Hurricane Charley and Florida Parks

How are the Florida parks fairing in the hurricane today? It looks like it's going to pass right over Orlando. I hope all Florida CBuzzers are safe and sound.

I survived a Japanese typhoon and the Togo flat ride of death!!!!!!

I read that they closed all the Flordia parks early today, and that Animal Kingdom never opened. Haven't heard how bad they were hit though, so im assuming they must not have been hit hard.

Dave
http://www.SFGAmWorld.com

I'd just like to hear from Bill (gator) and the other Fla Buzzers to know they are okay and all. A catagory 4 is not a small storm.

But yeah, parks were closed down today in wake of the storm.

They might of had to evacuate...I was talking to people that live in Tampa while I was palying this game, and they said that some people down there had to evacuate.

3 are dead.

Hope everyone on CBuzz and my family also, are ok.

Kyle Says: Diamondback was a lot of fun! Made his first time at Kings Island worth it all!

Gator's fine. I chatted with him a couple hours ago. The storm missed him by 50 miles.

Tampa and Gainesville are fine...concerned more for those homeless, injured, or worse than for the parks. All the Orlando-area parks that DID open, closed for the day at 2pm.

The storm tracked Eastward earlier than expected and crossed from Southwest to Northeast, from Ft. Myers-Sarasota got about the worst of a really BAD storm, those people are in our thoughts and prayers tonight. Orlando area got hit with a LOT of wind and rain, but thankfully the steering winds took the storm back out to sea pretty quickly...

Those of you in the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic, be ready just in case....this one still might strengthen before it makes land again.

Glad to hear you are safe, Bill. :-D I was watching the storm on the news......Nasty!

-Tina

Ditto! Glad to hear you came through it unscathed mate.

-Jim

Disney and Universal Parks all closed at 1:00 yesterday. Animal Kingdom and the DIsney water parks did not open. Busch Gardens did not open and turned everybody away. All the animals were put in a secure locationo except for the giraffes that were allowed to roam and go inside if they chose. I pulled all this information out of Florida news stories.

Just saw a piece that showed footage this morning of Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. They all seemed to have held up well -- though the broadcast did indicate that the parks would be closed today.

If you are going to worry about a park worry about Cypress Gardens as the storm passed over Lake Wales, so I have no idea if that park will be able to open on time (I can't imagine a park where the rides are still being erected could sustain a storm without some serious damage).

As is the case with hurricanes, Orlando being inland didn't get the brunt of the storm as it tends to simmer down as it goes over land.

Punta Gorda is a disaster zone, though. It was the West Coast (of Florida) town that got the 145 mph winds -- the casualty count is climbing, mostly from a mobile park there. I have no idea why a trailer park in a town about to get hit with a category 4 hurricane isn't evacuated, but I guess that's another story. Having lived through Andrew down here in Miami the images are grim and painfully nostalgic.

rollergator said:
Those of you in the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic, be ready just in case....this one still might strengthen before it makes land again.

Its only a category 1 hurricane in the Carolinas right now. We just have Tropical Storm Warnings in the Mid-Atlantic, in fact TSW's go all the way up the NH and MA border! There are even Flood Warnings up through MD up to NY and into mid ME!

But we can't take a TS lightly. After Isabel in the Chesapeake Bay Area, we can't take a chance.

though the broadcast did indicate that the parks would be closed today

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that 3 of the 4 parks will be open today. Animal Kingdom will remain closed.

Walt Schmidt - Co-Publisher, PointBuzz

Here are some photos of the damage as taken by the daring reporters...

http://homepage.mac.com/paulcmartens/PhotoAlbum36.html

http://www.mkt3000.com/pics/hurricanecharley/

Gemini said:

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that 3 of the 4 parks will be open today. Animal Kingdom will remain closed.

Indeed. It just goes to show how sometimes print journalism is superior to the live unchecked random ways of television.

It's great to see that the parks are all gearing up to open today. Animal Kingdom closed (and Discovery Cove, oddly enough) won't make much of an impact.

Something I always wonder is if they will take down Cinderella's Castle at Magic Kingdom. My understanding is that it can be dismantled in a couple of hours, but they've only done it once or never. Any Disney rats know the true story?

Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog

I was just watching a Disney show yesterday on Travel Channel and they were talking about the rumor that the towers come apart in case of a Hurricane. They said that it was false, and that the castle was built to with stand the winds.

I hope Chitown still got to hit BGT this week, he is down there this week. *** Edited 8/14/2004 6:12:47 PM UTC by CoasterDude316***

Dave
http://www.SFGAmWorld.com

Jeff said:
Something I always wonder is if they will take down Cinderella's Castle at Magic Kingdom. My understanding is that it can be dismantled in a couple of hours, but they've only done it once or never. Any Disney rats know the true story?

Yeah, it's totally false Jeff...

but I did hear they could take down Magnum incase of strong winds, and when they put it back together once, it started to sink. ;)

The storm was pretty intense here in Orlando, luckily we only had two uprooted trees and 2 shingles missing, my neighbors lost a trampoline, and the brick neighborhood signs by my girlfriends house broke down. We were hit by very very heavy winds, as water was seeping through the drill holes in my deadbolt door lock. that was a cool thing to see.

We were the only house on the block not to lose power. I got very lucky about that.

we closed the pool at the Hard Rock Hotel at 12, and stacked chairs, it started hitting Orlando/central florida around 4ish, and the parks shut down at 2.

Jeff said:
Something I always wonder is if they will take down Cinderella's Castle at Magic Kingdom. My understanding is that it can be dismantled in a couple of hours, but they've only done it once or never.

They actually lower it down into the tunnels/utilidors immediately after rolling Spaceship Earth in the World Showcase Lagoon for safety. ;-)

But seriously, no major damage to the parks, just a lot of trees, signs and banners that need some help. Thanks for all the concern! We're doing just fine down here now.

I'm supposed to go to Flordia on thrusday. Is that not a good idea since the power is out? Will Islands of Adventure be open?

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