it's terminals (glass gone, etc.).

Local 6, the CBS station is without major power, they are running on generators and emergency lighting.


LATEST NEWS: Hundreds are missing in Punta Gora (sp?) in Charlotte County because they didn't evacuate from their mobile homes. Apparently death toll is going to be pretty large.

 

[tigsmom]

Good morning. paulcmartens,if you hear from any of our members please post so we know they are OK. (anyone else also) Thanks for the updates. :kiss:

 

[brisem]

What category was Charley?

When Charley made ground it was a cat 4 with winds at 145mph.

 

[tigsmom]

Cat 2 when it hit the Orlando area.

 

[paulcmartens]

MKT seems to be ok...and I'm sure Speck is fine. I'm going out for more pictures.

 

[mkt]

I am alive and well. Not much damage in the casa. Nearby areas though are not good. There was a ladder on the 417....

there isn't any reason for a ladder on the 417.

 

[Erika]

I am so gld to hear you are all OK.

Regarding the palms, Paul C, I think what Woody was trying to say was that they were introduced by the Spanish and not native to the area.


Please keep us updated. We still have members we have not heard from, although I understand that getting to a computer might not be their first priority.

 

[wannabeBelle]

I am so glad to hear our friends are doing well down there!!!! Thank you so much for taking a few minutes out to let us know you are OK!!! I was worried!!!! I have been watching the Weather Channel on and off looking for news on Orlando? Disney which was pretty much useless!!!! Please continue to be careful!!!! Belle