Just saw it may be hitting close to Orlando Sunday? We fly in that day at noon. Will it affect magical express or anything? Never been anywhere near that type of weather. Thanks for any info.
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Just saw it may be hitting close to Orlando Sunday? We fly in that day at noon. Will it affect magical express or anything? Never been anywhere near that type of weather. Thanks for any info.
First off, it is not a hurricane yet and most reports don't believe it will reach hurricane status.
Next, Sunday is a long ways away and storms of this nature tend to move, sometimes a lot, in a 5 day period.
Next, by the time it gets inland enough to affect Orlando, it will most probably be slightly larger than a 'normal' summer storm in central Florida. 25 - 30 mph winds and relatively heavy rain.
Doubtful that it will affect your Magical Express bus, BUT it may have an effect on when your bags arrive in your room.
I was looking at the national hurricane web site and Dorian is predicted to hit Florida Monday morning as a Major hurricane. I checked the Southwest Airlines website for weather info and Sunday looks ok for flying in but Orlando is set to be hit Monday.
Disney has good plans in place to take care of guests.
We leave on the 8th for WDW via Southwest Air.
If you have questions or concerns I would call your airline and your hotel for more information.
Hope this helps...:mickey:
This is a really tough question this far out. Without any specific facts to back it, it seems like for every 10 storms/hurricanes that "might" be heading to Orlando, 9 of them change course or reduce intensities. But there are some that do hit and are impactful.
We've been through 2 hurricanes of significance at Disney, and both were enough to close the airport and the parks for a couple days. So IF by chance Dorian is a Cat 2 or Cat 3 (the forecast as of this minute) by the weekend and makes a direct hit, your plans might change. What we found with both our experiences is the rooms at Disney are one of the best places you can be to ride out a storm. But since Disney is very respectful of their employees during a serious storm (and allow them time away from work to deal with their own homes and families), most of the services were greatly reduced or shutdown completely for 24-48 hours - and depending on timing, that would certainly impact Magical Express.
Hopefully, this is another one of the many hyped storms that moves north and misses the Atlantic coast completely. But it will probably be an anxious few days for you leading up to your flight. A potential positive for you - if people cancel their trips due to their concerns, and if the storm misses, you might see lower crowds for a couple days! Hope things work out and you have a great trip.
Don't forget your souvenir poncho.
We changed our flight to Saturday early morning. We fly Southwest. Got another night added to our room, so Im hoping all goes well.
Smart idea! Disney will take great care of you! Back in 2004, they had the hurricane preparation down to a science! If the storm is going to affect the WDW area, they will advise you to stock up on supplies that will last you for at least 24 hours. In 2004, white styrofoam coolers magically appeared in the stores for purchase! Lol!
I have been through a hurricane at Disney and know that although Disney does take care of you it is not an easy time. There will only be a “ride through” skeleton staff there. They will not be able to provide many services, they basically just keep things running. There will be very little food service if any at all. Limited supplies in the shops if any. So you will be on your own fror the most part.
Orange County will place a curfew, that Disney has to follow, that does not allow anyone outside or on the roads. This can be well ahead of the storm. For the duration you will have to stay in room, no going out at all and you wouldn’t want to anyway. It can be very boring. It can be quite some time after the storm abates before it’s lifted as damage in the county is fixed (first responders will have the only priority).
Then Disney has to get its staff on site (which may be difficult if their homes or communities have significant damage and/or they were evacuated) to clean up damage on site to make travel on property safe. The parks will have closed well before the storm (for us it was the afternoon before) and may be closed for some time afterwards. It used to be that Disney didn’t necessarily close but with mandatory curfews now a standard by the Sherrif’s department Disney can be expected to close. The hurricane event will be far from a normal time and planning for touring the parks is not necessarily to be expected.
Don't worry, it'll be probably a 1, maybe a 2 by the time it reaches Orlando. Since you are there renting, and its not your property, relax. Have some bottled water and snacks, and you'll be fine. Might have a few books with you.
Hope your trip goes well. I'd echo the advice to bring a few extra books.
As often as we say there's no better place to ride out a hurricane than Disney, the reality is usually less glamorous. When the parks are closed and Orange county has a curfew you're basically confined to your room at the resort. No wandering around the resort grounds or to the game room, no hopping in the car to go out to eat or order in food. Just basic boxed meals from Disney rather than the full food court or restaurant options. And even once it clears it takes the CMs time to reopen the parks.
Agreed - that's a good way to put it. The reality is less glamorous. We spent one hurricane basically locked at the All Star resort for 48 hours until the storms passed and they started making preparations to open the restaurants and eventually the parks. Since we were at a Disney resort, we got very re-acquainted with MANY Disney shows and movies on TV, since we never lost power. You can only watch The Weather Channel so many hours....!!
One thing that surprised us was how full the Disney hotels were - so many people from the coast had come inland to Orlando and filled up any of the hotel rooms that were empty due to cancellations. And that appeared to be true of the Disney resorts and the hotels around Disney and Universal. Lots and lots of rooms around that area.
We are here now. We were supposed to leave Monday but changed our flight to Sunday (flights on Sat and Sun are now sold out). If I were you, I'd push the trip back not forward. Just doesn't make sense to fly down just to spend a couple days in your hotel room (waste of $$$). Not to be rude but why would you fly here when residents are leaving? You can see Disney has already started to being preparations. We are at WL and this morning we noticed groundkeepers preparing. We keep watching the weather on tv and it looks as though it may hit Tuesday into Wednesday. Schools have already been closed.
Just watched the weather - airport is closing incoming flights on Monday and very strong winds expected to start Monday afternoon through Wednesday.
This storm is being quite unpredictable. They have continued to push out the timeframe when it will actually affect central Florida. They have also begun to put the path of the storm further out to sea - which, if that holds true - will be a good thing. Local newscasts warn that this storm will likely be a multi-day event as it is predicted to move very slowly. Right now, I would expect to begin to feel some effects from the storm late on Monday with hurricane conditions potentially continuing though to early Wednesday.
Many gas stations have no gas available and those that do have been seeing long lines. Bottled water is now scarce. I haven't been to a grocery store since Wednesday but I would suspect that other staples - like bread may also be in short supply. This morning's news indicated that many hotels are now filling up with those who are evacuating from coastal areas.
Disney has announced they will be closing the parks early today. Orlando Airport closed yesterday. The storm has lost some of its steam and is currently a category 2. All current predictions keep it off the coast of Florida so the coastline will get the brunt of any damage as it finally passes by us sometime in the next 24 hours or so.