As Spring Break Nears, Disney World May Be Forced To Close Theme Park

In just a couple of weeks, spring break crowds will officially be descending on the Sunshine State–but will the sun still be there?

Spring break is a notoriously busy period for the theme parks in Orlando, Central Florida. If last year’s crowds were anything to go by, the likes of Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort could be packed in just a month’s time.

Before that, though, there’s Valentine’s Day and the rest of February. Don’t be fooled, though, recent events–such as the nine-day consecutive sell-out of the Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Magic Kingdom Park–may indicate the crowds are already starting to build at the Disney World parks.

However, new information has surfaced suggesting that the big resorts in Orlando may be forced to shutter the gates of their parks once again. At the end of last year, and the first few weeks of 2025, Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando were forced to shutter their water parks–Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park and Universal’s Volcano Bay Water Theme Park–due to a significant arctic cold front sweeping through the Sunshine State.

The cold affected operations for weeks, and now it could happen again. As Click Orlando reports, a new wave of cold air is on track to hit Florida soon.

“A series of cold fronts look to reintroduce the chill back into the Sunshine State,” the report reads. “The first, the smaller drop in temperatures, arrives Thursday night into Friday.”

“Highs will still be above average, topping out in the upper 70s,” they added. “A bigger cold front is forecast to arrive Sunday. The rain associated with the front could threaten a portion of the Daytona 500.”

Presently, the Disney World theme park calendar still shows that Blizzard Beach is open for the foreseeable future, as does the Universal calendar. That said, as the cold nears, guests hoping to visit either (or both) towards the end of the week and into next week should double-check ahead of time.

The weather analysis confirms that behind the first system cooler air will spill back into Central Florida and “highs will struggle to climb out of the 60s Monday afternoon,” and by Tuesday the temperature will go back down into the 40s.

The weather-related closures of the parks are, of course, out of the resort’s control, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t widespread upheaval happening in the Central Florida theme park space, especially at Disney World. While Universal Orlando readies its massive Epic Universe park, Disney is reworking what it already has.

In the next few years, Disney World will debut multiple new lands, including a Cars area at Magic Kingdom, which will be found next to the new Villains-themed location, a Tropical Americas-themed destination at Animal Kingdom, and the arrival of the Monsters, Inc. characters at Hollywood Studios.

How do you feel about the potential theme park shutdown coming soon? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!