Extreme weather is costing Disney World

Park has lost estimated $677M since ’99 due to closures; analyst urges industry to adapt to climate change

Guests wear ponchos to stay dry at Florida’s Walt Disney World, where hurricanes have forced the park to close partially or completely 12 times since 2016, according to an analysis. That compares with three times from 1971-2000. Joe Burbank — Orlando Sentinel via AP

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By Brady MacDonald

bmacdonald@scng.com

Extreme weather has cost the Walt Disney World resort more than half a billion dollars in lost revenue over the past quarter century as the pace of devastating hurricanes continues to quicken and Florida prepares for the start of another storm season.

Walt Disney World has lost $677 million in hurricane-related closures from storms dating back to 1999, according to an estimate by International Theme Park Services CEO Dennis Speigel.

Disney estimated losses of $130 million from Hurricanes Milton and Helene in 2024. Hurricane Ian in 2022 cost Disney World $65 million. Hurricane Irma cost Disney $100 million in 2017.

The National Weather Service predicts an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season that started Sunday and runs through Nov. 30. The agency forecasts up to 19 named storms and as many as five major hurricanes.

Disney World closures due to hurricanes have become more frequent in the past decade, according to travel industry news site Skift.

“The Florida theme park has either closed partly or completely at least 12 times since 2016 due to hurricanes,” according to a Skift analysis. “Between its opening in 1971 and 2000, the park closed only three times because of hurricanes.”

The theme park industry urgently needs to adapt to a changing global climate, according to Speigel.

“As extreme weather events grow more common, the cost of insuring theme park properties has been rising,” Speigel wrote in an industry note published in January. “Higher premiums and stricter policies are becoming the norm, forcing operators to allocate more resources to insurance rather than guest experiences or park upgrades.”

Bad weather has become a key factor in theme park profit-and-loss calculations, according to Speigel.

“Walt Disney came to Florida because it had such good weather. Hurricanes weren’t much of a factor back then,” Speigel told the Orlando Business Journal. “It used to be that in the theme park sector we used weather as an excuse if something went wrong with revenue, but now, it’s not a joke.”

Severe weather-related events are not limited to Florida in the United States. Wildfires in California, tornadoes in the Midwest, heat waves across the Southwest and winter storms in the Northeast pose threats to theme parks nationwide, Speigel wrote.

The wildfires that devastated Altadena and Pacific Palisades in January forced the closure of Universal Studios Hollywood for several days. Downpours regularly close Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain during the rainy season each year.