So, the initial plan this week was to finish and record the news stories for October.But the week didn't exactly go as planned.
There was one big news story this week, as it concerned Disney, which was a surprise hurricane originating off Mexico and not in the Atlantic.
That would move directly over the Orlando area, bringing some of the strongest winds ever seen at the resort.
So today we're going to have the story of Hurricane Milton, the changes and damage it brought to Disney World, and then next week we'll finish up with our other news stories for the month.
So, if you want to know what happened on property, or if you've ever wondered how the world's biggest resort handles large hurricanes, we have that story today.
And before beginning, I'd like to say that my thoughts go out to everyone in Florida who experienced damage or hardship during the storm.There was some meaningful damage at Disney World, but there was far more over in Tampa and Sarasota.
My thoughts here are with everyone there.But this is how the week played out, moment by moment, as one of the largest hurricanes in years moved across the Disney Resort.
But before this past week, Disney World has closed for 11 hurricanes in its 53-year history.For its first 14 years, the resort didn't close for any hurricane.The first hurricane that caused the closure was Elena in 1985.
Then there was another 14-year gap, the second hurricane was Floyd in 1999, and then the storms started to come.There were three in 2004, then another set in 2016, 2017, 2019, and beyond.
Though hurricane season officially extends from June all the way to November 30th, nearly all of the hurricanes that have closed Disney World have arrived within a very small window.The earliest was August 13th and the latest was November 9th.
But if you remove the two outlier hurricane dates, which are the 13th of August and the 9th of November, the remaining nine hurricanes that have caused closures
But if you remove those two outlier hurricane dates, which are the 13th of August and the 9th of November, the remaining hurricanes that have caused closures at Disney World have arrived in a very small window from August 31st to October 9th.
That's only a 39-day space, making September and the first third of October by far the riskiest months in which to book an Orlando vacation. The 12th hurricane arrived this past week, of course, which was at the end of that 39-day window.
This hurricane also had an unusual path.I was in Florida this past week.
When traveling during this period, I always check the NOAA site to look for approaching storms that might develop into hurricanes, and the model I saw the previous Friday, on October 4th, showed little that concerned me.
That was because I was looking in the Atlantic, at the usual path of early fall storms.From the coast of West Africa up to the Caribbean, and then perhaps to either the Gulf or Florida.
Nearly all fall hurricanes travel on a westward path, but this was not the case for Hurricane Milton. This was an out-of-the-ordinary eastward-traveling storm that originated off the coast of Mexico and quickly moved through the Gulf.
Due to the unusually warm Gulf water this year, this formation also increased from a tropical storm into a Category 5 hurricane in less than a day, which was also unusual.
For me, I first became aware of the hurricane and its likely path to Florida on Saturday, October 5th.
On Saturday afternoon, after the storm started to intensify, Florida issued a state of emergency for areas that included Orlando, with guidance that the storm would likely reach the west coast of Florida late on Tuesday as a Category 2 or 3 hurricane.
The eastward movement of the hurricane also meant that lighter storms than in the Gulf would be pushed into Florida ahead of Milton, creating nearly a week of near-continuous rain.The rain started on Sunday.
Though I spent a good deal of my time in Florida interviewing people for various projects, I did walk through the parks on Sunday evening, which was a damp, rainy affair.
A lot of outdoor attractions were closed and the cement walkways were slick with water in any direction you looked.The parks were also very empty, as tourists had already started to head home. Over the weekend, Disney moved into its usual game plan.
If you're ever at Disney World during a hurricane, these are the announcements that typically happen as a storm approaches.Disney World paused new hotel reservations for Wednesday and Thursday.If you already had a reservation, you could keep it.
But Disney didn't want to encourage any new guests to arrive as typical tourists during an approaching storm. The company would need those available rooms to relocate those currently in campsites and cabins.
As space was available, Disney typically extends offers to local residents looking for shelter.Residential areas just south of Disney World along Highway 192 are notorious for hurricane flooding.
Disney would also need some rooms for cast members who would ride out the storm on property, both to manage resort areas and to assist with guest needs.
For years during hurricanes, Disney has asked cast members to occupy buildings across its property, including attraction structures such as Space Mountain, so these cast members would be able to manage any problem in their area as it happened.
The structures at Disney World are all designed to withstand intense hurricanes.Even that 189-foot castle?The castle has been designed to withstand 120 mile-per-hour gusts.
But this doesn't mean that damage can't happen, particularly from objects that become projectiles during high winds and from rainwater that overwhelms the canals that were designed to move flooding water away from park and resort areas.
The one area that I thought was particularly vulnerable was the new Polynesian tower still being constructed, which had just started to focus on landscaping.Crews had just planted dozens of trees, including some very tall palm trees.
I believe they are queen palms placed around the pool and by Seven Seas Lagoon. These trees, as they had just been planted, all had shallow root structures.
Each of these palms had a metal collar around its trunk attached to at least one cable that was tethered to an earth auger anchor that was likely placed beneath the planting bed.
These anchors were designed to support trees during high winds, but still all of this had just recently been planted and installed in areas where sandy soil was likely still loose.
I walked by this area late on Saturday and noticed that beyond the trees,
Some of the poles around the pool, the poles that would be used for evening lights, were so recently installed that they still had shipping cellophane wrapped around their lower portions.
These poles were in cement bases, but still they appeared so recently installed, with those cement bases surrounded by nothing more than open sand, that this caused me some concern as well.
On Sunday morning, the projected path for this storm was shifted south, which, if the path held, would bring the hurricane directly over the Disney Resort and the greater Orlando area.
Following this, Disney engaged its next logical steps in preparation for a storm of this size.They turned off park reservations for Wednesday, which was then believed to be the day that would most affect the region.
By Monday morning, it was clear that Disney World would be hit with a significant hurricane.
At this time, which is part of their regular overall policies, the resort waived cancellation or change fees for anyone wishing to reschedule a vacation with arrival dates up through Saturday, October 12th.
Disney World's official policy is to waive fees during a hurricane warning.Though a warning had not yet been issued for the area, it soon would be issued, it was still clear that Disney property would now be affected by the storm.
At this time, the storm, now a Category 4 hurricane, had slowed a little and was on course to arrive in Central Florida late at night on Wednesday, meaning that Thursday would probably be the time when the resort would experience the worst of its wind and rain.
With this, Disney extended its hurricane policy, allowing all guests to change or cancel reservations without a fee for those arriving up through Sunday, October 13th. That afternoon, an official hurricane warning was issued for that part of Florida.
From there, Disney began to move into its full hurricane preparedness plans.
Some of the lowest line, or most isolated areas on Disney property, are the campsites at Fort Wilderness, the Copper Creek Cabins at Wilderness Lodge, which are right next to Bay Lake, and the Treehouse Villas over at Saratoga Springs.
RVs and tents simply aren't safe during a hurricane, the cabins can flood, and those treehouse villas are simply very isolated far from any services.Disney announced that all of these would close on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
which is the typical checkout time across property.Typically, Disney asks those with campers or RVs to relocate their vehicles often.
These are parked in the back portions of the TTC parking lot, and then those with campsite reservations are housed in available hotel rooms. In years past, Disney has closed large sections of Caribbean Beach.
As water tended to gather there and as many rooms were close to lake areas, water distribution during large storms at Caribbean Beach has been a past problem.
Though for this storm as well as for the last large hurricane, Disney has kept Caribbean Beach open. Also on Monday, I checked out of my hotel.
I do want to explain that I was always planning to check out on Monday, October 7th, and that my flight home for months had been scheduled on Monday as well.
There was an unusually long line that morning of people settling up at the front desk and waiting in line at bell services to check out.
and the talk among strangers was either about going home ahead of the storm or getting ready to wait it out in a Disney hotel room.
By this time it was clear that this storm would be large and serious, with high winds, significant storm surge, and many inches of rain even in the center of the state.
That day, I had one last lunch meeting, and then I made my way to the airport, which had some of the longest security screening lines that I had seen in many months.
There were also a number of tourists, camped out in various food court hub areas, waiting for standby spots on planes to open. By this point, the airport had announced that flights would end with the close of business the following day.
The Tampa airport, however, would close in just a few hours.My flight took off in the evening, and we initially went north instead of the usual path west across Florida, cutting over the Gulf, almost surely to avoid early bands of that storm.
Needless to say, every last seat on that plane was full.On Tuesday, Disney World again extended its time frame for cancellation without a fee, bumping it out for those arriving at the resort up to Monday, October 14th.
Universal was the first to announce park closures.Volcano Bay would be closed all day on Wednesday and Thursday, while Universal Studios and IOA would close Wednesday at 2 p.m.and remain closed through Thursday.
Not long after this, Disney made a similar announcement.Disney Springs, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios would close at 1pm on Wednesday.Magic Kingdom and Epcot would close at 2pm.
The reason for the two closure times was almost surely to limit traffic and to shift those buses still operating from one area to the next with a stepped set of closures.
After guests left all of the theme parks in Disney Springs, all buses, monorails, boats, and the Skyliner would cease operation until after the hurricane. when it was decided that it was safe to reopen.
This left only Disney's minivan service available after 3 p.m.on Wednesday, but that, too, would close later.Among those services most vulnerable was the Skyliner, with its system of towers, stations, and turning points.
The Skyliner cars are stored during hurricanes in indoor areas by Caribbean Beach.
The Skyliner's system, however, still has some equipment that is open to the elements, such as cable support wheels and spring-loaded grips that allow vehicles to detach from the cable when approaching the station.
Up until this week, the Skyliner had only been through two storm-related long closures.By this point, the timeline for the storm's arrival had been shifted now to late Thursday.
On Wednesday morning ahead of park closures, cast members took down umbrellas and flags.
Any loose or movable fixtures, such as food carts, tables, chairs, stands, and service stands, were either moved inside or, for particularly large items, tethered to the ground at pre-arranged anchor points embedded into the concrete walkways.
Oddly, for the first time in days, at least for a while that morning, the parks remained somewhat sunny, with only light clouds striping the sky, at least until early afternoon.
Glass fixtures, such as those that cover outdoor lamps, were wrapped in mesh bags.These wouldn't stop breakage, but they would prevent glass shards from flying around the parks.
Other items, such as spotlights and speakers, were wrapped in cellophane to prevent water damage.Various signs and decorations, too large to be removed, were roped into place.
The wooden Adventureland sign, above the bridge entrance in the Magic Kingdom, for example, was roped into place. At the Magic Kingdom, many of the seasonal Halloween decorations were removed.Crowds in the park that morning were nearly non-existent.
At Disney Springs, crews placed sandbags at shop doors to prevent water from entering those buildings.
On golf courses and at Caribbean Beach and at Epcot, cast members took down hundreds of gourd-shaped birdhouses that the resort keeps for migrating purple martins who nest on property each spring.
At Animal Kingdom, many of the animals were shifted to indoor habitats or barn areas offstage where they'd be safe from wind and rain. The same thing happened with animals who live on various savannas behind Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Across property, hotel and DVC guests were directed to bring in their balcony or patio furniture, which is typically two chairs and a side table, and keep them in their room.This was the calm before the storm.
By midday, Osceola County announced a curfew beginning that night and going at least into Thursday, perhaps longer.All people in Osceola County would need to be indoors by 8pm.
As the southern parts of Disney World are in Osceola County, this would primarily affect the three all-star resorts. The ESPN Wide World of Sports facility is also in Osceola County, but that would be closed.By 2 p.m.
on Wednesday, all Disney parks were now closed, and by 3 p.m.Disney was beginning to shut down transportation.
Now that the storm was close, NOAA announced that Orlando had a 30-60% chance of receiving winds over 60 mph, strong enough to do serious damage, and they would definitely receive winds of at least 40 mph.
These estimates, in the end, would be on the low side.That afternoon, as winds moved into the area, there was a tornado watch and multiple active tornadoes in the region, though none were close to the main Disney property. By 3 p.m.
there had been at least 50 tornadoes spotted that day in Florida, including at least one near the Disney-DVC resort at Vero Beach, which is about 100 miles southeast of the main Disney World property.
This number of tornadoes was unusual for Florida and was believed to be related to how Milton, a rare eastward moving hurricane, affected the jet stream.
The number of hurricanes would increase over the course of the day until at night it reached 126. The good news, though, was that Milton, previously a Category 5 storm, was now down to a Category 3.
And, at least at this point, it was believed that the strongest parts of the storm would likely move through the state slightly south of the Disney property. though Disney World would still receive high winds and many inches of rain.
Disney World was right then in the upper area of this central cone which predicts the path of the hurricane.
It was still inside the cone, meaning there was a potential for a direct hit by the center of the hurricane, but it was only inside this cone by a few dozen miles. Also, by this point, Disney World was under a flash flood warning.
Experts explained that the hurricane remained extremely dangerous.By late Wednesday afternoon, Duke Power reported that 3,000 residents in the Orlando area had already lost power.This number was sure to rise significantly overnight.
Out in Tampa, even then with just the outer bands arriving, the storm surge was so great that water was already reaching coastal homes long before the full force of the hurricane arrived.
The best hope for nearly everyone was that, at this point, the storm would significantly weaken as it made landfall. By late afternoon, nearly all Disney guests had returned to their hotels.
For kids, Disney began to shuttle characters to different hotel lobbies to meet guests.At 4pm, all arcade machines were shifted over to free play for the duration of the hurricane closures.
Some restaurants remained open at this time, but this would likely soon change. Disney advised guests to pre-purchase breakfast and lunch for Thursday and keep those meals in their hotel mini-fridges.
By early evening, the National Hurricane Service defined Milton as a sheared hurricane, which meant that due to elevated winds, its eye was starting to disintegrate, deteriorating its overall shape and tilting the vortex.
The good news was that the eye was beginning to weaken, but the bad news, the tilt of the vortex, now suggested that the strongest rains would be to the north of its center, That is, aimed directly at the Disney World property.
Also, the strongest winds, which followed the eye, would be to the north as well.By 6 p.m., all Disney transportation was now closed, including its minivan service.
Though guests could still travel in private cars, the assumption was that most guests would and should remain in their hotels until the hurricane passed.
During hurricanes, there's not enough room in the elevated portions of the backstage roundhouse for all Disney World monorails, so one monorail train was parked inside the Contemporary Hotel with its hurricane doors closed around it.
By 7 p.m., the northern eyewall of the storm was approaching Florida. In this, there was more mixed news.The good news was that the storm didn't linger offshore, building in strength.
But as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis explained in a press interview, this also meant that nearly all rescues would now need to be done in the middle of the night, likely with little light.
Around 8 p.m., Disney posted that guests should shelter indoors starting at 8.30, as the storm was now expected to intensify at the resort and increase into the night.
Guests at the All-Stars were legally required, due to the county curfew, to be indoors by 8.
As winds remained low at the resort, a team at Epcot used the park closure as a chance to briefly test the holiday light patterns on Spaceship Earth just as night settled over the area.
Testing ended just after 8 p.m., presumably when even this team went home. Though the parks themselves were closed to guests, small groups of cast members were secured in key buildings to ride out the storm.
These cast members are typically called the Ride Out Crew.For this job Disney only took volunteers, and for these assignments they were given bonus pay. They were paid from the moment they reported to the moment they went home.
At least for some hourly cast members, I've been told that after 10 hours, their hourly rate is doubled.Their job was to report in real time any damage they observed inside their assigned buildings.
After the storm was over, between bands of post-hurricane rain, they would also survey the grounds and report back to management as quickly as possible so supervisors could arrange the most effective plans to access, repair, and reopen the parks and resort areas as quickly as possible.
At around 830, the hurricane made landfall in Sarasota as a Category 3 storm with sustained winds just under 80 miles per hour.
Having its landfall in Sarasota limited the amount of storm surge that occurred in the highly populated Tampa Bay area, which was one of the most vulnerable areas on the west side of Florida.
By 9 p.m., over a million addresses in Florida were without power, mostly along the Gulf Coast.But at this point, the storm's force was just beginning to arrive in central Florida.
By 11 p.m., there were nearly 2 million addresses in Florida without power.Out on the Gulf Coast, some places had now received over a dozen inches of rain.
Then reports came in that wind was starting to rip off sections of the roof of Tropicana Field, the pro baseball stadium in Tampa home to the Rays, which was located on a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf.
The roof was made from a polymer that was advertised as stronger than glass, but now strips of it rippled in the nighttime wind.The stadium was large enough to seat over 40,000 people, but was now opening to the elements.
Around Disney World, the winds were picking up with gusts of 45 miles per hour.
As it was now dark, the resort kept the regular light patterns flickering across Spaceship Earth, like a beacon that could be seen from many hotels across property, even from the waterside rooms of Bay Lake Tower and the Contemporary.
Through curtains of rain, spaceship Earth appeared like an electric ball of juice, glimmering and somewhat fuzzy in the distance.Around Orlando now, in many neighborhoods, power surged, flickered, dimmed, or went off entirely.
The worst of the storm was expected to arrive in the hours before dawn. after the eye passed 30 miles south of the Magic Kingdom.
Though most hurricanes quickly decrease to tropical storms as they move across Florida, Milton would pass through Orlando as a Category 2 hurricane.
Ahead of the eye, the Aotearoa Longhouse at the Polynesian Resort began to lose part of its metal roof. with strips peeling back and rain now falling into interior portions of the building.
It was unclear if this was due to wind or perhaps projectile damage from elements at the Poly Tower construction site next door.A few guests and many ride-out crew members in this longhouse were evacuated as rooms began to flood.
They were either sent to empty rooms elsewhere at the poly or over to the great ceremonial house.
In the damaged longhouse, cast members set small kitchen trash cans beneath the ceiling in various spots to collect the water that now dripped through the ceiling.
But, over the course of the night, the ceiling in at least one room sagged under the weight of water and eventually caved in, leaving sheets of plaster hanging down into the room like large strips of paper around a gaping hole that now opened to the rafters above.
Next door, the Tuvalu longhouse also lost part of its roof with metal sheets pulling back and bending in the night.The damage here was mostly at the edge of the building and nowhere near as severe as the longhouse next door.
At 3 a.m., guests in the Wilderness Lodge were accidentally told to evacuate.This might have been caused by a faulty fire alarm sensor affected by extreme weather.
In posted videos, there was clearly a recorded message informing guests to leave their rooms, along with the usual blaring alarm sound.Hundreds of guests came out and gathered in the lobby as it was unsafe to go outside.
The big winds arrived around 4 p.m., strong enough to shake some buildings, pull down trees, and multiple lampposts.In some Disney hotel rooms and villas, water came in from under window areas and from under the front door.
These winds whipping around on the backside of the storm were clocked at over 80 miles per hour, the strongest the resort had seen in many years.
At the Grand Floridian, multiple buildings lost some of their roof shingles, little patches here and there.Over the past year, most buildings at the Grand Floor had been refurbished, including exterior work to the roofs.
Many of those same roofs now would need new repairs.At Caribbean Beach, the decorative yellow siding partially came off one building, leaving bare plywood beneath exposed to the elements.
At Animal Kingdom Lodge, the wind pushed over a tall tree as it fell its rough, pulled-up parts of a cement walkway.
At the Magic Kingdom, the grounds were mostly a swirl of leaves and small branches, though one tree did come down at the entrance to Tomorrowland.
At Animal Kingdom, multiple trees, each roughly 15 to 20 feet tall, arranged at the entrance to the Africa section, broke in two halfway up their trunks.Rain and wind also damaged props staged around the edge of Discovery River Lagoon.
Many resorts had trees that came down or were damaged so severely they'd need to be removed.The All-Star Resorts lost multiple long-established oaks.
Over at the Pauley Tower construction site, at least one of the newly planted Queen Palms was pulled out of the ground, complete with its anchoring cable and auger.
Some of the largest damage, though, in terms of downed trees occurred at Typhoon Lagoon, which had few structures to break up or block gusts of wind.Likely one of the most disturbing sounds happened over by Crescent Lake, near the Swan and Dolphin,
where a metal lamppost snapped in half, leaving the upper portion of the post lying on the ground, connected only to the lower portion by an electrical wire.Around 5 a.m., the winds finally started to die down.
Windows stopped rattling, the insistent pebbling of rain was now slightly lighter, more like a constant drumbeat across the roof.By morning, three million addresses in Florida were without power, including thousands around Disney World.
For many, the power went out somewhere between 3 and 4 a.m.As the sun came up, people across the state began to take account of the overall damage.
The largest and most costly issues were in the Tampa area, where many buildings had been destroyed or partially damaged.
One report explained that at least two long-reach construction cranes, without time to fully take down the equipment before the storm, fell, damaging buildings around them.One crane took out the corner of a high-rise.
Also in the morning, those in helicopters above Tropicana Field could see that the entire roof of that structure was now completely gone. anyone in a helicopter could see down into the stadium.
The green outfield, the dirt baseline, over 40,000 blue stadium seats, and hundreds and hundreds of green cots that once had been intended for emergency workers and those there to restore electrical lines after the storm.
Those workers before the storm had been shifted to a different and safer location. On the Disney property, some reported that there was as much as two inches of water in some hotel rooms or villas, though this type of damage was limited.
One long section of World Drive, that is the road next to the monorail line that moves cars up to the TTC, was flooded from curb to curb, with water making sections at least initially difficult or impossible to pass.
When it was safe, ride-out crews ventured into public areas to make a list of damage.Debris was on nearly every walkway.Some walkways were so deeply carpeted with plant matter that they appeared green.
The plan, as with nearly all previous hurricanes, was to inspect and hopefully open outdoor areas in the resort hotels.
Guests were instructed to continue to shelter indoors until cast members confirmed it was safe to venture outside, as the storm could leave not only damaged walkways, but also exposed wires and sharp pieces of metal or glass.
Any dangerous areas were cordoned or roped off.At 9.30 a.m., Disney lifted the shelter-in-place order and allowed guests to venture outdoors.
Later that morning, resort pools would open, which would give guests something to do during the day, particularly those guests with young children. Some restaurants at each hotel would open soon as well.
A few resorts, such as the Campgrounds and the Treehouse Villas, would remain closed as cleanup there would take a couple more days, particularly at Fort Wilderness, which is almost always the last area at the resort to reopen after a hurricane.
The four theme parks and Disney Springs officials announced would remain closed all day while crews work to remove debris and ensure that these areas were also safe.
Just before noon, the main Orlando Airport announced its opening timeline on its webpage and on social media. Although we'll receive a few domestic arrivals this evening, no departures or international flights will occur.
Please don't come to the airport for a departing flight tonight.Departures begin tomorrow.Check with your airline for updates.The airport would effectively open the next day.
That morning, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said his state had been spared the worst case scenario.
This seemed particularly true at Disney World where, aside from damages to some hotel areas, including that one longhouse at the Poly, which was now not habitable, most other structures had been spared serious damage, except for roof tiles, decorative siding, windows, and trim.
Most of these things could be fixed within a week or two. The parks remained closed on Thursday, but Disney announced that all four theme parks would open at their usual times on Friday.
Typhoon Lagoon would not open until Saturday, as that water park had the most damage to its grounds, and Blizzard Beach was already closed for its seasonal refurb.
For the most part, the extensive water canal system across the Disney property, designed back in the late 1960s by General Joe Potter, managed to move most of the stormwater away from the parks and resort areas, dispersing it into wetlands.
Most of the damage on property was due to wind damage, which was near impossible to control. For the Friday morning opening of the four theme parks, capacity was reduced.
Disney turned off new park reservations for annual pass holders, though they would be able to enter as always after 2 p.m.Cleanup crews were still working in all four parks.
In Animal Kingdom, some animals were still being reintroduced to their enclosures, a practice that would continue throughout the day. By the time guests arrived, most walkways had been cleared in all the parks.
There were still damaged trees, some torn awnings, and other elements that would need to be fixed in the coming days.The hope, though, was that this would be the last big storm of the year
especially since it arrived slightly after the peak of hurricane season and that, moving forward, Disney would have a relatively calm October and November as it finished that new Poly Tower and as it prepared for the holiday season at the end of the year.
I'll be back next week with a new episode.And at least right now, the plan is to finish up our monthly news stories for the month of October.Lastly, as you know, we're an ad-free, listener-supported podcast.
We do just two things, deep dives on stories related to the history of the Disney Studio and the parks, and news and analysis of current events as they relate to the Disney company.
We are funded entirely by listener contributions, specifically by listeners who join us over on Bandcamp as monthly subscribers.On Bandcamp you'll find over 200 episodes not available on iTunes or anywhere else.
But the best reason to join us there is to support the work we do here and to make sure that this podcast continues to exist.You can support us by becoming a monthly subscriber at dhipodcast.bandcamp.com.
I'll also leave a link down in our show notes. So, until next Sunday, this is Todd James Pierce.
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