9/11 at Disney World

Every year I see this question pop up on the Disney message boards, "what was Disney like on 9/11?"

I was there.

When you think of Disney World, you think of fun and happiness. Except one day...9/11/01...

I was a homeschooled 10th grader on a field trip with my parents to EPCOT. In the days before technology you were cutoff from the real world when you entered those gates. We got to the park early, it was an EMH morning, before anything had happened. I remember hearing whispers from people in line at The Seas as the morning went on, something about a plane crash in NYC. It wasn't until noon that we were getting ready to board Living with the Land, that we were stopped just as we were about to step on the boat. We were told that the park was closing immediately and that we needed to proceed to the exit. Disney World, being evacuated, it was unheard of. We were confused. We had a fastpass for this ride, what do you mean the park is closed? We did as we were told and headed towards the exit. 

Disney does everything well, including mass evacuations from all four of its parks. It was a controlled chaos. A wall of people heading for the exit, walking quickly, hearing whispers of bomb threats. There was a panicked feeling in the air, but no actual panic. Disney World is such a high profile place, we had so many thoughts running through our heads. 

We were staying at All Star Music on that trip. It wasn't until we got back to our resort and turned on the TV that we really understood the magnitude of what had happened. And like every American those images were ingrained in our heads. I have heard that the resorts had characters come out for the guests, but we didn't leave our room that day. 

When we checked out the next day we were given a 2 day ticket to come back at another time. And since we are Florida residents we were able to come back a few months later, but the whole atmosphere had changed since that day. 

I’m grateful that I was shielded from the terror happening in the world, for just a few hours longer than everyone else. I got to live in a world where nothing bad happens for just a little while longer.