I remember waking up on a beautiful Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001.
My fiancee and I went to breakfast and met up with his mom, nephew and sister at the food court of All-Star Movies.
We decided to head over to MGM Studios for the day, so we hopped on the bus.
We had a great morning, and this cowardly girl managed to get on Tower of Terror. After the ride, we wandered the gift shop. As I'm paying for my purchase, the cashier ringing me up said "Are y'all from New York?" I laughed and said "Is it that obvious?" She said, "I hope all your loved ones are safe. What a crazy world we live in, right?" When I asked her what happened she told me a small plane hit one of the towers of the world trace center. I felt bad, but I was thankful that I didn't know anyone that worked there.
Then my fiancee's mom's phone rang and it was her other son telling her about a commercial plane that hit a building in New York. Now we got a little nervous, because the little guy with us was only 9 and has family that lives in Manhattan. We went to a cast member, and they brought him inside and let him call his aunt and uncle. They were fine, and assured us that it wasn't a big deal. I thought that was so kind of them.
At this point, we weren't sure what the extent of everything was so we decided to just try and have a good time. We go about our day, and honestly almost forgot about what happened earlier.
We sit down for the Indiana Jones show, it was supposed to start at 11:45. Everyone knows Disney ALWAYS starts their shows on time, so when it hadn't started at 11:50 we were confused. They made an announcement over the loud speaker. "Due to the unfortunate events in New York and other parts of the country, Disney World will be closing immediately. Please proceed to the exit."
I found a very nice gentleman cast member and begged him to tell me what was going on. "I'm from New York and her son has family in Manhattan. What's going on?" He whispered very quietly "The country is under attack. They hit New York and the Pentagon. We're just being extra cautious and sending everyone home today." What? I thought it was just a plane crash. How did it go from a plane crash to the country was under attack?
On our way out, cast members were handing out 1 day-1 park paper tickets. The people in front of us were causing a huge scene. "We paid for a hopper pass, and that's what I want it replaced with!" Now I know they probably didn't know what was going on in the rest of the country, but it took a lot to not kick them in the shins!
The bus ride back to the hotel was the scariest thing. It was eerie, people were shouting information they were getting from their families on their cell phones, and it was all conflicting.
When we got back to the room, we turned on the TV. The first image was the towers collapsing.... something I know we will all have seared in our brains forever. I called my parents in Massachusetts and my sister in Connecticut. I didn't care that the hotel was charging something like $4.95 a minute. I just needed to talk to my family.
Now let me tell you how amazing Disney was to us and others we met on our trip. I went down to the front desk to pay for the phone charges the next morning. I didn't want my sister in law's credit card being charged. The woman I spoke to said "No one is going to be charged for any phone calls yesterday or for the next week or so. We all need to talk to our loved ones, and we wouldn't feel right charging anyone at a time like this." Wow!
The people in the room next to us were supposed to fly out on the 12th, but obviously couldn't. Disney comped them 3 more nights in the hotel, 3 days of park passes, and food vouchers.
When we inquired at the desk about them taking the paper vouchers and just electronically adding another day onto our card (remember this was back before park tickets expired) the gentleman that I spoke to added 3 days with hoppers onto our cards. That's not what we wanted, but he said "I can't do anything about what's going on, but I can make your day a little better."
In all, Disney went above and beyond what anyone could have imagined. They were amazing, kind, and compassionate during a terrifying experience. So thank you Disney.
It was weird to be in Disney World, the happiest place on earth, during the scariest day my generation has ever faced. Unbelievably surreal.
My fiancee and I went to breakfast and met up with his mom, nephew and sister at the food court of All-Star Movies.
We decided to head over to MGM Studios for the day, so we hopped on the bus.
We had a great morning, and this cowardly girl managed to get on Tower of Terror. After the ride, we wandered the gift shop. As I'm paying for my purchase, the cashier ringing me up said "Are y'all from New York?" I laughed and said "Is it that obvious?" She said, "I hope all your loved ones are safe. What a crazy world we live in, right?" When I asked her what happened she told me a small plane hit one of the towers of the world trace center. I felt bad, but I was thankful that I didn't know anyone that worked there.
Then my fiancee's mom's phone rang and it was her other son telling her about a commercial plane that hit a building in New York. Now we got a little nervous, because the little guy with us was only 9 and has family that lives in Manhattan. We went to a cast member, and they brought him inside and let him call his aunt and uncle. They were fine, and assured us that it wasn't a big deal. I thought that was so kind of them.
At this point, we weren't sure what the extent of everything was so we decided to just try and have a good time. We go about our day, and honestly almost forgot about what happened earlier.
We sit down for the Indiana Jones show, it was supposed to start at 11:45. Everyone knows Disney ALWAYS starts their shows on time, so when it hadn't started at 11:50 we were confused. They made an announcement over the loud speaker. "Due to the unfortunate events in New York and other parts of the country, Disney World will be closing immediately. Please proceed to the exit."
I found a very nice gentleman cast member and begged him to tell me what was going on. "I'm from New York and her son has family in Manhattan. What's going on?" He whispered very quietly "The country is under attack. They hit New York and the Pentagon. We're just being extra cautious and sending everyone home today." What? I thought it was just a plane crash. How did it go from a plane crash to the country was under attack?
On our way out, cast members were handing out 1 day-1 park paper tickets. The people in front of us were causing a huge scene. "We paid for a hopper pass, and that's what I want it replaced with!" Now I know they probably didn't know what was going on in the rest of the country, but it took a lot to not kick them in the shins!
The bus ride back to the hotel was the scariest thing. It was eerie, people were shouting information they were getting from their families on their cell phones, and it was all conflicting.
When we got back to the room, we turned on the TV. The first image was the towers collapsing.... something I know we will all have seared in our brains forever. I called my parents in Massachusetts and my sister in Connecticut. I didn't care that the hotel was charging something like $4.95 a minute. I just needed to talk to my family.
Now let me tell you how amazing Disney was to us and others we met on our trip. I went down to the front desk to pay for the phone charges the next morning. I didn't want my sister in law's credit card being charged. The woman I spoke to said "No one is going to be charged for any phone calls yesterday or for the next week or so. We all need to talk to our loved ones, and we wouldn't feel right charging anyone at a time like this." Wow!
The people in the room next to us were supposed to fly out on the 12th, but obviously couldn't. Disney comped them 3 more nights in the hotel, 3 days of park passes, and food vouchers.
When we inquired at the desk about them taking the paper vouchers and just electronically adding another day onto our card (remember this was back before park tickets expired) the gentleman that I spoke to added 3 days with hoppers onto our cards. That's not what we wanted, but he said "I can't do anything about what's going on, but I can make your day a little better."
In all, Disney went above and beyond what anyone could have imagined. They were amazing, kind, and compassionate during a terrifying experience. So thank you Disney.
It was weird to be in Disney World, the happiest place on earth, during the scariest day my generation has ever faced. Unbelievably surreal.
