Walt Disney World parks closing early Tuesday as Hurricane Dorian approaches

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Walt Disney World theme parks are closing early on Tuesday, Sept. 3, as Hurricane Dorian approaches Florida’s east coast.

The company announced Monday afternoon that most of its Orlando-area theme parks will close at 3 p.m. local time on Tuesday. Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom will close at 2 p.m., while ESPN Wide World of Sports and Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park will not open at all on Tuesday.

With the exception of Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, the company’s owned-and-operated hotels on park property will remain open. Disney said it will work to relocate guests with campground reservations and guests staying at certain other properties and “help them plan for anticipated weather impacts.”

Disney has not yet announced any operational adjustments beyond Tuesday. Additional details about Tuesday’s changes are available on the Walt Disney World website.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday that the Category 4 storm’s maximum sustained winds fell to 145 mph – down from 155 mph earlier in the day.

Dorian is expected to slowly move northeast, but on Monday afternoon it remained about 25 miles northeast of Freeport, Grand Bahama island. It was about 105 miles east of West Palm Beach, Florida.

The center said Dorian is expected to move “dangerously close” to the Florida east coast late Monday through Wednesday evening and then move north to coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday night and Thursday.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of this station.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.