A co-worker and her family left early Saturday morning for Disney in Orlando - they've been planning this trip for two years. She guessed / hoped that Sunday would be terrible and they'd stay in the hotel, but otherwise they should be OK. Anyone with information about what's happening in Orlando?

By Kellyj on Sunday, September 26, 2004 - 04:14 pm:

We have a friend who works for Disney. We haven't seen him on-line at all today so I bet that he does not have power. With the last hurricane he stayed on Disney in one of the hotels to be safer. He said that with the last hurricane, although the park was closed they offered entertainment and food etc in the hotels for all of the guests.

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, September 26, 2004 - 04:39 pm:

Just heard on TV that Orlando was hit pretty hard by Jeanne. I'm sure the Disney parks are closed today - I know yesterday and the day before some of them had adjusted their hours in anticipation of closing for Jeanne.

My sister lives in Orlando, and my inlaws are in West Palm Beach, where there is significant damage. We cannot reach either of them. I'm sure power's out everywhere.

I do know that Disney has their own power company and is not on public utilities. They'll be back up and running before anything else around there.

By Yjja123 on Sunday, September 26, 2004 - 04:51 pm:

I live in south Florida (we received damage from both Frances and Jeanne)
We just got power back on and a large portion of our roof is missing.
My family lives in Orlando. Parts of Orlando are without phones and power. There was a lot of tree damage (same as they received with Charley). Disney IS closed today. I guess they *might* open tomorrow with limited hours.
On our local news we heard that 1 million people are without power. It was only last week that everyone had restored power from Frances now a lot of the same people are once again with out power.
Please keep all Floridians in your prayers.
Yvonne

By Tink on Sunday, September 26, 2004 - 04:57 pm:

I'm so sorry that you have had to go through all of this, Yvonne. Lots of hugs and prayers are being sent your way.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, September 26, 2004 - 05:04 pm:

We prayed about Florida in church this morning. I hope this is the last hurricane for FL, this year, anyway.

By Rayanne on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 08:22 am:

I a on the west coast of Florida and we made ok.. The wind was horrible. I have not gone outside yet to see if anything happened yet. The good news is that our house did not flood this time.

By Karen~moderator on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 03:37 pm:

I'm worried because we still cannot reach my inlaws, and my MIL's health is declining.....

By Yjja123 on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 04:55 pm:

Karen,
I know a lot of phones are out (along with power). My husband's parents are without both.
My sister (who only lives 2 streets away from my inlaws) never lost power. The only way we were able to reach my inlaws was by cell phone. From what my sister and inlaws said there is not a lot of damage just no power. In Orlando they have a lot of power lines in the air so they get knocked out very easy. Here most of ours are underground so we luckily only were without power for a day. There was no school today but it will resume tomorrow.
I hope you are able to reach them soon!
Yvonne

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 06:29 pm:

Well, our office manager called our co-worker this a.m. They got to Orlando Saturday, and on the way down she spilled soda on each of her two sons. Sunday a curfew was set and they could not leave the building. They are staying in a time-share our office manager "owns". One - count it - one - tree was blown down in the complex and yes, it hit their apartment. Her youngest son came down with a 24 hour stomach virus.

Ah well - that's Tracey's luck. She has never, ever, in the 7 years I've known her, had a vacation, long weekend, birthday party or anything else without one of her sons getting ill. She is a remarkable woman and a wonderful mother. Her oldest has ADHD and Tourettes, terrible ear problems with at least three surgeries for ear tubes and one to remove a tube that had dislodged and caused an infection, and now has migraines; the younger boy had his first ear tubes before age 2 and has chronic and bad sinus infections. Both are very, very, very bright boys, and she has to run hard to try to even keep even with them. Plus, her father and father-in-law have really serious health problems and she is involved in calling doctors, nagging them to take care of themselves, etc.

I was really hoping that for once things would go well for her.

By Bellajoe on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 07:30 am:

Ginny, that poor woman! What horrible luck she has!

By Eve on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 09:33 am:

Oh no! I hope they can find a little peace on their trip! Oh my, I feel for her.