Current:Home > NewsDisney World and other Orlando parks to reopen Friday after Hurricane Milton shutdown -NextFrontier Finance
Disney World and other Orlando parks to reopen Friday after Hurricane Milton shutdown
View
Date:2025-04-22 16:49:11
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! (42157)
Related
- Chief beer officer for Yard House: A side gig that comes with a daily swig.
- Travis King charged with desertion for crossing into North Korea
- Northern Europe continues to brace for gale-force winds and floods
- Marlon Wayans requests dismissal of airport citation, says he was discriminated against
- Drones warned New York City residents about storm flooding. The Spanish translation was no bueno
- A Palestinian engineer who returned to Gaza City after fleeing south is killed in an airstrike
- High mortgage rates dampen home sales, decrease demand from first-time buyers
- More than 300,000 student borrowers given wrong repayment information, Education Department says
- Michigan lawmaker who was arrested in June loses reelection bid in Republican primary
- Can the new film ‘Uncharitable’ change people’s minds about “overhead” at nonprofits?
Ranking
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Supreme Court to hear court ban on government contact with social media companies
- AI chatbots are supposed to improve health care. But research says some are perpetuating racism
- New York woman comes forward to claim $12 million prize from a 1991 jackpot, largest in state history
- Matt Damon remembers pal Robin Williams: 'He was a very deep, deep river'
- SAG-AFTRA asks striking actors to avoid certain popular characters as Halloween costumes
- Watch: Black bear takes casual stroll in Asheville, North Carolina, spooks tourists
- Martin Scorsese, out with new film, explains what interested him in Osage murders: This is something more insidious
Recommendation
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
Estonia says damage to Finland pipeline was caused by people, but it’s unclear if it was deliberate
Tennessee Supreme Court delivers partial win for Airbnb in legal disputes with HOAs
Alex Jones ordered to pay judgment to Sandy Hook families, despite bankruptcy
Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
Maluma Reveals He’s Expecting His First Baby With Girlfriend Susana Gomez in New Music Video
More than 300,000 student borrowers given wrong repayment information, Education Department says
15 Self-Care Products to Help Ease Seasonal Affective Disorder