Tropical Depression Nine impact to Walt Disney World

[JohnD]

This is what I'm hoping as well. We arrive Friday night and head back home Sunday morning. Hopefully it will be clear skies by Saturday!

"Jax" as in Jacksonville? I'm a native of Jacksonville.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I currently live very close to WDW, fingers crossed that this doesn't end up being a big deal.

 

[worldfanatic]

Flying in Wednesday night.
Absolutely STOKED!
Love rain & weather.
And the best part is that my wife, who hates rain & storms, flies in Friday night.
Sounds like this won't be a serious threat to property & life in Central Florida, so BRING IT ON!!!!!!

 

[Siren]

OMG! I saw this on the news.

Do you think it will do any damage to the property?

No. Just be prepared for a lot of rain off and on.

How often does the Orlando Airport close? I am flying in on Thursday, not sure what to expect with delays and cancellations.

Don't worry, keep your plans and just be prepared to make adjustments as needed.

We were at WDW during Tropical Storm Faye -- our flight was scheduled to arrive the same morning that TS Faye hit Orlando. It was actually categorized as a hurricane but got substantially weaker and was downgraded to a TS, as it reached the mainland and further inland.

I just remember sitting Indian style on my suitcase while eating a bowl of Lucky Charms and talking on the phone all night because everyone was calling me about the hurricane and telling me to cancel because everything at Disney was going to be closed.

And, I was totally freaked out by watching the storm on the news -- all they showed were super strong winds blowing the reporters away and all the palm trees were bent down and heavy rain with massive waves crashing the beaches and everywhere was dark and gray.

My flight was with Delta at 6 am that morning but everyone around us kept insisting that we cancel our trip. So, I called Delta and cancelled, but the reservationist told me that everything on their radar was fine and advised us to just take the next available flight at 10:00 am.

So, I watched the 6 am flight -- there were no delays and the plane landed in Orlando early with no problems. Then, I called Disney -- the CM laughed and said it was bright and sunny there and that Disney wasn't really in Orlando and what I was seeing on the news wasn't accurate at all. So, we hopped on the next flight and sure enough there was nothing but blue skies and sunshine!

We enjoyed most of the day but later that evening it poured rain off and on. We just purchased Disney ponchos and wore crocs because there was so much rain -- none of the rides were closed because of the rain, and there were absolutely no lines that week. A few rides shut down temporarily for lightning but that was rare. I have actually experienced more lightning closures on subsequent trips with no hurricane threat.

Also, all of our Disney ponchos kept tearing that year and Disney replaced them every time for free. I think we went through about four of them. LOL.

The MSEP parade was cancelled one night due to lightning but Disney still put on Wishes in the rain! We were at the Poly and just had an amazing time. The storm had cleared out by the middle of our trip and I was wishing that it would come back because it got super humid and hot and the crowds and lines returned!

So again, try not to worry and have a great trip!

 

[Cartoons626]

We will be flying out next week, should I be worried?

 

[Donillary Crumpton]

Do you think it will do any damage to the property?

It depends on which forecast model you look at. While most are indicating only rain & wind of little to no significance, one forecast in particular speculates the Streets of America region could be a total mess, if not lost altogether.

 

[Bacon]

We will be flying out next week, should I be worried?

No not at all! Worse is that there will be heavy wind and rain. Bring a poncho or a umbrella

It depends on which forecast model you look at. While most are indicating only rain & wind of little to no significance, one forecast in particular speculates the Streets of America region could be a total mess, if not lost altogether.

I know this is a joke, But please don't scare people they might think that muppets (that holds nostalgia in many including myself) will just knock down.

Same here. Staying for a long weekend.

Good! It looks like TDN will be in the ocean by then. Have a magical time!

 

[Cartoons626]

No not at all! Worse is that there will be heavy wind and rain. Bring a poncho or a umbrella

Ponchos already packed Thank you

 

[KLeigh]

My friends and I are visiting 9/5-13 — just missing the storm, but looks like we'll probably still be seeing some rain. We loaded up on ponchos and packed some weather-approved shoes just in case. It's still going to be a great vacation even if we're soaking wet!

 

[erwinalber4]

How often does the Orlando Airport close? I am flying in on Thursday, not sure what to expect with delays and cancellations.

I worked at United and Delta in Reservations over the phone. There is usually an Exception Policy in place a few days prior so check your airline's website or call beforehand. The exception policy generally waives your change fee and allows you to reschedule your trip. An actual cancellation may not come till the day of departure. If it is cancelled you will be reaccomodated on the next available flight. This can be anywhere from the day of to several days depending on how many passengers have scheduled flights on future flights. Call asap from the time of cancellation to get the earliest flight.

 

[GhostHost1000]

beginning to look like it may be taking a more northern Florida hit above Orlando... these things change however (including the size of the squall lines) hopefully it'll be minimal impact and short lived

 

[FullSailDan]

A couple of corrections...

The Florida building code has improved a good bit but the 2004/2005 hurricane season did not have a great deal to do with it. Andrew in 1992 gets the lion share of the credit for starting the change.

The entire state of Florida was brought under a unified building code in 2002-2004. Up until that point, each county had their own code. It is amended and revised on a continuous basis.

The most notable changes in around 2007 +/- related to storm resistance were involving windows. In particular, how they were tested and certified.

The metal rods you spoke of are just one of a number of approved wall tie down methods. They do not go several feet into the foundation as most monolithic slab footers are only 16"-20" deep on average. They are embed between 7"-9" into the footer and held in with a 2 part epoxy. The top is held onto the wall top plate with either a single or double nut.

Prior to threaded rod and cable system, embedded J bolts were the most common way to hold down the wall for wood construction. They are still used to this day and are approved for use under the current FBC.

Once you get above the walls, all framing and trusses must also be held down with approved hurricane clips, but this is nothing new. Hurricane clips have been apart of nearly every counties code in the state of Florida since well before the 2000 rewrite.

While CMU homes are more popular from about central Florida and down, wood frame is still the most popular by far. About 90% of what I see is wood framed. Either way, both have to be designed to withstand the same forces.

Wow thanks for the write up! I learned a lot. What I knew before was just what the builders were telling us about 2 years ago when we built.

 

[Seanual757]

The airlines will wait until the very last minute and get the equipment out of Orlando if needed rather than keeping them on the ground. As of today GOAA has no plans to shut down MCO. The expected weather is rain and winds but so far the expected wx is not enough to cancel flights in and out of Orlando.

 

[The Mom]

This is what I'm hoping as well. We arrive Friday night and head back home Sunday morning. Hopefully it will be clear skies by Saturday!

My recollection is that these storms are usually followed by a day or two of nicer weather before going back to hot and sticky.

 

[bethymouse]

We were there during Tropical Storm Colin recently ( June). There was lots of rain and some wind, but overall it wasn't bad.

 

[rodserling27]

We were at WDW during Tropical Storm Faye -- our flight was scheduled to arrive the same morning that TS Faye hit Orlando. It was actually categorized as a hurricane but got substantially weaker and was downgraded to a TS, as it reached the mainland and further inland.

I just remember sitting Indian style on my suitcase while eating a bowl of Lucky Charms and talking on the phone all night because everyone was calling me about the hurricane and telling me to cancel because everything at Disney was going to be closed.

And, I was totally freaked out by watching the storm on the news -- all they showed were super strong winds blowing the reporters away and all the palm trees were bent down and heavy rain with massive waves crashing the beaches and everywhere was dark and gray.

My flight was with Delta at 6 am that morning but everyone around us kept insisting that we cancel our trip. So, I called Delta and cancelled, but the reservationist told me that everything on their radar was fine and advised us to just take the next available flight at 10:00 am.

So, I watched the 6 am flight -- there were no delays and the plane landed in Orlando early with no problems. Then, I called Disney -- the CM laughed and said it was bright and sunny there and that Disney wasn't really in Orlando and what I was seeing on the news wasn't accurate at all. So, we hopped on the next flight and sure enough there was nothing but blue skies and sunshine!

We enjoyed most of the day but later that evening it poured rain off and on. We just purchased Disney ponchos and wore crocs because there was so much rain -- none of the rides were closed because of the rain, and there were absolutely no lines that week. A few rides shut down temporarily for lightning but that was rare. I have actually experienced more lightning closures on subsequent trips with no hurricane threat.

Also, all of our Disney ponchos kept tearing that year and Disney replaced them every time for free. I think we went through about four of them. LOL.

The MSEP parade was cancelled one night due to lightning but Disney still put on Wishes in the rain! We were at the Poly and just had an amazing time. The storm had cleared out by the middle of our trip and I was wishing that it would come back because it got super humid and hot and the crowds and lines returned!

So again, try not to worry and have a great trip!

Great advice and good story. Except! Tropical Storm Faye was 2008, so it would have been SpectroMagic and not MSEP that was cancelled during your trip.

I'm driving down to WDW from Delaware early Friday morning...hoping to not run into too much trouble with this storm, especially on I-95 along the east coast of GA and FL...

 

[bunnyman]

I was there on property for Hurricane Charlie. Even with the parks closing at like 1pm, the storm came through later in the day and into the night, and by the next day things were opening up, although some with delayed schedules as they had cleaning up to do.

 

[GrumpySue]

They do refunds in the event the party can't happen and for nights that rain non-stop, they do offer tickets for other event nights. The company may be money hungry, but the people who work in the parks themselves have compassion. My party night had the parades canceled and they actually gave my family Christmas tickets since I would be back then.

We had tickets the night Hurricane Wilma was coming through and it was pouring during the whole party and it was open for business, fireworks and all. It was okay though, we were soaking wet but the park was very empty. A lot of people didn't show up, so rides had zero wait times.

 

[GrumpySue]

We were there the last time disney closed/delayed opening in 2005 with Hurricane Wilma. What an experience!

The night before they started closing things down, it was expected to hit in early AM hours- like 2 or 3 AM.
That night you could see everyone scurrying around tying everything down, they put bags under the lights for broken glass, they have cables to previously hidden hooks in the ground for swaying smaller trees, etc.
It was quite interesting and exciting.

We were given hourly updates about when the parks would be opening on our in room phone, and Epcot opened first at about 1 PM I think. Obvioiusly, not all rides, but enough to get us over there! Still quite windy and rainy, but they were open and it cleared quickly.

We were staying at Wilderness Lodge and they brought extra employees in to open Artist's point for a nice sit down breakfast, there were characters in the lobby all morning (amazing how just as one would have to go home- the next different one would arrive a few minutes later, LOL). There were games and adventures in the lobby. It really wasn't a bad experience. And since no one else was silly enough to go the parks in a hurricane, we were able to complete our touring plan even with the shortened day.

As far as the flights, that's a little more disappointing. We obviously knew it was coming and started calling days ahead to our airline. We were told that they tend to get all of their planes out of the area a few days ahead, so expect cancellations even though we were going in a day before it's anticipated arrival.
They will give an "alert" on their website when they decide that your flight may get cancelled and allow you to reschedule to an earlier or later flight without penalty fees.

We were lucky, and if you remember, she stalled over Mexico for a few days, so didn't affect our flight, and didn't hit until our 3 day of the trip. But we had considered flying into Jackson and getting a rental car and driving down if our flight was cancelled. So that's something to consider if you get cancelled. Fly as close as you can get and drive on down!! Nothing will deter a disney trip!!!

OH- PS- DON'T OPEN YOUR SLIDING DOORS TO SEE JUST HOW BAD IT IS OUT THERE. WITH THOSE WINDS WHIPPING, YOU JUST MAY NOT BE ABLE TO GET THE CURTAINS BACK IN TO CLOSE THE DOOR AGAIN. JUST SAYIN'........

We were at the Wilderness Lodge too during Wilma. We were supposed to drive home to NY and decided to wait a few more days for the storm to pass so they extended our stay three nights and when we went to check out they were NO CHARGE !!! What a treat !! The hotel also ran lots of Disney movies in your room to watch overnight. Best part is the next day after the storm blew threw the weather was beautiful, cool and dry for a few days.

 

[LAKid53]

Great advice and good story. Except! Tropical Storm Faye was 2008, so it would have been SpectroMagic and not MSEP that was cancelled during your trip.

I'm driving down to WDW from Delaware early Friday morning...hoping to not run into too much trouble with this storm, especially on I-95 along the east coast of GA and FL...

You just might. Hermione's expected landfall in NW Florida is Thursday evening, early Friday morning. Hopefully you won't be driving through it as the storm winds its way up the coastline.