Hurricane Milton, a dangerous storm which, as of this post, is at Category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph and gusts up to 185 mph just north of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, about 600 miles from Walt Disney World Resort. Currently, Milton is forecast to make landfall around Tampa Bay overnight Wednesday-Thursday, October 9-10, at around Category 3, and then cross west to east over Central Florida, with the center reaching the middle of the peninsula around 8 a.m. on Thursday, and then exiting into the Atlantic at hurricane strength around the Space Coast in the evening. To be blunt, this is going to be a rough storm, even for those of us inland. Those on the Florida Gulf Coast and areas inland where flooding is common, are advised (and in some case ordered) to evacuate, while those of us in the inland areas where flooding is not common, are preparing to shelter from what will likely be around a Category 2 storm which the National Weather Service at Weather.gov describes as:
Winds 96-110 mph (83-95 kt or 154-177 km/hr). Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage: Well-constructed frame homes could sustain major roof and siding damage. Many shallowly rooted trees will be snapped or uprooted and block numerous roads. Near-total power loss is expected with outages that could last from several days to weeks.
As I have been writing quite a bit in recent weeks, keep an eye on disneyworld.com/weather for the latest on how Walt Disney World Resort plans its operations around the storm. During the recent threat posed by Hurricane Helene, which ended up largely sparing the Resort area, Resort-wide, Disney officially closed only Typhoon Lagoon and the mini golf courses, and canceled one edition of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. There were likely hotel and area-specific closures too that were not spelled out on the official website.
Disney’s first weather update was 7 p.m. on Monday, noting closures starting Wednesday, October 9, at 11 a.m., at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground (including dining and recreation locations), the Copper Creek Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, and the Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. As I have mentioned in recent weeks, those are all areas which are subject to flooding conditions. Interestingly, Orlando Sentinel noted this afternoon, and I checked on My Disney Experience, that for those ticket-types requiring theme park reservations, there are none available at the Disney Parks on Wednesday, October 9th; reservations are available on October 10th.
Shortly after publishing this Update, Disney posted more operational closures: Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom will close at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9. EPCOT, Magic Kingdom and Disney Springs will close at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9. All the theme parks will likely remain closed all day on Thursday, October 10. If conditions permit on Thursday afternoon, Disney Springs may open with limited offerings. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is canceled for October 10 as well. Disney Transportation will shut down when Magic Kingdom and Disney Springs close; limited Minnie Van and Mears taxi service will be available to Walt Disney World Resort Guests. Typhoon Lagoon and the mini golf courses will be closed starting Wednesday, October 9 as well.
As Milton gets closer, I expect the list of closings will expand, likely including all the public outdoor areas of the Resort should Milton remain on this course. Disney’s hotels around the property are built to withstand strong hurricanes, and many of the buildings have back-up power generators, so the vast majority of those buildings historically have remained open during storms and Disney has provided some food and beverage options for them in the past as well. I am aware of folks taking refuge at Disney hotels during storms, and, beyond Disney, the Rosen hotels over in the convention center area are offering Florida resident “distress” rates for evacuees as well. Milton, however, is the first storm taking direct aim at the middle of the state in this fashion (the closest analogy seems to be Charley back in 2005), so folks ordered to evacuate from the Gulf Coast would be better served if they head north to Gainesville or beyond, noting, of course, some of the other parts of Northern Florida around the Big Bend, Georgia and the Carolinas are still cleaning up from the devastation of Hurricane Helene.
Beyond Disney, as of this post, most of the area schools, including colleges and Universities, have announced closings associated with the storm. Tampa International and Orlando International Airports are suspending commercial operations. Sea World has announced it is closing Wednesday and Thursday. Legoland Florida, over in Winter Haven, has announced that it is closing Wednesday and Thursday, with its hotel remaining open at limited capacity. Since our original post: Universal Orlando announced it will also close its parks at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9, and Thursday, October 10. Even the Publix grocery store just north of Walt Disney World Resort on 535 has announced that it is closing tonight, will be closed all day on Wednesday, and they “hope to reopen” at some point on Thursday.
Everyone be safe.
As Mickey says, “See ya real soon!”
