It’s thought Disney will lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars due to the hurricane
Terrifying footage has shown Hurricane Milton hitting Walt Disney World resort.
Florida, US, was hit by the Category 3 storm yesterday (9 October) as the coast was battered by winds of more than 100mph causing tornados to rip around the Sunshine State.
British holidaymakers have found themselves stuck out there, and deaths have already been confirmed in St Lucie county. The destruction from the hurricane has now left more than three million homes and businesses without power.
And of course, one of the main things us Brits know Florida for is Disney.
Walt Disney World is based in Orlando, and is not only made up of various theme parks, but also hotels and resorts.
It’s pretty rare for Disney to ever close its parks, but they were all shut down yesterday, and it’s likely to remain closed today.
Disney World told guests: “Please prepare to shelter indoors in your room or building beginning at 8:30 PM, as the storm is expected to intensify.
“The Walt Disney World theme parks, water parks, recreation offerings and Disney Springs are now closed through Thursday, October 10.”
Goldman Sachs analysts projected back on Tuesday that the likely closures and disruptions from Milton will reduce Disney’s earnings in the park division by between a whopping $150million (£115million) and $200million (£153million) this quarter.
People staying at Disney have been sharing eerie videos from their hotels as the storm caused havoc in the area.
Orlando has been hit by the storm. (Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
One TikTok user explained they were at the Art of Animation, where they were ‘staying safe in [their] room’.
Their video showed battering rain coming down like a swinging curtain outside of their window, as palm trees looked as though they could be blown over by the wind.
They also explained in the comments how a team of staff stayed at the hotel during the storm.
Similarly, other users shared clips of rainy scenes outside their hotel room as Disney provided them with lunch boxes.
In some hotels, there was also entertainment for the kids thanks to a dedicated ‘Hurricane team’ set of staff, with coffee bars set up to keep guests comfortable while things went into chaos outside.
After about 90 minutes of making landfall, the hurricane was labelled as Category 2 storm. And by the early hours of this morning, Milton was downgraded to a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds of about 90 mph as it churned about 30 miles south of Orlando.
Disney shut down as things got worse. (GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
A Brit who is currently in Orlando told LADbible yesterday she had been told to ‘stock up on supplies, stay away from windows, and to not go outside’.
“We feel scared, as we never have experienced this before. We tried to get flights home, but they said there was none available,” Kathryn Bateman explained.
“The priority was families with small children, which we fully understand, they are a priority. Our vacation rep said we have to stock up and stay in.
“We all pray for everyone who will be effect severely by Milton.”
Featured Image Credit: Tiktok/Justthemeparks
