Walt Disney World, owned by The Walt Disney Company, will be closing early on Wednesday as Florida prepares for the impact of Hurricane Milton. The theme park giant announced that Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom will close at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, followed by EPCOT, the Magic Kingdom, and Disney Springs at 2 p.m. The parks are expected to remain closed on Thursday, with Disney Springs potentially reopening in the afternoon.
The Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and the TreeHouse Villas will also close and are likely to remain shut until Sunday. Most transportation services will be suspended, with only a few taxi services available. All prepaid bookings and experiences will be automatically refunded, and Disney World will not enforce cancellation policies.
In its five decades of operation, Disney World has only closed nine times due to hurricanes, the most recent being Hurricane Nicole in 2022. The park also closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was evacuated on September 11, 2001.
“Please know these adjustments have been made to leave plenty of time for our Guests and Cast Members to return to their Resort hotels or homes safely hours before higher winds are expected to reach Central Florida,” the company said in a statement.
Hurricane Milton, recently downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 4 storm, is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening. The National Hurricane Center has described it as “extremely dangerous.” The park remained open during the recent Hurricane Helene, although it experienced poor weather.
Disney is not the only major company affected by the hurricane. Universal Orlando’s parks, including Universal Studios, will also close early on Wednesday and remain closed on Thursday. SeaWorld Orlando and Aquatica Orlando will be closed on both Wednesday and Thursday. Meanwhile, Tesla Inc. has instructed its vehicle owners to charge their electric vehicles fully at home before Hurricane Milton hits the Florida peninsula. The company also plans to deploy mobile superchargers after the hurricane to assist its vehicle owners.
Amid the hurricane, Carnival Corporation & plc’s stock has not been negatively impacted and is in rally mode, despite predictions of historic devastation in Florida. Large parts of the state are being evacuated.
