Too hot at Disney World? Some fear climate change’s impact in Orlando

Image via AP.

A 42-year-old man closed his eyes and passed out on a Springtime 97-degree day at Disney World.

Paramedics were soon on the way. 

“Look at me. Can you open your eyes?” asked a registered nurse trying to wake up this sick stranger on his electric scooter at Magic Kingdom’s Main Street, U.S.A.

Even though it was only May — still not Summer — first responders were called out to Disney 74 times as people struggled in the heat.

After Summer hit, Disney World’s first responders handled 103 heat illness calls in June, 152 in July and 88 in August.

A 70-year-old wandered into a Magic Kingdom gift shop and said she was going to throw up. A 39-year-old with diabetes turned red and began breathing shallowly at a character dining restaurant. And a 63-year-old woman collapsed momentarily outside Epcot’s Soarin’ ride and lay on the ground unconscious.

The Summer heat affected everyone from a 1-year-old infant girl in the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland to an 86-year-old woman at Disney Springs, and all ages in between. Most people described feeling overheated or weak. A few fainted or threw up, according to an emergency call log.

To understand climate change’s effect on the Most Magical Place on Earth, Florida Politics spent months obtaining public records, including 911 calls, from the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the governing body providing emergency services for Walt Disney World.

May’s average daily high temperature was 92 degrees, with an average heat index of about 94 degrees. On the hottest days of May, where temperatures soared up to 97 degrees, the heat index made it feel like it was closer to 107 degrees outside.

“May 2024 was definitely above average as it was the highest averaged daytime maximum temperature for the Orlando International Airport on record,” according to the regional climatologist Sandra Rayne.

From 1991 and 2020, the average daily high for May was only 88 degrees in Orlando, according to historic weather data provided by the National Centers for Environmental Information at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“I hear more and more from people across the country when I talk about vacationing. A lot of them will bring up, ‘I used to vacation in Florida, but it’s too damn hot now,’” said U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, the first Generation Z member to be elected to Congress who spoke about climate change during his National Democratic Convention speech.

“And you know what? They’re right. And it’s because of the climate crisis, and it’s because of the rising heat. It’s because our hurricane season is creating more destruction.”

The heat certainly isn’t just a Disney-only problem.

As Orlando’s Spring felt like Summer, Orange County Fire Rescue responded to six heat illness calls at SeaWorld this May. A year earlier, there were two, the agency said.

It’s unknown how many heat-related incidents happened at Universal Orlando, Disney World’s biggest competitor. The Orlando City Fire Department had no records of any heat calls, but noted a private ambulance company also works with Universal, so those records aren’t public. Universal declined to provide any numbers when asked.

The heat can be dangerous for visitors walking all day who want to take advantage of every moment on their expensive vacations. Some tourists traveling to Florida aren’t used to the humidity and the heat here.

The extreme heat brings “an expense to the public infrastructure from multiple ambulance calls and having to bring people into the emergency room due to heat stress,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat, who voiced concerns about the Summer-like temperature arriving in May and extending into the Fall.

“Every month is impacted in the sense that we are seeing unusual weather patterns throughout the entire year,” Eskamani said. “It’s not normal. We should not accept it as normal.”

There is much at stake if the heat scares visitors from coming to Orlando.

Orlando’s economy is centered heavily around its theme parks. Disney World alone employs 75,000 people, making it the largest single-site employer in the country. 

The Magic Kingdom is the No. 1 theme park in the world with an estimated 18 million visitors last year.

Orange County profits from big tourism as a hotel tax generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually to pay for Visit Orlando, Camping World Stadium, the Orange County Convention Center and more.

Both Frost and Eskamani said they fear a hotter world could impact Disney World’s attendance.

“Summertime is when you see a lot of visitors come to Florida, but I worry that there’s going to be a shift,” Eskamani said. “That we’re going to see a reduction in theme park visitors because of the growing risk of extreme weather.”

Added Frost, “As it becomes unbearable to be at theme parks, less people are going to go. These parks are going to have less business, and it’s going to really impact Florida’s economy.”

Theme park attendance is already tied closely to bad weather. For instance, in Summer 2023, SeaWorld attendance fell 3% because of extreme heat and rain, with CEO Marc Swanson telling analysts, “Weather was a very significant factor in the quarter.”

A Wall Street analyst asked what the company is doing to deal with the weather on the quarterly earnings call.

Swanson mentioned adding shade and more indoor shows, as well as selling drinks that could be refilled cheaply.

Many parks built indoor air-conditioned queues for visitors to wait in line for new thrill rides, like at SeaWorld’s Penguin Trek and Disney World’s Tron coaster.

Disney is continuing to expand with more attractions at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Fans can expect more indoor queues in the future.

Just one world in Universal’s Epic Universe alone has about 1,500 trees. The Celestial Park land is designed to feel like a park to give people shade when Universal opens the new destination on May 22, 2025.

Disney also takes other measures, including giving free ice water to guests, putting up fans and shade umbrellas in the parks, and using its first aid centers for visitors in need.

“The safety of our guests and cast members is at the core of everything we do, and like many leading businesses, we are taking steps to reduce our impact on the environment while making our experiences as comfortable and enjoyable as possible,” Disney spokesperson Andrea Finger said in a statement for this story.

Both Disney and Universal also take extensive steps to protect their giant workforce in the elements.

Some Disney mechanics, for instance, start their work day as early as 4 a.m. to avoid the heat.

Disney designs employee uniforms out of cool, breathable material and warns about the heat in employee handbooks, the employee website and in leader talks and communication flyers.

Disney World union leader Matt Hollis said Disney is committed to protecting workers and has been responsive when union members have brought up heat-related issues in the past.

“They don’t look to just do the minimum,” Hollis said of Disney.

One tourism expert suggested other action for the theme park industry to protect guests.

The parks could add more cooling zones and shady areas, utilize apps and make in-park announcements to warn about heat waves. They could also adjust operating hours to be open earlier or later in the day to avoid the heat, said Rachel J.C. Fu, Chair of the University of Florida’s tourism, hospitality and event management department and Director of the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute.

Earlier this Summer, someone complained to a federal agency overseeing workplace safety about Universal workers not getting enough breaks in heat that reached 88 degrees by 10:19 a.m. at the Islands of Adventure entrance, along with other issues, according to public documents.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigators did not find any concerns when they visited Universal on Aug. 13, spoke with the company and took heat readings. Universal did not get fined for any wrongdoing, although the report noted a blower fan motor stopped working at the Universal Studios Florida Guest Service Rental Building, so temperatures inside rose to 77 degrees in late morning. Universal ordered replacement parts for the fan.

OSHA found Universal also has a heat prevention program to keep workers safe that included putting cold water in the employee break rooms, allowing them to have water bottles on the job and encouraging them to call their manager if they need a refill while working. Employees were only scheduled 30 minutes in the direct sun from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. from May 1-Oct. 31, according to the OSHA report. 

As to the hot areas in the park entrance, Universal said “they are still trying to come up with new designs such as Shade Sail Structures to cover the area where employees work for an extended period of time such as the port entrance,” per the OSHA report.

The 400-plus heat illness 911 calls in four months at Disney World and the parks’ heat prevention employee programs are happening as lawmakers deleted the words climate change from state law this year. Gov. Ron DeSantis shut down climate change talk when he spoke to reporters recently after Hurricane Milton fed off the warm gulf waters to strengthen rapidly and cause billions of dollars of damage. During Milton, Disney World theme parks shut down for a day and a half, which reportedly cost the company up to $200 million, one analyst estimated.

“Our Governor believes it’s a hoax,” said Frost, a Democrat from Orlando. “We’re fighting about the words here in the state of Florida when we need to be fighting these emissions.”