ORLANDO, Fla. – Walt Disney World announced that its Florida parks will shut down after the close of business on Sunday, March 15, due to the spread of the coronavirus.
It takes a lot for the company to decide to close the parks, and this isn’t the first time they’ve decided to do it, but this will be the longest stretch of time.
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This will mark the seventh time Walt Disney World has closed.
Here are the previous six times:
September, 1999
Hurricane Floyd forces the theme parks to close
September, 2001
All Disney parks nationwide closed shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11.
The parks opened the next day with much tighter security in place.
August, 2004
Hurricane Charley forces Disney to close parks early, and they reopened the next day.
September, 2004
Hurricane Frances closes Disney’s theme parks for two days, some for three days.
October, 2016
Hurricane Matthew forces Disney to close all of its parks early on Oct. 6. They reopened on Oct. 8.
September, 2017
Hurricane Irma closes Disney to close their parks early on Sept. 9. They reopened on Sept. 12.