Just 2 in '22 Day Twenty, Ian hangs around.

spencem · 18 Mar 23, 10:48 PM

Day 20, Thursday September 29th

This day got off to a very rocky start, at 03:20, when we were awakened by loud alarms. At first I thought it was the hotel fire alarm being used as a tornado warning after the reports from before we went to bed. It was only as we hurriedly put some clothes on that Julia noticed her phone lit up and a load of Spanish text on it. When we looked closer and swiped right we got the text in English and discovered it was a flash flood warning. Being on the 3rd floor we didn’t think we needed to worry and so tried to calm down and go back to sleep.

It was also around now that I discovered the carpet nearest the window was soaked. The window itself didn’t appear to be leaking, I think it was coming from around the air-conditioning unit. The wind was certainly throwing huge quantities of rain onto it.

Eventually I dozed off, only to have the same piercing alarm wake me up again at 7:30 with another flood alert. This time I knew what it was, but it was still not a great way to wake up. I got up to find Julia already up and making tea, we were very happy to find we still had power and running water.

The rain had eased by the time we went to breakfast at 8:30.

The rain might have eased from how it had been but it was still coming down heavily and being blown all over the place, there was no eating outside this morning. Although there was still a breakfast service it was understandably somewhat curtailed with options and staff missing. We were just happy to be getting something and took ours back to our room as there was no seating available inside.

The day passed much like the previous one, with napping, reading, TV and trip report writing. I also exchanged a few messages with my friend who was staying in a villa, they were also ok with power and water still on. My new boss also contacted me, just to check we were ok and to let me know not to worry if flights got messed up and I didn’t get back on time for work Monday. I’d only been at the company a few weeks at that point, so it was really nice of him to get in touch.

We should have been at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tonight, but that was obviously not happening. Disney formally cancelled it and said they would automatically refund those who had brought their tickets direct from them, as they had our Drawn to Life tickets the night before. I looked at our ticket reseller’s web site and they already had a page up to claim your refund, which I filled in with our details. The money appeared back on our card by the time we got home on the Sunday.

The weather calmed down as the day went on for us in Kissimmee as the storm moved on and by late afternoon the hotel started to empty out a bit as locals returned to see what was left of their homes. Around 6pm I ventured out to see if our hire car had survived, thankfully other than being surrounded by foliage it was fine and I moved it back to the front of the hotel.

I was happy I didn’t have to try and contact Alamo to get a damaged car replaced.

The news was somewhat surreal, seeing all of the damage around us while we were warm and dry with our power and running water. Just along the 192 parts of Kissimmee were underwater from the nearly 2 feet of rain that had fallen over the last day or so. The area around Universal was also under water and the massive damage to the southwest of the state was becoming clear.

We also started to see reports about attractions opening up, with Disney saying they’d be opening in the morning all be it a little late. SeaWorld and Busch said they didn’t intend to open until the weekend at the earliest and although Universal said they’d open they didn’t give any timeline. We also saw the helicopter footage of the flooding at Universal and the huge hole in the Jurassic Park ride.

Around 8:15 that evening park reservations for Epcot became available and so we grabbed a couple. We had originally not got anything firmly planned for the Friday and Saturday, with our 18 days running out on our Disney tickets but they announced they were extending any unused days on multiday tickets to make up for closing the parks for two days, which I thought was very generous of them. It was only a couple of days later I fully grasped the implications of the extension.

Boredom saw us in bed for an early night, even if I did have to paddle a bit to get to my side.

We had gotten through our first hurricane with just a bit of boredom and a couple of alarming alarms and a couple of missed events. Many had been nowhere near as lucky with 150 deaths in Florida, huge areas under feet of flood waters and coastal communities all but wiped from the map, we knew we had been extremely lucky.

Day 21 is here.

**disneywiseowl** · 19 Mar 23, 07:34 AM

Yeh, it was a weird sort of day really, wasn’t it. We felt guilty being safe & comfortable in our hotel whilst others were struggling but at the same time we wanted to enjoy the last few days of our holiday.
Glad you got your tickets sorted out & can use them this year. 👍

spencem · 22 Mar 23, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by disneywiseowl

Yeh, it was a weird sort of day really, wasn’t it. We felt guilty being safe & comfortable in our hotel whilst others were struggling but at the same time we wanted to enjoy the last few days of our holiday.
Glad you got your tickets sorted out & can use them this year. 👍

Weird is a good description, we had the same feelings about being worried about our holiday while the locals were worried about losing everything.

Not long for either of us by the look of your countdown.

18 Mar 23, 10:48 PM	#1
	18 Mar 23, 10:48 PM spencem Apprentice Imagineer
spencem Apprentice Imagineer Join Date: Sep 07	Just 2 in '22 Day Twenty, Ian hangs around. Day 20, Thursday September 29th This day got off to a very rocky start, at 03:20, when we were awakened by loud alarms. At first I thought it was the hotel fire alarm being used as a tornado warning after the reports from before we went to bed. It was only as we hurriedly put some clothes on that Julia noticed her phone lit up and a load of Spanish text on it. When we looked closer and swiped right we got the text in English and discovered it was a flash flood warning. Being on the 3rd floor we didn’t think we needed to worry and so tried to calm down and go back to sleep. It was also around now that I discovered the carpet nearest the window was soaked. The window itself didn’t appear to be leaking, I think it was coming from around the air-conditioning unit. The wind was certainly throwing huge quantities of rain onto it. Eventually I dozed off, only to have the same piercing alarm wake me up again at 7:30 with another flood alert. This time I knew what it was, but it was still not a great way to wake up. I got up to find Julia already up and making tea, we were very happy to find we still had power and running water. The rain had eased by the time we went to breakfast at 8:30. The rain might have eased from how it had been but it was still coming down heavily and being blown all over the place, there was no eating outside this morning. Although there was still a breakfast service it was understandably somewhat curtailed with options and staff missing. We were just happy to be getting something and took ours back to our room as there was no seating available inside. The day passed much like the previous one, with napping, reading, TV and trip report writing. I also exchanged a few messages with my friend who was staying in a villa, they were also ok with power and water still on. My new boss also contacted me, just to check we were ok and to let me know not to worry if flights got messed up and I didn’t get back on time for work Monday. I’d only been at the company a few weeks at that point, so it was really nice of him to get in touch. We should have been at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tonight, but that was obviously not happening. Disney formally cancelled it and said they would automatically refund those who had brought their tickets direct from them, as they had our Drawn to Life tickets the night before. I looked at our ticket reseller’s web site and they already had a page up to claim your refund, which I filled in with our details. The money appeared back on our card by the time we got home on the Sunday. The weather calmed down as the day went on for us in Kissimmee as the storm moved on and by late afternoon the hotel started to empty out a bit as locals returned to see what was left of their homes. Around 6pm I ventured out to see if our hire car had survived, thankfully other than being surrounded by foliage it was fine and I moved it back to the front of the hotel. I was happy I didn’t have to try and contact Alamo to get a damaged car replaced. The news was somewhat surreal, seeing all of the damage around us while we were warm and dry with our power and running water. Just along the 192 parts of Kissimmee were underwater from the nearly 2 feet of rain that had fallen over the last day or so. The area around Universal was also under water and the massive damage to the southwest of the state was becoming clear. We also started to see reports about attractions opening up, with Disney saying they’d be opening in the morning all be it a little late. SeaWorld and Busch said they didn’t intend to open until the weekend at the earliest and although Universal said they’d open they didn’t give any timeline. We also saw the helicopter footage of the flooding at Universal and the huge hole in the Jurassic Park ride. Around 8:15 that evening park reservations for Epcot became available and so we grabbed a couple. We had originally not got anything firmly planned for the Friday and Saturday, with our 18 days running out on our Disney tickets but they announced they were extending any unused days on multiday tickets to make up for closing the parks for two days, which I thought was very generous of them. It was only a couple of days later I fully grasped the implications of the extension. Boredom saw us in bed for an early night, even if I did have to paddle a bit to get to my side. We had gotten through our first hurricane with just a bit of boredom and a couple of alarming alarms and a couple of missed events. Many had been nowhere near as lucky with 150 deaths in Florida, huge areas under feet of flood waters and coastal communities all but wiped from the map, we knew we had been extremely lucky. Day 21 is here. __________________ All of my trip reports can be found here, Florida, Paris and LA. Edited at 09:36 PM.