Hurricane Matthew Closes WDW - Reopens Saturday, October 8th

[magic458]

I wondered how long the thread would take to devolve into the "Disney owes me something."
We are the ones who scheduled the vacation during the hurricane season.

It used to be limited mostly to the welfare mindset of those I grew up around and now it has trickled up to the working class.
Disney could have done some things better...communication was weak.

However, I watched a food court that is used to being a relative ghost town churn out high quality food for 3 solid hours at a rate that they never see or have ever seen. I went late and they had run out of nothing.

 

[jrmasm]

I came home from CSR yesterday, 3 days earlier than planned. The people complaining about the boxed food baffle me. News of the hurricane was all over. It was no surprise. I am surprised Disney offered boxed meals. They don't have to!!! If someone couldn't take time to plan, or to take a couple hours out of their holiday to go pick their own food, then they have no right to complain about how expensive a boxed meal is. It isn't like it took 2 people to put them together. I'm sure it took a lot of planning and man hours. Goodness knows I spent enough vacation time watching the Weather Channel, checking flights, and deciding what to do.

I agree.

 

[book_junkie]

Considering it was a 4 at that time that could have made landfall, and people were making plans to surf tour it, it may be the ONE time I give Foxnews a break.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

Here's yet another! We have decent looking sandwiches, but now our chips arent good after being in the fridge with the sandwich, no fruit or dessert or whatever else. I wasn't annoyed by price gouging, per se, but having opened ours I'd suggest they aren't worth $13!

ETA: I'll actually add the pic!

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We got an apple and m&m's but no sandwich. I will be getting my $13 back.

 

[bluezee]

I don't really want to knock disney for how they have handled everything, it appears that mostly they've done a great job. The only thing I have to question is the amount they charged for those bagged meals. I get it, it's disney, and you pay more for food at disney, and I get that these had to be prepared quickly. Considering what's going on down there, IMO they charged way too much for those bags.

I'm in the camp of "why should Disney provide discounts?" You aren't at an all inclusive resort. This hurricane has been talked about for days. It's not a surprise. People who waited until the last minute to buy boxed lunches should not be blaming everyone else for their personal lack of preparation.

 

[wilkeliza]

Glad WDW ended up being ok. The same can't be said for the Florida coast line and there is even a report here of area flooding in the greater Orlando area.

@ravenclawtrekkie I hope no water gets into your place. There is still a lot of rain to come it seems. Glad no other damage but water coming from under the door doesn't sound fun.

 

[DLM1980]

warning: idiots are taking their family out around the grounds

But what do I expect , just saw on wftv a couple at the coast walking their dog in a stroller!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

That's a tough call..... the curfew is still imposed here in Orlando/Orange County. The hurricane is less potent that originally expected, but it's still not really safe to be outside or on the roads. The winds are supposed to get stronger in the next few hours and then calm down a bit. I would also call WDW and make sure you will still have a room available. The resorts are packed with people having to stay longer due to cancelled flights. Our airport is still closed. We evacuated yesterday from Orlando to north of Tampa and right now the winds are increasing and gusts are getting stronger.

Call Disney??? Umm... one of the things they aren't doing well if you aren't there... Phones! I tried yesterday to call. First "all circuits were busy" Then my expected hold time was 90 minutes (I had to drop so I don't know how long it would have been) I do expect my room to be there. (And calling won't really help as they will say "sure". Trust me I flew into a lot of hurricane areas in a prior life for work, the "reservation people" have no idea what the "front desk" people are doing! If you have to do this you need to call the front desk directly which is hard to do at Disney. And then my room is a DVC room and they aren't even picking up the phone until Saturday)

Since I don't land until 8 PM I expect that the actual winds etc... will be gone. My bigger concern is Saturday morning getting to my father's where there may be trees down etc... So far he's doing well.

I guess I will just risk the curfew violation especially since it's not in Osceola County so...

 

[tink2020]

We got an apple and m&m's but no sandwich. I will be getting my $13 back.

So together, we may have a full meal!

 

[TwoMisfits]

Disney did have to provide affordable food in some way b/c it's a safety issue. People who are scared and hungry do stupid things. If they did no boxes, and 75% of the hotel guests (as a rough non-prepared # looking at those lines) had no food for over 24 hours, what do you think they would do? Stay in their room starving? Not likely. Start causing issues? - likely, whether that would be leaving rooms, roaming grounds, trying to get into restaurants, calling customer service nonstop, etc. I'm betting after the prices and quality of those boxes, there are still some people with no food today and that should never have happened. If you are going to have paying guests, you have to provide their needs and explain when and where you can't WAY in advance. Food and water are safety needs, not just shelter.

 

[Kd241710]

Seems like many people just don't understand the economy of scale of guests at the moderates and values. Below are the room counts. None of the resorts were designed to handle full capacity all at once but when challenged is any wonder that the more exclusive resorts were able to handle the impact better. We aren't in Disney yet, wont be for two weeks but they seem to have handled themselves as best as they could have. I think it is expectation levels and perhaps a sense of entitlement in some cases that is ruining the perceived response.

Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort 295
Disney's All-Star Movies Resort 1,920
Disney's All-Star Music Resort 1,604
Disney's All-Star Sports Resort 1,920
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House 972
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village 458
Disney's Art of Animation Resort 1,984
Disney's Beach Club Resort 583
Disney's Beach Club Villas 282
Disney's BoardWalk Inn 371
Disney's BoardWalk Villas 532
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort 2,112
Disney's Contemporary Resort 655
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort 1,915
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort Cabins 409
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort 867
Disney's Old Key West Resort 761
Disney's Polynesian Village Resort 847
Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows 380
Disney's Pop Century Resort 2,880
Disney's Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter 1,008
Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside 2,048
Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa 1,260
Disney's Wilderness Lodge 727
Disney's Wilderness Lodge Villas 136
Disney's Yacht Club Resort 630
Dolphin at Walt Disney World 1,509
Shades of Green at Walt Disney World 586
Swan at Walt Disney World 758
Treehouse Villas at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort 60

 

[maxiesmom]

Keep in mind too that they had to charge enough to keep people from buying 30 when they only needed 5. And we all know people will hoard, as that picture with the person with case upon case upon case of water proves.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

I'm in the camp of "why should Disney provide discounts?" You aren't at an all inclusive resort. This hurricane has been talked about for days. It's not a surprise. People who waited until the last minute to buy boxed lunches should not be blaming everyone else for their personal lack of preparation.

I agree that Disney doesn't need to provide discounts for this sort of thing. Their "weather rate" I paid for the next 2 nights is far more than I paid for my previous 6 nights (discounted through TA) but I'm okay with that. Happy to have a room and not have to move. There was a woman next to me at concierge upset that she had to pay for her room for the next 2 nights...don't understand why anyone would think they could stay for free?!?

 

[KimBean]

I wondered how long the thread would take to devolve into the "Disney owes me something."
We are the ones who scheduled the vacation during the hurricane season.

It used to be limited mostly to the welfare mindset of those I grew up around and now it has trickled up to the working class.
Disney could have done some things better...communication was weak.

However, I watched a food court that is used to being a relative ghost town churn out high quality food for 3 solid hours at a rate that they never see or have ever seen. I went late and they had run out of nothing.

I'm not sure who you are referencing. But this is exactly why I would never go in hurricane season. I also don't go in spring because we all have really bad allergies and I don't go when it is too hot. My girls and I were laughing about it yesterday because there is like a 6 week window that I would want to go. If we don't make it one year then it will be at that time the next. I'm so picky. Lol.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I'm in the camp of "why should Disney provide discounts?" You aren't at an all inclusive resort. This hurricane has been talked about for days. It's not a surprise. People who waited until the last minute to buy boxed lunches should not be blaming everyone else for their personal lack of preparation.

I get your point, I would have been prepared if down there, no doubt about it. We always have tons of snacks in our room anyways. With that being said, a lot of people don't have cars with them, nor do they have kitchens or normal sized refrigerators, and do rely on purchasing food from disney while on vacation there.

I just personally felt like the price was too high. It's ok to disagree.

 

[dburg30]

Keep in mind too that they had to charge enough to keep people from buying 30 when they only needed 5.

I think I said it before, I have a feeling there will be money refunded for some of those boxes. Maybe partial refunds if you ask, maybe full if you ask. But if they would have just been handing them out to be the good guys, what you posted would have happened no doubt. I'm not saying it's going to be automatic refunds, but if you ask, I bet they do something. If not at the resort, when you get home.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Charging that much for the boxed lunch was a RIP OFF.

I have been in hotels during a lot of crisis situations and while you can do it, the 'rip off' will leave a much larger impact than the good things you do. Just because Disney "can' doesn't mean they "should" LOL!

Facebook did have some posts where people went to hotel managers and showed them the "wonder bread" sandwich and got credit already for the poor food. LOL!

 

[HopperFan]

First, Orlando got lucky that Matthew decided to get caught up and not wobble west. This is not to say there are not some issues on the roads, at homes and businesses. One reason you won't see much damage at Disney is their top level of maintenance. Most folks are not trimming trees on a daily basis. There is a reason folks evacuate to Disney, including Orlando residents, the safety there if often better than their home. So what guests are seeing out their window ........ is not a real snapshot of the real world.

I'm with you. We had a large group spread all over WDW and there were announcements some places, CMs talking at others, no communication at others still.

Unless a poster was somehow everywhere at once, the attitude is unnecessary.

I think one reason for this is the lack of communication within the ranks. When CMs have to find out because another CM heard a manager who's friend works in communication ...... it's a game of telephone and a joke. THEY made a decision to do this very early yesterday potentially on Wednesday as many had already shared it with the exact message they got about closing time and Friday - but told on Wednesday. There was no official word until the afternoon. And many CMs will stick to the script, they will only tell you what they are told to tell you - so if it wasn't officially given to them, they wouldn't share it with you. SO it is HIGHLY possible that guests got a wide range of updates, answers etc. No one should assume just because someone told them, that everyone would have been told that same information .............. I mean call the Disney phone center............

For those asking if the park will reopen today, the answer is no. All CMs were told to stay home, some will be without power, dealing with clean up, etc. There's no way. I would assume parks will open as normal tomorrow, perhaps a little late. I would also assume parks will be slammed!

I agree. And unless that curfew gets lifted tonight so that all those scheduled to work Saturday are ready to go ......... or Disney has made a deal with the law enforcement that a CM badge lets them through ......... they will need extra time to get ready to open.

 

[magic458]

Keep in mind too that they had to charge enough to keep people from buying 30 when they only needed 5. And we all know people will hoard, as that picture with the person with case upon case upon case of water proves.

Which is why I am FOR "price gouging" during a disaster.

I am not sure I eat 9 pizzas a year.....but some ladies family must have needed them last night.
Again - kudos for Disney being able to serve all those guests for all that time and not run out of food.

 

[book_junkie]

Call Disney??? Umm... one of the things they aren't doing well if you aren't there... Phones! I tried yesterday to call. First "all circuits were busy" Then my expected hold time was 90 minutes (I had to drop so I don't know how long it would have been) I do expect my room to be there. (And calling won't really help as they will say "sure". Trust me I flew into a lot of hurricane areas in a prior life for work, the "reservation people" have no idea what the "front desk" people are doing! If you have to do this you need to call the front desk directly which is hard to do at Disney. And then my room is a DVC room and they aren't even picking up the phone until Saturday)

Since I don't land until 8 PM I expect that the actual winds etc... will be gone. My bigger concern is Saturday morning getting to my father's where there may be trees down etc... So far he's doing well.

I guess I will just risk the curfew violation especially since it's not in Osceola County so...

Call the desks directly (the numbers are available) and make sure you can get in as the resorts are on lockdown just like the parks (not taking morning or afternoon ADRs- got email yesterday evening to that)
Drive extremely slowly in the main roads- gusts are high, and as of now, I'd leave Tampa after 7 when everything blows through. That's what local news is saying right now is rain clear.