9/11
The saddest recent reason for a Disneyland closure was the terrorist attack on 9/11. The difference in tone between the Yippie protest and this situation is total. One was serious but humorous. The other is seared into the memory of every American.
On the morning of 9/11, terrorists had flown two different planes into the Twin Towers by 6:03 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Thirty-four minutes later, a plane targeted the Pentagon. Disneyland was scheduled to open at 9 a.m. that morning. As park officials watched the events unfold on the East Coast, they had plenty of time to weigh the information at hand. The situation was quite different at Walt Disney World. The first attack happened just as the park opened, and guests were only a half hour into their park experience when the second tower fell.
The power of Disney was oddly noticeable at this moment. As news coverage interrupted local broadcasts across the country, anchors revealed all the pertinent information that morning. In the midst of reports on lost lives, destroyed property, and survival tips, an odd headline stood out. All the major networks as well as cable carriers such as CNN noted that all Disney theme parks would close for the day.
The fact that this point was recited so frequently underscores how rarely Disney closes up shop for the day. To that end, the only other time Disneyland has closed recently was the day before their 50th anniversary celebration, and they did so in order to prepare for the spectacular party thrown the next day. Also, Disney hosted VIPs the day that they were closed, so park guests attended. Disneyland simply wasn’t open to the public.
The circumstances of 9/11 were much more chaotic. They also reflect the danger of the Disney Bubble as much as anything you’ll ever read. On the morning of the terrorist attack, early risers were blissfully unaware of the situation. They entered Walt Disney World, anticipating a full day of theme park attractions. One of the worst jobs cast members ever had to perform was to inform guests of the tragic events. This was especially difficult for the vacationers from New York, who learned from a stranger that their home city was under attack.
You can imagine how jarring a sensation that must have been. One moment, you’re relishing in the sensation of an early morning walk down Main Street. Next, a cast member tells you about the tragedy and that park is closing immediately. You have to return to your hotel, all the while worrying whether your loved ones are safe. Sure, it’s a trifle compared to what the experience would have been for New York residents had they stayed home that day, but it’s a brutal reversal of fortune from your intended vacation plan. The entire purpose of a Disney trip is escapism. For those touched by 9/11, reality tracked them all the way down at Walt Disney World.
The situation became more surreal as the day evolved. Disney cast members entered a kind of lockdown mode wherein they closed all their gates and started asking for photo identification from all guests. Employees could take nothing for granted since the theme park was considered a potential target for a secondary attack. Oddly, cast members received instructions not to notify guests about the attacks, yet most anecdotes from that morning indicate that they did so anyway. Secrets like that are impossible to keep, and on-the-fly rules like that are impractical at best.
Even the park closure announcement was a bit inscrutable: “Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Magic Kingdom is now closed. Please follow the direction of the nearest Cast Member.”
For visitors unaware of the terrorist attacks, the sudden audio notification must have sounded so unlikely. The parks had opened less than an hour before, after all. What happened next was that much odder. Cast members received instructions to perform an unlikely reenactment of Hands Across America. They clasped their hands together and formed a Disney Employee Wall. Once they had enough cast members in line, they pushed toward the park hub, its center, and then toward the front gate. They were not to touch any guests, but the actions indicated that something strange was going on. Disney was pushing its guests out, and they were using employees to do it.
Once vacationers returned to their resorts, Disney did an admirable job of keeping them safe and secure. Plus, they offered complimentary park tickets for later use. During the instances where circumstances have dictated that Disney provide this exchange, the new tickets are good for several years, giving the impacted visitors plenty of time to make their return.
Cast members also work hard to entertain guests trapped at their hotels. During 9/11, Disney kept their resort pools open until midnight, and these recreational facilities were unsurprisingly quite full throughout the day. As another nice consolation prize, cast members who wear costumes head to the various resorts. It’s basically all hands on deck for the company’s characters. They spend countless hours in costume at the resorts, entertaining the troops as it were. As odd as this may sound, many guests trapped on days when Disney closed its theme parks have wonderful memories. That’s because of unforgettable cast member interactions. And those happened on days as gloomy as 9/11. That’s how phenomenal Disney cast members are.
Trying to reason with hurricane season
When the gates at Walt Disney World are closed, the most likely explanation is a hurricane. This revelation isn’t a shock to anyone who visits Florida often. That’s because hurricane season is a way of life near the coast. While Orlando resides inland a bit in Central Florida, the distance from a Disney theme park to the Atlantic Ocean is only 65 miles. Clearly, any sort of weather event off the coast will have ripple effects in Orlando at a minimum, and potentially disastrous ones in a worst case scenario.
Disney officials were well aware of this concern when they constructed Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and that explains why the space directly underneath Spaceship Earth is always dry. Clever architects anticipated possible calamities and constructed marvelous buildings capable of withstanding high winds and heavy rain.
That’s not to say that Walt Disney World is impervious to hurricane season. To the contrary, countless vulnerabilities exist across the four theme parks, the most dramatic of which are at Animal Kingdom. Years of wildlife cultivation could fall apart in the blink of an eye. Zoologists have to provide protection to the residing animals to offset such concerns. During hurricane conditions, loyal cast members spend entire days caring for their charges, refusing to leave in spite of personal peril. If you take nothing else from this piece, please understand that Disney employees are among the finest people on the entire planet.
From a financial perspective, however, Animal Kingdom isn’t the largest concern. In 2015, Magic Kingdom counted approximately 20.5 million guests through the turnstiles. That’s an average of more than 56,000 people daily. Even on a soft day where crowds are barely half that amount, Disney has to protect the safety of 30,000 guests…and that’s just at Magic Kingdom. Literally every day, the company is tasked with the safeguarding of more than 100,000 visitors. When something happens to a single guest, the situation becomes headline news. Imagine the media onslaught if tragedy suddenly befell lots of Disney guests.
Visitors aren’t the only concern. Disney staffs 62,000 cast members in the greater Orlando area, all of whom require equal protection when a potential hurricane travels inland. In combination with the travelers who don’t work for the company, Disney has to worry about roughly 175,000 people whenever the weather takes a turn. Should they fail to protect any of them, they’re financially liable in court.
For these reasons – and also because it’s the ethical thing to do – the staff at Disney theme parks pay special attention to the weather. Any time a potential storm shows signs of heading inland, cast members craft contingency plans about what to do and how best to respond to what insurance companies describe as an act of God. It’s a harrowing task and one of the most arduous responsibilities for any corporate employee in the continental United States.
Cynics are quick to note that Disney is incentivized to keep their gates open since they don’t get paid when the park closes. The facts show that this assertion is off-base. In times of imminent danger, Disney is the gold standard in protecting their charges. On multiple occasions, the company disregarded all financial concerns in favor of shutting down Walt Disney World due to the threat of hurricane. The most recent example is Hurricane Matthew, which forced Disney to close all four of their Orlando theme parks early on October 6, 2016. They also chose not to open on Friday, October 7, 2016, making this one of the rarest days in park history. Even in the case of JFK’s assassination and the 9/11 terrorist attack, the parks were open for a time before closing early.
This closure is a textbook example of how much Disney prioritizes customer and employee safety. The estimate in 2004 was that each day Walt Disney World was open, it earned $3 million. Inflation adjustments alone would bring that total up to almost $3.8 million today. Since a single day ticket cost “only” $54.75 that year as opposed to $110 in 2016, it’s fair to say that Disney lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million for its closed day. That’s the cost of doing business in a hurricane region.
Comments
I was there during 9/11. My partner and I had flown down on the 8th for a short vacation for his birthday. We had gone to Epcot that morning, rode Test Track, and was headed towards the Living Seas when we were stopped by cast members telling us to head towards the exit, the park was closed. Someone asked why, and they said the twin towers in NY had been attacked and were no more. We didn't believe it, and walked to our car in the parking lot. We sat there and flipped on the radio, and sure enough it was true. Driving out, the traffic was jammed up getting around, and we finally made it back to Port Orleans French Quarter where we were staying . We turned on the tv and of course it was all over the news, it was so emotional. I called my mom at that point, as I had not told her I was going out of town, and we both started crying, it could have been my plane, you never know. We went to the pool, and it was absolutely packed, not a space not taken. Disney was on 'extreme lockdown', so you weren't allowed into any other resorts or anywhere else on Disney property, so we camped out by the pool for awhile with everyone else in stunned unity. We were supposed to fly home on the 12th, and we quickly learned that no flights would be going out anytime soon, so we went to the front desk and they offered us a free night on Wednesday, that was so great. The next morning, it was so surreal... what do you do? Do we go to the park and try to enjoy it amidst such a huge tragedy? We decided to go, and Disney already had the security check points in place. We didn't know when we wold get home, so we ended up staying until the weekend, hoping to be able to fly home at anytime. We went to the Magic Kingdom on Friday, which was during a tropical storm, but they had a moment of silence for the victims of 9/11 at the flagpole, it was so silent and sad, I will never forget that moment. We decided to drive our rental car home, which was a Chrysler convertible, not the best vehicle for such a long trip, as we were driving back to Connecticut, but had to go to the airport in Rhode Island first, as that's where we had flown out of and left our car. We had no choice, since air travel was still grounded and we had to get home. Driving past NY, we actually could still see smoke rising from where the towers had been. That is one trip I will never ever forget.