Walt Disney World prepares to close for Hurricane Milton

October 8, 2024, 3:19 PM · With Hurricane Milton on its way to Central Florida, the Walt Disney World Resort will be closing its theme parks temporarily, starting tomorrow.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom will close at 1pm on Wednesday, October 9, with Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Disney Springs closing at 2pm. Walt Disney World's transportation also will stop operating after the parks and Disney Springs close.

The Walt Disney World theme parks will remain closed on Thursday, October 10, with Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party canceled for that evening. Disney said that Disney Springs might reopen with limited offerings late Thursday, weather permitting.

With Disney's announcement, all theme parks will be closed in Central Florida late Wednesday and all day Thursday.

Hurricane Milton, which now has maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, is a major hurricane expected to strike the Tampa Bay area late Wednesday or early Thursday. The storm is predicted to cross the Florida Peninsula on Thursday morning. For the latest updates on the storm, please see at www.nhc.noaa.gov and floridadisaster.org/evacuation-orders.

Replies (4)

October 8, 2024 at 3:26 PM

It's smart to stagger the parks' closing times, as to not overload transportation. But as I wrote in the newsletter this morning, "If you have a visit to Florida scheduled for this week and you have not canceled yet, please do that right now. Every hotel room cleared by visitors is one more available for evacuees and relief personnel."

October 8, 2024 at 4:40 PM

Come on guys, its back to a cat 5. Don't make your staff waste their time and money to come in for a half shift. Staggering the close times might not overload transportation, but not opening at all does an even better job.

October 8, 2024 at 7:17 PM

Reports are it i shifting south.

October 8, 2024 at 9:01 PM

Agree on staggering the closing, but I would have expected that MK and Epcot would close first due to the size of those parks.

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