Water parks at both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort will close temporarily on Thursday due to severe weather expected in the area from Hurricane Helene.
As of early Wednesday evening, the National Hurricane Center in Miami says that Helene is expected to become a Category 4 storm with wind speeds up to 132 mph. The projected path of the storm would take it to the Big Bend region of North Florida, but Central Florida may still see high winds and heavy rain akin to a tropical storm.
Disney announced that its Typhoon Lagoon water park will be closed Thursday due to the storm. (Blizzard Beach was already scheduled to be closed, as the two Disney water parks swap operations on a seasonal basis.)
Hurricane Helene has also led to the cancellation of the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom on Thursday. The resort’s two mini-golf courses, Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland, will also be closed, and several tours at Animal Kingdom, including Up Close with Rhinos and Savor the Savanna, will not be held on Thursday.
Universal’s Volcano Bay will be closed Thursday. Early Thursday morning, Universal also canceled that evening’s edition of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando.
Theme parks at Disney and Universal are currently scheduled to remain open. SeaWorld Orlando is also scheduled to remain open, while its Aquatica Orlando water park and Discovery Cove will be closed.
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and the nearby Adventure Island water park will be both closed on Thursday.
Legoland Florida in Winter Haven has said it is “closing monitoring the development of Hurricane Helene,” but no closures have been announced.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated after publication following Universal’s announcement that it would also cancel the Sept. 26 Halloween Horror Nights event.