Just wanted to give a HUGE shoutout to the Walt Disney Travel Company for accommodating our schedule change in light of the Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay event. We called them this morning after we arranged for an earlier flight on AirTran, and we asked if we could get into the Fort Wilderness Cabins one day earlier than we were planning to. We were slated to arrive on August 19th, but with the schedule change, it put us into Orlando/MCO on Monday, August 18th instead. We have always been blown away by the customer service of Disney, so I guess we should've expected it - but the Cast Members (CM's) went WAY out of their way to help us. The one thing we wanted to be sure we preserved was the discount on the remainder of the vacation, and we hoped to not have to move from one cabin to another after one night. They actually took down our number and called us back. Not only did they get us in the same cabin (just one night longer), they applied our discount code to the first night as well. We couldn't believe it. The first CM was Collette, and I wish I could remember the second!
Thanks again to the Walt Disney Travel Company for helping us add a night due to the possibility of Tropical Storm or Hurricane Fay! You are the best!
--- Hurricane Disney Dean
We checked into a FW cabin on Aug. 15 and expect to check out on Aug. 22. The 6 of us drove from Houston in a minivan and we do not want to get back on the road with this storm coming. We are used to hurricanes; Houston is about the same distance from the coast as Orlando (55 miles or so). I am a bit uneasy about being in this cabin (which is actually a trailer, right?) with all of these big trees just waiting to be blown over. But I do think Disney is capable of making the call on whether and when we need to be moved. We were actually supposed to check out of here and stay 2 nights in the Nickelodeon hotel in Orlando, but I called just now and cancelled that reservation and extended our stay here 2 nights (same Annual Passholder rate), because I would rather be in the hands of Disney than Holiday Inn, with this storm coming.
Posted by: Houston mom | August 17, 2008 at 08:35 AM
Hello Houston Mom! So good to hear from you! I can't believe we will be there tomorrow night. We were somewhat apprehensive about being there before the Tropical Storm or Hurricane as well. We don't see too many of those in northern Minnesota, so this is all very new to us :) I've read a lot of personal accounts of previous hurricanes/tropical storms, and they all seem to say that people in the FW cabins would be brought to other resorts. At least that is what has been done in the past. I am with you, I trust Disney to do the right thing, and apparently many Florida residents book rooms at WDW expressly because they feel so safe there. One person said that Disney builds the resorts to withstand a Category 3 storm, and the National Hurricane Center has it remaining well below this at this time. Check out the following page for more information and frequent updates from the National Hurricane Center:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?5day#contents
Maybe we'll run into each other down there!!
--- Disney Dean
Posted by: Disney Dean | August 17, 2008 at 08:58 AM
When I called to extend my stay, I asked whether Disney might evacuate the FW cabins. The woman told me that the FW cabins (and campground) are the only resort in WDW that Disney generally will evacuate if hurricane conditions get severe enough. She said that IF this happens, Disney will try to put is in another resort. If there is no one else to put us, the worst case scenario is that we would be put "in a convention center with a bunch of other people." This sounds bad, but I am betting on the odds that it won't happen. What I am hoping for is just hunkering down here in the cabin and having some wind and rain, and then having some uncrowded theme parks to go to. We have groceries, and if worst comes to worst we could get back in the minivan and drive north, right? We are one of the families in Houston that did NOT panic when Hurricane Rita was headed straight for Houston; we stayed at home rather than getting on the roads with everyone else, and the storm ended up turning at the last minute.
Posted by: Houston mom | August 17, 2008 at 09:14 AM
I wondered if they would have availability for all the people in FW. Hopefully it's a little quieter right now just before free dining starts?? Has it been pretty busy there, or is it a little quieter now? No matter what, I heard that Disney stays on top of it pretty well, so that's good! The latest forecast discussion from the National Hurricane Center has it remaining generally cat 1 or even a TS, so hopefully that will hold. Heck, we can get 50-60 mph winds off Lake Superior with storm force winds, so I guess I know what that feels like - just about 30-40 degrees warmer :)
Will be interesting to see what happens. Like you said - things could still change. The spread in the computer models is still pretty great:
http://weather.orlandosentinel.com/tropical/tracking/at200806_model.html
I'm so jealous that you're at the FW cabins already! We can't wait to get there tomorrow :)
--- Disney Dean
Posted by: Disney Dean | August 17, 2008 at 09:46 AM