2019 Hurricane Thread

and....this is why I cut traveling through southeastern states on the way to Sept./Oct. Orlando vacations from my itinerary. Just too much travel hassle. The last four years have been brutal trying to drive through NC, SC, Georgia & Florida.

 

and already I saw people buying water at Publix last night at least universal isn't planting any corn this year...

 

I'm actually opposite. Being stranded at Disney during Irma was quite possibly my favorite Orlando trip ever.

Prices are less, etc. It was actually the exact same amount of points to fly MCO-FLL-NAS, NAS-DAL as it was to fly MCO-DAL. ~$40/person difference in fees and that's it. I had 4 free nights at Atlantis I was actually just going to let die, but with the flight costs being so cheap at that point, I went ahead and pulled the trigger.

My advice: As a tourist, you need to have trip delay and interruption insurance during hurricane season.
Whether it's through a CC or whether you buy it outright; having insurance in Sept/Oct is a necessity.
I'm first hand proof of it. Received $2,000 for my Irma portion and I used every bit of it; but got to stay at the contemporary, eat good food, etc.
Had a mechanical delay coming back from a Universal trip earlier this year and spent the night at the Floridian, drinks by the pool, and eating at Narcossee's (which sucked, for the record).

 

Hope we don’t get anything serious this year.

 

It's not so much Orlando, it's more trying to travel when all the major highways shut down and flood through NC, SC, Georgia & Jacksonville area. It's a long drive from Pittsburgh. And plane flights being cancelled negate the air travel alternative too. Not worth the hassle. I already went through that 'almost impossible drive' three years in a row. As the Raven cried "Nevermore. Nevermore"...and because of that I stumbled into a new alternative for the second vacation of the year, namely Universal/Disney Holiday time. After last year it's become our favorite vacation time. Weather is comfortable in the parks, cooler and rarely any rain, and there's so much more to do.

 

Galaxy's Edge and lots of rides on Hagrids on Saturday if it comes this way Sunday. Panic if it suddenly explodes in the Bahamas before landfall.

 

How many big storms normally hit Florida each year on average? Or can it vary drastically year to year?

 

Less than one. We didn't have a single hurricane hit from Wilma in 2005 until Hermine in 2016 -- 11 year stretch of NOTHING.

 

What sort of an impact do those have? Depressions and storms I mean. Grounded flights and the like?

 

Flooding in lower areas. Grounded/cancelled flights. Literally tons of rain. Higher than normal winds.

Rarely, electrical and cable might go out for a short time. They almost never effect anything major like sewage or clean water.

 

I’ve stayed opened through depression and TS normally it’s just rough rain but like you said a regular day.

i try to buy supplies as I go through the summer. just gotta make sure my liquor cabinet is fully stocked.

 

It also really matters a lot about what the weather has been like before it. If we have had a long rainy patch where it had previously been a long dry spell, even a minor storm can cause some big issues with trees falling over. When we got hit by the 3 storms back in 2004, Charley was really the one that hurt us the most. The other 2 storms weren't nearly as bad as Charley was for us in Orlando, but because we were already in bad shape they were amplified.

Like everyone else is saying, Tropical Depressions and Tropical Storms are not terribly different than some of the bad storms that can crop up on an average day

 

I'm trying to stay positive and wait. But our special Labor Day weekend/wedding anniversary is looking very iffy.