Should we still go to Disney on Wednesday?
 

I know that Jeanne will be gone by then - but wondering if it would be an incredibly bad time to visit anyway?

I neglected to mention that we are a family of four coming from Wisconsin staying from Wednesday through Sunday.

I'm sure they can use the business and the weather following a hurricane is usually incredibly beautiful.

I would go. They recovered quickly from the last storm. For great info, go to www.disboards.com

I'll agree that normally (but is anything normal about this year?) the weather is really beautiful after the storm. And I'd be willing to bet the park will be delightfully less crowded than usual. Go for it!

Go Go Go.

Patrick - I hate to say it - but I think this year is going to be the norm - ffor a while at least.

Just saw a weather special - and apparently we have been in the hurricane "off" cycle for the last 40 years. Did not get all of the details (multitasking as usual) - but this is related to the El Nino cycle - and we are now due for a 40-year hurricane "on" cycle - like they had in the 1920's to the 50's - with many more major storms - often several per year.

Unfortunately for all of the millions of people who moved to FLA during the 40 year "off" cycle - they may have to do a major rethink of their standard hurricane planning (reinforced housing, getting a generator, no more trailer parks etc) to get through the next 40.

Heard this morning Disney is open as normal. Fort Wilderness is closed. But parks are open.

nytraveler, the experts have been saying for years that next year will be the year for hurricanes.

You cannot say that this year is the norm.

If hurricanes could be predicted, in any way, you could make billions of dollars.

Speculation, does nothing to help and does everything to hurt. Florida has a $50 billion dollar a year tourism industry and will be scrambling to make up what they've already lost. Please be so kind to think of all those employed by the tourism industry before you guess again about hurricane season.

I know you mean well but it does hurt.

nytraveler. I also saw a report from a major meteorologist who quoted one of those 40 year cycle theories as being a bunch of bunk. He proceeded to show that there was no such 40 year cycle. In fact the 1940s were extremely quiet -- much more so than the 1960's which alone disqualifies that theory.

Also let me add to the trailer park situation.

Since Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992, any trailer brought into the state of South Carolina has to have a wind rating of zone 2 which must be built to withstand winds of up to 125 miles per hour.

They also must be anchored similarly to the way a home is built on a foundation.

If you do away with trailer parks in Florida, you will seriously hurt an entire industry and put people out of work.

My dad is going Wednesday (from Pennsylvania), and he just spoke to the hotel. Disney is actually open today and the guy told him that by Wednesday the tourists won't even know what happened. I'm not sure that's true but he's going anyway (with his wife and her 3 young children).

Regarding this 40-year cycle, a friend of mine said, "Excuse me, but these people can't even tell me whether Charley is going to hit Tampa or Ft. Myers, or whether Ivan will continue west or turn north. If they can't tell me what a specific hurricane is going to do in the next 12 hours, why are they trying to tell me about the next 40 years?"

While I understand how we can try to predict using the idea of cyclical patterns, the fact is, we don't know if the same patterns will hold. In addition, I think there's a little bit of CYA going on with meterologists, in that they are trying to explain why in the world there are so many hurricanes and they didn't "forewarn" us that this would be such an active season. The perfect excuse is, well, we are entering a new cycle. I'm not blaming meterologists at all but some do and this is a way for them to handle it.

Well,I certainly don;t wish to cause anyone unnecesary distress - but believe that thoughful preparedness is ultimately much more effective than wishful thinking.

And I'm certainly not a meteorologist - and can;t vouch for any predictions - though obviously broad longer term predictions have a much greater chance of being correct than the most specific details of a particular storm. (Obviously they're correct about Ice Ages etc - but since that scale is so broad it doesn;t really effect any of us - although global warming may - at least some of us that are very young now.)

However, the historical data does show that the last 30/40 years have had a lower hurricane frequency than a previous lengthy period. I think its only reasonable to wonder about that difference - rather than to assume that the more recent relatively stormless years are the norm and expected to continue in the future.

To heck with weatherpeople and so called meterologists. Go to Disney and have a great time. It has always been my opinion that these guys have the best possible job. Where else can you be wrong more than 50% of the time and get paid for it! If I were wrong that often, I'd be on the bread line!

The weather is fabulous today here in Orlando. Go to Disney. You'll have a blast and you probably will not even know we had a storm - or should I say storms? Have fun!

Sorry it took me so long - but I wanted to tell you all that we had a FANTASTIC time in Disneyworld just after the last hurricane. The weather was great and the crowds were virtually non existant. The people of Orlanda/Disney treated us like royalty - we were upgraded everywhere - in the hotel (to a Savannah view room at the Animal Kingdom), at the rental car company (to a SUV) and to first class on the plane home. We never had to wait in lines for more than 10 minutes at the parks. As soon as we exited rides we liked (Space Mountain, Rock and Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, etc.) we walked right back on for another ride. It was great!