While visiting EPCOT earlier today, we noticed that preparations are underway as Walt Disney World braces for Hurricane Milton to arrive in a couple of days. Hurricane Milton remains a category 4 storm, and questions remain on where it will make landfall, and at what strength it will come ashore. That said, Walt Disney World has preemptively announced the closure of its theme parks starting tomorrow, October 9th at 1pm. For more on the official announcement, check out our article below.
Walt Disney World Prepares Theme Parks for Hurricane Milton
While we didn’t observe any preparations on a visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios this morning, work will likely continue overnight and into tomorrow as conditions start to worsen. Here’s a look at what Walt Disney World is doing to prepare for Hurricane Milton. Note that they are certainly doing a bit more than the usual trash can wrapping and zip-tying umbrellas. Disney has contracted a company to come in and strap many of the outdoor vending locations to the ground as Central Florida braces for some of the highest winds in recent memory. We’ll take a lap around EPCOT to observe the preparations!
The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is ongoing, but with operational changes. Many of the registers have been covered with a bright orange tarp and some of them are strapped together to ride out the storm. Many of the kiosks remained open today, with Cast Members stationed inside of the kiosks to take your order.
Separate from the storm is the ongoing saga of the Australia food and drink kiosk. It was operating out of a temporary tent due to the kiosk not being signed off for use, but the temporary tent has been removed and therefore, the entire Australia kiosk is not available right now.
Some kiosks that were strapped down remain operational, showcasing the reality of preparing a theme park for a major hurricane while still trying to offer a magical experience to guests while the weather is still benign.
Elsewhere, we saw some sandbags being carted over to prevent flooding in some locations. Thankfully, in Central Florida, we don’t have to worry about deadly storm surge, but flooding remains a concern, and Hurricane Milton is poised to bring some heavy rain to an already waterlogged region.
We didn’t spot a single Food & Wine Festival banner at the park. Other banners have also been removed along with hanging planters. Additionally, we noticed that some of the hanging lights that can’t be removed have been strapped down to prevent too much swinging.
Instead of strapping down kiosks, some are being cleared of merchandise and removed backstage.
Many umbrellas have been removed, but some have simply been zip-tied for the storm.
Here’s a look at some more kiosks and preparations underway during our visit to EPCOT today.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
