Originally Posted By kennect All of this current talk about Wilma made me think of a very memorable meal at the Brown Derby....Just as we were leaving the eatery a major down pour/storm hit the park...The PA system for the park advised that guests and cast members seek shelter immediately...The staff of the restaurant came out and directed all of us to come back inside....They took us to the area of the building that now house's Playhouse Disney...There must have at least sixty of us in the group...Next we know here comes the Derby staff with water for all of us...We stayed there for about fifteen minutes and then were told it was safe to go about our business...Later that day we heard on the local news that a tornado supposedly touched down on Disney property...The whole thing was really strange....Any other folks around here have any fun weather stories to share?
Originally Posted By JThad I was at WDW from 10/2/05 - 10/7/05. It rained each and every day with 90% humidity. If it wasn't raining, we were sweating. And when it rained, it came down HARD. The day we left was sunny and beautiful! (But we had a lot of fun, anyway during our stay!)
Originally Posted By RoadTrip The night before Hurricane Floyd at WDW was quite the experience. I had gone down to Orlando for a quick trip on my own. I had just finished a big project at work which resulted in a nice bonus and my wife told me I should take a part of it to splurge on anything I wanted for myself. Of course I chose an impromptu WDW trip. When I got back from the parks that evening I had instructions in my room on filling the bathtub with water, etc. When I turned on the local Orlando channels it sounded like Floyd would be the end of life as we knew it (kind of like how the local channels cover a big snowstorm in Minneapolis). Of course the Weather Channel was considerably less doom and gloom, and I wasn't too worried as I left my room for the pool bar. I was staying at the All Star Sports, and as the warnings came in over the evening the Pool Bar became increasingly crowded. The bar that night was a VERY strange experience. Some of the direst predictions of what might happen came from the hotel staff, which I thought was actually kind of bad show. At that time Floyd's path was still somewhat uncertain, and I didn't think it was a good thing to make people more scared than they already were. I sat and talked with a young couple from England. She was probably only about 21, her boyfriend seemed to be between 25 and 30. That poor girl was more scared than anyone I had seen in my life. Both her boyfriend and I tried to reassure her that she would be OK, that Orlando was enough inland that it wouldn't be that bad. There was no reassuring her though, and she was teary on and off throughout the evening. A bit after that I met a woman from Michigan. I don't think she was feeling much pain (I probably wasn't either) and she was telling everyone within earshot that her husband was a FIREMAN, and that no matter what happened, he would keep us all safe. I kind of wondered how one fireman could protect a resort holding over 2,000 people, but what the heck? Why would I rain on her parade? We talked a bit and then she wanted me to talk for her video camera. She thought my 'Minnesota Accent’ was so cool; and she just HAD to get it recorded to show the folks back home. So she trained her camera on my and I talked. I've often wondered what she thought when she got back home and viewed the video. I'm rather inclined to think she didn't remember it much and way trying to figure out why she was taking pictures of this strange blond guy that she didn't even know. The pool bar stayed open an extra hour that night to accommodate all the people tying to fortify themselves with liquid courage. I went off to my room at the Sports, and actually slept pretty well, all things considered. When I got up in the morning though, things didn’t seem quite so good. It occurred to me that since I had planned to leave that day, I didn’t have a reservation at WDW for that night. I also knew from talking to people that virtually every WDW resort was fully booked. Among other things, they had moved everyone from the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds to the hotels where they would be safer. My only option was to get out of town, or spend the next day or so sleeping at the Orlando airport. My brother and sister-in-law picked me up from the All Star that morning to take me to the airport. Just driving to the airport was a bit scary. Things weren’t that bad at the moment, but seemed very threatening in that you had no idea what things would be like in an hour or so. I checked in and went out to my gate about four hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. Things had gotten a little weird there. I had a guy offer me $500 more than I paid for my ticket out of Orlando if I would sell it to him. I don’t know if he would have even been able to use it, but I didn’t care. At that point in time what I wanted more than anything else was to be on my way home. I called my brother to make sure he and his wife had made it home OK… they had. My flight was about an hour past due, but finally they called it. I boarded the plane and was happier than you can imagine having my way out of there. The climb out of Orlando was probably the roughest flying I had ever experienced, but after the first 20 minutes or so it became amazingly calm and remained that way for the rest of the flight. After landing in Minneapolis I found out that my flight had been the last one allowed out of Orlando… the airport had been closed and would remain that way for the next day or so. Floyd ended up being something of a non-event in Orlando even though it went on to cause considerable death and destruction in North Carolina. I will never forget my last day in Orlando during that trip. What actually ended up happening is almost irrelevant. The really scary thing is knowing that a hurricane is coming and not knowing for sure where it will go and what it will do. My heart goes out to anyone who is facing that scary situation in Florida this weekend. Sorry so long… the memory was quite powerful and it took awhile to relay the experience.
Originally Posted By mickey_ring Picture it - December 1997. Colder at WDW than home in NJ for 4 days, then it warmed up to the low 60s and rained for the next 6 days. Thunder and lightning for the Christmas party/parade, 2 kids both less than 2 years old. Heat wave, April 1999. 115 degrees, I think. That's when I named the AK petting zoo Perspiration Station. December 2002 - Colder (again!) at WDW than home in NJ for the entire trip. Low 30s at night, upper 30s daytime with a north wind. October '03 - Almost struck by lightning in AK parking lot during a fast moving thunder storm. November 2004 - second day of driving trip home, constant rain from South/North Carolina border to mid NJ. Plus a random smattering of kid viruses, flu, bronchitis and ear infections. All that and we still go every year.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Eighteen trips...less than 15 minutes of rain total from a timespan of 1983 to 2004. February temperatures never lower than 65 (compared to Vermont, a heat wave). I guess I have just been lucky. Sounds like you have had some bad stuff. It's awful to spend that much and not have the weather cooperate. Bummer!
Originally Posted By disney pete upon leaving walmart on the 192 one summer day in 2000 we heard one of the checkout girls say a tornado had touched down in the vicinity, so imagine us driving up the 192 heading to the 27, black clouds shed loads of rain all the while scanning around for this twister,luckily enough we never got to see it.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Had a tornado touch down in winter park while we were there, had a close lightning strike in MGM parking lot ( hit parking lot light pole not far from us ) - unbelievable hail once which sounded like the end of the world on the metal roof at OKW -- etc -- but at least one of our 2 trips per yea in June -- and the weather then is always iffy and hot
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Well.. if anyone cares... It's raining with lighting and thunder galore right as I type this (8:09pm Sunday the 23rd)
Originally Posted By trailsend I care, TDLFAN. So stay inside because if you get wet, you'll melt. And we would not want that to happen!!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Actually I was just outside and got wet. Holding my umbrella opened in the rain, but no strikes.
Originally Posted By kennect Tdl, I don't understand...Sugar will melt with water or the wicked witch will melt with water? Seriously though, outer rain from the storm? I can't believe it is moving so quickly right now....
Originally Posted By Labuda Hey, Pete - when in the summer of 2000 were you at WDW? Did any of your trip overlap July 24 - August 2? If so, rats - wish I'd known you at that time so we could meet up and hang out!
Originally Posted By Labuda "I care, TDLFAN. So stay inside because if you get wet, you'll melt. And we would not want that to happen!! " Big hugs to you, trailsend!
Originally Posted By disney pete no ann we where there for 3 weeks late june early july but i still hope to meet ya one day.
Originally Posted By Labuda DL, next July. Be there! Or, WDW next year in Nov or the first Dec cruise next year. hehe Orr, you cna plan to head to Paris in (hopefully) 2007.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Why do that^^^ when you can go to TDR and have 5 times more fun at TDL and TDS with all of those World-renounce special events at TDR??? Any year, at almost anytime of the year??
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I told you.. that is NOT a good time to go!!! Make it 2008! Don't make me come over and spank Erik. Or Eric.
