CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – BreAnna Ratliff and her family left Paintsville, Kentucky, on Saturday for a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida.
She quickly learned about the potential impacts of Hurricane Milton on the drive.
“When we found out, you know, how bad things were going to get and then it was supposed to actually hit in this area, you know our planner, she was able to help us adjust everything,” Ratliff said.
Their first day in the park was on Sunday, but they plan to stay in the resort now.
“We’ll be able to, you know, stay in the resort so we won’t have to leave and we’ll be, you know safe sheltering in place there,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff said they are under a hurricane warning, but weather hasn’t affected their trip yet.
“If we had known about all of this sooner, we probably would’ve changed our vacation and things. It’s been a bit stressful, it has been stressful not knowing.”
The family discussed leaving early, but travel times to get back were almost double because of evacuations.
“We didn’t want to get on the road and then get stuck in all that traffic when it’s supposed to be hitting this area, so we figured it was just safer to stay put right now,” Ratliff said.
This is Ratliff’s second trip to Disney World. She said although their situation is scary, it’s been good for the kids.
“We have pretty much had no wait times for any of the rides. We’ve been able to keep their minds off of everything by being able to experience so much in the parks.”
BreAnna said this is the first time she will experience a hurricane, and she wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
“I mean, I would definitely not head this way right now. I would hold off,” she said.
The parks will be closing early on Wednesday and all day on Thursday.
The family plans to stay at the resort until it’s safe to travel back home to Kentucky.
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