Behind the Scenes at Disney World on Day Two of Hurricane Milton

An intense Thursday morning left guests tired and stressed out.

Thankfully, the Walt Disney World part of the story ended happily for all involved.

Magic Kingdom in the rain

Let’s go behind the scenes to learn what happened at Disney World on day two of Hurricane Milton.

A Scary Overnight

Let’s start with an anecdote that may sound funny later, but it most assuredly wasn’t at the time.

Hurricane Milton moved at a glacial pace as it tracked inland from Tampa toward Central Florida.

Photo: WESH

The process took more than six hours, with the hurricane making land at 8:38 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9^th.

Then, Milton wouldn’t fully reach Orlando until the 3 a.m. range.

Photo: National Hurricane Center

Around that time, guests were carefully honoring the curfew rules in place at most resorts…but there were two exceptions.

One of them was caused by nature, while the other culprit was…well, obnoxious.

Photo: National Hurricane Center

As MickeyBlog discussed, some guests at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort evacuated due to a roof issue.

We’re not talking about anything serious, but it added stress for some guests on an already worrisome night.

Photo: Jason Hightower via Tikiman’s Unofficial Polynesian Resort Pages on Facebook

Then, we have the incident at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. Many TikToks captured the hotel lobby overflowing with people:

At first, Cast Members told some of them that a cascading sensor error had triggered the evacuation alarm.

Nope! Apparently, somebody just pulled the fire alarm as a joke. And I hope that person gets banned from Disney.

Overall, the night could have been so much worse, though. Many guests fled their homes in Florida, fearing and expecting the worst.

For the most part, Hurricane Milton proved more threatening with its offshoot tornados than anything else, especially in Central Florida.

Photo: National Hurricane Center

Still, at one point, The Weather Channel tracked sustained wind of 46 mph and a gust of 74 mph at Orlando International Airport.

Orlando Executive Airport proved even windier, with that airport tracking its strongest gusts since 2017. So, it could have been much worse.

Morning Relief

Those of you who follow influencers in Central Florida know the deal here.

Many of them livestreamed or posted videos during the early phase of the storm.

Photo: Fox

Some even bravely/foolishly recorded the more serious weather, which led to videos like this:

The phrase “lucky to be alive” gets thrown around a lot, but…

West Palm Beach… video from Robert Hubert pic.twitter.com/4bOLJy2PF5

— James Spann (@spann) October 10, 2024

Anyway, when morning came, 3.2 million Floridians found themselves without power.

At Walt Disney World, that wasn’t the case at all. People staying at the hotels woke up to power, water, and internet access.

Photo: People

People looked out their windows and saw pretty much what they expected.

All the buildings remained intact, save for that one roof. However, debris was visible at many locations.

Disney’s Port Orleans — Riverside

Various Disney trees lost limbs, and some bushes were dislodged by the winds.

Various signposts, ones designed to withstand high winds, also got knocked down, which speaks volumes about the severity of the situation.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Kits at Disney World hotels during Hurricane Milton

Still, guests knew they’d made the right decision to shelter at Disney resorts. In fact, their minds quickly turned to the theme parks.

As MickeyBlog reported, Disney ended its shelter-in-place request at 9:30 a.m.

Disney World weather warning

Some tourists hoped to leave Orlando later in the day, but that idea was quickly squashed.

Orlando International Airport announced it wouldn’t greenlight any outbound flights until Friday.

Photo: MCO

So, the resorts extended the free offerings I’d mentioned the previous day.

Soon afterward, Disney confirmed that the parks would open and operate on a normal schedule on Friday.

Photo: Disney

This had the ancillary effect of lighting up the park reservation system, as Friday quickly sold out.

We totally understood that one, but I’m at a loss to explain why October 16^th and 18^th also sold out. The cabin fever was real.

About the Resorts on Day Two

I just accidentally realized while doing some fact-checks that I’ve been writing these hurricane recap articles since 2017.

That speaks volumes about how resilient Disney is during extreme weather events, as the outcome has always been the same.

Storms

People hole up at Disney and pray for the best. Generally, what happens is beyond their wildest dreams.

That’s not just me saying that, either. Local news channels have picked up several stories of people staying at Disney this week.

Weather Happens in Disney World

This song is always the same. The tourists express their fears and how much Disney alleviated their stress.

Disney World truly is the Most Magical Place on Earth. You can read those stories to verify recent guests are the ones saying so.

Disney World in a storm

One parent noted the upside from Tuesday and early Wednesday:

“We have pretty much had no wait times for any of the rides. We’ve been able to keep their minds off of everything by being able to experience so much in the parks.”

Stormy Skies in Magic Kingdom

Here’s another family interviewed about her experience:

A funny thing happened during the reporting of the piece. Several locals from Houston, Texas, commented that they, too, were at Disney.

This led to another video asking a vital question: “Why is Disney World a popular place to ride out hurricanes?”

I’ve written an article detailing the reasons as well, and it should go live in a day or two.

As you can see, Disney not only met expectations but vastly surpassed them for all the tourists interviewed in these stories.

It’s a recurring theme each time I’ve done these stories. Cast Members go above and beyond to make the absolute best of a bad situation.

What Guests Witnessed

Throughout the day, sporadic reports came out regarding the various resorts.

Cast Members spent the day cleaning the debris from the walking paths, roads, and public spaces.

Rain in Magic Kingdom

They weren’t alone in this activity. The Weather Channel captured a helpful tow truck driver dragging giant bushes down empty roads.

The reporter didn’t know whether the individual did this as an act of generosity or as contract work, but it was a funny TV image.

Rain in Disney World

With nothing else to do, the hotel guests roamed the grounds in search of potential pictures they could take.

Debris gave them something to talk about on social media and made the whole thing seem more harrowing.

Magic Kingdom in a storm

So, you can find those pictures on various forums if you haven’t been looking yet.

One influencer snagged a picture of a dog biting Pluto’s nose, an adorable visual. The other image in the Tweet shows the debris.

DISNEY MAGIC: While Walt Disney World's crews work on cleaning up from Hurricane Milton, Pluto entertains guests and fuzzy friends nearby! pic.twitter.com/qtCS0N3xCb

— Brayden (@SirBrayden) October 10, 2024

Honestly, that’s what Disney guests discovered when they walked around their hotels. Disney’s tethers and tie-downs mostly worked.

Stormy Weather at Magic Kingdom

The end result was a big nothing burger and a few delightful encounters with costumed Cast Members.

Disney’s staff dutifully entertained the troops throughout the day and kept everyone’s spirits high.

Magic Kingdom

That’s remarkable since the guests were ostensibly trapped for 24 hours and then had little to do on day one.

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