Was there any damage to WDW with the storms?

[PhotoDave219]

Well, after thinking this over, I don't think I will be going to any theme park in Central Florida if the local news says the potential for a Tornado exists. It would most likely be a cold and rainy day anyways. Off to build my bomb shelter now! Have a great day! :wave:

No, more like hot and muggy with cold air behind it. It was in the 80's and then dropped into the 50's after the front moved through. Either way, the mid-west has a far, far greater risk of a catostrophic tornado then Cent FL does any day of the week.

Last time something like this happened was 9 years ago (this week) when 46 people were killed in Kissimmee when multiple tornadoes swept through there.

 

[hokielutz]

All WDW buildings are built to withstand F5 winds - It's part of RCID's EPCOT building codes.

As should be expected... Here's hoping that WDW continues to have good luck with weather in the future

 

[PhotoDave219]

Once again, no building can withstand 300+ mile-per-hour winds. Not unless you want to hand this over to mythbusters.....

 

[jmvd20]

Once again, no building can withstand 300+ mile-per-hour winds. Not unless you want to hand this over to mythbusters.....

That'd be a good one for them, and as a plus they could blow up the debris field at the end of the show.

 

[WDW Monorail]

The main difference between a Cat5 and an F5 is that a hurricane is very expansive and therefore it's wind speeds remain much lower than those of a tornado.
On the other hand, a tornado is much smaller and its wind speed is concentrated to a very small area compared to a hurricane.

Someone mentioned that all WDW buildings are built to withstand an F5. What this poster probably means is that the structure of the building is supposed to last. The windows and roof may be lifted but not the actual structure.

 

[goofntink]

No damage to the Mouse house, and fortunately no damage to our house. We live in Orange City ,2.6 miles from where the tornado came through Deland and destroyed the plaza where the Volusia County Health Dept was located.

 

[marni1971]

This opens a really interesting discussion. WHAT would Disney do if there was a tornado touchdown just a few miles west of the Magic Kingdom heading east towards it in the middle of the day? You might suggest they would be taken into the tunnels below... but what about the other parks? What if the tornado was headed directly at AK, the Studios, World Showcase?

As mentioned above, the EPCOT codes specify specific buildings (not just the structure) to withstand an F5 Hurricane - note the specific. Look at the Horizons problems during its destruction; it did not want to come down. Wonders of Life is a good example too; the theatres and Simulator areas are F5 Spec, the dome isn`t. Energy is; away from the preshow area. The Diorama is a specified shelter. Innoventions (Communicore) was built to stand up in a F5, but due to the glass walls can`t be used as a shelter. It`s basement and access tunnels however can, as can Computer Central. Same for The Land and Imagination; the areas with glass (attrium, upper Lobby) are danger zones; the theatres and internal spaces are shelters.

I`m sure World Showcase has an equal share of areas around the pavilions where the buildings are designated shelters; perhaps that is one reason why half of Rhine River was built in Germany when it was unusable for the attraction.

In June 2001 a funnel dropped over Futureworld without touching down thank god; I watched it from the Caribbean Beach (couldn`t see the funnel in the clouds which had a base of less than 50ft - we found out later what happened) - the park went into Emmergency Plan C, though the buildings may not survive a direct hit from a strong tornado it`s surely better for the vast majority to be in a shelter - chances of all buildings being hit are minimal, and I`d rather be indoors than in a debris field.

The other parks are the same; the MK obviously has an advantage, though built to the EPCOT code, but DAK and The Studios all have designated shelter buildings. Another example is Dinosaur; the CTX show building was designed as a shelter. The attraction will be cascaded, power disconnected and work lights turned on. Guests inside will remain inside. Guests in the queue and building vicinity will be brought into the show building.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Last time something like this happened was 9 years ago (this week) when 46 people were killed in Kissimmee when multiple tornadoes swept through there.

Ah, I remember when those happened --- USF wound up delaying Twister... Ride It Out's opening because of them.

 

[jmvd20]

Big difference between an F-5 and a category 5. One is a hurricane, one is a tornado.

I have personally seen structures designed to withstand a category 5 hurricane that were damaged beyond repair by a borderline category 4 storm (Katrina, Ivan).

Fact of the matter is that codes are great, however sometimes lab studies and the real world are 2 completely different things.

Unfortunately the construction industry must learn from disasters, and every tornado, hurricane etc... can at least teach us how to better prepare and build structures for the next one.

As far as an F-5 tornado, god help anyone caught in that, even with a shelter "designed" to withstand it.