Universal Orlando Resort has announced its temporary closure due to the expected arrival of Hurricane Milton.
Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure will close at 2pm on Wednesday then remain closed all day on Thursday, October 10. Halloween Horror Nights will be canceled on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Universal's Volcano Bay also will be closed all day on Wednesday and Thursday.
CityWalk will close with the parks at 2pm tomorrow and remain closed on Thursday. Universal's hotels will remain open to care for guests who were not able to return home.
Universal joins SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, and Legoland Florida in closing for the storm, though Universal is staying open Wednesday morning. The latest forecast has Milton hitting Florida's Gulf Coast sometime late Wednesday or early Thursday, then tracking across the state during the day Thursday.
For the latest updates on the storm, please see at www.nhc.noaa.gov and floridadisaster.org/evacuation-orders.
Pathetic. There's no point being open for the morning. Bring in the staff you need only to batten down the hatches and keep hotel operations running, and send everyone else home.
Disney is matching ... apparently
@Chad H - I agree - Why are the parks forcing guests to burn a day of admission to visit a park that closes a 2 PM? I get visitors wanting something to do before the bulk of the storm arrives, especially if they're stranded far from home with week-long hotel reservations, but this seems very exploitative of both guests and staff. All dated admissions for October 9-11 (or multi-day tickets that have been initialized over the past 2 weeks) should be either refunded or converted into non-dated admissions that don't expire for at least 12 months.
Shocking they are waiting until 2pm, but gotta' keep their paying guests happy. Although in their announcement they do mention the possibility of rides not being open, or closing before 2pm.
Winds are forcast to be 60mph, sustained, early Thursday morning, then drop slowly over the day. It'll be interesting to see if all 3 parks scramble, and manage to open at the usual time on Friday morning.
We wait and see ....
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Usually Universal waits for Disney before they announce any closure. Sounds like the writing on the wall was too much for them to ignore.
2 PM sounds awfully late. I’m sure the parks will be empty that day, but everyone’s still got to close up shop.