Sept and hurricanes

[mickeyman42]

Just a quick question, how badly does WDW get hit by hurricanes in Sept, not florida, but WDW in particular? Being from Canada and not having much experience with hurricanes it kinda freaks me out to think about planning a vacation for sept and having it rained out! We have never been in Sept and its either then or next Feb/March (I dont like this idea cause its very likely we could spend the entire week then snowed in at the airport) but the thought of being stuck in a hotel room due to a hurricane has me really wondering about how likely this is in Sept, especially given the cost of flights and its not really easy for us to reschedule. any help is welcome, thanks

[Strmchsr]

First off, yes, September is peak hurricane season so your chance of getting a hurricane is much greater than any other month. However, to put this in perspective, since opening in 1971 WDW had been closed a grand total of 7 days. 1 one of those was due to 9/11 and 3 occurred in 2004. So, you figure 7 days out of over 14,000 (and only 6 due to hurricanes) and your chances of having the park closed on you isn't very big. Now, that doesn't mean you won't be walking around the park on a very blustery, rainy day but it isn't anything to worry about. Just be sure to check out WDW's tropical season cancellation policy.

[Jenemmy]

I have had 2 trips coincide with hurricanes....Floyd and the early stages of Katrina. With Floyd, they actually did close the parks while we were there for about a half a day. We stayed in Poly that trip, and all the resorts pulled out the stops to keep guests entertained and active. All sorts of things were planned and going on for kids and grown ups alike. Also, since all transportation stopped, they opened up all restaurants at the Poly and did huge buffets with every food you could think of on them for about 12 bucks a person.

I was quite upset when I saw it was approaching, but once it got there and passed through, it really didn't cost us too much time wise and we had fun anyway:mickey:

[i'm grumpy]

Booked a trip in 2004 after the weatherman said Jeanne would dissipate in the ocean. :eek: They did bring characters to Pop the night before but the parks were closed on Sunday.

[ThanxForNoticin]

As mentioned by Strmchsr, hurricanes that impact the parks enough to close them are very rare. We were there in Sept, 2004 when Frances closed the parks for 1 1/2 days. 2004 was unusually bad for central Florida. There certainly are no guarantees, but I wouldn't worry about hurricanes when making my plans.

[diz_girl]

We were there in 2005 just after Katrina hit the gulf coast and Ophelia was sitting off of the east coast of FL (about 60-70 miles away from WDW) for most of our WDW trip, which was only four days long.

Because we were on the western side of the hurricane we hardly got any rain (excluding the deluge while watching Illiminations - thank you Outpost). We were far enough from the hurricane that it was just breezy, which was nice because the highs were close to 90 most days. While we weren't there during a direct hit, I've heard that WDW takes very good care of its resort guests when they have to close the parks.

[MNNHFLTX]

I have had 2 trips coincide with hurricanes....Floyd and the early stages of Katrina. With Floyd, they actually did close the parks while we were there for about a half a day. We stayed in Poly that trip, and all the resorts pulled out the stops to keep guests entertained and active. All sorts of things were planned and going on for kids and grown ups alike. Also, since all transportation stopped, they opened up all restaurants at the Poly and did huge buffets with every food you could think of on them for about 12 bucks a person.Floyd was a strange situation--it was a monster storm off the coast of Florida at one point, but never did hit Florida. But I do remember the parks closing down just in case it did.

To the original poster--I don't think you have too much to worry about, as far as hurricanes. Any storm that was to significantly impact WDW that far inland would have to be pretty powerful, large and/or fast-moving and those storms are fairly rare. Of course it's not impossible, as was the case with Charley, Frances and Jeanne from the 2004 hurricane season. But that was an exceptional season in the 18 years that I lived in Florida was the only time I had seen anything like that. Anyway, you're more likely to experience travel delays if there is a storm threatening the area or coming ashore through a major flight route than to actually be stuck in a hotel room at WDW. :mickey:

[Jenemmy]

Floyd was a strange situation--it was a monster storm off the coast of Florida at one point, but never did hit Florida. But I do remember the parks closing down just in case it did.



Hmmmm -- maybe I have the wrong hurricane name then. Something definitely came ashore. I was kind of fascinated watching it cycle through. We would have 5 - 10 minutes of intense, sideways blowing rain, then 5 - 10 minutes of calm, beautiful sunshine and the cycle would repeat. It was not major or damaging or anything like that -- a few pool chairs in the water was all the damage I could find.

[mickeyman42]

Thanks, it certainly seems like sept is a better bet than the winter would be for us. Snow storms are a given and it seems like the chances of snow on our end is greater than the chances of a hurricane significantly impacting a trip in the fall, thanks everyone