mmouse37
DCL Diva!!
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2001
Hurricane Jeanne back in 2004 (a Cat 3). We were in Clearwater on vacation before our Disney Cruise and were on I-4 just coming up to Lake Buena Vista when we heard on the radio that a hurricane was due to hit Port Canaveral. We had not heard news in a few days so were completely unaware of the storm. At about the same time we got a call from DCL telling us the cruise was not happening on Saturday and was being postponed until Monday and would leave from Fort Lauderdale instead. Well, we were not far from WDW so I told my husband to go there since our hotel in PC was being evacuated. We waited in a long line at one of the All Stars hotel and when we got to the desk the CM said they were all sold out. She checked the computer and they had one room left at the Poly so we said we would take it. Drove to the Poly and rode out the hurricane there.
We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Poly. We had the last room in the building facing the Ferry to the MK. We saw that the ferry was very empty so we decided to go to the park. It was great!! Park was empty but they were closing early due to the storm. It was so eerie feeling the wind pick up throughout the day. We then stocked up on snacks for the room and spent a cozy night listening to the storm. We had to take in the balcony furniture as per Disney and to keep the sliding door shut and locked., At times we thought the door was caving in the wind and rain were so bad. We were not allowed to leave the building at all. We never lost power and it was a good place to ride out a hurricane. Next morning the resort was a mess with trees down, chairs in the pool, vegetation covering the walkways, etc. By that evening you would never know a storm hit. On that Monday Disney bused us down to Fort Lauderdale to meet the cruise but the bus broke down on the highway. Had to wait a few hours for a new bus. The whole weekend was quite the experience!
PSA:....buy travel insurance. We had it for that trip and thank goodness we did. I saved all our receipts for the hotel, extra rental car days, meals, etc. and we were fully reimbursed under the Trip Cancellation portion of our policy. Our 7 day cruise turned into a 5 day cruise and DCL compensated us for the lost days.
MJ
We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Poly. We had the last room in the building facing the Ferry to the MK. We saw that the ferry was very empty so we decided to go to the park. It was great!! Park was empty but they were closing early due to the storm. It was so eerie feeling the wind pick up throughout the day. We then stocked up on snacks for the room and spent a cozy night listening to the storm. We had to take in the balcony furniture as per Disney and to keep the sliding door shut and locked., At times we thought the door was caving in the wind and rain were so bad. We were not allowed to leave the building at all. We never lost power and it was a good place to ride out a hurricane. Next morning the resort was a mess with trees down, chairs in the pool, vegetation covering the walkways, etc. By that evening you would never know a storm hit. On that Monday Disney bused us down to Fort Lauderdale to meet the cruise but the bus broke down on the highway. Had to wait a few hours for a new bus. The whole weekend was quite the experience!
PSA:....buy travel insurance. We had it for that trip and thank goodness we did. I saved all our receipts for the hotel, extra rental car days, meals, etc. and we were fully reimbursed under the Trip Cancellation portion of our policy. Our 7 day cruise turned into a 5 day cruise and DCL compensated us for the lost days.
MJ