Current:Home > MarketsDisney World and other Orlando parks to reopen Friday after Hurricane Milton shutdown -Wealthify
Disney World and other Orlando parks to reopen Friday after Hurricane Milton shutdown
View
Date:2025-04-17 14:39:23
Stay up to date: Follow AP’s live coverage of Hurricane Milton and the 2024 hurricane season.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld planned to reopen Friday after an assessment of the effects of Hurricane Milton.
Disney World said in a statement that its theme parks, Disney Springs, and possibly other areas will be open. The parks said some Halloween special events won’t be offered and they won’t necessarily be fully functioning Friday, but the public is welcome back.
As Milton came ashore as a major storm Wednesday, all three Orlando-based parks shut down, putting a damper on the vacations of tens of thousands of tourists, many of whom hunkered down in hotels. SeaWorld closed for all of Wednesday, Disney World and Universal for the afternoon. All three were closed all day Thursday.
Orlando International Airport, the nation’s seventh busiest and Florida’s most trafficked, planned to resume domestic arrivals on Thursday night and departures on Friday morning. It had stopped commercial operations early Wednesday.
The airport’s closure prevented Simon Forster, his wife and their two children from returning to Scotland, so they enjoyed an extra two days of their two-week vacation on the bustling International Drive in Orlando’s tourism district on Thursday. Hurricanes seem to follow them since two years ago Hurricane Ian kept them from returning to Scotland after another Orlando vacation.
“Last night, it was quite intense, Forster said. “I was watching the palm trees sway back and forth outside my hotel room. How they didn’t come down, I don’t know. Scary stuff.”
Their hotel at Universal Orlando Resort had a party atmosphere Wednesday night ahead of Milton’s arrival.
“The bar was good fun,” he said. “Two extra days here, there are are worst places we could be.”
Miniature golf was among the few activities available to tourists who had been locked down in their hotel rooms and rental condos. There was a line getting into Congo River Golf on International Drive.
Craig Greig of Glasgow, Scotland, would have been at the Magic Kingdom with his wife and 10-year-old if the theme parks had been open. Instead he was clutching a putter ready to putt golf balls over a man made lagoon filled with baby alligators.
“We just wanted to stretch our legs and get out of the hotel,” he said. “Especially for the little one.” Even though it was his first experience with a hurricane, he was unfazed and slept through the night as it roared through central Florida.
Disney World, Universal and other attractions make Orlando the United States’ most visited destination, drawing 74 million tourists last year alone.
And Halloween-related celebrations have made October one of the busiest and most lucrative times for the parks.
Hurricanes in the Orlando area are uncommon but not unheard of. Three crossed the area in 2004 – Charley, Frances and Jeanne. Hurricane Irma in 2017 tracked just west of metro Orlando, and Hurricane Ian caused some flooding as it plowed through as a downgraded tropical storm in 2022.
___
AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles.
___
Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform X: @MikeSchneiderAP.
veryGood! (83)
Related
- Jamie Foxx reps say actor was hit in face by a glass at birthday dinner, needed stitches
- Organized retail crime figure retracted by retail lobbyists
- Missouri lawmakers propose allowing homicide charges for women who have abortions
- Air Force major says he feared his powerlifting wife
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Appeals court upholds gag order on Trump in Washington case but narrows restrictions on his speech
- Appeals court upholds gag order on Trump in Washington case but narrows restrictions on his speech
- Every college football conference's biggest surprises and disappointments in 2023
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- Harvard president apologizes for remarks on antisemitism as pressure mounts on Penn’s president
Ranking
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- Indonesia suspects human trafficking is behind the increasing number of Rohingya refugees
- Chevy Chase falls off stage in New York at 'Christmas Vacation' movie screening
- Derek Hough reveals his wife, Hayley Erbert, had emergency brain surgery after burst blood vessel
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- Tony Shalhoub returns as everyone’s favorite obsessive-compulsive sleuth in ‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case’
- Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein dies unexpectedly at 51
- Californian passes state bar exam at age 17 and is sworn in as an attorney
Recommendation
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
Massachusetts attorney general files civil rights lawsuit against white nationalist group
Republican Adam Kinzinger says he's politically homeless, and if Trump is the nominee, he'll vote for Biden — The Takeout
Fatal shooting by police in north Mississippi is under state investigation
New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
A pregnant woman in Kentucky sues for the right to get an abortion
Vessel owner pleads guilty in plot to smuggle workers, drugs from Honduras to Louisiana
Jon Rahm is a hypocrite and a sellout. But he's getting paid, and that's clearly all he cares about.