Update: 6:00pm – Curfew was lifted at 2pm and Disney Springs opened at 5pm with limited locations and primarily to give resort guests something to do tonight. Update: 12:45 pm – Just heard that all four Walt Disney World parks are now scheduled to open… Read More »Walt Disney World and other attractions dodge worst of Hurricane Matthew
Now tracking the impact of Hurricane Matthew on Walt Disney World in new post. Update: 9pm – Now that everyone is out of the parks and stuck in Disney resorts for the night, we’re getting reports of hotels running out of food. Even the candy… Read More »Hurricane Matthew to bring severe storm to Walt Disney World
Update: 10pm – Hearing that tomorrow night’s Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has been canceled, but Disney is still planning to keep the parks open on Thursday. Sounds like they’ll play it by ear on Friday based on how much, if any, damage there is. Taken… Read More »Walt Disney World Hurricane Matthew Update
Update: 7AM Wednesday – Here’s the latest update on Hurricane Matthew and its expected impact on Walt Disney World. Update: as of 5pm Tuesday, storm is scheduled to pass by just east of Central Florida overnight on Thursday. Depending on how far west the eye… Read More »Hurricane Matthew cone shifts, advice for those traveling to Orlando
As of 5AM this morning Tropical Storm Erika has shifted its pattern back to the left with the Florida peninsula right in its sights. While the storm is not currently projected to reach Hurricane strength, these storms are un-predictable and individual clusters within the story… Read More »Tropical Storm Erika’s Potential Impact on Central Florida
We’re more than a month into the 2015 Hurricane season and we finally have our first named hurricane on the season – Danny. The storm is still a ways off from any populated area and there’s no way to no if it will even hit… Read More »Hurricane Awareness time for Walt Disney World Vacationers
By all accounts the first 5 days of the most recent 7 day cruise on the Disney Fantasy were fantastic. Sure they had to skip Castaway Cay due to hurricane Sandy, but sometime you have to roll with the punches when you travel during Hurricane season. Well, the last night of the cruise the Fantasy did a lot of rolling. The ship and is passengers encountered 12 hours of 40-50 foot swells and 80 MPH winds as it sailed back to Port Canaveral overnight. It sounds like Captain Tom Forberg was at the helm, which means the ship was in capable hands, but still a frightening experience for any guest to endure.
The question being debated online is whether Disney intentionally sailed into rough weather hoping to keep to a tight turnover schedule for the ship or if they found the storm stronger than expected. The ship was within 200 miles of the storm, well within the tropical storm strength winds of the 1000 mile wide Hurricane Sandy. I tend to believe Disney Cruise Line thought the storm would weaken as it moved north, but instead it strengthened and slowed down capturing the Disney Fantasy in its impact zone. In the end, not an ideal scenario for Disney Cruise Line. They probably could have erred more on the side of caution, but it sounds like the close encounter with a hurricane wasn’t intentional.
A few videos have surfaced and things look like they got pretty severe. There were many reports of damage on the ship from broken doors to smashed furniture. Remy and Palo apparently were a mess with many dishes and glasses lost in the rough seas. Additionally, some rooms experienced slight flooding as pools overflowed and flooded those decks. Luckily there were no reports of injuries.
This iReport from CNN has some of the most dramatic footage.
More videos from onboard the Disney Fantasy below the jump:
Read More »Hurricane Sandy Creates Some Scary Moments Aboard The Disney Fantasy
Update Monday at 4PM: Debby is now predicted to soar across Florida north of Orlando slowly over the next five days. However, the storm is not forecast to grow into a hurricane strength storm. Disney has closed Typhoon Lagoon, but Blizzard Beach is open, of… Read More »Tropical Storm Debby Sends Dangerous Rain and More Toward Florida