Anyone in WDW 09/11/01?

[Drummer71]

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.

Wow. I could never imagine the MK being like that. I couldn't imagine walking down Main St. and listening the the happy cheerful background music one minute and then hearing that the park is closing due to something out of our control the next. Shwew.

I wasnt at WDW on 9/11 but I still remember that day, and jsut to think aobut it gives me a lump in my throat. My dad is in the millitary so it effected my family and I big time. I'm gonna share my 9/11 day although it wasn't at Disney....I was still in elementary school at the time (I'm in high school now). My elementary school was an old school house, with one story and five rooms, not fancy at all, but I loved it. Anyway, I remember we were all sitting in our class room after we had gotten back from gym and my teacher started our math lesson.

A few minutes intot the lesson our gym teacher came into our room and pulled our teacher out, all she said was, "Mrs. H. come here right now it's an emergancey." Mrs. H. ran out of the room, leaving all of us. We started worrying, thinking that maybe some one had gotten hurt in the next gym class, the third graders had gym right after we did, so we all decided to pray.


I closed my eyes and two seconds later Mrs. H. walked through the door. I looked up and she was shaking so bad. We all asked all at once what in the world was going on. She said in a very very shakey voice, "Uuh.....I..I.....c..can't talk....about it." eventually we bugged her enough to where she said "The world trade center was bombed and is no longer standing." We all started shaking, I started crying. I dont remember much more. I jsut remember coming home and the TV being on and seeing the two planes crashing into the Trade Center over and over again. I remember my sister crying and hugging my dad and my mom doing the same.....Everything else is pretty much a blur, but I know I can never forget that day.

Two years later the Air Force sent my dad over into Iraq. He missed my mom's birthday, my brother's birthday, their aniversary, my sister's birthday, and my sisters graduation. He came back last summer and is done with all that now. God kept him safe. 9/11 really did change my life, and even though I want to forget about that day so much, I can't It's just burnt into my memory.

But at least we are doing much better now. We're getting Iraq into shape. But remember there's still people over there risking their lives everyday, you have no idea how much they need our support.

Sry to the OP, I know that was kind of off subject but I just wanted to share what 9/11 was like for me.

~SUPPORT OUR TROOPS~

 

[Piecey]

I was actually watchin Cinderella whenever my neighbor called.
I had hurt my ankle at Marching Band practice the day before and spent all night in the emergency room getting X-Rays and things. They'd told me to take the next day off to let it rest and especially because I'd been at the ER all night.
My neighbor was in my grade, too. She had a cold but knew I was home because she was in Colorguard with me and knew I'd been hurt.. and she had seen the news about the WTC on TV. So she called me and she came up to my house and we both sat there and watched the TV together all day, until our parents got home.
We were freshmen in high school.

But we popped the WDW Planning DVD in to watch and plan our "dream" trip at one point. We're both Disney-nuts.

 

[Torontogal]

as a Canadian - this event still upsets me. I cannot imagine what the families go through every single day. May the victims rest in peace.

 

[cornflkgrl]

I wasn't at Disney but I was at home and I had classes that day (I was in college, sophmore year) and my roomate had work and for some reason we both failed to get up on time (my alarm actually had stopped....the clock stopped at 3 a.m. for some reason and was flashing that time) I woke up to a loud banging on the door. It was my mother who had driven to my apartment to tell me not to turn on the t.v. (i suffer from severe mood swings and she actually thought she was going to keep me from finding out?!) So, of course, I went straight to the t.v. and flipped it on. At that point Katie Couric was on the Today show and they had a clip of the first plane and they were all just talking about how did this plane not have visibility and how did it get so low and how did it get in that airspace etc. because at that point they thought it was a freak accident. Then while that was going on they were still filming the burning first building and out of the side of the screen something just shot by and then flames.....the second plane. It was so bizarre sitting there watching that happen. I will never forget 9/11. I spent 3 weeks in the hospital afterwards because I couldn't leave my house I was so panicked. The scariest thing for me was the Pentagon, even though not many were hurt. My dad used to work in the pentagon and I had many friends whose parents worked there. That is one of those events in my lifetime that I will remember very clearly forever.

 

[All Aboard]

We did not cancel our plans to go up just a couple of days after 9/11/01. The flag retreat in MK's Town Square was by far the most emotional scene I have ever witnessed at WDW. Tears were streaming down the faces of those in the small marching band as they played. People were having to sit down and bury their faces in their hands and in their folded arms.

 

[mrFDNY]

Hi all,
thank you all for some of your kind words about my co-workers!well you can guess where i was that day.i won't get crazy with details or storys as too many painfull memorys.we took a big hit,but where still standing!a point i wanted to share with you all,is something that disney did,which schocked alot of us.It was around feb 2002 alot of us were just tired,at ground zero all day or night and then dept funerals.some days there were as many as 5 different funerals in different boros on the same day.I lost alot of good friends,so sad. as for me i would go to ground zero for recovery work 21 hours than go home get maybe 2-3 hours of sleep.back up and to my fire house for a 16 hour shift,then maybe 3-4 funerals for our guys and back to ground zero.this scheduled was pretty common for all of the FDNY.all of us in the FDNY,were walking around looking like sleep deprived mummies.you could just see it on everyones face.
Then in feb 2002, a miracle appeared in the form of a fax.It was called the "disney world heroes getaway"it was free parktickets to any member of the FDNY,NYPD,EMS here in nyc and any family member of any of these guys that were lost when the trade center fell.all you had to do was pay hotel rates that were also discounted.It was april 2002.after booking hotels you got the same number of days,park hopper ticket with pleasure island and disneyquest.my guys left tired and depressed and sad.they came back smilling(something i had not seen in the FDNY in a while)and all boasting about how great disney was.they returned looking happy and rested again.many of them now began to understand why i go so much.disney really turned things around for my guys when we all forgot how to smile,disney showed us the way again!thank you disney!!

And thank you all for remembering all of my brothers and sisters!
NEVER FORGET SEPT 11,2001. the day our heroes became our victims.

 

[mom2kazkids]

I was not at WDW, but at home. As the Twin Towers were falling I was getting my husband's and my passports from the Fed Ex man with our Kazakhstan visas in, as we were leaving in a week for Almaty, Kazakhstan to adopt our two children. We barely received our Russian visas before leaving as they were stranded in Ca once the planes stopped flying. I was very close to not going thru the adoption, and looking back I could not imagine what our life would have been like if we didn't.

We arrived home from Kazakhstan/Russia the day before the bombing of Afganistan started.

Barb

 

[firemanx]

9-11-01 i was not at WDW, but i will tell you my story cause it changed my life.

9-11 is my B-day, and i turned 18 on that day, it was also my sr yr of HS. I was your typical 18 yr old kid only concerned with partying and girls. Only reason i went to school that day was because it was my b-day and my GF wanted to be with me all day. I was in 2nd period when an announcement came over the PA " A Plane has crashed into the WTC teachers please secure your rooms." When they finally let us into the main hallways i immediately went home. When i arrived home i saw a family in tears. My mom, My father (22 yr Firefighter), Grandfather (retired Firefighter) Grandma, aunt, uncle and some other family all @ our house as they were planning a surprise for my B-day, but this unfortunate incident happend. As we were watching coverage, I said unknowingly "why are these guys trying to be heros running into these buildings?" When my dad replied rather angrily to me " There not trying to be heros there just doing there job". Then i ask my Dad and Grandfather both why there crying when we already contacted all our family, and this is what changed my life " Were losing brothers as they run in that building, theres no way all these guys are coming out". That statement changed my life for the best. I relized that there are things bigger then yourself, and what you think is important. I thank God every day for my family, and what i have learned from them, and for the troops that protect our country every day. Sorry about the long story, but it was changed my life, and it still brings tears to my eyes.

To our fallen brothers you may be gone, but never forgotten

343

 

[Badger Brent]

It still shakes me thinking of that day. I wasn't at the parks either. I was being rehired at The Disney Store in Madison, WI. that day. I was ten minutes from work and heard everything on the radio. When I got into work, it wasn't the most magical time. We went into emergency shutdown and the whole mall shutdown also. We got out the manual for national emergency's I seem to recall. By the time I left the store and headed back home, the towers had fallen and I was numb watching the tv. My next day back to work at the store, we were given small mickey pins with the american flag. Not a great day to start my job again at the disney store, but then again at least I was still alive and safe. Never forget.....

 

[carolfoy]

Hi all,
thank you all for some of your kind words about my co-workers!well you can guess where i was that day.i won't get crazy with details or storys as too many painfull memorys.we took a big hit,but where still standing!a point i wanted to share with you all,is something that disney did,which schocked alot of us.It was around feb 2002 alot of us were just tired,at ground zero all day or night and then dept funerals.some days there were as many as 5 different funerals in different boros on the same day.I lost alot of good friends,so sad. as for me i would go to ground zero for recovery work 21 hours than go home get maybe 2-3 hours of sleep.back up and to my fire house for a 16 hour shift,then maybe 3-4 funerals for our guys and back to ground zero.this scheduled was pretty common for all of the FDNY.all of us in the FDNY,were walking around looking like sleep deprived mummies.you could just see it on everyones face.
Then in feb 2002, a miracle appeared in the form of a fax.It was called the "disney world heroes getaway"it was free parktickets to any member of the FDNY,NYPD,EMS here in nyc and any family member of any of these guys that were lost when the trade center fell.all you had to do was pay hotel rates that were also discounted.It was april 2002.after booking hotels you got the same number of days,park hopper ticket with pleasure island and disneyquest.my guys left tired and depressed and sad.they came back smilling(something i had not seen in the FDNY in a while)and all boasting about how great disney was.they returned looking happy and rested again.many of them now began to understand why i go so much.disney really turned things around for my guys when we all forgot how to smile,disney showed us the way again!thank you disney!!

And thank you all for remembering all of my brothers and sisters!
NEVER FORGET SEPT 11,2001. the day our heroes became our victims.

THank you, just that, Thank you

 

[TnTsParty]

As I am reading this the memories and tears come back. I wanted to say to MrFDNY thank you and your fellow firefighters and NYPD and to those fallen heros who where there that day and in the aftermath. I prayed for all of you.

I was not at WDW or anywhere near the crash sites but wanted to relate my story of where I was and how I felt. I was actually leaving the local courthouse because I had to pay a traffic ticket I had broken my foot recently and I was driving to the doctor for a check up. As I was driving I heard about the 1st plane and that was when they thought it might have been an accident and they didn't know the size of the plane, etc. Then just before I got to the dr's the 2nd plane hit and the guys on the radio where saying there was no way this could have been an accident. When I got to the dr's office the 2nd plane had already hit. The people that work at the drs office turned the radio speakers up so we all could hear what was going on. Everyone was in a state of shock. I left the drs and went on to work. The company I work for was started in Long Island so we have lots of people from NY working there. I came into my dept and my supervisor (who was from NY) was freaking out and was on the phone with her dad who told her the 1st tower fell. Another girl at work got her radio out and turned it up so we could hear what was going on. Right before noon the head of human resources came by and said that they were letting us go home. I got home and then found out my DH had stopped working and was going to come home (he was a foreman on a lawn maint crew) but his supervisor told him to go to another job and cut that. I was so at his supervisor because I just want my DH home with me. After that day my company had a lot of lay offs because we are in the aviation industry and of course it took a big hit. Luckly I am still there and things are improving in the industry. It took me a while to come out of the "funk" I was in after 9/11 (I just didn't feel like doing ANYTHING but watch the TV coverage which just made me sadder.) Then hearing people at work talking about their friends who were going to this funeral and that funeral it was just so sad. To this day I have yet to get back on a plane.

 

[mhingher]

I wasn't in WDW on 9/11 but I sure wish I was... I was working in NYC at the time. The building I was working in is attached to the Chrysler Building... which they thought would be a target... so we were evaculated pretty quickly. I had no where to go--I live in NJ and no buses or trains were operating. I went back to a co-worker's apartment where we watched the news... I was hysterical... My dad works downtown and I couldn't get a hold of him. My cell phone was all out of whack, and I kept getting voicemails without the phone ringing. Sometimes he takes the train into Hoboken and then the path into The WTC-- and we didn't know if he did that or not.. My mom finally got in touch with him around 1pm... luckily he had a seminar in mid town that day, and was actually a few blocks from me! He couldn't get in touch with me, so he was checking Port AUthority, Penn Station and trying to find my building. When I found out where he was I ran down 42nd Street. I will never forget what I saw... it was like everything was at a stand still. Everyone was standing watching the big screen in times sqaure. I finally found my father and was never so happy to see him! We then started our long journey home... waited on a line for the ferry for over 2 hours... that only took us to Weehawkin... then had to wait on another line for a bus to Hoboken. We got on the bus and we were completely stopped in traffic so we decided to walk. We got to the train station and realized we had over an hour so we got something to eat... didn't get home until 11pm... little did we know, if we just waited in Penn Station we could have been home around 4pm. I didn't go back to work the rest of that week... and as those days went by, I realized I lost 3 friends. Not an easy time for me... 2 months later I got a job in NJ...

 

[mickey's cousins]

I wasn't a WDW either, but wanted to share just a bit of my story. I was pregnant with my 3rd child and at the Dr. My DH and 2 precious DD had just heard our sweet little baby's heartbeat for the first time. My DH took the girls out to the car as I was waiting to make my next appointment. While standing at the reception desk, it came across the news about the first plane. We all thought it was just a terrible accident. We were stationed at Fort Bragg at the time, and when the 2nd plane hit, every soldier in that waiting room was on his feet in front of the TV. We all knew what it meant and that our lives would never be the same. I'll never forget the odd feeling of how I had just heard the new life of my unborn child when so many lives had just been taken from us. On the way home my 9 year old started crying because she knew Daddy had to get to work and she was afraid that the base would be a target. She kept asking if Daddy would have to go to war and would he die. A few months later DS was born and we were sent to Germany. Shortly thereafter, DH was deployed to Iraq for 15 months. My youngest DD cried herself to sleep every single night for those 15 months. When it would seem almost too much, we would talk about the people who lost their lives on that terrible day and how Daddy was doing everything he could to make sure that would never happen to another family again. We are so blessed. We have the joyful memories of seeing our Daddy come around the corner in formation, the American Anthem playing, flags flying and tears of joy flowing. My prayer is that we never forget! God bless to everyone.

 

[YCFAN]

I'm sitting here crying after reading these stories. We should never let this day be forgotten. My husband was in France that day at a manufacturing plant and one of the French supervisors went up to the Americans that were there and simply said, "You need to call your wives." They didn't know what had happened but the guy was very insistent so they called home to hear the terrible news. At this point all international travel had been suspended and my husband couldn't get back into the US. He ended up waiting in line for three days at the airport in Paris. He was finally pulled out of line and put on the first plane coming back into the United States. He had flown out of Charlotte, NC to Paris but was willing to take ANY flight to ANY American city that he could get on. He ended up flying in to Philadelphia. He said as they flew over NY you could see the smoke from the rubble left after the Towers fell and a eerrie silence fell over the entire plane. He said not another word was uttered on that plane until it touched down in Philadelphia. As soon as the plane touched the ground the entire plane erupted into applause and cheering spontaineously. All they cared about was that they were back on American soil. Getting to their individual homes was secondary. They were back in the U.S.A.!!

 

[Deedee]

We flew to Orlando 9/29/01 we were determined to go we were not going to let these people win. I remember driving down I4 and seeing American flags every where on buildings at the side of the road basically any where it would hang. When we got to our hotel there was a big sign hanging in the foyer window saying thanks for travelling. Walking around the parks was quite eerie they were half empty i commented on this in world showcase at one point we were the only ones around

 

[MHTeacher]

Reading all the posts just reminds me what a life-defining moment 9/11 is for all of us...whether we were there first hand in NY, or watching it unfold on tv in Alabama.

 

[CAP Aircrew]

As you can see from my tagline, I belong to the Civil Air Patrol. We are civilians but we are also officially known as the United States Air Force Auxiliary. We volunteer our time to do search and rescue, disater relief and after 9/11, homeland security.

My squadron was almost immediatley pressed into action after 9/11 and we were tasked with flying blood from Massachusetts down to JFK in NY. Unfortunately it became clear all too soon that supplies of blood were not going to be needed.

This tragic day has been etched into all of our memories for ever and I'm sure all of us will never forget where we were and what we were doing that day. I have two children and I know I wanted to head home as soon as possbile to be with them and hug them as much as I could.

Time does heal but this is a time we should and will not ever forget.

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

We were in the Orlando area, just not WDW. We'd been to WDW and such for several days. That was the day that we decided to go to Kennedy Space Center.

We were in line for the first tour when they told us to go back inside. When I asked what was going on, they told us that the Pentagon had been bombed. We knew nothing of the WTC. Since we were technically at a military installation, there were fighter planes overhead and a definite sense of controlled panic.

We just decided to get our $$$$ back and leave. They kept saying they might start the tours. (heard later they never did).

We finally heard from someone in the parking lot that the WTC had collapsed. Until that time, we had only heard about the pentagon.

On the drive back to the hotel, every toll booth operator we passed made sure we had our radio on.

We spent the day in the hotel watching TV. We were off site so there were no extra plans.

We left on 9/12 for our DCL cruise. It was half empty since if you weren't already in the area, you weren't going to make it.

Flew out on 9/15 on our scheduled flight. Actually flew again on 9/17 on business. My coworkers thought I was crazy.

An older woman in line for a refund at Kennedy looked at my DD who was 10 at the time and told her to remember where she was today. That's definitely not hard to do.

 

[MareSINY]

I wasn't at WDW on 9/11, but I wish I had been. I work in downtown Manhattan, a few blocks from the WTC. I had just gotten off the Staten Island Ferry and boarded a bus to my office when people were all looking out the windows and talking, I had no idea what was going on. The traffic was awful so my sister and I got off the bus at Wall Street and walked the three blocks down to my office, we started noticing paper floating through the air, some pieces on the ground were charred and others were in perfect condition. When we reached Maiden Lane and looked up we saw the gaping hole in the side of the tower and the flames shooting from the building. I immediately began to shake and wanted to cry, feeling bad for the people in that building, still having no idea what had actually happened. When we were coming into my building a man told us a plane hit the tower, we assumed it was a small plane, and working for an aviation insurance company I thought this was going to be a busy day. I hurried upstairs and went to my boss' office, she told me it was an airlilner and asked if I had heard another loud noise, the second tower was hit while we rode up on the elevator. About an hour later my dads office was evacuated so we left to meet up with him to go home. My sister and I walked half a block and looked up just as the first tower began to fall. It took a minute to register what was happening. We began to run, when we reached Maiden Lane we saw a giant cloud of debris coming towards us and a man running and yelling to everyone to run for their lives. We continued to run down Water Street. Visibility was down to nothing when we reached Wall Street. I was panicking, imaging my 66 year old father outside in this. We eventually made it to the ferry terminal and found my dad. We called my other sister to let her know we were on our way home. While we were waiting for the boat a giant plume of debris struck the terminal windows and everything started to shake, the second tower had collapsed. People sat on the ferry wearing life jackets, sharing cell phones and crying to each other. For the time being nobody was strangers. I remember looking across the harbor as the boat got further away from the gray skies and back into blue skies. It was really surreal. I had my camera on me that day, my sister said I should take a picture, but I couldn't, I told her I didn't want to remember this. Pictures or no pictures it's a day that's etched into my memory, the sights and sounds of that day, and the smells and feelings of the months that followed are something I'll never ever forget.

 

[MissSixty]

Thank you all for your responses. I know I plan to try and remember these things next time I am irritated with someone pushing, cutting, someone else's child misbehaving. I will remember I am happy to be here!