Hurricane Irma?

[Rachel Underwood]

How did you get to keep free dining? I am being told there are no dates available that will allow free dining

You have to ask to speak to guest services. I wait 6.5 hours yesterday but I was able to stay in the same hotel and get free dining.

 

[fla4fun]

I hesitate to even mention this, but I have a friend waiting until the last possible moment to decide to evacuate, and counting on being able to get out on Hwy 27. I can't imagine he's the only person who has thought of this.

Traffic on 27 (at least where I go through Clermont) hasn't been any different than usual. I expected it to be bad when I went to work today, and especially on the way home, but no issues. As the turnpike becomes more crowded more people may hop off on 27 and try to rejoin I75 at Ocala to bypass the freeway gridlock. I use the traffic section of WFTV.com to see where the choke points are, even for my daily commute. If I were evacuating I would be monitoring traffic online somehow.

 

[luvsJack]

Civil engineer here who works on water and sewer systems... I did a bit of research. WDW utilities are run by the Reedy Creek Improvement District. It looks like WDW has separate storm and sanitary sewers - this is good because if there is flooding, the storm water will be draining in a separate pipe from the toilets. However, I recommend filling up bathtubs still because if utilities lose power or pump stations are flooded (which happened during Superstorm Sandy in NY/NJ), the drinking water may lose pressure or not be able to be treated. Granted, much of the Sandy flooding was due to storm surge, but it still could happen with a sudden intense amount of precipitation. Same with the wastewater treatment plants, even the sanitary sewers can become backed up if the plant is overloaded or the plant loses power. Most plants and pump stations do have backup generators, but not all, or something can go wrong with those as well.

The bathtub water isn't to drink, it's to flush the toilet if you can't manually flush it, or to wash yourselves or wash dishes.

Sorry it's such a long post, and I'm not trying to scare anyone, just presenting the facts of what could happen from a sanitary and water standpoint. Everyone in the path of this hurricane is in my thoughts and prayers, including my friends in Tampa and Orlando, and my parents who drove north but live in SW Florida.

Yeah, we always have to fill the tubs for that reason. Wasn't sure how it works at Disney.

I just remember how precious ice was after Katrina. Trucks of ice were one of the first things brought in. Now at any threat everyone fills everything they can with ice as well as water.

 

[gjramsey]

WOW ......... sorry but Irma and Harvey are completely different, FL and Houston are completely different and preparation by States are completely different. They absolutely can not be compared. Over 50" of rain in a place that had no where to drain compared to 10-18" (your numbers) of rain where there are places for it to drain are completely different.

Folks reading, get your info from the professionals on the ground, the Governor, the local authorities ...

After living through Harvey, and some of the extreme rain. Only a few areas in Houston got 50". Most of the area got between 25 and 35 inches, over 4 days. However, most of the flooding you saw on the news was from the 1st two days, where there was still under 20 inches of rainfall. Some areas that got hit hard later were next to rivers that were downstream of the all the rain areas, and downstream of the dams that had to release water to keep the pressure off of the dams. Yes, these storms are very different, but 10-20 inches of rain in less than a 24 period anywhere will cause flooding issues pretty much anywhere

Also, the bayous did drain very well after the rain finally stopped. The areas that are still flooded this week are from the extreme growth on the west side of Houston causing more water to flow into the reservoirs and not soak into the ground as it was when the damns were built back in the 40s.

Where does the water drain to in the Orlando area?

 

[arminnie]

I'm personally a fan of Skip-Bo

My late father loved SkipBo.

 

[jdh008]

My late father loved SkipBo.

Same for my late mother. Some of our most contentious moments as mother and son came during and after games of Skip-Bo.

 

[fla4fun]

After living through Harvey, and some of the extreme rain. Only a few areas in Houston got 50". Most of the area got between 25 and 35 inches, over 4 days. However, most of the flooding you saw on the news was from the 1st two days, where there was still under 20 inches of rainfall. Some areas that got hit hard later were next to rivers that were downstream of the all the rain areas, and downstream of the dams that had to release water to keep the pressure off of the dams. Yes, these storms are very different, but 10-20 inches of rain in less than a 24 period anywhere will cause flooding issues pretty much anywhere

Also, the bayous did drain very well after the rain finally stopped. The areas that are still flooded this week are from the extreme growth on the west side of Houston causing more water to flow into the reservoirs and not soak into the ground as it was when the damns were built back in the 40s.

Where does the water drain to in the Orlando area?

Mostly into the St. John's River, and there have been some issues in the past, primarily north and east of Orlando, with flooding along the river after tropical events. There are also a lot of "dry" lakes built for the specific purpose of holding excess rain. The southern parts of central Florida drain into Lake Okeechobee, which according to the news has already been drained down some to allow for the hurricane. Also, the sandy soil absorbs a lot of water.

 

[Mika02]

Guest Services refunded my 3 Beverage Seminars yesterday. We were supposed to be there 9/9-9/16.

That's when you cancel an event that is going on. When they cancel an event it's different.

Ok This is all good to know incase for some reason they have shutter when I am schedule to arrive.

 

[1GoldenSun]

You are fantastically prepared! The only thing I can think of may not apply to you, but just in case you're like me ... I have lost my ability to remember phone numbers. If that's you, too, consider:
- type a file with all important phone numbers: family, friends, doctor, home and car and health insurance, work, shelter info, county emergency number, whatever numbers you might need. Also might consider including policy numbers, etc.
- print two or three copies, and store them in plastic bags, or laminate them, or try some other way of making them waterproof.
- also, email the file to yourself.

If your phone dies (power loss or dropped during an evacuation), you'll have the paper copies. If those get damaged, you can still access the info once you get somewhere with computer and email access, or someone has a smartphone that you can borrow.

That's a great idea! I don't know anyone's phone numbers anymore!

 

[arminnie]

Facebook is seriously the worst thing that has ever happened to America.

NOooooooo! I met my wonderful DH on FB.

 

[1GoldenSun]

Are your computers and devices backed up? Do you have battery packs for charging? Look again for family pics and other items.

Great ideas! Thanks!

 

[laura2287]

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by Irma! Please stay safe with your loved ones and furry friends!

 

[Happyinwonerland]

My late father loved SkipBo.

I have many fond memories of sitting around my grandparents' table playing skip bo after dinner until bedtime. Thank you both for reminding me of that!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

It's not looking too bad here. It's cutting a bit West and will diminish to a cat 2 at most (possibly a tropical storm) by the time it passes Orlando.

There will be wind and rain, but nothing life threatening.

 

[perditax]

NOooooooo! I met my wonderful DH on FB.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. =D

(I'm sure FB does some good somewhere, but I only ever hear about it when people are fighting, families are being ripped apart due to political posts, kids getting cyber bullied (although I guess they're mostly using other platforms now), ugly ugly comments and fights on news articles, FB groups with enormous drama, lawsuits, etc. Plus people think it's open season now to pass judgement on friends, family and strangers alike, like the post that kicked this tangent off. A poster's own sister shamed her on FB for being disappointed about canceling her trip. That conversation probably wouldn't have happened in real life. In real life we are more likely to remember that someone can feel bad about canceling a trip and feel bad about a hurricane's destruction at the same time.)

 

[metacove]

I live in Murfreesboro TN, about 30 miles south of Nashville.

I live in Murfreesboro as well. It's a small world after all

 

[Tonyz]

Wonder how many Disney babies (from being trapped in a hotel) will be coming in 9 months....

We need a detailed research report on this!

 

[twoplustwins]

Dominos and Farkle are fun too.
We can also play a game of Catan for several hours.

 

[Roxyfire]

For those needing an online backup to their computers, there's a couple different companies that I hear advertised on podcasts: Carbonite and Backblaze. I don't use either company nor can I endorse one over the other. It wouldn't be a bad idea to search for a coupon code on Honey or Retail Me Not. I'm sure googling cloud computer backup would yield additional options. It's not a bad idea for anyone to do this, but especially important if you are in Irma's path.

 

[OhhBother]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned -- when we were at Disney during Matthew last year, Disney played current/recent movies non-stop on one of the TV channels. So that was helpful for alleviating boredom. We were in a two-bedroom at SSR and had plenty of room to spread out, but we still got cabin fever pretty quickly. We have a video from that trip of our friends' 3-year-old daughter bouncing on a pile of pillows from the couch and belting out (repeatedly) a song she made up about how she was bored and wanted to get out of that room.

Also something else I just remembered -- housekeeping brought us PILES of towels. I'm talking at least 20. So we had no shortage of those. And we got an entire bag of Disney soaps and shampoo -- I still have most of them.

Finally, it's hard to overstate the complete bedlam that occurred in the food court/restaurant areas. People waited in line for hours that first night. And then, when Disney Springs opened at 5 the next afternoon, it was INSANITY! We waited in line more two hours to eat at D'Luxe Burger.But we were out of the room and not cooped up, so we honestly didn't care at that point.

I'm sitting here tonight in my boarded-up house on the coast of South Carolina thinking just how fickle Mother Nature is. Yesterday morning, we were preparing for a Category 3 hit here. Now, we don't even have an evacuation order, and we live right on the coast. State officials are actually directing Florida evacuees to our area (Myrtle Beach area) because we're out of harm's way and we have tons of hotel rooms.

Finally, we're set to travel to Disney for 10 days on Sept. 16. We are watching and waiting. If we're not able to go, I'll find a last-minute cruise from an unaffected port. Vacation is just about hanging out with my DH -- whether at Disney or elsewhere.

For all of you in harm's way, please know millions of people are sending prayers and well wishes your way. United we stand!