Tornado in Disney?

[EpcotServo]

But FYI sidenote - in case an animal ever escapes at Animal Kingdom - all guests are to go into the restrooms and lock the doors. Only Animal Kingdom has bathroom doors that locked.

Haven't they seen Jurassic Park?
:lol:

 

[ClemsonTigger]

On 9/11 as soon as it was ascertained that the country was under attack, WDW decided to close its parks immediately.

PAs played a very calm message that gave no inkling as to the horrors of that day just that due to circumstances the given park (they didn't say all parks as from what I was told that might have set off panic) would be closing. There was just a hard close, but no evacuations or anything of that ilk.

I can only imagine how bizarre it must have been, although you can be sure many people were getting calls/texts (did people text back then? I didn't) telling them what was going on.

I do know I visited two weeks later and it was eerie in a way I never would want to experience again.

Imagine being at The Mara at DAK Lodge at 6 p.m. and you are the ONLY guest in there for 40 minutes ... with a good eight CMs waiting on you and bringing extra food and free dessert. It was surreal ... not in a good way. The parks were just empty ... I have never seen EPCOT like that ... you could walk for stretches and not see another guest.

But then on Saturday the MK was packed as locals decided they weren't going to let madmen prevent them from living.

~Did we ever get Osama?~

Phone service (especially cell) was pretty much frozen, particularly on the east coast into the afternoon. Internet access was almost frozen as well. It is unlikely that many would have gotten the news prior to the parks being empty.

 

[sublimesting]

Shows how much you know. The moved those to Epcot years ago.

Right...I'll bet they built a basketball court in Matterhorn Mountain too.....

 

[marni1971]

DH saw a funnel cloud at Epcot in June of 01. I was inside checking us in at Garden Grill and DH was outside with the kids and saw it when he looked up--it was way up in the sky rotating--lots of other people looked up at it and a couple of people were filming--then a CM hustled everyone into the Land. By the time I had checked us in it was all gone. Probably a good thing because tornadoes freak me out, while DH (who grew up 1/2 from Xenia, destroyed by a tornado in the 70s) is pretty calm about them.
Robin M.

Freaky spooky.... in June 2001 I videoed a funnel cloud passing over Epcot for Aruba at the CBR. Found out the next day they got everyone into the shelters. Wonder if it was the same one??

For more info on shelters, try a thread search on the topic; we had a big discussion about buildings used, procedures etc. in it :wave:

 

[WDWRLD]

Right...I'll bet they built a basketball court in Matterhorn Mountain too.....

It was only half court though....:lookaroun:lookaroun:lookaroun

There are really alot of safe places to hide in every park. The MK utilidors would be excelent though I could see isues with so many people packed in there and any dammage blocking the stairwells after the storm. I wouldnt trust any of the show buildings as they are merely steel buildings that wont fair well in very high winds. In the case of a tornado I would take my chances with a bridge, the train station at MK, The star tunnel, The pirates unload area, or anywhere else that would be below ground level. I would also feel pretty safe at the Value and Moderate resorts. Those concrete structures would also do well. I would however get to the lowest floor and somewhere near the corners of the building where the concrete mass is largest. If I were to get stuck in a room I would put the matress up against the window and get into the bathroom. The weakest part of these rooms would be the back wall where the sinks are located. If the pressure or inds does break out the windows and increases enough it could in theory blow out that wall and through to the other room. Those walls are not concrete as all the others but rather common steel stud and sheetrock.
All in all you would most likely be safer in Disney then in your own home.

 

[unkadug]

When we took the Keys to the Kingdom tour recently, our guide told us that if magic Kingdom has a tornado, they will evacuate guests to the utilidors. But he also said that this had never been done, so who knows if it is true.

But FYI sidenote - in case an animal ever escapes at Animal Kingdom - all guests are to go into the restrooms and lock the doors. Only Animal Kingdom has bathroom doors that locked.

But if you lock the door, then you are locking out other guests trying to escape the rampaging herd. (oh, the humanity)

I can also picture a land shark knocking on the door, trying to fool you into opening it. :lookaroun

 

[SirGoofy]

I can also picture a land shark knocking on the door, trying to fool you into opening it. :lookaroun

:lol:

 

[One Lil Spark]

:lol:

Candy Gram? :lol:

 

[Duckberg]

"t" @ wdw

Phone service (especially cell) was pretty much frozen, particularly on the east coast into the afternoon. Internet access was almost frozen as well. It is unlikely that many would have gotten the news prior to the parks being empty.

Lucky it did NOT happen, everything back to NORMAL :lookaroun Duckberg :snore: