Visitors walk through the Disney Springs shopping center in Orlando ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall in Florida on Oct. 9, 2024.
GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
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GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
Major airports and businesses across Florida said they were reopening on Friday, two days after Hurricane Milton touched down on the state as a Category 3 storm.
Millions of homes and businesses remained without power early Friday. However, major Florida theme parks, including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld, said their parks would be open on Friday after assessing the damage from the hurricane.
“We’re grateful Walt Disney World Resort weathered the storm,” the company said on its website, announcing it would reopen Friday with regular operating hours.
The statement added: “Our hearts are with our fellow Floridians who were impacted by this storm.”
Orlando International Airport, Florida’s busiest, and Tampa airport said they would reopen on Friday, a further sign that the state was looking to get back in business.
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida — about 70 miles south of Tampa – late Wednesday.
While damage was widespread across the state, residents expressed relief that the storm’s impact wasn’t as significant as initially predicted.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state had avoided the “worst-case scenario.”
“You face two hurricanes in a couple of weeks — not easy to go through — but I’ve seen a lot of resilience throughout this state,” the governor said during a briefing in Sarasota, adding he was “very confident that this area is going to bounce back very, very quickly.”
Hurricane Milton comes just two weeks after the southeastern U.S. was devastated by Hurricane Helene, a storm which killed more than 200 people.