The main hurricane Charley thread (for WDW & Central Fla. discussion)

The Mom

Moderator
Premium Member
barnum42 said:
Good to know. I was talking to Rob briefly this morning on Messenger about the people I've not heard back from and he confirmed that a lot of people are still without electricity.


My SIL & BIL called last night; they finally have phone service, but still no power. I offered them our guest room, but they want to stay close to home. They live in the Longwood (Tuscawilla) area, which is NE of WDW.
 

Nineinchnailsmk

New Member
Not that this is funny, but I thought it was "funny" that everyone in tampa left and went to Orlando etc. to escape the path of Charley.

CNN was reporting that people were leaving to go to Disney World because they thought they would be free and clear of any "strike" on Tampa/West Coast of Florida. CNN made it sound like almost 100% of the hotels and what not were booked in Orlando and Daytona Beach.

Hopefully eveyone's loved ones and whatnot made it through okay. My uncle and aunt live in tampa, and I was worried. They were talking about going "inland" to escape the storm. Hopefully they didnt.
 

GoofyFan1

Active Member
TURKEY said:
Right now, I HATE HATE HATE the tourists.

So many people that I have dealt with while working for 24 hrs (a 3 hr nap and a 30 min. break), had ABSOLUTELY NO COMPASSION ABOUT OUR SITUATIONS.

Granted, I only lost power for about 8 hours, but most weren't that fortunate. Others I work with have huge oaks in their houses, no roofs, holes in cars, no power for about 5 days and have been working about 13-14 hr shifts minimum.

At the All-Stars, only about 30 housekeepers managed to make it in. At the All-Stars there are 5,760 rooms. There was absolutely no way to get them cleaned. A large number of people had to stay here (about 500 rooms between the three). People were complaining about having to sleep on dirty sheets (their own, they went back to their same rooms) or having to move to another theme (mainly from Movies).

People that were due to arrive on the 13th would complain when their room they were promised wasn't available or wasn't held for them to arrive, but instead given to someone that was already there or someone arriving earlier in the day.


GIVE ME A F*@#ing break.


I'm sorry to hear that the tourists are not reacting well to the "adversity" of sleeping in sheets from the night before. If I were you I would have showed them where they could find the sheets and told them to make themselves useful. I guess that's not a very Disney-like response, but neither are their complaints.

Hang in there Turkey. I know it probably doesn't mean much, but my thoughts and some well deserved rep. points are with you. Keep your chin up. :sohappy:
 

MKCustodial

Well-Known Member
Question that's somewhat related to this: is hurricanes, twisters and earthquakes the reason why walls and ceilings in the US (Florida specifically, since that's where I first noticed) are not made of brick and cement but some sort of plaster or whatever that material is? When I was at Vista, I kept wondering why would anyone build a house with walls that you can punch through.
 

Nineinchnailsmk

New Member
This may sound like a dumb answer to the brick question (and I have no idea what im talking about...so please dont get mad ;)) but isnt the land down in florida mostly marsh? I would venture to guess that maybe bricks and cement are too heavy for that type of land?

Just a stab in the dark, im not a contractor lol
 

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
You can add Pixie if you want, I just cant confirm 100%. I'm assuming she is. Tomorrow i'd be able to know for sure, team building excersize and the whatnot...
 

prberk

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MKCustodial said:
Question that's somewhat related to this: is hurricanes, twisters and earthquakes the reason why walls and ceilings in the US (Florida specifically, since that's where I first noticed) are not made of brick and cement but some sort of plaster or whatever that material is? When I was at Vista, I kept wondering why would anyone build a house with walls that you can punch through.

Actually, it is usually not plaster these days, but years ago (like 50+ it was often plaster on the inside). Even brick buildings and walls had plaster interiors, which made it thicker, but I think in the beginning was largely for the purpose of making a much smoother wall and one perhaps that could be easily decorated or nailed into.

These days the interior walls are actually sheetrock (a prefab sort of wall that is layered with paper on the outside and chalky stuff on the inside). The whole sheet of sheetrock is nailed up on studs (wood beams in most residential homes) that form the frame of the house. Steel beams usually hold up commercial buildings. The outside wall is built on the other side of the beams, with brick or whatever materials they wish to use.

This type of construction is good because it allows a space between the outside wall and the inside wall. That space is used for putting wiring or duct work or piping through the house, and then the rest filled with soft material for insulation. It saves on heat and A/C bills, because the heat or A/C doesn't easily pass through the wall and escape.

It helps in a lot of ways. But the wall's strength is in the studs and/or outer brick, not necessarily in the sheetrock.

But, you know, when it comes to hurricanes, sometimes even the strongest don't survive!

Hope this helps.

Paul
 

TURKEY

New Member
prberk said:
Actually, it is usually not plaster these days, but years ago (like 50+ it was often plaster on the inside). Even brick buildings and walls had plaster interiors, which made it thicker, but I think in the beginning was largely for the purpose of making a much smoother wall and one perhaps that could be easily decorated or nailed into.

These days the interior walls are actually sheetrock (a prefab sort of wall that is layered with paper on the outside and chalky stuff on the inside). The whole sheet of sheetrock is nailed up on studs (wood beams in most residential homes) that form the frame of the house. Steel beams usually hold up commercial buildings. The outside wall is built on the other side of the beams, with brick or whatever materials they wish to use.

This type of construction is good because it allows a space between the outside wall and the inside wall. That space is used for putting wiring or duct work or piping through the house, and then the rest filled with soft material for insulation. It saves on heat and A/C bills, because the heat or A/C doesn't easily pass through the wall and escape.

It helps in a lot of ways. But the wall's strength is in the studs and/or outer brick, not necessarily in the sheetrock.

But, you know, when it comes to hurricanes, sometimes even the strongest don't survive!

Hope this helps.

Paul


Also because it's cheap. Don't forget that.
 
Hi guys,

The wife and I finally made it back from Florida!!! YEAH!!! We are all fine! Had to spend more money than we wanted, but that is okay. Disney was kind enough to let everyone use the parks for FREE on Friday for 5 hours!!!! I thought that was really nice of them. They also gave everyone that had checked out of CBR and hurricane rate once they checked back in. That rate was $105/night. :rolleyes: All in all, it wasn't too bad. We were actually ready to come home.
 

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
I am glad to hear that everyone is ok. I hope that none of you have sustained any major damages and that your lives get beck to normal ASAP. I can't even imagine the disaster there. The worst I have seen up here in the Northeast is a bad Nor-Easter that has 30+ MPH winds and 4' feet of snow.

My wife's aunt and family are in Port Charolette. We have tried to contact them and have not been able to reach them. So far they have not contacted any family up here yet and we are getting very concerned. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do right now. We will hopefully hear something today.
 

MKCustodial

Well-Known Member
prberk said:
Actually, it is usually not plaster these days, but years ago (like 50+ it was often plaster on the inside). Even brick buildings and walls had plaster interiors, which made it thicker, but I think in the beginning was largely for the purpose of making a much smoother wall and one perhaps that could be easily decorated or nailed into.

These days the interior walls are actually sheetrock (a prefab sort of wall that is layered with paper on the outside and chalky stuff on the inside). The whole sheet of sheetrock is nailed up on studs (wood beams in most residential homes) that form the frame of the house. Steel beams usually hold up commercial buildings. The outside wall is built on the other side of the beams, with brick or whatever materials they wish to use.

This type of construction is good because it allows a space between the outside wall and the inside wall. That space is used for putting wiring or duct work or piping through the house, and then the rest filled with soft material for insulation. It saves on heat and A/C bills, because the heat or A/C doesn't easily pass through the wall and escape.

It helps in a lot of ways. But the wall's strength is in the studs and/or outer brick, not necessarily in the sheetrock.

But, you know, when it comes to hurricanes, sometimes even the strongest don't survive!

Hope this helps.

Paul


Very interesting. And it also makes a lot of sense on the AC/heating part. We don't have central AC down here on most regular residential houses, and there's no need for heating. But the whole "crawlspace" inside walls for plumbing, wiring etc. must be real handy if you gotta fix anything. Down here it's brick and cement, and before smoothing the walls (and later paint them) you gotta carve the paths for plumbing and the ducts in which go the wiring. Earthquakes would definately be bad with a heavi roof over your head (there's a slab of concrete and wiring, then the roof structure over it), but I have no idea what'd happen during a twister or hurricane. We had a freak tropical storm/hurricane down south this year, and it made a lot of damage.
 

JJHale

Active Member
Brent - The insensitivity of some people astounds me. You would think they would open their eyes and look around them, maybe then they would see how fortunate they are to be alive, must less on vacation.

We were due to begin our vacation Saturday morning. Having a very early flight out we all went to bed early, got up at four in the morning and headed to the airport, unaware that Charley had slammed Central Forida head on. Our first inkling of the true devastation was at the ticket counter where we were told our flight was delayed due to damage at MCO. The real story unfolded over the course of the morning as our flight was delayed again and finally cancelled. Soon all thoughts of our vacation vanished and were replaced by horror and concern for the people affected as we slowly became aware of the devastation Charley had left behind.

I keep checking this thread as often as possible to get updates on all the members and their families. We will keep you all in our thoughts and prayers.
 
I just got back from my trip. We did WDW (amazing as usual) then a cruise, so I missed being in the actual storm as I was in the caribbean. On the way back from port canavaral, however, I saw a lot of damage--downed trees, metal trim torn from buildings...When I got to the airport, the guy checking us in told us he still had no power. The worst thing I saw was the MCO airport itself. Walking through the terminal, my first thought was that they were doing some sort of construction. Then I realized there was a hurricane. There were puddles of water everywhere with cracked up ceiling tiles exposing the "guts" of the airport. It smelled like wet cement in there because of this. Some of the lights were flickering too. They closed some restaurants and check-in desks also.

My Aunt was in the world when I was on the cruise and was supposed to leave for home on friday. She said it was chaos. No planes were allowed to fly out. People were scrambling for rental cars. When they closed this too, she got scared and contacted a airport offical and he told her she could take a taxi to get away. She did and paid $360 to do so. I hope all goes well for everyone that had to experience this.
 

prberk

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
PhilharMagician said:
My wife's aunt and family are in Port Charolette. We have tried to contact them and have not been able to reach them. So far they have not contacted any family up here yet and we are getting very concerned. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do right now. We will hopefully hear something today.


My thoughts and prayers are also with you and the family. As Tigsmom said, be sure to let us know.

As for me, it is not storm related, but I found out yesterday that my 31-year-old cousin fell dead yesterday of a massive heart attack (they say he did not suffer, or even know what hit him); and his dad's heart acted up as he tried to revive his son. It was all very sad, but the extended family all came together throughout the day, and lifted one another up through our faith and love.

More than anything, it reminded me that time and life are precious; and I think reading this thread all weekend has done the same thing. Even though we know this in our hearts, sometimes we get busy with "the same old, same old" and forget. One more reason that I shake my head reading above about the inconsiderate actions of some of the rude tourists. We must all take care to consider others, and sometimes we need reminding, even on "vacation."

Paul
 

Wckd Queen

New Member
prberk said:
My thoughts and prayers are also with you and the family. As Tigsmom said, be sure to let us know.

As for me, it is not storm related, but I found out yesterday that my 31-year-old cousin fell dead yesterday of a massive heart attack (they say he did not suffer, or even know what hit him); and his dad's heart acted up as he tried to revive his son. It was all very sad, but the extended family all came together throughout the day, and lifted one another up through our faith and love.

More than anything, it reminded me that time and life are precious; and I think reading this thread all weekend has done the same thing. Even though we know this in our hearts, sometimes we get busy with "the same old, same old" and forget. One more reason that I shake my head reading above about the inconsiderate actions of some of the rude tourists. We must all take care to consider others, and sometimes we need reminding, even on "vacation."

Paul

Paul, I am so sorry to hear this. Thoughts and prayers with you and your family.

I think that people tend to forget so easily. Same weekend last summer and most of the Northeast was blacked out for many hours. I wonder if any of those tourists were affected by that and if so, how they could possibly forget what it was like to be without power for HOURS on one of the hottest days of the year?
 

GoofyFan1

Active Member
prberk said:
My thoughts and prayers are also with you and the family. As Tigsmom said, be sure to let us know.

As for me, it is not storm related, but I found out yesterday that my 31-year-old cousin fell dead yesterday of a massive heart attack (they say he did not suffer, or even know what hit him); and his dad's heart acted up as he tried to revive his son. It was all very sad, but the extended family all came together throughout the day, and lifted one another up through our faith and love.

More than anything, it reminded me that time and life are precious; and I think reading this thread all weekend has done the same thing. Even though we know this in our hearts, sometimes we get busy with "the same old, same old" and forget. One more reason that I shake my head reading above about the inconsiderate actions of some of the rude tourists. We must all take care to consider others, and sometimes we need reminding, even on "vacation."

Paul


I'm very sorry for your loss. My, as well as my family's, prayers are with you.
 

General Grizz

New Member
prberk said:
My thoughts and prayers are also with you and the family. As Tigsmom said, be sure to let us know.

As for me, it is not storm related, but I found out yesterday that my 31-year-old cousin fell dead yesterday of a massive heart attack (they say he did not suffer, or even know what hit him); and his dad's heart acted up as he tried to revive his son. It was all very sad, but the extended family all came together throughout the day, and lifted one another up through our faith and love.

More than anything, it reminded me that time and life are precious; and I think reading this thread all weekend has done the same thing. Even though we know this in our hearts, sometimes we get busy with "the same old, same old" and forget. One more reason that I shake my head reading above about the inconsiderate actions of some of the rude tourists. We must all take care to consider others, and sometimes we need reminding, even on "vacation."

Paul
Paul, I am sorry to hear this. :( Your cousin and family are in my prayers. May God comfort you all and bring your cousin to His Kingdom.

God bless.
 

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