Last year, a few of my family members were at Disney World during Hurricane Matthew. They'd planned and paid for the trip and it was nowhere near as significant as Irma was. If I remember correctly, Matthew hit at the tail end of their trip, so they decided to stay and ride it out, rather than try and leave. They figured that if they were going to be stuck somewhere in Florida (traffic, weather, etc.) they might as well be stuck in a place known for it's customer service. In the end, they were holed up in their hotel for about a day (long enough when you have small kids!) -- it was only the 4th time Disney had ever closed -- then spent the next day in Magic Kingdom, staying to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade, and drove home.
Their two take-away points were these:
(1) They were really disappointed with the food options. Sure, they were under a curfew and basically "trapped" in their hotel, but they expected a little bit more from Disney customer service on this end.
(2) The fact that they were able to go to the parks the next day is a testament to how quickly Disney is able to orchestrate a clean-up process.
[Sidebar: If you've ever been to a Disney park, you may have noticed how clean it is: the "janitorial" cast members roam the park, but often wear the same "costumes" as other cast members in their area so they tend to blend in more than janitorial/maintenance employees of other places. They also tend to be some of the happiest, friendliest cast members, always willing to answer a question, snap a photo, or offer Disney trivia. Rarely does a piece of trash/food stay on the ground for more than a few minutes before a cast member swoops it up; it's a bit of Disney lore that you're never more than 30 steps away from a trash can (so there's never an excuse to litter!).]
Which brings me to how Disney handled things during Hurricane Irma -- obviously this was a different, more high-stakes situation, and I think Disney had more time to prepare. The Weather Channel coverage of Irma seemed to last for about a week before she hit Florida, and Matthew may have been a quicker-moving hurricane.
(1) People who stayed at Disney for Irma seemed much happier with the food options, again, perhaps due to having a longer time to prepare.
Some people are complaining about having to pay for the food, but...even in a hurricane, Disney is still a business. I understand why they can't give away food for free. Although, if you've ever been to Disney and bought food there, this amount of food for this price may seem like it's free. $6 usually buys maybe a sandwich? A small plate of food (one item) at Food and Wine?
 |
| via Chip & Co. |
(2) Even though Irma was a much stronger, bigger hurricane that did more damage than Matthew, Disney still managed to orchestrate an impressive clean-up.
This Huffington Post article focuses a little bit more on the precautions Disney took in advance of Irma, but also has a few fascinating before/after photos of hurricane damage --> clean up.
This Huffington Post article focuses a little bit more on the precautions Disney took in advance of Irma, but also has a few fascinating before/after photos of hurricane damage --> clean up.
Port Orleans French Quarter at 6:58am vs 9:03pm today. Disney have done an amazing job cleaning it up so fast. #LiveFromWDW #HurricaneIrma pic.twitter.com/Rnbc354bvp— CafeFantasia 💫 (@CafeFantasia) September 12, 2017
Disney magic, indeed.9 hours earlier this pool was a complete mess. There were tons of branches both around & in the pool. #Disney castmembers are always on it. pic.twitter.com/Odx3lOyQVL— Joseph Jaskiewicz (@JosephJFLA) September 12, 2017
It seems that even Disney wasn't completely hurricane-proof though. As The Orlando Sentinel reports, there are a few attractions/resorts that were more significantly affected, including The Jungle Cruise and Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom -- both of which are water rides, which may have something to do with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment