Low Wait Times as Guests Stay Away from Disney, Universal Ahead of Milton
With Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida, Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando parks are mostly empty. Guests are walking on all but the most popular rides. Seeing the wait times begs the question… why are the parks even open? Sure, the bulk of the Milton doesn’t arrive until tomorrow, but the outer bands are rolling in. These aren’t ideal park days. Wouldn’t it be better for guests and Cast/Team Members to be at home or in their hotel rooms?
I asked this question on Twitter/X yesterday:
“If given the opportunity, would you visit a Disney park with a hurricane bearing down on Orlando? I think I would, but only if I was staying onsite during a scheduled vacation.”
Reactions were mixed. Many people commented that they’d love to go, but others took me to task for my lack of empathy for employees. I appreciate their passion, but I think those feelings are misplaced. Should guests be accountable for Cast/Team Member safety by simply being in the parks? What about those guests who are on once-in-a-lifetime vacations? If the parks are open, can we blame them for going? I am on the side of Cast and Team Members, but these decisions were made by Disney and Universal, not guests.
Disney and Universal announced Tuesday afternoon that their parks would be open until 1 or 2 PM on Wednesday. At the time, Milton was expected to make landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Unfortunately, this storm doesn’t care about timelines. Milton has since accelerated, and meteorologists now predict it could reach Florida as early as 8:30 PM. If that shortened timeline wasn’t challenging enough, Milton also triggered Central Florida tornado warnings as employees were heading home. I may not know hurricanes all that well, but I’m well aware of how terrifying driving near tornadoes is. I don’t recommend it.
In hindsight, I believe Disney and Universal would never have opened knowing what we know now. If they had closed up shop, Cast and Team Members would have had more time to prep or simply enjoy a day off ahead of a very stressful storm. Today’s sparse crowds won’t bring in big profits. Perhaps those numbers will inform their choices when the next big storm rolls through Orlando.
