Well, I made it thru the night with no problems - although two of the buildings at my resort were evacuated last night. Those guests were taken to the Coronado Springs convention center (the next resort from here). The management was concerned mostly about flooding in and around those two buildings. I must admit that by late yesterday afternoon, I was beginning to think that my decision to not pack and run home on Monday was possibly the biggest lapse of good judgment in my adult life.

Instead of leaving, I got in the car on Monday and stocked up on gallons of water, cold cuts in resealable packages, bread, candles, a flashlight, spare batteries for the walkman and flashlight, fruit, sugar cookies and a few days' supply of Pepto Bismol. I had the hotel bring in a refrigerator - but, I also bought a cooler and filled it with ice before the brunt of the storm was supposed to hit last night (in case the power went out).

Then, I got to thinking that evening... here I am, all alone (this was a solo trip for me), in a remote section of the resort. I was at the far end of one of the farthest buildings from the food court, on the top floor. What if things did turn as bad as the weather forecasters were predicting? What if something happened and I had no way of calling for help? I asked the hotel to move me to one of buildings closest to the main building/food court, on the second floor. I figured this would be high enough to keep the snakes and gators out of my room, but with a full floor between me and the roof - just in case the roof decided to blow away during the storm. The hotel staff wasn't happy about my request - they were quick to point out that they gave me exactly what I asked for... a room on the top floor, in a quiet section. However, they finally agreed and then sent a cast member to assist me with the move.

Despite my momentary brush with reality on Monday, I, like everyone else, was still expecting the storm to make a turn to the north and miss central Florida. After all, that IS the reason why I didn't pack up and go home. I kept thinking if I cut short my vacation, it would turn out to be all for nothing... the storm would turn away.. they always do! But as late as Tuesday afternoon, this hadn't happened. Then, when the theme parks shut down at 2pm and the guests (many of whom apparently hadn't heard about the storm - if you can believe it) came back to the resorts, a sort of panic set in.

People queued up in the gift shop to buy bottles of juice, milk, and anything non-perishable they could find. The lines were astounding. At the food court, only 2 of the 4 sections were open (grill and pizza) and the lines - each about 4 abreast - extended the full length of the service area... out into the main corridor of the hotel lobby... and then out into the pool area. It was at this point when I seriously began to think "what was I thinking... I should have left... this is not going to be good!"

That's also about the time that I first realized that an evacuation was in progress at the resort. A very irate guest saw someone from Security and engaged him in an argument. They were close enough for me to hear that guests in two buildings were being evacuated to the Coronado Springs convention center. This guest did not want to leave. I thought how lucky I was to not be evacuated. That feeling didn't last very long when one of the bartenders told me "there's no way they're gonna let you stay in your room tonight." She said that the resort was being quietly evacuated beginning with the back sections - to keep it quiet - so as to not cause a panic. If the storm continued on its projected path, the entire resort would eventually be moved out. Luckily, this did not need to happen. However, I did find out the next day that similar evacuations were taking place at the All Star Music and Movies resorts - and at sections of Coronado Springs itself. I also heard of two guests at our resort who eluded the door-to-door search by keeping their lights turned off and hiding in the bathroom.

By 6pm, the lines at the food court and gift shop were just as long, but a sort of carnival atmosphere set in by the pool area. All the chairs and umbrellas had been packed away earlier, but people just plopped down on the ground. Kids were swimming and running around... the adults were sitting around drinking... talkng. You wouldn't have known a storm was coming. There had been a few, very brief downpours earlier in the day - and some sprinkling throughout the evening, but other than that, it was warm and humid and everyone remained outdoors as long as possible. Rather than wait on an hour-long line for hot food, I found a couple of cold sandwiches for dinner and brought them out to the pool bar. The usual sports programs on the TVs were replaced with non-stop storm coverage.

The bar closed at around 8pm. Disney let many of its cast members go home - I guess to protect their own property and belongings. There was obviously a shortage of help. One observation I found particularly interesting - and the only time I'll probably ever see this anywhere on Disney property... some of the cast members on duty were either not in uniform at all - or were in some other uniform. For example, one of the regular cashiers was wearing jeans and a t-shirt instead of the usual colorful All Star uniform. Another cast member, whom I had not seen at the resort prior to this, was cleaning tables and stocking the condiments wearing an Animal Kingdom uniform. I guess management was using available cast members where they were needed most - not necessarily where they normally work. After all, the theme parks had been closed for hours.

Later that night, with everything else closed - and no place to go, I joined about a hundred other guests in the food court near the giant projection TV set. Of course, we were watching up-to-the minute coverage of the storm. We found out afterwards that the staffing shortage and early closings varied from resort to resort. The All Star Music resort right next door had enough cast members on hand to keep their bar open until around 11pm. We also learned that they did not experience the same long lines in their food court that we had at ours.

I should take a moment to back up and mention some of the sights that I saw related to storm and preparations. Earlier in the day, on my way back from MGM. I saw that Disney was moving big generators around the property on jumbo flatbed trucks. I don't know where they were headed, but it was an awesome sight. These things were huge. Still earlier in the day, while walking towards the entrance to Coronado Springs, I noticed that they had secured all of light fixtures with metal rods. At MGM, all of the lettering had been taken down off the theatre marquee on Sunset Boulevard. MGM was practically deserted. At noon, there wasn't a soul waiting for a table - or sitting at the bar - at the Prime Time Cafe. How unusual is that?

Back to Hurricane Floyd night - for those of us who did not get evacuated, Disney put a flier in each room advising us to keep our curtains closed... to keep our doors closed but unlocked (so they could get in to assist us if necessary)... to keep connecting doors between rooms unlocked (for the same reason)... to stay on the far side of the room (away from the window)... and to keep the bathtub filled with water. They also posted a cast member in the lobby of each building and had been providing periodic updates to each room via voice mail throughout this period.

Bedtime had come and gone long ago... I couldn't sleep. By now, we had heard that it was likely the storm would be making a last-minute turn to the north, thereby sparing central Florida its full force. But, this wasn't a certainty - and I really didn't know what to expect even if this happened. I decided to try to sleep, but I kept the TV on - I needed the company... the reassuring voice of the news anchorman in the background... an audible confirmation that the power was still on. I finally fell asleep, although it was not a restful sleep. My eyes opened with each sound I heard from outside.