A dream vacation to Disney World was interrupted by the hurricane.
That left a family scrambling to figure out what to do.
And a mom made one scary decision at Disney for her family over the hurricane.
Hurricane Milton shut down Disney World in Central Florida
Hurricane Milton was the second storm in less than two weeks to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Milton was a Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico which raised fears that it could be one of the most devastating hurricanes in Florida’s history.
Walt Disney World closed its theme parks for only the 11th time in its history ahead of the hurricane making landfall.
Sandra Guadarrama-Baumunk made the trip with her family from Phoenix, Arizona to Orlando to attend Disney World.
She got there one week after Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Guadarrama-Baumunk said. “We missed it by a week.”
She made the trip with her husband Brian, daughters Sofia and Mia, and Mia’s boyfriend.
The family decided to move forward with their Disney vacation even though Hurricane Milton was barreling toward Florida.
“I thought positively that it was going to miss us,” Guadarrama-Baumunk stated. “I also felt a resort was one of the safest places to be in a hurricane because they’d been through it before and knew what to expect.”
Riding out the hurricane in style
The family was able to enjoy some of Disney’s theme parks before it was closed at 2:00 pm on the Wednesday before Hurricane Milton slammed into Siesta Key, Florida.
Guadarrama-Baumunk said they went back to the resort where they were staying to ride out the storm.
Staffers had numerous activities prepared for the guests including cooking s’mores.
The family played card games and spent time at the hotel bar.
But after a while, it became clear that they needed some time apart.
“When you’re with your family in such a confined space, you have to dig deep for patience sometimes,” Guadarrama-Baumunk explained.
Fortunately, restaurants were still serving a limited menu.
Alarms at the resort went off when Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
“The Disney staff said the fire station had already arrived, which was reassuring,” Guadarrama-Baumunk said. “After barely 10 minutes, they said it was some kind of short circuit, and we were safe to return to our rooms.”
The family had their trip extended by a day as they waited for air travel to resume.
Disney gave them a 40% discount on their rooms for an extra night which saved them $2,000.
The resort dodged any serious damage from the hurricane.
Milton was downgraded to a Category 3 storm when it made landfall and avoided the worst-case scenarios for destruction.
“The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Sandra Guadarrama-Baumunk had bad timing on their trip, but they were able to make the best of it at the most magical place on Earth.
And they will always have the memory of riding out a hurricane at Disney.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this story.
