5 Disney World Hotel Problems You Don't Want To Face Under Any Circumstances

We wouldn’t wish these on ANYone.

Contemporary Resort monorail

A Walt Disney World vacation is supposed to be a happy occasion. However, sometimes things go wrong, and occasionally people get hurt, even at the “Most Magical Place on Earth.” These are some of the nightmare Disney hotel scenarios that you don’t want to face under ANY circumstances during a trip.

Being Stuck at a Disney Hotel During Hurricane

Hurricanes are a fact of life in Central Florida from June through November (otherwise known as Atlantic Hurricane Season), even at Walt Disney World. During the rare times when Disney has shut down during particularly strong hurricanes, guets have had to hunker down at their hotels. While Disney does their best to provide essentials during these times — and even provide entertainment like character appearances to keep the spirits of guests (especially kids) high, we still wouldn’t recommend this experience to anyone.

Hurricane Ian looming at Disney’s Polynesian

Being Woken Up by a Fire Alarm

Let’s face it, a fire alarm going off at your hotel during a vacation is going to be horrifying under any circumstances, it would be especially terrifying and disorienting to be woken up by an alarm and calls to evacuate yourself and your family from your hotel in the middle of the night! Even if the alarm turns out to be false, it still throws your entire sleep schedule off track, potentially throwing a massive wrench into your trip.

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

Staying at a Skyliner Hotel During a Crash or Service Stoppage

For hotels on the Disney Skyliner route –Art of Animation, Pop Century, the Riviera Resort, and the Caribbean Beach Resort — the gondola transportation system is one of their major selling points. In fact, the hotels are slightly more expensive than their equivalent counterparts due to the Skyliner. All of which means that if the Skyliner system goes down for an extended closure due to a crash or other event, guests at these hotels are plunged into a bit of a transportation nightmare since their primate option for access to half of Walt Disney World’s theme parks.

Skyliner at Disney’s Riviera Resort

Staying at a Monorail Resort… Only for it to Breakdown

In the same vein as the Skyliner, part of the premium that guests in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area pay for the Polynesian Village, Grand Floridian, and Contemporary resorts is for access to the Walt Disney World Monorail. This means that when the Monorail goes down, things get rough, which is especially compounded by the fact that these are the most expensive on-property resorts at Walt Disney World.

Evacuating…

We experienced this firsthand at the Contemporary recently, as one of our reporters was part of an evacuation down a back stairwell from the resort’s monorail station.

Monorail Evacuation

Being Evacuated Due to a “Chemical Scare”

Last year, employees at the Polynesian Village needed to be evacuated after “an employee mixed two chemicals that should not have been combined. The resulting reaction led employees to evacuate the kitchen while firefighters responded and investigated the scene.”

The Polynesian

While that was a small incident, we can’t help but think about how frightening it would had it been larger, and a full hotel needed to be evacuated due to a dangerous mixture of chemicals.