Tropical Storms Bonnie and Charley

[Nascfan]

I'm very pleased to read that all of you cast members and everyone else who's reported in have weathered the storm and are ok.
Meanwhile, laughing at the castle reports! [img]graemlins/laughing.gif[/img]

[Nascfan]

Did I hear correctly that the Spaceship Earth ball blew off and rolled in the lagoon? Gives a whole new meaning to the term water hazard! "I'll play it from here!"

[Main Street Jim]

If Spaceship Earth were indeed a real golf ball, Mickey'd have to be a mile and a half tall

[alittle figment of your imagination]

Originally posted by drummerboy:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Main Street Jim:
[QB]We got the Castle put back together today...LOL...not really, it was never taken down, and never has been. Just kidding folks!/QB]

Come on, Jim, we all know the castle is built on a giant hydraulic lift that takes it underground in a storm. </font>[/QUOTE]Funny, I had always thought the castle was an hologram

[casper]

Just got back from six nights - 3 @ WL and the last 3 @ the Dolphin, so yes we were there through Charlie. I have to commend Disney and the hotels for managing to run their operations so smoothly during this period. As vacationers we appreciated the effort it took to make our stay so magical in spite of the disaster. The gesture of making the day they closed early a 'free' day for resort guests with tickets was amazing. It meant that we were at the parks that day until one, went back to Boardwalk for a bit to witness everyone buying food for the night, and then returned to the Dolphin for the night. We had to cancel our PS at Boma, but enjoyed a light dinner at the Dolphin and went down later on in the night for a sundae. The next day, it was business as usual. Parks opened on time (no early day) and were cleaned of all debris. The cast members were smiling and friendly as usual. We realize the effort that took since many of them were in homes that were damaged and were w/o electricity or water.
Thanks and kudos to Disney for managing to make our vacation a magical one in spite of the curve thrown by Mother Nature. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[starbell]

Hi everyone, I am new to these boards, and I am hoping someone can help me out:

My boyfriend & I have had a trip to Walt Disney World planned for several months. Our flight is scheduled to arrive in Orlando on Monday, August 23, and we will be there for 1 week.

Due to the tragic natural disaster, we are now worried about whether or not we will be able to follow through with our trip and were wondering if someone could advise us on this.

Was Orlando/WDW affected very much by Charley? and is this just an improper time to visit? or do you think we can still have an enjoyable time there?

Please help! Thanks in advance [img]smile.gif[/img]

*starbell [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[SallyP]

[img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img] Welcome to Intercot Starbell [img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img]

Based on everything I've read on this board and in the newspapers I would say Come on over! The airport is fully operational, Disney skipped a heartbeat and now is operational. People in the area need the visitors for their livelhood. Most of the Cast Members that live in the area are reporting for work and I think they value the return to normalcy. They are looking forward to your visit.

You might be interested in reading this thread about the same concerns:
Feeling Guilty

[ August 18, 2004, 07:15 AM: Message edited by: SallyP ]

[Howdy Partner]

Welcome to intercot starbell,
Please dont change your plans everything is fine at Walt Disney World , while the Orlando area had storm damage it will not affect your trip. You will have a great time!

The worst of the storm was towards the Gulf.
my dad went to florida monday after learing my grandma's house was pretty much destroyed, lost the entire roof. and all of my grandma's rental mobile homes were destroyed, my dad said the devestation there is unreal.
But again WDW is fine please go and have fun [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[SC RacerX70]

My storm report after being offline since Friday the 13th.. We made our preparations in advance of Charley, and secured a reservation at the Poly for evacuating like we did for Georges in 1998. Seeing how at the time, he was "only" a Cat2 storm, we decided to stay, cancelled our ressie (to free up the room for somebody who actually NEEDED it), and waited for what was going to be (we thought) not such a bad storm. I never in all my years of following hurricanes (one of my hobbys in addition to WDW) had ever seen a storm intensify from a mid Cat2 to strong Cat4 storm in under two hours...ever.
Cape Coral was hit hard yes, but spared, trust me... We were watching the storm track on a battery powered TV after the power went out, and the track was on a heading directly through the center of Cape Coral and right up the Caloosahatchee River.. Charley was 16 miles off Sanibel Island when he made a jog to the west, which spared us, but took the track right up Charlotte Harbor. Punta Gorda is reported to be 80% destroyed according to local media reports. Those TV shots of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte would have been Cape Coral otherwise.... as it is, the southwestern portion of the Cape was the hardest hit (haven't been out there yet...staying out of people's way, plus I've got my own things to deal with), as it was closest to the eyewall winds. Bokeelia and Pine Island were slammed pretty hard (the eye passed over Bokeelia), with Upper Captiva Island now cut in half (400 yard channel separating the halves). In the 48 hours after Charley, things were crazy with long lines at the gas stations open (fistfights breaking out in gas lines everywhere...::shakes head: [img]smile.gif[/img] ...ice and water being non-existant for a time, and power out everywhere.. I was fortunate to have power restored within 18 hours (living near the hospital is an advantage I suppose), but as of right now, my mother's place in North Ft Myers is still without power, we have friends staying with us who are without power (they live in NE Cape Coral), with authorities saying they won't have power restored until at least Friday the 20th. I've lived here in SW Florida for 31 years and this is the worst I've seen personally.... we dodged a bullet back in '92 with Andrew (was supposed to have hit Miami head-on and exit through Ft Myers/Cape Coral but jogged to the south at the last minute)...another one with Georges in '98 (we boarded up and went to WDW..where it turned to the NW and spared us yet again). Statistically speaking...we were overdue, and still were spared a direct hit. Everybody I've talked to in the aftermath says the same thing...another storm threatens...they're boarding up and leaving. I'll most likely do the same. I'm glad to hear my "second home" WDW was spared any major damage.

[SallyP]

Thanks for the update SC RacerX70 (as in Volvo X70?). Glad to hear you survived Charley. It was touch and go there for awhile, wasn't it? We in Venice feel grateful just as you do but we ache for those in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. We have come to the same conclusion, next major blow and we are headed for Uncle Walt's and take our chances there. [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]
Take it easy.

[Crow]

hey Jeremy, thanks again for the GMR when some of us visited in May.
glad things arent too bad there and most are ok.
got the "im ok" message from a friend who lives in Kissimee, but havent heard from my asst mgr whos been vacationing in WDW since last wk. hes due back to work tomorrow, which gives me my first day off after 11 straight, 63 hrs last wk and probly lows 50s this wk...
ill b down to WDW to visit next month.

[SgtTigger]

Casper could you tell us how the Wilderness Lodge made out in the storm.


[img]graemlins/doubleeek.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[casper]

We changed from WL to the Dolphin the day of the hurricane, so we did not see what happened at WL. In general, there was very little damage to Disney properties other than some tree damage. I know they worked very hard through the night to clean up as much as they could, and they had prepared very well ahead of time. I was honestly amazed that our vacation went so smoothly and credit the cast members and the Disney organization for working their magic even through a disaster. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Crow]

my asst mgr who was on vacation at WDW during the hurricane got back ok. he said it wasnt too bad, other than the closure of the park. said it was hard to find a place to eat, cause they were changing from an offsite hotel that day and many of the places were closed.
also met 1 of our exemployees who just moved to Kissimee and said the storm damaged apt building some and she has a leak in the apt.

[mrte62]

Just got back from WDW (8/11-16) and a cruise (8/16-20). Oue story on the 13th:

Got up and found out the parks were open and kept
to our schedule of going to MK that day. Got there at 8:15 am and were told that the parks were closing at 1:00 pm, but we would not be charged for the day. Everything was open and running with no lines, except BTMRR. Only one train was running so lines up to 70 minutes. Had a great day and left at 1:00pm. Went back to our hotel (Doubletree Villas in Kissimmee)to wait out the storm.

Power went out at 7:30pm and the wind blew and blew. Found out later that the eye passed right over the hotel. Next morning called and found out EPCOT would be open. We went and came back at 3:30pm only to be told power would be out for 4 to 5 days. The staff was great and their first concern was us. Got us set up in the Doubletree in DD.

I'll post more in my trip report, but it is hard to discribe the damage Charley did to the Orlando area.

[WDWfanatic742]

Can any one tell Me if any attraction was damaged during Charlie? Also is Animal Kingdom open yet or is it still closed?

[imported_PolyGirl40]

Originally posted by WDWfanatic742:
Can any one tell Me if any attraction was damaged during Charlie? Also is Animal Kingdom open yet or is it still closed?

No attractions were damaged.

Animal Kingdom re-opened on the 15th.

[DisneyKim22]

I'm glad to finally come back on and read that everything turned out okay. Believe it or not, I didn't know ANYTHING about this until last night!!

I got married on Saturday the 14th, and of course I was so busy on the 13th that I heard no news of any kind that day. My fiance (oops...Husband!) told the bridal party and my family not to say anything to me about it because he didn't want me to worry about Disney World or those of you who live in the storm path on our big day. What a protector he is! [img]smile.gif[/img] We went to Mexico for our honeymoon, and because of the limited Spanish we speak, we never turned on the TV.

At least now I know why my two friends from Tampa didn't show up to the wedding!

I'm very glad that you all came through the storm safely!!