It’s hurricane season in Florida, which means we have to be weather-aware about potential storms in the Atlantic Ocean through November.

Pop Century Resort

We’ve already seen some hurricanes come through the Orlando area, including Hurricane Debby and, most recently, Hurricane Helene, which developed into an impactful hurricane, affecting property and lives throughout the Southeast. Last week, the National Hurricane Center began watching another potential development in the Gulf of Mexico, which became a tropical storm and is now forecasted to become a hurricane before it reaches Florida. In fact, a State of Emergency was declared for many counties in Florida, including the Disney World area. Now, Disney World is beginning to respond to the potential storm ahead of its arrival in Florida.

Ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall on Tuesday or Wednesday, Disney World has restricted hotel reservations on property for October 9th and October 10th. If you search the Disney World website for hotel reservations on those two days, you will find that there is no availability. You’ll see a button that says “Check Availability” for every hotel on property, which prompts you to change your dates as these are not available. Note that room availability becomes available again if you search for October 11th or later.

©Disney

So, what’s going on? Well, a few things. First, Disney will want to free up rooms for its hurricane ride-out crew, the Cast Members who will be staying at and staffing the hotel during a big storm. Disney will also hold rooms in case existing guests need to extend their stays due to a storm. This is basically a way for Disney World to make sure its existing hotel guests are taken care of during a big weather event.

Hurricane Ian 2022

Another thing we noticed is that Park Pass Reservations Calendar has October 9th completely grayed out as a date that “No Parks are Available.” We had checked this earlier today, and it had been green, which means ALL parks are available. The date is also blocked out for Disney World Annual Passholders now.  Now, this isn’t confirmation that Disney World might be closed on that date, but it is something to be aware of.

©Disney

On October 6th, Disney released a statement on the My Disney Experience website reading, “Walt Disney World Resort is currently operating under normal conditions. We are closely monitoring the path of the projected storm as we continue to prioritize the safety of our Guests and Cast Members.” We expect to see more information as the storm intensifies and gets closer to Florida over the next 24–48 hours. Currently, forecasters are predicting that the storm could become a category 3 hurricane when it makes landfall near Tampa. 

©NHC

We will continue to monitor the storm’s progress, as well as keep an eye out for any Disney World announcements regarding the storm, so stay tuned to DFB for more.

8 DFB Reader Tips for Riding Out a Hurricane in Disney World

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Will you be in Disney World this week? How will this affect your travel plans? Let us know in the comments!