DALLAS — When thousands of families started making plans to be in Disney World this week, they likely weren't making room in their suitcases for Hurricane Ian.
"I have several families who are there now," Susan Heidenrich said. "We planned these trips months and months and months ago."
Heidenrich is a Texas-based travel planner, Travel with the Magic, who specializes in Disney vacations. She said about 50% of her clients who were scheduled to travel to Orlando for vacation this week rescheduled, while the other half took their chances.
"You do know going into it that this is hurricane season. You’re going to Florida. There’s that chance. That’s why I always recommend trip insurance," Heidenrich said.
Disney announced Wednesday its theme parks and water parks would be closed through Thursday, with the storm expected to impact Orlando overnight.
In the meantime, Heidenrich has been receiving texts, videos and calls from her clients of the various events Disney is hosting at the different resorts to keep children entertained and occupied.
"It's the cutest thing to see," Heidenrich said. "Goofy came to one of the resorts to play hopscotch with the kids."
Heidenrich said many of her clients were expected to return to home this week but have had to extend through the weekend because of the airport closures.
"We’re hoping my clients get to go home Friday or Saturday. We’ll see how things go," Heidenrich said.