Before the exceptional closure of the largest Disney park in the world, tourists plan to enjoy the rides and selfies with Mickey until the end while, in a few hours, Hurricane Milton threatens to hit Florida hard on Wednesday night to Thursday.
The Macdonald family came from Scotland to Disney World, so large that it spans several small towns, including Lake Buena Vista, near Orlando. Under plastic ponchos, they defy the rain with enthusiasm to “enjoy a few hours” before locking themselves up in the hotel.
“We’re not worried, we bought water,” puts Emma Macdonald into perspective, who, at 51, is making her second trip to Disney in a region that is being barricaded.
Just a few days into their two-week vacation, the family is not disappointed, she confides. In any case, “we can’t do anything.”
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And, she recalls, the situation is especially difficult for residents of Florida who must evacuate en masse as Milton approaches and could cause “catastrophic” and “potentially fatal” flooding according to the authorities, just two weeks after the already destructive and deadly passage of Hurricane Helene.
“It’s for them that we feel sorry for,” says Emma Macdonald.
The safest place in storms?
Under an overcast sky and rain sometimes light, sometimes much heavier, the Macdonald family are among the few dozen visitors still present at Disney World, a sprawling amusement park located about a hundred kilometers from the west coast of Florida.
The parking lot, usually crowded, is now dotted with only a handful of cars. Tourist buses from nearby hotels arrive almost empty. The last visitors are greeted by employees who screen the entries a few minutes before closing.
Getty Images via AFP
Florida’s largest employer, Disney closed its doors early Wednesday afternoon and could keep them closed until Thursday, depending on the damage caused by the hurricane.
The hotels remain open, welcoming tourists and especially thousands of evacuees.
Arriving Sunday with her husband and their child from Hawaii, Linsday Moore says she considered canceling the trip. “But the airlines wouldn’t let us do it,” says this 42-year-old woman. Accustomed to strong storms in the Pacific, the family knows, she assures, what awaits them.
“They say that this place (Disney) is the safest in case of storms,” she continues, also recognizing that their situation is not comparable to that of residents evacuated in a hurry.
77-year-old Jennifer Lizcano is also trying to stay positive and make the most of her trip from California with her daughter.
She even says she is impatient to discover the Disney park less crowded than usual. And even though Milton inexorably approaches with the threat of grave danger, “we’re not there yet,” says Jennifer Lizcano.
The authorities, burned by Hélène, have been sounding the alarm for days. Milton will have “a considerable impact and do a lot of damage”, warned the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden even warned that Milton could be “the worst storm” in a century to hit the Florida peninsula, although it is accustomed to these weather phenomena.
