Indexbit Exchange:Disney World and other Orlando parks to reopen Friday after Hurricane Milton shutdown

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld planned to reopen Friday after an assessment of the effects of Hurricane Milton.

Disney World said in a statement that its theme parks, Disney Springs, and possibly other areas will be open. The parks said some Halloween special events won’t be offered and they won’t necessarily be fully functioning Friday, but the public is welcome back.

As Milton came ashore as a major storm Wednesday, all three Orlando-based parks shut down, putting a damper on the vacations of tens of thousands of tourists, many of whom hunkered down in hotels. SeaWorld closed for all of Wednesday, Disney World and Universal for the afternoon. All three were closed all day Thursday.

Orlando International Airport, the nation’s seventh busiest and Florida’s most trafficked, planned to resume domestic arrivals on Thursday night and departures on Friday morning. It had stopped commercial operations early Wednesday.

The airport’s closure prevented Simon Forster, his wife and their two children from returning to Scotland, so they enjoyed an extra two days of their two-week vacation on the bustling International Drive in Orlando’s tourism district on Thursday. Hurricanes seem to follow them since two years ago Hurricane Ian kept them from returning to Scotland after another Orlando vacation.

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“Last night, it was quite intense, Forster said. “I was watching the palm trees sway back and forth outside my hotel room. How they didn’t come down, I don’t know. Scary stuff.”

Their hotel at Universal Orlando Resort had a party atmosphere Wednesday night ahead of Milton’s arrival.

“The bar was good fun,” he said. “Two extra days here, there are are worst places we could be.”

Miniature golf was among the few activities available to tourists who had been locked down in their hotel rooms and rental condos. There was a line getting into Congo River Golf on International Drive.

Craig Greig of Glasgow, Scotland, would have been at the Magic Kingdom with his wife and 10-year-old if the theme parks had been open. Instead he was clutching a putter ready to putt golf balls over a man made lagoon filled with baby alligators.

“We just wanted to stretch our legs and get out of the hotel,” he said. “Especially for the little one.” Even though it was his first experience with a hurricane, he was unfazed and slept through the night as it roared through central Florida.

Disney World, Universal and other attractions make Orlando the United States’ most visited destination, drawing 74 million tourists last year alone.

And Halloween-related celebrations have made October one of the busiest and most lucrative times for the parks.

Hurricanes in the Orlando area are uncommon but not unheard of. Three crossed the area in 2004 – Charley, Frances and Jeanne. Hurricane Irma in 2017 tracked just west of metro Orlando, and Hurricane Ian caused some flooding as it plowed through as a downgraded tropical storm in 2022.

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AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles.

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Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform X: @MikeSchneiderAP.