Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando are planning to restart operations at their Florida theme parks on Friday, now that Hurricane Milton has passed.
The hurricane roared across Central Florida, where both theme parks are located, overnight after making landfall late Wednesday evening near Siesta Key.
Ahead of the storm, both Disney World and Universal Orlando had shut down their parks and other attractions starting Wednesday afternoon, as FOX Business reported at the time. The companies kept their Florida parks closed Thursday as well.
Disney provided an update midday Thursday on its operational plans, saying, "We’re grateful Walt Disney World Resort weathered the storm, and we are currently assessing the impacts to our property to prepare for reopening the theme parks, Disney Springs and possibly other areas on Friday, October 11."
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Meanwhile, nearby Universal Orlando "look[s] forward to welcoming back our guests as we return to our normal operation across all of our theme parks, CityWalk and Halloween Horror Nights inclusive of Early Park Admission for Universal Orlando Hotel guests, Premier Passholders and Preferred Passholders."
Both also said their hearts were with those hit by Milton.
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Many local governments have been assessing the damage that Milton inflicted on their communities overnight. The intense storm was accompanied by high winds, heavy rains and storm surge.
Over three million people across Florida were contending with power outages as of Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.
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FOX Weather reported that at least eight people were killed by Milton.
Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
