Walt Disney World, Universal Studios to Close for Hurricane Milton

As if to deliver one final somber warning as to the seriousness of Hurricane Milton, Orlando’s two largest theme park giants both announced they’d be closing their parks in anticipation of the storm. The two corporations announced their decision on Tuesday, marking a step that neither location takes lightly. Hurricane Milton has instilled unease in much of Florida, as it looks set to be one of the most significant named storms ever to hit the state. It escalated from tropical storm to Category 5 hurricane at a frightening pace, with maximum wind readings reaching around 175 miles per hour. Universal Studios announced that its namesake park along with Islands of Adventure and the CityWalk commerce area would be closing at 2:00 pm on Wednesday. They will not reopen until Friday at the earliest. Volcano Bay, Universal’s water park, will be closing for Wednesday and Thursday. Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom parks will be closing at 1:00 pm, while the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney Springs will be closing at 2:00 pm. The company said they’d examine the prospect of reopening the park late Thursday afternoon, but even that would be a partial opening only if weather permits. The strongest winds of Hurricane Milton will be impacting the greater Orlando area sometime in the morning hours on Thursday according to the most recent data from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. The center of the hurricane’s path will cut just below Orlando, leaving much of Central Florida bracing for catastrophic impact. Rising water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are contributing to a more drastic increase in intensity for hurricanes which pass over it, causing a higher number of named storms to become severe hurricanes than in previous years. 2024 has seen the hottest Gulf temperatures on record according to data from the University of Miami. Additionally, rising sea levels are moving the needle on the resulting storm surge from major hurricanes, leading to more drastic erosion of coastal communities than may have otherwise happened.