Anyone in WDW 09/11/01?

[WillCAD]

My friend Frank and I had air ressies booked for 9/12.

When everything started to happen on 9/11, I left work early, went to Frank's house, and we drove overnight. We arrived at ASMU at 8am on 9/12.

This was not about "not letting the terrorist win" or anything sappy like that. It was simply about living my life. Terrible things happen; I can't stop them, but I'm not going curl up and cry because they happened.

A lot of people acted like the world was ending on 9/11. It was certainly a terrible day, followed by a terrible few months of watching the rescue and cleanup efforts on TV every night, but it wasn't the end of the world.

Despite all of the loss, despite all of the pain, life went on. Life continues to go on. People get married, babies are born, people go to work and to school and to see their kids play soccer. And they go on vacation - because with all of the troubles and tragedies that we have to deal with, vacations in places like WDW become all the more important.

 

[Cplofdisneynutz]

I wasn't at WDW on 9/11, but lived less than 30 mi from the Pentagon.

Just wanted to share this clip with everyone.Voices of Liberty - America, Golden Dreams Thought it would be appropriate and Disney related as well

 

[momofmmsd5]

I was not in WDW either but after reading all of the post all the memories and fear of that day came rushing back just as they do everytime i stop and really think about it. I want to say to MrFDNY thank you to you and all 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 had three loved ones in the city that day. A brother working on the floor of the exchange,a sister in law two blocks from the towers, and DH who at the time was just my boyfriend, was suppose to be on the 62nd floor of tower 2.All came home to us and I thank god for that and continue to pray for those of you who have to relive that day over and over and were not as fortunate as my family.
We must all continue to support our troops and their families and NEVER forget.

 

[disneytraveler]

I was not at Wdw during this time but working at my job in a federal government building here in Mass. We all saw what happened on tv and there was a confusion and a buzz around the work areas. When we finally determined it was not an accident that occured we were given instructions to evacuate and go home.

God bless to all firefighters and police who responded on that day!

 

[VacationDad]

This thread tells me that a book containing some personal stories of where you were and how you reacted to the news of 9/11 would be very interesting. There are probably 250 million personal stories out there, all of them connected by one event and all of them burned into our memories such that we will never forget.

 

[jann1033]

reading these makes me think how the last poster said was so true....it reminds me of the same way i felt as a kid when JFK was assassinated( before that became almost common place)...just like it was a whole new world. i was just home on 9/11 but i often think how as tragic as it was for all the families who lost loved ones in that incident, how it happens everyday somewhere to someone and it's sad no one remembers them but it is just as important to their loved ones. very sad all the way around.

 

[MrsBanks]

He was working for the Port Authority of NY/NJ and had a 9am meeting on the 62nd floor of Tower 2.

Hi momrek06 - my DH also works for the PA as a police officer - he fortunately was off of work that day to donate blood, but once he heard what happened he became part of the rescue/recovery team - I was 6+ months pregnant at the time and I will never forget anything that happened that day - our world has changed forever

 

[bellelinus]

Reading this thread makes me remember going to WDW just after Christmas in 2001. I can remember how many times I got into conversations with strangers and (as always happens) they asked where we were from. On that trip whenever we told them that were were from NYC, they were all incredibly supportive. For someone who lived through that day, I will never forget the feeling of being at WDW -- my first time out of Manhattan since 9/11 -- and realizing that we did not experience this alone. For the first time I realized that 9/11 happened to everyone.

 

[Budahman]

I was there at MK for 9-11-02. The 1 year anniversary. It was weird and not crowded at all. I also was there in October 2001 and man it was really un-crowded. It was nice that we could do whatever whenever, but sad to for the reasons it was like that.

 

[momrek06]

He was working for the Port Authority of NY/NJ and had a 9am meeting on the 62nd floor of Tower 2.

Hi momrek06 - my DH also works for the PA as a police officer - he fortunately was off of work that day to donate blood, but once he heard what happened he became part of the rescue/recovery team - I was 6+ months pregnant at the time and I will never forget anything that happened that day - our world has changed forever

WOW, Those P.A. Officers were AMAZING. My DH spoke about them so often and for so long and like the P.A. Engineers that were lost that day, the P.A. NY/NJ Police Officers lost over 70 officers (maybe more). It was devastating to say the least. My DH bought PAPD NY/NJ hats for both my our sons and they wore those hats so proudly.
For me personally, I never heard from my DH until almost noon that day(all phone lines were down) and the last thing I knew is he was headed into the WTC for a 9am meeting. It was a regular staff meeting BUT also a meeting welcoming back an Engineer who had left due to cancer and that Engineer was returning THAT morning. He was LOST that day in the bombing. Can you imagine SURVIVING cancer and then losing your life to this horrid turn of events.
We have relocated to Mass., and started our own Engineering business BUT proudly in our home/office, DH has a WTC Memorial. Along with that is his I.D. from the WTC, a large framed picture of the WTC and also framed we have the "Staff Meeting Agenda" dated September 11, 2001. Many people coming into the office knew DH was there that day and everyone stops and just stares at the Memorial we have in our office.

 

[Blueberry]

We were in the MK on 9/11 and I will never forget it..it will always remain with me. Let me say WDW handled this better than I thought any place as large could do it.

We were walking in Fantasyland when my DHs phone rang, he said it was work and he had to take the call..grrrrr.... I thought they cannot leave him alone even on vacation. He became rather agitated which he never does and I figured something was wrong at work they could not handle. We stepped to the side of the walkway so he could talk and I noticed that people were heading towards the exits and the characters were being IGNORED by people (which I found rather strange). All the pay phones had lines of people for them and people seemed upset, so I sensed something bad was happening. DH told me when he got off the phone and we sort of walked numbly towards the castle just talking. As we got near the castle the announcement was made to exit the park and we headed back down Main Street. It was all handled so well, and it was a pretty solemn crowd, who were just sorta quietly leaving. We picked up our free one day readmission and went back to our hotel to watch tv. I recall the hotel pool was packed as everyone was back there and the kids were all swimming. The adults crowded around the pool bar watching tv and discussing the days events.

I wanted to go home and be with my family too, but we were due to fly out on Sept 12th and our plane was cancelled of course. We ended up driving our rental car home to VA as my DH had to get back to work. The airline and the rental car company were all terrific with so many people stranded in Orlando and handled it very well as Disney did.