Talk to me about Disney during hurricanes

friedela

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 15, 2017
We don't get hurricanes where I am, just a lot of snow, lol. When there is a hurricane in Florida are flights typically cancelled or delayed? Because Orlando is more inland I would think it wouldn't make a big impact but I honestly have no knowledge on the topic. I know DW has only shut down a couple of times because of hurricanes, so I know the park is rarely closed but in terms of getting there, are hurricanes a big concern? For anyone who travels during hurricane season do you just get travel insurance and hope for the best?
 
Are you there now? Arriving soon? That will help with the advice.

No, no I'm not there now, I am just trying to make plans for our next trip and love the idea of going in September but worry about hurricane season :)
 
So, my sister and I were there last year when Irma came through. We were supposed to fly in on Saturday night, but realized that is when the hurricane would hit so our flights would likely be cancelled (and that was right, as the airport shut down around 5pm and didn't open until Tuesday afternoon). We ended up changing our flights so we arrived on the Thursday (and worked from the hotel room on Friday morning so as to not take extra vacation time).

For the parks themselves, they were EMPTY. Like seriously, no one there! It was actually pretty cool - if you wanted to go to Be Our Guest for dinner, you could have walked right up. And we did every ride in Magic Kingdom in 5 hrs on a Saturday afternoon. After the hurricane it continued to be extremely low crowds until the weekend, when people began arriving who hadn't needed to change their trips, plus other people who had just postponed by a week.

During the hurricane we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter. Disney did a really good job overall. First, they stocked the rooms with flashlights, extra toilet paper, and extra trash bags, as they wouldn't be doing housekeeping for Sunday and Monday. They kept the food court open as long as possible, and while it was a limited menu (some pastas, pizza, burgers), it was very reasonably priced. They also had bagged meals you could buy to keep in the room. They also had characters out in the lobby to help keep the mood light and airy (Chip and Dale organized a dance party, and we also saw Pluto leading a Moana sing-along when it was on the TV, plus Donald doing a fashion show in the gift shop). I kept track via twitter of the goings-on at other resorts, and at Deluxe resorts with interior corridors, they kept the restaurants open (again a reduced menu though), plus did other activities in the lobbies. They also had a TV channel which had a constant loop of Disney movies. Many resort Cast Members stayed at the hotel for that weekend, so they were available to help out (and I think those people made $$ on overtime)

We were allowed to walk around the resort on Sunday morning and afternoon, but once the winds kicked in, they asked us to stick to our rooms. Overnight, it was definitely windy and rainy and we were kept awake a bit by the sounds outside, but we never lost power and never felt unsafe. The next morning we could see how crazy it was, especially at French Quarter, as the streets were just filled with tree debris and multiple trees had fallen down around the property. Thankfully there wasn't any major structural damage (there was a huge tree that if it had fallen in any other direction would have caused a lot of damage, but it happened to fall into a grassy lawn)! The cast members were out and working to clean everything up as quickly as possible, though they had asked people to remain indoors for the first half of the day just to keep safe. By evening the food courts were back open and we were able to walk around to Riverside and French Quarter. The next day the parks were back open and they added 1 hr EMH to Magic Kingdom, not that it was necessary due to low crowds!

Pre-hurricane, Disney also was very reasonable with cancellations. You could cancel the whole resort without any fee, and they weren't enforcing ADR no-show fees, as they knew people could be having IT issues getting in to cancel those. Airlines also allowed you to make changes without any fees (I don't remember if it also allowed cancellations with refunds, as that wasn't something we considered). If people had to extend their stays because their flights were cancelled, Disney offered significant discounts for the rooms (I think like 40%).

Overall, my advice would be: You can't really plan for a hurricane - you just don't know when or where it could hit. You can check the weather hurricane tracking in the weeks coming up to your trip and you may be able to see something developing (I followed Irma for weeks since it first started off the coast of Africa), but you won't know if it will actually affect you until much closer to the date. If you are very worried, you can get trip insurance. If I was going again in September, I would probably just plan as normal. Though maybe I'd consider staying at a resort with interior corridors so we wouldn't be confined to our rooms. And just be prepared to be flexible - know there are certain things out of your control and you just gotta roll with it!
 


Yes flights can get canceled plus u have to factor in where the plane is coming from . as well as where the flight crew is coming from. Best to get insurance
 
We were there last year during Hurricane Irma. We talked to some other guests that had there flights cancelled. So "yes" flights can be cancelled.
We felt safe during the storm. The hotels are built with hurricanes in mind. I believe that Disney has their own underground generators (someone told me that). I do know that we never even lost power in our room while the storm was going on. The biggest concern was getting the "text alerts" on our cell phone alerting us of a tornado in the area as well as the hurricane.
We drove to Orlando and it was very concerning to see all these lines of cars leaving the state, while we are going in the opposite direction into Florida.
The parks did shut down for a couple of days, but on the plus side, the crowds were low that week. We went to Epcot the day before the parks shut down. We got there for a 8:00 am breakfast reservation. We were about the only ones in the restaurant. After breakfast we went to ride "Soarin" and we were the only ones on it. After the ride, they asked us if we wanted to stay on and ride it again (we did).
Thank God, in the end it all worked out well for us. It certainly was not without concerns, but it turned out to be a good trip and the weather was great for the reminder of the week there.
 
Former Orlando resident here, and Florida native. Orlando is about 70 miles inland. That's nothing to a hurricane, so yeah, Orlando gets hit. Yes, they will cancel, delay, and reroute flights.

The most extreme winds don't extend that far from the eye of the hurricane, but up to tropical storm force winds can reach very far. If the airport is only getting tropical storm force winds, they'll shut down during the storm and then resume operation pretty quickly. But if the airport takes a direct hit, it can take days to re-open. You've got no way of knowing ahead of time; it all depends on last minute shifts in the hurricane's path.

Having said that, I've been through a lot of hurricanes. If you're in a concrete building, far enough from shore that you don't need to worry about storm surge, then you'll be fine. I've never been through a hurricane at Disney, but I went through Charlie, Frances, and Jeann in Orlando in 2004 and I don't remember hearing about any problems at Disney.

If you go during hurricane season, which is several months long, keep on eye on the tropical weather, and be prepared to try to move or cancel flights, like others on this thread have done. Trip insurance sounds like a good idea.
 


Trip insurance is in your best interest. With that being said it’s anyones guess during official hurricane season when one can occur. Believe that the hurricane season runs typically from June through beginning of November if I am not mistaken. One August, probably about 15 years or so ago, we heard that a tropical storm or it might have been potentially bigger would be headed to Orlando. We tried changing our return flight from MCO but couldn’t get out when we wanted, so opted to drive to Tampa instead for a return flight. That’s the nice thing versus being on a Caribbean island, there are a few choices available for flights out, if need be which is good. Most of the time, a major weather alert can be tracked well in advance, so one can make plans to leave early if need be,
 
We were there during Matthew. I would try to avoid a resort without indoor hallways but I think the odds of experiencing a hurricane are pretty slim. If your flight is cancelled, you won't know until the last minute. In that situation, I would think Disney would be very understanding of your request for a refund or rebook. We felt very safe during the storm but as they sent the majority of the cast members home, our dining hall was frustrating to say the least. We were kind of forced into an All Stars for that trip though and I read that other resorts had much better dining options.

That said, we have agreed whole heartedly that we will never again book a cruise during September or October.
 
We were there during Matthew. And other than the absolute insanity of the food court it was fine. The next day we were able to get an Uber to Disney springs with no issue.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











facebook twitter
Top