The Ride You Don’t Want to Go On: Riding a Hurricane at Disney World

Walt Disney chose the state of Florida, and most importantly Central Florida, to build his dream world because of the size of the land that could be acquired, the intersection of Interstate 4 and the Florida Turnpike for easy access and the lovely weather we have…most of the time.

But unfortunately we do have that pesky season that we have to live through every year and no, it’s not the lovebug season, it’s the hurricane season. Hurricane season is between June 1st to November 30th with it being most active from mid August through late October, and right on “queue” we have another pesky hurricane coming to literally rain on our Festival of Fantasy parade.

So what to do if you have planned your trip for a year, have everything ready, land at Orlando International Airport with a hurricane right on your tail? I’ll break that down for you:

Obviously you can always cancel and reschedule your trip. Once Walt Disney World is under a hurricane warning the will reimburse your trip of you decide to do that.

Now first the good news, if Walt Disney World decides that it’s safe to keep the parks open you will have some of the lowest crowds out there, yes it’ll be a rainy mess but if Disney says it’s safe for you to go, it is.

Now if Disney does close the parks and you decide to stay and “ride it out” then make sure to get some extra supplies: flashlights, batteries, a couple of gallons of water depending of number of people in room, non perishable food and snacks, card games and board games and extra things to do that don’t require electricity, external, fully charged battery packs for phones.

Make sure to listen and follow the instructions from the hotel staff. I rode out Hurricane Irma at Art of Animation and Disney was well prepared with ready to go food, fruit and other important items. They actually provided flashlights for the rooms even though I brought my own. If the resort tells you to stay in the room/building, do so, it’s for your own safety. Also monitor local news channels, no Jim Cantore for us here, we have Brian Shields and Tom Terry.

Do not expect any type of regular mousekeeping. You can request items to be brought ahead of the storm but don’t expect them to deliver towels while the hurricane is looming in the distance, this is, again, for the safety of the Cast Members.

It’s important to try and not panic, especially if you have little ones. Explain the situation, explain that they might hear loud noises and wind howling and that you will be safe inside. If possible leave the television on so that it drowns the outside, storm noises, you have like a bazillion Disney channels to chose from right? In case of loss of electricity have those board games and card games ready. Anything to distract.

I know may people that don’t deal with these type of storms every year get frightened but I can assure you that the entire state of Florida, when evacuating, considers Central Florida and Walt Disney World as a safer place to go.

Here are a couple of videos from when we rode Hurricane Irma back in 2017 (pre gimbal so it’s a bit bumpy)

Completely coincidental I booked a room at All Stars Movies checking in on Monday cause I wanted to take advantage of EEMH so it looks like we’ll be riding another storm at a Disney resort, so stay tuned.