What was it like at Walt Disney World on 9/11?

[er3465]

I don't know if anyone has posted this yet, but I was wondering the same question, and happened upon this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-hill/what-was-it-like-at-walt-_b_952645.html.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

We were on Carousel of Progress. I was with my husband, his grandma, and my son, then just 3 yo.
The ride was stopped midway and we were told to exit. I remember walking out and seeing a bunch of plain clothes people with headsets with the announcement that the MK was closing.

No body knew what was happening. My husband asked a CM but he gave him a very vague answer. All the buses, including DCL buses and monorails were lined up to get us out of there. Very organized and well run.

It was eerie. Everything was closed the rest of the day. Looked like a ghost town but with people if u can understand that.

We went to the MK the next day and it was very quiet and empty. It wasn't the same happy place it was the previous days we were there.

We drove home by rental car. The planes were delayed indefinitely and DH had to get back to work.

 

[topolino]

My wife as at DAK (I hadn't met her yet). She had just entered the park and gotten a FP for Dinosaur. She was leaving Dinoland USA when the park was evacuated. She didn't know the full story until she got back to her resort and turned on the TV. She and her friends spent most of the day trying to stay informed with what was going on. It was her last full day in Orlando, so you can imagine the nightmare it was for her getting home.

Incidentally, she still has the Dinosaur FP.

 

[DawnM]

http://disneylandcompendium.blogspot.com/2008/09/911-at-disneyland.html

I still lived in SoCal during 9/11 so I am posting a Disneyland article. I was at the gym (6am) and on the way home to get ready for work when I heard the news on the radio.

Dawn

 

[tevagirl]

My husband and I were standing in line waiting to go in to the Tiki Birds. We knew what was happening. My husband turned to me and said that he thought we should get out of there and I agreed.

They announced that they were closing the park as we were heading toward the exits. They didn't announce why. We saw the confusion in the people who didn't know what was going on and we saw the fear and sorrow in the ones who did.

 

[TaraPA]

We were sitting in Indiana Jones waiting for the show to start. I thought it was odd that it was 10 min. after show time & Disney shows NEVER start late. A CM came out & very cherrfully said "due to the events going on in the world right now the show has been cancelled & the park was being closed early." Very few people knew what was going on so we all sat there thinking it was part of some new pre-show or something. About a minute later a male CM came out & more seriously said that it was true, the park was being evacusted, please move out to the front of the park in an orderly fashion. We knew from his tone he was serious & everyone started filing out. We had no idea what was going on. CMs were handing out 1-day 1-park passes as we exited.

On the bus ride back the driver filled us in with bits & pieces but most was mis-information. He said the US was being attacked by terrorists in all major cities & that freaked everyone out - because wouldn't WDW be a great target?

The resorts were packed. They did bring characters & entertainment in but you just couldn't move at the pool or food court. We stayed in the room glued to CNN most of the day, it was very somber.

The lobby was packd the next few days, people couldn't fly out & there were no rental cars to be found. There were lines for the pay phones because cell phone service was spotty the few days after. MK was empty the next day but we went & enjoyed ourselves. CM's kept to show & no mention was made of what was going on. It was a nice escape from reality in a very uncertain time.

The next day (Thursday I think) Tropical Storm Gabrielle hit & while the parks were open, they came around to the rooms & urged everyone to stay in. We stayed in since the kids were so little, you couldn't walk out of your door 1 inch without getting pelted by stinging rain. We were supposed to fly home that day but there were still no flights.

We finally got a flight out on Sunday. Disney had room to accomodate us since no guests were flying in either. The airport was complete chaos, people had been camping out on chairs & in aisles desperate to get any flight, anywhere.

 

[Tikitoi]

Very interesting to read. Is there a link to if Disney is doing anything in remeberance, today?

 

[ChristmasElf]

Security is a little tighter today. Orange county sheriff cars are sprinkled throughout property and more visable.

 

[zurgswife]

We were walking from the International Gateway from Epcot when the first plane hit...we got to the Boardwalk before the second plane. My SIL in another room called and told us to turn on the TV..We watched for what seemed an eternity and my hubby couldn't take it any more and said lets go to MGM...

We went into WWTBAMPI about the time the were closing the parks. We were the last guests escorted out of the park. We new what was going on....It was very strange. At this point they had CM about every 10 feet directing guests to the front gate and handing out 1 day park hoppers. It was very surreal.

We then went back to the Boardwalk watched more TV and then headed to the pool because literally EVERYTHING else was closed. Boardwalk pool was closed due to renovation and we were directed to the Y&B pool. It was packed to the gills with all the people who literally had nothing to do besides sit by the pool.

It was very interesting because it was obvious that many many people - mostly men worked in Manhattan and the specifically the Towers....It was very tragic watching these men be so helpless while they tried and tried to get hold of people in NYC.

Disney did do a wonderful time of doing there best of attending to guests. All the park characters were sent to the hotels so there would be some type of entertainment to distract. They even offered box lunches or dinners as I remember because there was no way to feed all the people that really had no where to go that would have had dining ressies at the parks or DTD.

 

[JustineMarie]

My husband and I were on our honeymoon. We were in line to ride Space Mountain and I had commented to him that the Cm's in the air traffic tower were really into their jobs and it really looked like they were talking on phones, running around, etc. Once we actually got to our ride vehicle a CM said that a small plane had hit the WTC. We rode and as soon as we got off we called my MIL to check on any news she may have heard since we live in NJ. We were on the phone with her when the second plane hit and we knew then that we were under attack.

We went over to Ariel's Grotto and sat and waited to hear any more news. I was scared bc my 2 daughters were home with my MIL and me and my DH were 1200 miles away and felt helpless.

There was an annoucment saying that the park was closing and they were asking all guests to leave. We were given 1 day passes on the way out, told to go back to our hotel room and we would be given more information. There were tons of busses and I don't remember waiting long to get back to the resort. I remember going back to POR and waiting in our room watching the TV. We eventually got a message saying that characters and all would be at the main building.

We called the rental car company to see if we could drive the rental car back home to NJ and were told no, bc they were expecting it back. Well the next morning we woke up and tried to start our day but all we wanted to do was get home so we took a chance and decided to drive our rental car back home even though we were told not to.

Coming up 95 we passed through DC and we saw the huge american flag on the Pentagon and the smoking building. You could smell the fire. It was still chaos.

We made it home by 3am and went straight to my inlaws to pick up my girls. I've never been so happy to be home.

 

[ez]

we were at disney the week after 9/11. We had thought of canceling but then decided not too. I remember in Magic Kingdom, the musician bands that walk around the park would stop and play patriotic songs. Everyone in the vicinity, and I mean EVERYONE, would stop in their tracks and sing along. This was happening thruout the day. I'm tearing up just remembering, it was actually a very patriotic and unifying experience, and I was so glad we didn't cancel our trip.

 

[CaptainAlex]

My husband and I were on our honeymoon. We were in line to ride Space Mountain and I had commented to him that the Cm's in the air traffic tower were really into their jobs and it really looked like they were talking on phones, running around, etc. Once we actually got to our ride vehicle a CM said that a small plane had hit the WTC. We rode and as soon as we got off we called my MIL to check on any news she may have heard since we live in NJ. We were on the phone with her when the second plane hit and we knew then that we were under attack.

We went over to Ariel's Grotto and sat and waited to hear any more news. I was scared bc my 2 daughters were home with my MIL and me and my DH were 1200 miles away and felt helpless.

There was an annoucment saying that the park was closing and they were asking all guests to leave. We were given 1 day passes on the way out, told to go back to our hotel room and we would be given more information. There were tons of busses and I don't remember waiting long to get back to the resort. I remember going back to POR and waiting in our room watching the TV. We eventually got a message saying that characters and all would be at the main building.

We called the rental car company to see if we could drive the rental car back home to NJ and were told no, bc they were expecting it back. Well the next morning we woke up and tried to start our day but all we wanted to do was get home so we took a chance and decided to drive our rental car back home even though we were told not to.

Coming up 95 we passed through DC and we saw the huge american flag on the Pentagon and the smoking building. You could smell the fire. It was still chaos.

We made it home by 3am and went straight to my inlaws to pick up my girls. I've never been so happy to be home.

I'm just curious if the rental car company gave you a hard time when you returned the car considering the circumstances?

BTW I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

This is really interesting to me. My first Disney visit was in 2003. Was there no bag check before 9/11?

 

[Figaro972]

We were also on our honeymoon, we did not get into the parks yet because we got up late, had breakfast at spoodles and went back to our room to decide "what we wanted to do that day". DH's mom called and told us to turn on the news. fortunately we had a rental the day before so when DH went over to dolphin to "extend" our rental (after standing in line for 3 hours) they said "no" he said well, i'll just keep this one, we were supposed to have it a few more days anywa. after arguing with him for a few minutes they agreed to let us keep the car, we drove home that saturday. I just remember thinking all the people who told us to go to an island or something for our honeymoon i was glad we didnt listen. It was nice to get home to see our family's.

 

[JustineMarie]

I'm just curious if the rental car company gave you a hard time when you returned the car considering the circumstances?

BTW I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes.

Nope! We returned to to cherry hill,NJ and ended up getting a refund for 2 of the days we didn't use it for. We would have paid whatever price they asked for though! We were so glad to be home.

This is really interesting to me. My first Disney visit was in 2003. Was there no bag check before 9/11?

There was no bag check at all. You just went into the parks at the turnstiles.