September 11, 2001 in the Magic Kingdom

[Williams5]

I read a lot of these posts, but don't post much myself - thought some of you might enjoy this.

My wife and I were in Magic Kingdom on September, 11 2001. It was technically my 2nd trip there, but my first trip hardly counts. My wife had been a few times as a kid. We didn't know anything about the need to make advanced dining reservations nor did we have kids yet (although #1 was in route), but we did walk into MK that day and make a lunch reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table because we were getting sick of hamburgers (still have that reservation card). We were walking out of the Country Bear Jamboree (I think) and a couple with a foreign accent came running up to us screaming if we had a cell phone (we did not) and rambling on something about how a plane crashed into the Pentagon in New York. My wife looks at me and says "The Pentagon's not in New York" and I agree, so we go on our way to the Lion King show that is where Phillharmagic is now.

We get out of the show and there's like a wall of park employee's directing us to the exit. And the intercom system is stating something over and over about an alert system - it had a numerical level or something. It was something like: "Attention MK guests please exit the park immediately, code level 3... " then there'd be something directed at employees.... then it'd repeat. We were amazed at the sheer volume of people, the parks were almost empty - but when they made everyone exit at once it was crowded, and no one knew what was going on so there was also a lot of chaos.

We ended up back and the Caribbean Beach resort and basically watched TV for the rest of the afternoon. It was a Tuesday and our scheduled flight was the following Saturday. So after a few tiring calls with our travel agent we decided to stick it out. They had the Pluto and few other characters at the resort later that evening. All the parks were closed that day. We spent the rest of the week in the parks and they were all very empty. I remember walking as fast I could to the logs on Splash Mountain or to the Spaceships on Space Mountain.

Then we came back the next year for a small weekend trip (air flights used to be cheap) because we had a free pass from 9/11/01 that had to be used within a year (I think).

Anyways - just wondering if anyone here was also there when it happened. I have been very obsessed with Disney ever since - I think largely due in part to being able to see just about every single ride in every park because they were so empty.

[candace flynn]

Good post, we were also there on 9/11/01 but were in AK that day. I think we had arrived on Saturday before. We had just finished the safari and were waiting for the train ride, when a CM said the park was closing due to attacks in NY and DC. After having finished saving Little Red from the poachers, I almost thought it was part of the ride! There was also a large crowd leaving. We were also staying at CBR! and also went back and watched TV.

Later that night, we ended up going to eat at the ESPN zone. We also did stick it out and left on Sunday after out flight was cancelled on Saturday. Disney was nice and didn't charge us for all our calls home and maybe even for the extra night we had to stay.

[MNNHFLTX]

We weren't in the parks on 9/11, but did have two-day jaunt there the following weekend (we lived on the east coast of Florida back then). It was very quiet in the parks, but those that were there were all warmer, friendlier (yes, even more so than usual)--strangers that almost seemed like family. We went to Epcot one evening and an artist in the France pavilion sketched a color portrait of my then 9-year-old son, complete with the flag pin attached to the collar of his shirt. That picture hangs in our living room to this day. :flag:

[BigRedDad]

My manager and family were there. I was covering for him. He called on the work phone and I had an idea he didn't know what was going on. We were glued to the TV and internet. I explained that planes had struck the World Trade Center towers and one hit the Pentagon.

He said they were being herded like cattle out of the park and had no clue why. Word quickly spread and orderly panic set in. They made it back to their resort and were glued to the TVs. He said the staff had activities planned, characters coming to the resorts for M&Gs, and all other types of party things going on to get people out of their rooms and enjoy. They did not want children scared and parents obsessing.

We honeymooned 2 months later and it was dead over Thanksgiving. Flying was a pain because the number of flights were limited. Delta worked their magic to get me on acceptable flights. They initially wanted to shorten our honeymoon by flying us out 2 days late and flying us back 2 days early. Eventually they caved and moved some people around to 1st class and got us on our original flights.

[BigBaloo]

We were in MK on the Sept 11th & I tell this story a lot. Had breakfast at O'hana & no clue what was going on in the rest of the world (as the way Disney is supposed to be!)

Around 11-11:30 we were coming out of POTC & saw them closing the entrance to the ride. Went over & asked the CM what was going on & he told us that WTC & Pentagon had been attacked & that they were closing the parks. Grabbed my wife & kids & started towards the exit. The CM's had all the stores closed & were just funnelling people out. I was amazed at how they could do this w/ no practice.

The next day they had the new security measures in place that they still use today. Also EVERY character you could imagine was out & about. By Friday there was NOONE in the parks.

The 20 hour train ride to NJ ended up taking 40 hours because a hurricane came through & knocked trees down across the tracks. We at least had a sleeper car, but there were families in coach w/ small children....

When we got home we realized that my sister's 1st boyfriend was a firefighter who perished in one of the towers.....

WE CAN NEVER FORGET!

[T-Belle]

I'm glad you started this post Williams5, as I've always wondered about the guests at WDW on that heartbreaking day. I do remember seeing, I think in People magazine a photo of the crowd in the MK headed to the exits. So sad.

[tundramom]

We were scheduled to fly on 9/14, meeting other family flying in from Arkansas. We did the whole debate, should we go or not, finally decided to go. That Friday was the first day they were resuming flights, our leg from Akron/Canton was cancelled but the hop from Pittsburgh to MCO was still on the books so we rented a car and drove to Pitt in the middle of the night to be there for new extensive screening and our early morning flight....sat there all day as flights were cancelled due to tropical storm Gabrielle. Got a hotel for the night, bought clean undies at airmall (bags were stored and would take > 4hrs. to access) and settled in for the night. Finally got to POFQ Sat afternoon, WDW staff was wonderful, offered to extend our stay for the missed night, airline allowed us to shift our flight by one day, DBIL and DSIL made it in the next day and so began our stay. I'd have to say that we felt that the CM's were subdued for the first several days of the trip (rightly so) and the parks were deserted! My DH and I both noticed by Wed or Thurs (18-19) that the mood definitely perked up. My DH remarked that they must have sent a memo around to get CM's back on track. Now, don't think I'm am criticizing, because that is certainly not the case, everyone was traumatized by the events of 9/11 and CM's are as human as the next person. We were treated very well but it was an eerie time, especially with the parks so quiet.

[EpcotChic23]

Yes, thank you for sharing this I always wondered what went on in WDW on that day. I live in central/northern NJ so I was watching everything live. I have never spoken to anyone who was there on 9/11. It is great to hear how Disney handeled this situation. Thanks again for shareing!!

[paragon]

We were at the hotel,an ALl Star, waiting for my parents to arrive from Micco. Watched as it unfolded on tv.It was our last day, then we were headed to my parents house. Our plan was to go to MK for the day while my parents went to DTD, they were goin g to drop us off at MK. the 3rd and 4th planes were still in the air at this time, and as we entered the parking area, I immediately noticed the heavy presence of state and local police, and I knew something big was up.The police directed my parents to the exit, to keep traffic moving. We were taking the ferry across this time, and were delayed at the dock for about 20 min. Then boarded and got across the 7 Seas lagoon. As were were going to dock, they announced
that there was a situation, and we were delayed again for about another 20 min. we were then told that the park had tonclose temporarily, and the ferry went back to the TTC. It was a bit chaotic, with a lot of people not knowing what happened, and some were angry, because they had to leave. Overall Disney had a good handle on the situation and we calmly sat and waited, I spoke with a CM, who directed us to where we needed to be. They had called all the busses back to the parks to transpot everyone. We had to be redirected to DTd and change busses. We got back to our resort and met my parents who were also turned back at DTD, we stayed at the resort for a few more hours, as we were already planning on heading to Micco to stay with them for a few days. We learned most of the news as it came in on the radio during the two hour drive. We spent the next few days trying to verify our flight home. We had flown from Boston on the Saturday before, and were to return the following Saturday. We were told to keep checking our flight, and were actually trying to find a rental car to drive back to MA. Finally ourflightwas confirmed, but delayed. And we were told to be at the airport 4 hours early. Once we got to MCO,we saw the huge lines, and a lot of nervous people, but they had it under control. Both Disney and Universal sent characters to the terminal to occupy the kids. It was strange seeing characters from both parks in the same room! My dad tried to get us onto an earlier flight, and was successful after a while, but no we needed to have our luggage x rayed. We then werenon our way, got to security and the TSA asked for an ID for my son, who was 8. After I told her he was 8 and had none, we had to talk to a supervisor. After about ten minutes we got through, only to miss the earlier flight by about five seconds. My wife, who was exhausted and stressed, immediately collapsed onto a seat and cried. Our bags were on their way, without us. We now had to wait another few hours for our original flight. On the plane, we were told we needed to wait forna co pilot. Delayed again.finally we are in the air and as we approach Newark, the pilot says anyone going on to Boston should go to the gate and meet the representative, ( not good ) our flight to Boston was cancelled, and we were put back on the plane we had just left. And this plane was going to Greene in Providence RI. We fi
Finally landed at Greene, and were then given a voucher for a taxi to Boston. The cabbie drove like crazy, as she wanted more fares, and was mad that she had three vouchers but would get paid for only one, as we were a family. Eel approached Logan airport and it was full of military, and almost abandoned. We Now had to find our bags, which were there, with so many others, outside the baggage office door. Thresher arts at 8 am, it was now 1:30 am. We got to my mother in laws and finally got to bed at 2:30am. Disney was good enough to offer us a full one day credit for the resort and park, since we lost our last day there, we never collected on it. WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

[FutureCorpsFan]

We were not there 9/11 but in countdown mode for our first two week vacation to Disney. We were leaving the following Saturday. Everyone was devistated by what occured and we really had a hard time decided whether to even go on our trip. Would we be safe, what's next, are there sleeper cells witing for the next target? A call to Disney confirmed we would receive a full refund, or reschedule. We had waited almost two years for this trip and confused about going, assuming we could get our flight. We live in PA so we could drive but my wife hates the car...

After a 2 am discussion the night before our departure, we decided to go the airport for our 8 am flight. If we did not go, it would be like letting the terrorists win. We did not have kids at the time, a may have felt differently if we did, but we decided to go. Our flight would be the first flight into Orlando since the attacks due to a tropical storm which had the airport closed since. After a 4 hour screening, our plane took off with no noise being heard besides the engine. Once we landed, everyone on the plane errupted in joy singing God Bless America.

Once we got to CBR, we found many people still stuck and not able to get home. Disney put them up without charge. We spoke with many people who just needed to talk about it and wondered what was next? From Saturday through Thurs of our first week hardly anyone was in the parks. We had complete rule. Fireworks displays were completely emotional. People flocked to the Pin station at the American Pavillion in Epcot to get Mickey pins with the US flag on them. Standing in the rotunda of the pavilion, listening to the "Voices of Liberty" singing patriotic songs was the most moving experience of the trip. There were no dry eyes.

By the end of the week after 9/11 many people started to arrive back at Disney. The parks got more crowed and people's fear had turned to resolve. We would find these people and make them pay. That is the American spirit, and what Disney was essentially founded on. We remember that trip as one of the sadest, but happiest we've ever had at Disney.

[awaggett]

Thanks, all, for sharing.

[Daisy'sMom]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience on that horrible day. I have often wondered what it must have been like for those at the happiest place on earth on such a terrible day.

[minnie04]

We were also there. We were at the All Star Sports. I was at the pool with my cousin. Her husband came down and said a plane crashed into the Trade Center. We just looked at each other and said probably a little private jet type plane. There was a couple sitting on the other side of the pool when he told us. One of them had a family member in the Trade Center building (can’t remember which one) they grabbed their cell phone and tried calling their family member. We kind of just stayed sitting there. And he came back a few minutes later and said another plane just hit the other tower. We jumped up and ran upstairs to see what the heck was going on. Got to the room and everyone was outside their rooms trying to call people and you could hear all the TV’s saying the same thing. None of us had ever seen anything like this so we were glued to the TV. We just kept saying how are all those people going to get out of the top part of the buildings? My husband being a firefighter started to explain what they would probably do. It was so sad to see the people waving out of the windows and eventually watching some take their own lives. The kids were all watching as well asking a ton of questions. Which we had no real answers to give at the time. The resort was so quiet only TV’s were going. It was the weirdest feeling. Once we heard about the pentagon everyone started saying terrorist. And when flight 93 crashed we were all thinking it by then. We were checking out that day, so we packed everyone up and headed home. Leaving the resort was very strange, you could hear a pin drop in the lobby people were coming back from the parks and just blank faces. We headed out (back to Miami) just listening to the radio the whole way. I will never forget that day…Everyone always tells me “when you go to Disney something big always happens” I was there when Princess Diana was killed. We were there when JFK Jr. was killed. And now 911. :(

[johnO]

Thanks for sharing

[ftwildernesskid]

We were there with lots of extended family, some staying at AKL and the rest of us staying at Shades of Green, since my husband was in the Army at the time. We were in Epcot when we started noticing rides were not open and then I think an announcement came out that the park was closing. They were vague about what was going on, I'm sure to avoid panic. Luckily, we were at the front of the park and got onto the monorail quickly. The crowd coming out behind us was massive. We found security at Shades of Green very high and lots of the people there were being called back to their units immediately.
Everything was closed for the rest of the night. We went over to AKL to be with the rest of our family. The staff there brought out board games and crafts to do with all the kids who had nothing to do. We were planning on swimming there for a while, but, a tropical depression rolled in at this time.
The next day, between the monsoon and the amount of people who had left, the parks were basically empty. We went back to Epcot.
You could literally be walking around and not see another living soul. Eerie! The kids were spoiled with not waiting in any lines for several days, but it was a very different kind of vacation. In a way it was a good diversion from the tragedy, but in another sense, you didn't really want to be diverted from it. Definitely, a vacation I won't ever forget.

[applecore72]

Thank you all for sharing.

Even though I was thousands of miles away in my home country Sweden, I (as most of my country men and women) was glued to the TV the whole day - just horrified of what was happening in the US!

These terrible events definately made the world smaller...

[DVCJohn]

I had taken my parents to WDW for their 55th Anniversary. (Their anniversary was September 11th). We went to Disney' MGM Studios that morning. We did not know anything about the attacks until a CM at the ABC Commisarry told us. They let us sit down to eat. ( early lunch about 11:00am). Before we could finish another CM came and told us that the park was closing and we had to leave immediately. We were staying at the Boardwalk Villas so we went to the boat dock to catch a ferry. We were able to get on to the second boat. On the boat Disney had armed security personell. On the way back to the Boardwalk, I looked at the security person. He seemed to be a supervisor. It was when I looked at him that the gravity of the situation set in. Typically the security folks are smiling and engaging. This day when I looked in his eyes, I saw both concern and fear. I will never forget that look. When we got back to the Boardwalk, I told my prents to get the bags packed. We were scheduled to fly back to Pittsburgh on September 12th. We had a rental car that I had picked up in Tampa the previous Friday and it was to be returned to MCO on the 12th. I called the rental car company and the rep said that I should do what I needed to do since they had not established their emergency policy. We decided to drive home. We got packed, and checked out in less then 15 minutes and got on the road. Traffic on I4 East was backed up all of the way from Downtown Orlando past the Disney on ramps. It took us 55 minutes to go to Route 528. ( A distance that normally takes about 5 to 7 minutes.) We went on to 528 East and it was empty. That night we stayed in South Carolina. We tried to celebrate my parent's anniversary the best we could. We arrived back home late day of the 12th. I dropped off the rental car the next day expecting some hefty charges. They only charged for the extra days rental. After that day I had an unexplained need to get back to WDW as soon as possible. We went back the following May. I had to have lunch the first day at the ABC Commisary. I had to come full circle. That day will live with me the rest on my life.

[Tigerinvestigator]

We, like many of you were about to leave for WDW a few days after 9/11. We also debated whether or not to go. Not only were we just not in the vacationing mood, but we also worried about being in such a high profile location days after the attacks. We also decided to GO! How could we let terrorists keep us from life liberty and our pursuit of happiness. We stayed a a week at the AKL and the parks were empty. I remember the flag raising ceremony at the MK drew the biggest crowd I have ever seen and a couple of guys with FDNY shirts on helped raise the flag. People were crying and whether scripted or not sang God Bless America. Patriotism was at a high all week. It was while we were there that President Bush made the speech about not letting terrorism win and getting back to normal. I remember watching the speech from the AKL when he said "take your kids down to Disneyworld". WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

[Aurora]

Thank you all for sharing.

Even though I was thousands of miles away in my home country Sweden, I (as most of my country men and women) was glued to the TV the whole day - just horrified of what was happening in the US!

These terrible events definately made the world smaller...

I will never forget being profoundly touched by the outpouring of grief shown to us Americans by those who lived in countries around the world that day. Thank you.

My cousin was at WDW and stayed through the week. Her story was similar to many who posted here. She flew home at the end of the week but she will always remember the emptiness of the parks.

[bertasso59]

I just want to offer thanks to all of you sharing your memories.The saddest day in recent history spent in the happiest place on earth has to be the ultimate example of 'bittersweet'.
Thanks again for sharing

[Victor Kelly]

My friends drove that day from Baltimore to Disney. They said the highways were completely deserted. The parks were deserted during their stay.

My mom and I went down that same October. It was eerie, odd, definitely not normal. Getting through security was a major obstacle at BWI and MCO. There was hardly anyone in any park we went to no matter what day it was.

[GusNJacque]

I have always wondered about this. Thank you everyone for sharing your memories. I felt like I was right there with you.

I was in the Capitol complex in Washington that day and my memories are quite vivid. My boss also represented where flight 93 crashed. They are my hero's and I believe saved not only my life but my boss and thousands of my co-workers. I was on the phone with one of our military guys right after the Pentagon was struck. I remember our conversation word for word to this day. I have a picture of the flag hanging over the Pentagon after the attack on the wall next to my desk at work given to me by that gentleman. We will forever be linked. It changed everything.

Thanks again for sharing.

[Wolf]

I think this is my favorite thread I've ever read on all my time on Intercot. I was in a art class in high school and remember it so vividly. I have often wondered what it would have been like to have heard that news in Disney..These stories brought me to tears just because of the realization that there are somethings even Disney can't shield us from, and the best thing about it is that we all preservered from it. It makes me proud to be alive during this time just so I can say we all did it, we made it through such a dark time, together.