Our Experience with Hurricane Irma at Disney World
If you followed our updates on social media, you might know that we were stuck at Walt Disney World during Hurricane Irma. Many readers asked for us to share the experience, so I thought I’d recount the story of how we get stuck, Walt Disney World’s handling of the situation, and other details.
Being at Walt Disney World during Hurricane Irma was definitely a learning experience for us, and hopefully this is helpful for someone else in the future as intense storms occur with increasing regularity due to climate change. Be warned, the first page of this is me ranting about why you should cancel a Walt Disney World trip and complaining about Delta Airlines. If you want to skip my bellyaching and get to the actual hurricane report, jump ahead to Page 2.
I hesitated a bit before deciding to write this, because I’m concerned about how this might be perceived, and because of the takeaways readers might infer. Since I think there is value in sharing our experience, I’m going to do so, just with a number of caveats…
First and foremost, the safest place to be during a hurricane definitely is not Walt Disney World. If a hurricane is approaching Florida, there are 49 other states that are safer places to be. This may seem glib, but I think it’s important to underscore.
In the lead-up to Hurricane Irma, when we explained how we were effectively stranded here, I lost count of how many people told us that Walt Disney World was the safest place to be. Now, I realize that most of these people were well-intentioned, trying to be reassuring. I get, and appreciate, that.
However, I’ve noticed this sentiment online, and it has become pervasive in a sense that is not just reassuring for those lacking better options. It’s also used by those who don’t want to cancel vacations, and still want to head to Walt Disney World even when they could cancel and stay at home.
Whatever mental contortions people might attempt to justify traveling to Florida prior to a hurricane, Walt Disney World is not safer than Chicago, New York, etc., during a hurricane. It’s safer relative to coastal areas of Florida and apartment complexes in the area, but being in the path of a hurricane is never safer than not being in the path of a hurricane. Unless there’s also a Sharknado, and then nobody is safe.
To the extent that Walt Disney World is safer than other parts of Florida (and it certainly is), keep in mind that Floridians are often evacuating their residences to safer locations in Central Florida. Walt Disney World pulled a lot of its hotel inventory early in the week prior to the hurricane, with large blocks set aside for displaced Floridians–peopled truly in need of them.
I know that will not be enough to convince some people. Some people spend over a year planning their Walt Disney World trips, spending hundreds of hours reading blogs like this one, expending a ton of effort planning. It takes work to score an exceptional discount, the best ADRs, FastPass+, etc. I know it’s beyond disheartening to cancel and have all that time go down the drain.
My response there is that you’re not out all of the time you spent researching and planning. The primary fruit of all that planning is not a tangible itinerary, but the knowledge gained in the process. You can apply what you learned to any trip you take, whether it be during a hurricane or a month later. Actually, you could apply that knowledge better on the later trip, as not much planning info covers ‘what to do to have fun during a hurricane.’
When it comes to the ADRs, FastPass+, discounts, and so on, most of that can be rebooked. If the trip is a month down the road, perhaps you won’t get that Be Our Guest Restaurant or Frozen Ever After booking, but if you’d potentially miss those during the storm, what’s the difference? And really, how much is that coveted ADR worth? Some of the absolute best restaurants at Walt Disney World can be booked inside of a week and you never need a FastPass+ for Country Bear Jamboree.
When it comes to discounts, the economics still do not work in your favor. Since hurricanes primarily impact fall bookings, Free Dining is probably what most people do not want to forfeit. Depending upon the size of your party and resort, Free Dining works out to be about a 0-30% savings above and beyond other discounts you could’ve booked. (Factoring in the opportunity cost of another discount.)
If Walt Disney World’s theme parks, Disney Springs, and its resort restaurants are closed for 2 days of a 7 day trip, you have lost 29% of the trip. That is, unless your ideal vacation involves being stuck at a hotel.
As a result of Hurricane Irma, the parks and Disney Springs closed early one day and were closed entirely for 2 subsequent days. During that time, you are not able to do attractions, effectively use Disney Dining Plan credits, or experience anything beyond limited offers in your hotel. And that’s the best-case scenario.
The damage hurricanes can cause is unpredictable, and all it would have taken is a couple of strong gusts of wind during the storm to have caused additional damage in one or more of the parks, precluding that or those parks from reopening for another day or two. Suddenly, in addition to the two full days of closure, one or two of the parks are closed for additional days. During this time, capacity is reduced significantly, and guests are crammed into fewer parks, causing longer lines and heavier crowds.
Or, maybe there’s significant damage to Orlando International Airport, and flights are canceled for several days after the hurricane, and you are forced to extend your vacation and stay in Orlando. There’s a cost to that, too.
I think you get the point. I’m 1,000 words into this post and have spent a lot of time explaining why people should cancel their trips when a hurricane is forecast to impact Central Florida. To me, it seems like such a patently obvious, no-brainer decision. To each their own, I suppose.
With all of that said, I’ll cut to the chase here. Well, actually, not quite to the chase…to a few days before, as we tried to deal with Delta to avoid this whole scenario in the first place. Originally, our plan was to stay at Walt Disney World and do Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party before leaving on a Halloween on the High Seas cruise on Friday, then flying back to Los Angeles the following Monday.
That cruise was cancelled late Tuesday night. First thing on Wednesday, we called (or should I say, started calling) Delta to get our flight rebooked. At that point, all they had was Saturday evening–still a day in advance of Hurricane Irma’s projected Central Florida arrival–so we took it. We knew there was a chance the airport would close early, so we kept trying for other flights after getting that rebooked.
Our experience with Delta was frustrating and a bit embarrassing, actually. Normally, we are the savvy travelers who know the right things to do or we are persistent until catching the right break. We had three days to get our flight rescheduled. We made over a dozen calls to Delta, and yet, absolutely nothing.
Since the hurricane, I’ve replayed what we did in my head, wondering how things could’ve gone differently. If we had asked to speak to a manager on a particular call or been more tenacious when asking to be rebooked on a different airline, we could’ve gotten home. I’m convinced of this–I know Delta added flights and I have no doubt that people who called after us were able to get out. They just were luckier or savvier.
It is a bit concerning that this is the second consecutive trip with serious flight cancellation problems, and serious issues dealing with the airline (United & Lufthansa and now Delta) CSRs with obstinate attitudes. In our Norwegian Fjords Disney Cruise Report, I wrote that we had more cancelled flights on that trip than during our previous years of flying combined. Well, we ended up having just as many cancelled flights on this trip.
The cancellations are not Delta’s fault, but the response and customer recovery to said cancellations certainly was. Around half of the CSRs with whom we spoke before the trip didn’t even seem to care or realize that a hurricane was approaching Florida. Orlando was not originally on Delta’s list of airport waivers (for 2 days–despite the airport already having announced it would likely be closing), which was probably part of the problem.
Once our rescheduled flight was finally cancelled (hours after MCO announced it would be closing early), Delta messaged us with rescheduled flight info: they had rebooked us on a flight that would be occurring during the height of the storm, on a day MCO would be closed. I found some humor in this, figuring it was an automated thing and Delta’s system was just slow in updating, so I tweeted out a screenshot.
“Thanks” @delta lol pic.twitter.com/JfYUo4xSWr
– Tom Bricker (@Tom_Bricker) September 8, 2017
Their response:
DL2057 was canceled due to the Hurricane Irma. Our passenger’s safety will ALWAYS be our #1 priority. *AFM
– Delta (@Delta) September 8, 2017
That exchange pretty much illustrates everything you need to know about how Delta bungled this. Believe me, I could write paragraphs more about specific face-palm encounters we had with them, but I’m guessing most people aren’t reading this for some diatribe about Delta.
Normally, after such an abysmal customer service experience, most people wouldn’t deal with said company again. If you’ve watched the news lately, you know this is sort of the MO of legacy U.S. air carriers. It’s not as if United and American Airlines have sterling reputations right about now.
Unfortunately, Delta has a lot of routes we like, they are investing a ton into LAX, they fly internationally, and are in a major code-sharing alliance. If we only flew domestic flights, we’d take our business to Southwest or JetBlue. In this situation, voting with our wallets simply isn’t feasible. Hooray industry consolidation with antitrust rubber-stamping from the Department of Justice! On Page 2, we’ll check into our hotel, do some hurricane prep, and then ride out the storm at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. Click here to continue reading…
My daughter her husband and my granddaughter Were And Disney for both Matthew and ironically for Irma.And I don’t know how this person That Disney close for 2 days after when they only closed at 7 o’clock the night the storm is approaching and the following day .As a parent I was terrified for my children even though they are grown adults and a 2 yr old. On both occasion’s Disney offered Full refunds if you wanted to leave they also offered kiosks all over their hotels With free food water and snacks.,They also provided In every Room a hurricane preparedness kit with a flashlight and snacks ..When I called out of concern I was told by the Disney reps that they had their own whether people at the resort and that their guests are their number one priority ..The day the parks were closed the resorts had parties poolside where they gave away free buffets and had the Characters come to entertain the children.My daughter her husband and my granddaughter were in the best of hands and Disney was superb In every aspect of care of their guests during the storm .This year my daughter stayed in the Caribbean’s beach resort I forgot where she state last year turn Matthew but both resorts were phenomenal and Disney is the safest place to be during category 5 storm ..And Disney made everything bearable To the best of their ability I applaud them for keeping my children safe and for their kindness towards me when I called with concern and for their generosity of free food in the resorts as well as the parties when the park was close the day after the storm..Out standing in every aspect
For Irma I only saw that Disney was offering full refunds to guests who had not yet arrived for their vacation. I was at Pop Century during Irma and I never saw anything about refunds for guests already on property and I was constantly checking the updates. They were, however, refunding tickets to the Halloween parties and dinner shows.
Agreed. We were offered no refund with the exception of park tickets for the days they were closed. I get it, we will stayed in their hotel and ate their food, I just wish at the very least a discount would be offered for booking our next trip to make up for this experience.
I was at the Poly during the hurricane . They kept the main pool open for a good while on Sunday during the rainfall to give guests something else to do. It was pouring down rain, but the same three lifeguards were out there most of the day getting drenched. Hats off to those cast members! I was also ecstatic to meet Tom after the hurricane one evening at World Showcase. Sorry it wasn’t under better circumstances!
My family was there during Hurricane Matthew. We were concierge level at the Polynesian and I couldn’t believe how wonderful the staff was. Our cruise had to be cancelled so they gave us free tickets to a park of our choice for the next day. We also missed the Halloween party, the reason we had come, and they delivered bags of candy and treats to every room for the kids. Our friends staying at Port Orleans Riverside did not have it quite as nice. They dealt with super long lines for mediocre food but in spite of that, they said the staff was still very attentive. I certainly wouldn’t go to Disney on purpose knowing a hurricane was coming but being there when it happened, they made the best of it they could.
My family was there during Hurricane Matthew. We were concierge level at the Polynesian and I couldn’t believe how wonderful the staff was. Our cruise had to be cancelled so they gave us free tickets to a park of our choice for the next day. We also missed the Halloween party, the reason we had come, and they delivered bags of candy and treats to every room for the kids. Our friends staying at Port Orleans Riverside did not have it quite as nice. They dealt with super long lines for mediocre food but in spite of that, they said the staff was still very attentive. I certainly wouldn’t go to Disney on purpose knowing a hurricane was coming but being there when it happened, they made the best of it they could.
Not sure where you got the parks being closed for 2 days. They were closed only on Monday following the storm. I was at the CBR from September 7 to September 18 and had no issues at all. It actually never rained after the hurricane hit from midnight Sunday night to roughly 600 am Monday. From Tuesday on my stay was wonderful. The CBR and all its staff were wonderful. The Disney World employees were fantastic throughout my stay and were mor than accommodating. I would not hesitate to stay on property if such an occurrence ever happened again.
The parks closed early on Saturday, September 9 and remained closed through Monday, September 11. They were closed both Sunday and Monday.
The parks were closed for two days, Tom is correct. I’m a CM at WDW and the parks were closed the day Irma made landfall in Central Florida and the day after.
Really? I understand hat you probably weren’t watching the news while you were there but Tom even included a screenshot of this info from WDW on the first page of this blog post….
*that
Our trip was originally planned to start on the Friday before the storm. We live in Jacksonville, and we knew we were going to be hit by Irma as well. We ended up canceling Friday through Monday, and we kept our reservation for Monday night to the following Friday, and our plan was to wait the storm out at home, and then hit the road as soon as the winds died down enough to drive safely. Once we knew that we were OK and didn’t sustain any major damage, we wanted to try to salvage the other half of our vacation, so we arrived at Port Orleans French Quarter on Monday evening. The scene at check-in was pretty chaotic since so many families were stranded and had to arrange to prolong their trips because they simply could not get our of Orlando for several days. So we waited about 45 minutes to check in, but most of the guests were understanding and patient. The cast members were absolutely fantastic. They were doing their very best to help people and stay cheerful while they waited for rooms to slowly become available from housekeeping. We joked around with the cast members and other families while we waited. One dude far back in line approached the desk and started SCREAMING at the cast members that he had been waiting for 20 minutes, that this was not acceptable, and he demanded to know when he was going to get some service! Everyone looked at him unbelievably, like he had sprouted an extra head. The rooms simply were not available yet, and everyone was doing their best. We told the cast member working with us that she was awesome, and we kept her laughing (she was “earning her ears”, too). She entertained us by drawing ridiculous cartoons while we waited. When we finally got our room, she told us that we had made her evening a lot more pleasant and gave us coupons for free snacks in the parks!
We noticed long lines at the front desk throughout the weekend (and those lines moving slowly), but everyone was in good spirits, and we (thankfully) witnessed no melt-downs like that.
Cast Members definitely did a great job.
I 100% agree with you. If I’m ever in that situation where part of my trip is impacted by an hurricane, my first choice would be either to cancel and reschedule, or if already there get out of Florida as quickly as possible. But if I’m in a situation where for some reason I *need* to ride out a hurricane in Florida, there are definitely much worse places to do it then Disney.
For sure! This was the main reason we didn’t try to drive away. Disney is a known quantity, whereas ending up stuck somewhere else in Florida would not have been a good idea, from our perspective.
Also stayed at boardwalk…. had salads and sandwiches we picked up early Saturday morning at MainStreet Bakery and stored in the fridge, had lots of basic nuts/snacks and granola bars we packed in our bags as we often do for quick breaks on a trip, and picked up some extra water and drinks from the general store. There was plenty of drinks and water all weekend in the store in the lobby and they even brought up more food items from the general store. There really was plenty of stuff on site!!!
When we were there in the bakery and store in the morning they were expecting to be closing around 5pm but definitely didn’t close early as everyone was out on the at the pizza windows and stores in the evening. As the winds weren’t as bad on Saturday as originally projected… since we also spent lots of time watching local weather updates and Disney movies.
We did dinner at Trattoria on Monday evening when things started to open back up and they had a nice family style menu set up. Seafood risotto, salad, caprese, and pizzas. It seemed kind of a situation of what can we make in mass and what didn’t get used for the buffets.
I didn’t even realize Trattoria reopened on Monday night! That would’ve been a nice option.
All I saw was the HUGE line for Boardwalk Pizza Window, which was stretching back to Flying Fish at one point.
We were scheduled to arrive Sunday the 10th, bringing our daughter and young granddaughter for her 1st visit. We were to stay at the Beach Club. Our daughter urged us to fly in on the 9th, and wait out the storm. We considered this & even booked one of the last available rooms at the Yacht Club for that night & made new United flight arrangements. We eventually followed your advice and didn’t take the many chances of a poor outcome, and cancelled the entire trip. Your many experiences show we made the right choice. Throughout the event, our interactions with many Disney phone reps were fantastic. United was also wonderful to deal with. Now we are starting over with new dates, but those wasted days stuck in your hotel & the possible danger & lack of necessities make re-planning less annoying. Thanks for the report. We are glad everyone on Disney properties was safe.
Good decision! I cannot imagine the disappointment of planning and anticipating a trip for a long time, only to have to cancel last minute, but on the plus side, that sense of anticipation is part of the fun itself, right?! 🙂
As the mom of two WDW cast members, thank you for acknowledging their good work. My two were at DHS and Epcot. My son, in Entertainment, worked Saturday until 7pm and used his break time to help set sand bags. My daughter works in costuming and had to wait for all characters to come in before finishing the special bagging and storage treatment they needed to do to protect them from potential water-storm damage. She didn’t clock out until 9:40 Saturday night.
All the characters and most of the cast members at the resorts volunteered to be there rather than at home. Those are some special people there.
Both my kids said last year’s Matthew brought about new procedures and changes in safety protocols for this time around. Much more prep work but ultimately everyone felt better prepared, too.
Both came through the storm undamaged, including their cars, and both were back at work Wednesday morning. We’re all feeling very lucky.
Interesting to hear about the new protocol/procedures following Hurricane Matthew. Not surprising given how well things went this time.
Thank you kids for their hard work–kudos to ALL Cast Members who stepped up and be away from their homes and families during the storm!
I was at Sapphire Falls at Universal for Irma and was grateful that she arrived while I was there. Mainly because a day later and I would have been at Pop Century. SF was better because all access to rooms is internal so guests could go anywhere in the resort during the storm whereas at PC, I would have been confined to a small room. Like you Tom, I would have gone stir crazy! SF had set aside a couple of hundred rooms for the staff who volunteered to work during the hurricane and their family. And like you experienced, there were dogs everywhere … a great dane had all heads turning! The staff were amazing and the food was ok but a little pricey still for a buffet. But if you need to ride out a hurricane, SF is a pretty good place to do it.
Thanks for the report from Universal. Interesting to hear some of how their hotels handled the storm!
This blog would have been a lot more readable if I weren’t cluttered with 1000 ads. I couldn’t even get through the first page
I had no trouble with ads – I read the first half on my phone and the second half on my laptop.
The comment box is at the bottom of the first page. 😉
Tom, please remember to turn down the volume before dropping the mic.
We were also there at Boardwalk and had a similar experience, right down to trying to move the mattress and failing! Additionally, I had a moment where I thought I saw you and Sarah at the Boardwalk General Store area prior to the storm and thought I was crazy from reading too much Disney Tourist Blog… I feel much more confident now that it was most definitely you guys. I second the shout outs to the other kind guests, amazing Cast Members and never doing this on purpose!
We were at the General Store one night (two nights before the storm, I think?) so that was probably not us. We spent a ton of time doing the loop around Crescent Lake during the course of our stay, so you likely saw us at some point!
We rescheduled our trip a few days after the hurricane as we were scheduled to arrive Sunday at a fort wilderness cabin and then move to Coronado for a week on Monday. We had free dining so just wanted to shift our trip a few days, schedule a few days longer and cancel our first night. Spirit was pretty decent to work with on changing our flights. The most difficult part was the HOURS we spent on hold with Disney trying to get thru and change our trip. I realized that they had probably 1000s of people calling but most cast members were very helpful. The weirdest part though , when we asked to extend our trip they insisted they had NO ROOMS AT ALL available even though I could see MANY rooms available to book online. I was willing to lost the first 2 days of our trip of free dining and just book a room only so we could have a full week and multiple CMs said there were no rooms. That was very strange to me. I had booked a port orleans room for an extra night online just to guarantee a longer trip but FINALLY we were able to get a CM who fulfilled our wish. Side note: that speedway sign you have a pic of, I took a pic of that exact sign knocked down,
I’m guessing from the storm.
That’s really weird–maybe the phone reps didn’t have access to that inventory? I know Walt Disney World was blocking out rooms at every resort, but perhaps it was for the front desks? We spoke with a couple different CMs at both Boardwalk and Beach Club, and they said we could book any resort, and that this was (paraphrasing) ‘the only time when every DVC resort had availability.’
Very interesting article. I often visit WDW in September (alternating with January, when my birthday is) so sooner or later I’ll likely face this situation. I also have friends who were there during the Matthew closure last year– they had nothing but praise for the way Disney and the cast members handled that event, which agrees with,your report (and not with the disgruntled social media posts you mention).
There’s no danger I’ll do anything but cancel/reschedule if I know a hurricane’s coming when I have a trip scheduled, but if I ever end up getting caught on-site as in your story, I think I’ll try to be philosophical about it and say it’ll be a good experience to have had– *after* it’s over!
Yeah, it’s a fun (I guess?) story to have now, but at the time, I would’ve gladly skipped the story and gotten out of Florida!
We had a similar flight experience with Southwest. Originally booked to fly back to STL on 9/10. Called on Thursday as soon as that was canceled, and they would *only* rebook us on a flight back Monday, which they openly admitted would likely also be canceled. By the time we called back early friday morning, there were no flights to STL available Saturday or until the next Thursday. We persisted and eventually got one of the last flights out late Saturday afternoon, to Chicago. A family member pulled a 10 hour drive that day to pick us up and bring us home. We lost a day of our vacation, but in large part thanks to seeing your thoughts, we’re happy that we were at least guaranteed safety.
Wow, that’s dedication on the part of that family member driving 10 hours for you!
We looked at every airport in the Los Angeles-area (even though our car was at LAX) and there was nothing–not even to San Diego.
Your statement “They gave us the option to pay cash at a 40% off discount or use Disney Vacation Club points. Switching to another resort with a cheaper rate was also an option. We were advised that literally every resort on property had availability, as most guests were canceling their trips. Disney had also blocked out the hotels from online booking so they’d have the capacity to accommodate guests leaving coastal areas like Miami.”
Isn’t exactly true. We were staying at the Polynesian 9/2 – 9/9 which got extended to the 12th because of the hurricane. Staying in a room with a giant floor to ceiling glass sliding door scared my GF. So when we ate at Artist Point on Friday the 8th we asked the Wilderness frontdesk if it was possible to move to the Wilderness sometime on the 9th because,
1. Everything is under one roof unlike the Poly where you have to venture outdoors to get to the main lobby.
2. There isn’t as much glass window area in the Wilderness Rooms vs Poly.
We were told they weren’t accepting transfers because they needed to keep rooms open for people who would have to extend or for people who were still coming down for their reservations still.
Maybe if we asked again on Saturday we could’ve got in, but who knows.
We ended up staying at the Poly where the lobby was a disorganized mess with no structure compared to the events set up across lobbies at other Disney properties.
We had one rude CM when we ventured down to the front desk on Wednesday to ask what is the procedure for a major hurricane, would we be able to extend our reservation or at least get another room anywhere on property. We were greeted by an older lady from Manchester England who was very curt and abrasive to us, telling us “Disney isn’t in a handout business, so don’t expect a free room.” We never asked for a free room, nor to even stay at the Poly.
“Maybe if we asked again on Saturday we could’ve got in, but who knows.”
Asking Saturday should’ve produced a different result, but speaking with a manager (or just a different front desk CM, perhaps?) should have, as well. I think you just got unlucky. Every resort definitely had availability.
I followed some along at home and I’m still gobsmacked at how I ended up involved in the Delta Twitter debacle. In what universe does it make sense to engage the (very) mild heckler before the customer?
I’m just very glad that your adventure was only that and no real harm was done.
Yeah, Delta’s interactions were…interesting. It’s especially perplexing that they’d do so in a public forum where others can see their inept (at best) responses.
I’m glad you wrote this – because what it doesn’t do is paint a rosy tune of staying at WDW during the storm. It highlights the good that cast did, but doesn’t glorify the experience.
I also appreciate the points you made about not staying until park close and making room for families in need. I wish more Disney bloggers would heed that advice. Many checked in to Disney simply to experience the hurricane there and document it, and that’s one less room for a coastal family in need. You tried dang hard to get out and made the best of a crap situation.
I rode the storm out in my bathroom and it was some scary stuff, you’re lucky you slept through it!
Too bad on not getting the rainbow as well. That was the brightest double rainbow I’ve ever seen.
I can’t really fault the way others ‘covered’ the storm, because the fetishization of weather (and being out in harm’s way for the sake of “reporting”) is something that started with major news outlets (as much as I love Jim Cantore, he’s awful about this), and it seems like this is just an outgrowth of that.
However, just because others did it does not mean it’s something I’d do. I think that’s a weak justification.
We stayed at Polynesian during the Hurricane and could not say enough great things about the staff there – they were amazing. We were supposed to be on the 9/9 Fantasy cruise that got canceled. It felt like we were on a cruise at our hotel – much of the the crew from the Dream and the Fantasy were on hand to do activities with kids. There were also tons of character meet and greets and the food was always open. Not losing power was a big plus as well. Would we do it again – no, but Disney sure did us right on this trip!
That stinks! We were on the 9/10 3-Night Halloween on the High Seas cruise. Still not sure if/when we’ll rebook. The 25% off discount is tempting, but it’s tough to make anything else work with our schedule.