Disney World Bracing for Hurricane Milton: Resort Not Accepting New Hotel Bookings, ‘Monitoring’ Storm

Walt Disney World is bracing for Hurricane Milton.

As of the morning of Monday, Oct. 7, the park’s official Weather Updates page stated that the Orlando resort was still operating “under normal conditions,” but noted, ” We are closely monitoring the path of the projected storm as we continue to prioritize the safety of our Guests and Cast Members.”

On Sunday, Oct. 6, Disney World seemingly paused hotel reservations for Wednesday and Thursday in anticipation of the hurricane making landfall.

Universal Orlando Resort has a similar warning on its website: “Our park operations and hours are continuing as normal. We are closely monitoring the weather.”

The storm strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane on Monday. Shortly before 12 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that it had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph. It had just been upgraded to a category 4 a few hours earlier.

The NHC predicted that Milton would come ashore as a major hurricane ( Category 3 or higher) in the Tampa Bay area on Florida’s Gulf Coast between 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, and 1 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 10.

If the parks do temporarily close amid the storm it would only be the 12th time in Disney World’s 53-year history, according to Walt Disney World Magazine.

Nine of the past 11 closures were due to hurricanes: Floyd (September 1999), Charley (August 2004), Frances (September 2004), Jeanne (September 2004), Matthew (October 2016), Irma (September 2017), Dorian (September 2019), Ian (September 2022) and Nicole (November 2022).

The parks also closed following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which marked its longest closure ever. The park closed in March 2020 and reopened in phases throughout the following months.

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According to Disney World’s hurricane FAQ page, “If a hurricane warning is issued by the National Hurricane Center for the Orlando area—or for your place of residence—within 7 days of your scheduled arrival date, you may reschedule or cancel your Walt Disney Travel Company Disney Resort hotel packages and most room only reservations (booked directly with Disney) without any cancellation or change fees imposed by Disney.”

Universal has a similar policy stating in part that amid a hurricane or tropical storm “you can contact our team in advance to reschedule or cancel your Universal Parks & Resorts Vacations Package, hotel room only accommodations and Universal Orlando theme park tickets booked directly with Universal Orlando, without any cancellation or change fees imposed.”

As Milton intensified on Monday, the Orlando Sentinel, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie warned of “storm surge values higher than the ceiling” in the region where it will likely make landfall.

“Please. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate,” he added. “If they have called for your evacuation order, I beg you, I implore you, to evacuate. Drowning deaths due to storm surge are 100% preventable if you leave.”

Milton is the second major hurricane to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast in the past two weeks.

Hurricane Helene struck the state’s Big Bend region on Sept. 26 as a Category 4, and caused devastation throughout the southeast, also impacting Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.