A Disney-loving family in Arizona rode out the wrath of Hurricane Milton from the comfort of their Disney World Resort room Wednesday as the park provided partial compensation during the devastating and deadly storm.
Sandra Guadarrama-Baumke has been traveling from Phoenix to Orlando for the past three years and thought it was the perfect time to go to the theme park after Hurricane Helen hit the area a week ago.
“Oh, thank goodness I was a week late,” the married mother of two recalled in her essay. Business Insider.
Even after learning that Milton was barreling toward the Sunshine State, the family remained determined to make the trip to the park.
Guadarrama Baumke, 53, her husband Brian, 58, their daughters Sophia, 21, and Mia, 25, and Mia's boyfriend Jeremy, 25, are on vacation. Therefore, I arrived in Orlando by plane on October 5th.
“I was positive that they were going to miss us,” Guadarrama-Baumke added. “We also felt that the resort was one of the safest places to be during a hurricane because they had been through it before and knew what to expect.”
The family, along with the rest of the country, watched as the powerful storm approached Florida.
They enjoyed all the parks and amenities they could before the park closed at 2pm on Wednesday in advance of Milton's landing on the Midwest coast of Florida.
After the park closed, they returned to the resort, where staff prepared crafts, s'mores and other activities for guests, Guadarrama-Baumke wrote.
The storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane near Siesta Key in Sarasota County, 195 miles southwest of Disney.
To kill time, the family played games such as the UNO card game they bought at the gift shop and enjoyed going to the bar, but like everyone else, they have problems with getting too close to others for too long. may occur.
“Being with family in such a small space sometimes requires patience and digging deep,” she wrote.
In response to the unfortunate situation, the hotel offered discounts at the restaurant with a limited menu.
Families ate out for a barbecue-themed dinner for $26 per person instead of the usual $40, and breakfast skillets were sold for $14 per person instead of $26.
Guadarrama-Baumke had already changed into her pajamas when the storm hit western Florida around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Later, the family endured the resort's fire alarm going off while in Milton.
All guests took shelter in the lobby, where it was “calm and orderly.”
“Disney staff reassured us that the fire department was already on the way. After just 10 minutes, they told us there was some sort of short circuit and we were safely returned to our room,” she said.
“Aside from the wind and rain beating against the windows, that was the only drama all night. I know other parts of Florida suffered a lot, but for us it was fine. ”
The family's trip was extended an extra day when a flight leaving Florida on Friday was rescheduled to Saturday.
The resort offered a 40% discount on two rooms for hurricane relief, saving us over $2,000 on an extra night.
Milton is believed to be responsible for the deaths of at least 17 people in eight Florida counties.
Even though the worst-case scenario for the state did not play out, more than a dozen people died as a result of the storm, many of which are believed to have been caused by tornado outbreaks that flattened mobile home parks. are.
Winds gusting more than 160 mph caused chaos across the state, including strong winds that blown off much of the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg and toppled a crane on the Tampa Bay Times building in the city's downtown. Ta.
About 1,000 people and at least 100 animals were rescued from the rubble and floodwaters, emergency managers said.
About 2.5 million customers remained without power Wednesday morning, according to Poweroutage.us.
Disney World is closed Wednesday and Thursday, but officials confirmed the park will reopen to guests Friday morning.
with post wire
