Our experience of Hurricane Irma

[scottishvixen]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds absolutely terrifying. Enjoy the rest of your holiday

[margyloveswdw]

That was a really interesting read. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[1972]

Glad you are safe.

A fantastic account of your experience which was very well written.

I can understand why you wouldn't want to return at the same time of year, but like others have said, a hurricane like this hasn't happened for a long time in Florida.

Hurricane season runs from June until November. We were very unlucky when we went to St Lucia in 2010 - we were hit by Hurricane Tomas on 30th October! The first hurricane in St Lucia for 25 years and we chose that 1 week to go.

[linder]

A horrible time for all involved but you have have given good tips and a strategy for everyone who may face this

[anji]

Thank you for sharing such an honest account of a terrifying experience. What good luck that you didn't lose power at all as it would have been so much worse in the dark
Enjoy the rest of your holiday and live every moment! xx

[clanmacbeath]

I have just read through your post and have to say our experience was the same. I have never been so frightened in all my life. The noise is something that I'll never forget. It's been an eventful holiday for a lot of us dibbers! Thankfully we have all been lucky and have managed to get through it without any major problems.

[EssexSue]

Changed mind

[Junogirl1]

Sounds terrifying!
The hurricane actually wasn't that bad for me. I slept through a lot of it. I had the TV on because I'm a waker. I woke up around 1am, having gone to sleep at about 10. Went on the DIBB and talked a bit. Suddenly an alarm sounded, roughly 1:30am, what I would later learn to be a fire alarm that was tripped by the hurricane (as the eye was breaking up around us), but what my mother thought to be a tornado warning (the alarm woke her up and she had no idea the tornado alerts had stopped) and so we went to the bathroom and brought sheets and stuff there.

She was scared of me leaving the bathroom even after the alarm had been sorted. I told her it was safe, so she put one of the mattresses (mine!) close to the window because she was scared the windows and doors would blow in!

Then we watched Brave for a bit and fell asleep until about 8am. As soon as I woke up, I went to the windows and took this:

I went to see the damage-not leaving the balcony. I'm amazed my mother let me since the Irma resort information said not to. I didn't see any damage to the Little Mermaid block, but when Resort curfew had been lifted, I did see damage to the Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars blocks. We wandered over to Pop Century and met Woody-even though we weren't technically allowed to leave the resort, Pop Century is walkable from Art of Animation. I saw no damage to Pop Century and the pool was packed! I also saw lots of military, perhaps the National Guard or something. I don't know.
But we too saw the double rainbow later on!

Overall, I found the hurricane wasn't that scary. I thought it'd be a lot scarier, but I guess living in an attic prepares you for howling winds and pounding rain. It got so bad during Barbara that I thought slates were falling off the roof! (Turned out to be something much more sinister-next door's cat.) The scariest thing was the tripped fire alarm. I've never been good with fire alarms-they always make me scream and cry.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

[laurac1988]

Absolutely horrifying. Glad you both came out of it ok.

Blew my mind that people were still headed over, but we're all different that's for sure

[JohnD]

Interesting. So different from our experience down in Rotonda. On Sunday night, it was no worse than a winter storm and when we woke up the next day the only damage was an ornamental palm had snapped. Oh well, Orlando is where the thrill rides are meant to be