www.hollywoodreporter.com: Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando will reopen on Friday after Hurricane Milton forced a rare shutdown of Florida’s theme parks.
The companies previously announced phased closures beginning Wednesday, with plans to remain closed on Thursday. Their hotels remained open to service guests.
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I was sort of surprised to see this before I remembered that I do not know where anything is in Florida and that the parks are probably not in the areas most affected by the hurricane. Pretty much all of the media coverage or content online that I’ve seen about the hurricane is people’s homes being destroyed and photos and videos of the destruction, so hearing that an amusement park is reopening felt a little bit jarring in the midst of all the very scary content I’m seeing from Florida. It’s good for the businesses of the parks that they can reopen and for their sakes I’m glad that the hurricane didn’t affect them as much, which is also good for all the workers at the parks who depend on the parks being open for their livelihood. The article also says that the parks are committed to helping the community recover, and I wonder what this means; are the parks planning to donate to recovery funds or otherwise assist monetarily?
So many of us know disney and have grown up with their stories but always forget just how big of a corporation they are. The ability for them to reopen just days after being hit with a hurricane similar in size to Hurricane Helene is a remarkable feat. The pure amount of money they possess to hire the required clean up crews to negate the damage is immense. Other communities around the area will probably be affected for months dealing with damages and overall destruction of property. Specifically for Disney the cost of opening the parks faster is less than the loss of money they might endure through the time closed meaning they are very willing to spend reclass amounts of money on quickly rebuilding the parks. But hopefully Disney will be willing to assist their surrounding community in rebuilding efforts as everyone works to get past this catastrophe.
Fun fact: as I am writing this I am in my Orlando home and have a reservation for Magic Kingdom tomorrow. I am itching with excitement. I cannot wait. I Dragged my roommate and best friend Olivia Ruhnke, junior actor at CMU Drama, and we are going to have a ball. Tonight, in fact, we are attending Halloween Horror Nights for the first time! I am so excited and also terrified. The funny thing about Central Florida is we don’t let a literal natural disaster like a hurricane stop us from going to our theme parks. Like the fact that they closed for a day is mind boggling to me. Many of my high school friends and family in the area barely did anything to prepare, as they all had a feeling it would die down by the time the storm went central. However, this hurricane didn’t look too good for the coast, and many of my close friends are not going back to school for a while. I feel horrible for the families that have homes and jobs affected by the storm.
While it isn't shocking, it is always disappointing to me when the Disney parks remain open despite pertinent disasters. There is a reason that evacuation orders are being put in place all across the state, including Orange County (where Orlando is). It is because not only is it dangerous to remain in these areas, but the fact that some people are choosing to is actively taking away resources from people who are forced to remain in evacuation areas without the means to evacuate. I know Orlando is not in one of the more serious areas of the storm's path, but if there is a disaster in the parks, the resources it will take to do search and rescue in an area as complicated as Disney will take resources away from surrounding low income communities. Disney shouldn't be taking the decision to remain open lightly.
I worry about the people in Florida who are there in the aftermath of the hurricane and had to evacuate. Milton was a serious hurricane compared to many of the other small ones that have happened before, and so it's no surprise that so many people were concerned about its effects. Hearing about the evacuation measures worried me especially with this hurricane because I will be flying to Disney World over fall break directly following the storm. Going to vacation while a severe weather event just stopped forces me to think about how privileged I am to be going at all, especially at a time when so many families are struggling to recover in the face of the traumatic event. I am glad that the media coverage and the technology available were enough to warn people about the storm early on so most of the affected families could prepare, but I still seriously worry for them and hope to be able to help in some way while I am visiting this week.
Much like the famous Waffle house index which can be used to measure the severity of storms I use the status of their parks in Florida to measure the severity of hurricanes when the hit Orlando. I am so glad that all the guests of Universal and Disney are safe and hopeful that the parks have reopened. I am curious to hear about what precautions these entertainment giants take when preparing for these storms that allow them to get back on their feet so quickly after a hurricane has passed. I am also curious in These companies have done any local outreach or aid to the others affected by the storms in their areas. With these companies having over 1000 people on standby to get these theme parks up and running after the storm I am wondering where these people were during the storm and how they are being kept safe. I understand that these companies have deadlines to make and operating costs to recover but with so many people in the ground during a Hurricane I have to question if profit is coming before safety.
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