Trip Ruined by Hurricane/Storm?

[ynahtebwdw]

Having always visited WDW in early-mid August, I am slightly freaking out over the possibility of our next trip being ruined by a storm as we're going in mid September. Wondering if anyone has had a trip completely washed out or ruined because of a storm or hurricane? By ruined I mean parks closed, rides down etc. to the point where plans go out the window

 

[Tuvalu]

@samantha788
@LeighM

 

[DisneyRoy]

Having always visited WDW in early-mid August, I am slightly freaking out over the possibility of our next trip being ruined by a storm as we're going in mid September. Wondering if anyone has had a trip completely washed out or ruined because of a storm or hurricane? By ruined I mean parks closed, rides down etc. to the point where plans go out the window

We went during the hurricane this last fall when they closed the parks on that Friday. I would hardly say that the trip was ruined because of it. Sidetracked and inconvenienced a little...sure. But far from ruined. It was interesting actually. We went to Epcot the day before and the park was empty as everyone was getting ready. As we left the park when it closed it was eerily empty. The next day we just hung in our room for a while watching Disney movies with the little one until the outdoor ban was lifted. Then we walked around the resort and got some lunch. The pool reopened eventually and Disney Springs later in the day for dinner. Then the next day everything reopened as normal. It made for a story to tell and a different kind of vacation. But again...far from ruined.

 

[Minnie Mum]

Because Orlando isn't on the coast, a direct hit by a hurricane is rare. The likelihood of one impacting your stay is very, very low. We've visited several times during September, and never worried about a hurricane.

Now thunderstorms or afternoon rains are another story. Those are very common, but are usually localized and quite short in duration. Certainly, they didn't impact us - they usually rolled thru as we were taking our resort rest break - we'd come out of our room and find wet pavement.

 

[samantha788]

I second everything @DisneyRoy said above. Our experience was very similar. We didn't have many set plans for the trip, with the exception of the Friday the parks were closed, of course that would happen. That made things frustrating, but the parks were accommodating and we were refunded for the dinner we missed immediately. We took advantage of an empty EPCOT the Thursday before the parks were closed as well which was probably the highlight of the trip. It was pouring but we had a blast running around!
The fastpasses we had missed on Friday and couldn't rebook for Saturday, they gave us with no problem when we asked.
It was only the 4th time they've closed, so I wouldn't let the possibility of a hurricane scare you away from going during the fall.
We love Disney World in the fall and it was an experience to be there in a hurricane! Also comforting knowing that your safety is their number one priority.

 

[jaklgreen]

We went during the hurricane this last fall when they closed the parks on that Friday. I would hardly say that the trip was ruined because of it. Sidetracked and inconvenienced a little...sure. But far from ruined. It was interesting actually. We went to Epcot the day before and the park was empty as everyone was getting ready. As we left the park when it closed it was eerily empty. The next day we just hung in our room for a while watching Disney movies with the little one until the outdoor ban was lifted. Then we walked around the resort and got some lunch. The pool reopened eventually and Disney Springs later in the day for dinner. Then the next day everything reopened as normal. It made for a story to tell and a different kind of vacation. But again...far from ruined.

I flew out the day before that storm. My flight just made it out since they cancelled all flight from 5pm on. The airport was dead.

 

[chrisbarry]

We were there when Charley came blasting right through back in '04. We were at the French Quarter. They shut all the parks down around 12-1 and sent all guests back to their hotels. Considering that everyone was back in the hotels in the middle of the day, things went quite well for us. There were characters doing meet and greets in the hotel lobby. Classic Disney animated films were running simultaneously on one of those open Disney channels on the TV's in your room. They came out to the food court and handed out free granola bars and snacks to families. We bought Haunted Mansion Clue and another arts and crafts type thing to keep my daughter busy. She was 6 at the time.

Charley came through pretty fiercely that night. Strong winds. Crazy rain. Door shaking quite a bit. We were on the third floor of the French Quarter. The next day we were out and about and spent the afternoon in a pretty empty Epcot!! The riverboats at Port Orleans weren't running due to debris in the water. Some attractions and restaurants were closed mostly because of staff inability to get there.
But all things considered, it was just fine. We actually got into breakfast at Cinderella's for the first and only time the next day because they were so many cancellations from people unable to get there. We got that tip from someone on the Disney bus. They did the same thing. We literally walked right up and got in! Hate to say we benefitted from someone else's misery…but hey, we weren't going to say no to that!

Here's the ultimate thing I can tell you about a hurricane at Disney. First of all, it is very rare considering how far inland you actually are. But in the case of Charley, which pretty much cut right through Walt Disney World, consider this story. My cousin who lives in Orlando called our cellphone the day after Charley hit. He had no power at his home. Neither did his wife's job, nor his job, nor either of the kid's schools. Disney was having no such problems, so he booked a room at Animal Kingdom Lodge for a few nights and came to hang out with us instead! Disney was up and running! So, we spent a lot of time in the room that one afternoon and night, but other than that…it was just fine. More than fine actually. We'll never forget that trip. Disney went above and beyond and took great care of us. Nowhere near ruined and Charley was essentially a direct hit.

 

[belledream]

Also there during Charley. Even in the less-than-ideal situations, Disney made our experience unique and memorable. Don't fret too much and just enjoy the days leading up to your trip! The whole trip goes by too fast.

 

[Capsin4]

I've always been more worried about flights being cancelled/backed up on the east coast and not getting to FL due to a hurricane than getting hit by a storm once there. I monitor the atlantic for weeks leading up to an aug/sep trip and have left early to dodge them a couple times. The one mid Sep trip we took was the only time we saw no rain at all.

 

[TwisterMomma]

In 2012 we were there during a Tropical Depression. It wasn't too bad...just a HUGE amount of rain. We had ponchos and went to the parks anyway. They weren't crowded at all, so it was kind of nice.

That was the trip my poncho flew off on Space Mountain and shut down the entire ride during extra magic hours...whoops.

 

[LeighM]

I was there for Matthew in October. Like others have said the trip wasn't ruined - just caused major disappointment. They closed the parks early on Thursday and closed all day Friday. It was the end of our trip and our Ohana anniversary dinner was cancelled and was unable to change our resort to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Total bummer but not even close to ruined. They were able to accommodate us at Riverside even though we did not have a reservation for Friday night, they refunded us the price difference, as well as the unused table service credits on our dining plan. The arcades at our resort were free for the day and they had character meet and greets in the lobby. They opened up parts of Disney Springs on Friday after all threats had passed. The other minor irritation was that the Resort Airline Check in at the resorts were closed so we had to take all of our luggage with us on the bus and go to the airline counter to check in. We decided to take an earlier bus to beat all of the crowds at the airport and it worked out great. When we went in August 2012, there was a hurricane in the Gulf that caused WDW to get a lot of rain. We stayed in our room until the heaviest rain band passed over us then we went to the park to enjoy a few hours of relatively crowd free time. I had more fun at WDW during the hurricane than I ever have during a hurricane at home that's for sure. And the resorts are some of the safest places to be...

 

[ynahtebwdw]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I guess what happens, happens, and there's no point worrying about it otherwise the holiday really will be ruined!

 

[LAKid53]

Because Orlando isn't on the coast, a direct hit by a hurricane is rare. The likelihood of one impacting your stay is very, very low. We've visited several times during September, and never worried about a hurricane.

Now thunderstorms or afternoon rains are another story. Those are very common, but are usually localized and quite short in duration. Certainly, they didn't impact us - they usually rolled thru as we were taking our resort rest break - we'd come out of our room and find wet pavement.

2004 might disagree - Charlie, Frances and Jeanne. It does happen...

 

[LAKid53]

August and September are the most active months in the 6 month hurricane season (June - November). If you are concerned, I'd suggest purchasing trip insurance, especially if you will be flying in.

The only time a hurricane ruined my trip was last September when Hermine blew through town just after midnight the day we were to leave for Uni. Ended up not going....and was without power for 6 days.

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

In 2015 we went September 12-18 and only had one day of rain. I wouldn't worry too much about the weather, if it happens to rain just try to make the best of it since you have already spent the money. A rainy trip to WDW is much better than a rainy day at home.

 

[DBF John]

Had a MNSSHP washed out by Tropical Storm Julia.

 

[Minnie Mum]

2004 might disagree - Charlie, Frances and Jeanne. It does happen...

I didn't say hurricanes never affected WDW. I said it happened rarely. WDW has closed due to weather exactly four times. In 46 years. That's an average of once every 11.5 years. Given those odds, I'll continue going in Sept as usual.

 

[LeighM]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I guess what happens, happens, and there's no point worrying about it otherwise the holiday really will be ruined!

Exactly! Just know that if a hurricane does hit while you're there, you're in really good Disney hands. At Riverside, they passed out small flashlights to all of the rooms in case we lost power. Some of the services might be cut or reduced because staff can't get there but the ones there go above and beyond. Just be nice to the staff I think one reason we had such a good experience with getting the reimbursements (which they were not required to do) is because we were very nice about the entire situation. The resort employees were not allowed to go home and had to stay there for 48 hours and rotated sleep shifts. They were stressed being away from their own homes and families. So many guests we overheard while in line were extremely rude and demanding.

 

[thomas998]

Having always visited WDW in early-mid August, I am slightly freaking out over the possibility of our next trip being ruined by a storm as we're going in mid September. Wondering if anyone has had a trip completely washed out or ruined because of a storm or hurricane? By ruined I mean parks closed, rides down etc. to the point where plans go out the window

We've been several times during the peak hurricane season and aside from the random mid afternoon shows and thunder storms never had a trip ruined. On occasion a ride will get shut down but it doesn't normally impact all the rides or enough that it would ruin the trip. Closest we ever had to a ruined trip was in DL when we had the misfortune of having it pretty much rain the entire time we were there and we weren't prepared for rain because we foolishly thought that it rarely rained in southern California... So the only thing you need to do is prepare for an occasional downpour.... But rarely does the park ever actually completely close. It's probably happened a day in the past 10 years.

 

[BackOTheLine]

We were there end of August/beginning of September last year. We got the tail end of this girl.

We got wet but it certainly didn't ruin the trip. In fact got a great view the fireworks on the night it started coming through. Just had to wade through 8 inches of swirling water to get to it...