Anyone in WDW 09/11/01?

[MissSixty]

Just curious as to how things were handled, what happened in the parks, hotels, etc. How you got home with no air travel....

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I'd be interested to know about this to.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

There are many past threads on this same subject if you do a search.

But that being said, we were at the MK on 9/11. We were there on a deal the then Courtyard by Marriott in DD was having. $20.01 a night. It was DH, DH's grandma, DS(3 at the time) and myself.

DH's cousin was a CM at the time and was able to get us into the park. He met us at the entrance that morning at 9:15 and while we were chatting he said a plane crashed into one of the twin towers in NY. We all thought it was a fluke,. The radio didn't give anymore info he said. We went into the MK and rode as usual. Around 11ish we went into C.O.P. The ride was stopped midway through and we were told to evacuate. DS was crying so DH went up to one of the many people standing around with walkie talkies and asked what the deal was. He told DH, there was an incident going on outside of WDW that he couldn't elaborate on, but WDW was being shut down. DH relayed the message to us and we began to exit.

As we were walking down Main Street, the music stopped playing and 3 loud beeps sounded and someone announced the park was closing due to a circumstance beyond their control, please evacuate. The monorails, buses, including DCL buses and boats were lined up waiting. It was very organized. I was really impressed. Of course we heard talking in the lines but didn't realize what was going on until we got back to our room and turned on the TV. Everything remained closed all day and evening.

We returned to the MK the next day, which should have been our departure day. We ended up driving home to PA, 2 days later because we didn't know when we could get a flight back.

Its weird 5 years ago and I can still recall it, times and all like it was yesterday. Guess there are some things you don't forget.

 

[eblack0409]

I hope everyone can remember where they were and what they were doing on 9-11-01...I also hope no one forgets the terrible loss and the sacrifices our troops are making to ensure our freedom!

 

[jwfla422]

We were not at the parks that day, as a matter a fact we were planning to check out. Will never forget where we were. We were eating breakfast at Tubbi's in the Dolphin and had no clue as to what was going on. When we got back to the Swan after breakfast we we're about to check out one of the bellmen told my dh what was going on and we went back up to the room while we were waiting for our bags to be picked up and turned on the tv. At that point both towers were hit but hadn't fallen yet.

We were actually listening to the Howard Stern show on the car radio when we heard about the towers falling as they were covering everything. We were actually contemplating a move to the Orlando area at that time & we were driving on I-4 going north to look at a specific subdivision but we ended up turning back toward home because we just wanted to go home. At that moment we realized we just didn't want move away from family. It was such an errie day, everyone was so somber everywhere we went. I guess we were all in disbelief. There tolls on the turnpike were lifted and all of the emergency signs with the flashing lights were on.

If we weren't planning to check out that day we probably would have anyway because I just remember wanting to go home (something I never felt before at WDW-but then we were never exposed to that kind of tradegy before either).

 

[rowan]

We were also at MK that morning. It was a normal fn morning as far as we knew. We were inline to get on Snow White's Scary Adventures and I remember a man inline in front of us on the phone. He seemed like a business man he had his young son with him and he as acting as if something was wrong. "I just cant believe this is happening" "How could this happen" he was saying. I feel bad now because at the time I of course did not know what he was talking about but I leaned over to my husband and said something like, " Why dont he stop worring about the office or the problems back home and enjoy his vacation with his son, some people need to learn to stay off the phone." Now I know what the deal was and realize you cant judge a book by its cover.

Anyway, when we got off the ride there were 2 CM's ushering us to go through the castle and exit the park, Magic Kingdom was closing. Everyone was asking questions, "How long is it closing for? Why? What's going on?
However it was very organized. I remember the PA announcement as described in the previous post. Some people were "buzzing" about what was going on and we heard several times that the White House had been bombed.
As we exited the turnstiles we were each given a one day pass and told it would never expire and we would just need to present it and tell the CM when/how we were given it, along with our original ticket, to use it any time we wanted.
We had no wait to board a bus and we were driven a back way back to the hotel. I thought how glad I was to not be on our own driving in the traffic as every car and bus tried to leave the parks at the same time.
When we got back to AKL the Cast was already in full swing. They met us in the lobby to give us a paper listing the "special activities" of the day. They had characters in the lobby playing with the kids (I only remember seeing Chip and Dale) and they had extra story times. Being that AKL has an african theme there were CM's from different AFrican countries telling about their cultures and they had a tour of the resort explaing the artifacts and decor.
We finally were able to turn on our TVs and call fmaily and learn what was going on.
We were lucky enough to be staying a few more days and did not run into problems getting home. Ours was the first flight out of Orlando to Indy that actually went out and we were on our scheduled flight. They did not know even that morning though if it would proceed as planned.
We were using Mears shuttle service for our trip and the driver who came to pick us up was of Arabic decent. I was frightened even though I am not by any means a racist person. It took about 5 min to realize that he had been having similar responses from alot of people and had a rough couple of days. We ended up tipping him much more then usual because we felt so bad for him.

All in all it was still a magical vacation, the parks were all open the next day as I am sure you know. We were so impressed by the way Disney handled everything. They really had their act together and several people we talked to at the hotel said they were allowed to stay in their room until they could get a flight home without paying for the extra nights. It proved to us that Disney has a heart and is not all about making money.

If we were going to be anywhere in a time of another national disaster we agree we would want it to be on disney property.

 

[grimley1968]

We got there on 9/15/01. It was definitely weird. We had flight ressies on SWA, but cancelled them and drove down. We debated on whether or not we should go, but obviously decided to go ahead. It was a great time, but there were some tearful moments, mostly around the American Pavilion in EPCOT, Hall of Presidents, and other patriotic sorts of places in WDW. I've never seen WDW so empty, before or since. It was one time I actually wished to be in a ride queue.

 

[momrek06]

We were not at WDW on 9/11/01 but my DH was driving INTO the WTC. He was working for the Port Authority of NY/NJ and had a 9am meeting on the 62nd floor of Tower 2. The P.A. lost 75 outstanding design engineers all employed and working at the WTC and other P.A. locations around the NY/NJ area that day. This DEVASTATED my DH. He did not smile or act the same for 3 long months. He did not see the first plane go into the Tower as he was driving through the Holland Tunnel but as they(4 P.A. engineers commuting together) came out of the Tunnel, the second plane hit the Tower and they all panicked. They turned the P.A. car around and drove to an alternate P.A. office.
What I am actually getting at is that the only place I could think to get DH out of all this misery was WDW. I called in Nov and made ressies for Christmas week. THIS WORKED! Finally after 3 long months, he seemed to start to come around. Walking around WDW was the first step to DH's recovery. He was starting to smile again.
I will say Christmas Day 2001 was very quiet in WDW but as the week progressed the Parks become more and more crowded and it seemed as though, that was the time our Country was beginning to heal.

 

[KarenP99]

Amazing how it just all comes flowing back. Thank you for your posts, they gave me goosebumps. I wasn't at WDW, I was at home (I had my first baby on 9/7/01). I have yet to complete the "current events" page of her baby book...

 

[disneyaggie]

Wow -- this all actually brought a lump in my throat. Thanks for sharing.

 

[isyt]

We flew down to Disney on Sep 10 that year. We went to MGM and my dh had gotten a page while on ToT (go figure) about the planes. When he came off the ride he looked like he had seen a ghost and I knew something was wrong.
We went over to a cm who knew nothing and said the parks were staying open. We are from NJ and all our friends and family are there and we were very concerned. We started making phone calls and it was really hard to get through. Then around 11a they started to evacuate the park. In order to get on the boat we had to show our room key. They would only let you go back to your own hotel.
It was a hard tome. my dh worked at 7 World Trade and that building collapsed. We are extremely thankful to be in Disney at that time. Disney organized metal detectors and bag checks by the next morning and I was very impressed. Our flight did run but we opted to drive and it took us 4 years to fly again. It even took us 18 monts to go back to Disney, but it is still and will always be my happy place.

 

[Mickeyistheman]

I think we can all agree that we can NEVER forget what happend on that day and why we must support our troops so they can come home safe.

I was driving home on the Turnpike that day (live in NJ) when they were not taking any money for the tolls I got upset and then on the Radio I heard they had to shut down WDW I lost it. I was so overcome with emotions that day.

I am glad to hear though for those that were down there, that it was handled very well, which I expected it was.

I hope we never ever have to go through that again.



Coronado Springs April 2006

 

[bgdiznee]

I wasn't at WDW on 9/11, however one of my co-workers and her family (triplets and DH) were. She gave a similar account of being at MGM on TGMR and having the ride stopped, being evacuated off the ride and ushered out of the park. She said no "reason" was given by the CMs,only the park needed to be closed. She thought maybe it was a Bomb scare. Things were a little hectic at the front gates but park and parking passes were given out to departing guest. It wasn't until they returned to their resort and turned on the TV to find out what had happened. They were delayed a few days getting home so just went to the beach until flights were resumed.

 

[Shirrie]

My family and I were in Animal Kingdom. We were stopping at the restroom (I was 7 months pregnant) then going to the bird show. When I came out of the bathroom people were moving toward the exit. I asked a CM what was going on he said the world trade center has been hit by airplanes and the parks are closing. So then we heard over a loud speaker something like please exit the parks. So we then headed toward the exit, at that point everyone was trying to leave the park. When we finally got to the exit and walked toward the buses to the resort it was crazy!! There were so many people. The lines were all the way thru the que lines and going up toward the entrance to AK. I started to panic, my husband got in front of everyone (My father, his mother and our 8yr old son) and said hold on. He then proceeded thru the crowd. We finally got to the line to our resort (we thought) then a CM came up to us and said you will have to go to the end of the que line. I started to cry and said I am 7 months pregnant, so he let us go at the front of the line and we got on the bus to the resort. When we got to the resort the pools were open and all the characters where there playing and signing autographs. We were refunded our money for that day and the parks opened the next day on time.

 

[sweetinmaine]

We were not at WDW on 09-11-01. We were at work. I remember that feeling that I needed to be with my children immediately. I think that you go into shock! For days we stayed glued to the TV waiting to hear that they had found survivors. Anything but as we all know there was no good news to be had. We did fly to WDW last 09-11-05. As they TV stations were doing their memorials we watched from our airline seat. That was strangely eerie. As I read through this thread all I can think of is Alan Jackson's song "Where were you when the world stopped turning". I'll never forget his moving performance. May all their souls rest in peace

 

[joshsmom]

We were there 9/5 - 9/10/01. It was our first trip to Disney and once I had already made reservations, I tried to change them SEVERAL times so that we could come home a day later. Every time I tried, the computer would crash or the website wouldn't be working. This was in my PRE DIS days, so I had no where to turn to find out what I needed to do to change the ressies. My mom finally said "maybe we're not supposed to stay any longer" and we left the ressies as they were.

And then the whole world changed the day after we came home . . .

 

[Wendy1953]

I was not at WDW on 9/11/01, but working in NY on Long Island(thank God) in a Federal Office Building. Our cafeteria and hallways have CNN on all the time...someone came past me right after the first plane hit, I was due for my break and proceeded to the cafeteria...watched the TV, people started to cry, and others screamed (some of them had family members and friends in those buildings). My sister and her now deceased husband were in Alaska, due to start their trip home...they got stuck in Alaska for two days, but in the long run it was a good thing for them...he went power walking around their block two weeks later and had a massive heart attack and died...they got to spend a few more quality days together due to the tragedy at WTC. I don't believe anyone with a heart will ever forget what they were doing that day and continue to pray for the souls of those who were killed and those that mourn them, nor will we ever forget to thank those that gave their lives trying to save others, and now for those that fight for our freedom. God Bless America!

 

[metsfan11]

I remember we were there from August 21-28

Still thinking about how it would of been possible for us to be in a plane during that scares me.

God Bless America!

 

[disgram]

I wasn't at Disney that day. I was in the library using their computers to get information for our trip in December of that year. The librarian, whom I have known for years, came over to us and quietly with tears in her eyes and told us what had happened. As one, we all got up and left for our cars and headed home. I called my husband, my dad, and my son. My daughter was out of town and she called me. Work had had her downstate near the city. I was so frightened because she had talked about going into the city that day as she had the day off. SweetinMaine, I cannot hear Alan Jackson sing that song without crying and saying a prayer for all those people.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!

 

[tmt martins]

I was sitting in L.A. Cali. accross from Ontario airport talking to DW on the Phone When I noticed them putting up barracades at the airport.

I was on my 1st of 2 weeks training for work.When we went in they told us they would do whatever nessisary to get us home if need be .

They offered train ,rental,and even drivers from different cities to drive us from city to city to get us home .

Talking to DW knowing they were safe at home we decided it was best for me to stay put and go to class.

On Sat a few of us decided to do DL we did every and I mean every ride in 45 mins flat I never saw it so empty it had a very earie felling but the CM's were all great putting on a smile knowing they were also effected in one way or another.