You guys, Florida is LITERALLY FREEZING right now and Disney World is scrambling to deal with temperatures that nobody saw coming. Typhoon Lagoon is completely shut down, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Kali River Rapids are running on super reduced hours, and Central Florida just broke temperature records that have stood since the 1950s and 1960s. We’re talking wind chills in the SINGLE DIGITS. In FLORIDA. The state people visit to ESCAPE the cold.
The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday morning that multiple cities across Central Florida shattered their all-time February low temperature records. Sanford hit 23 degrees, breaking a record from 1958. Daytona Beach also dropped to 23 degrees, beating its 1958 record. Melbourne reached 25 degrees, breaking a record from 1967. Orlando hit 24 degrees, which doesn’t sound that cold until you realize it broke a record from 1936. That’s almost 90 years ago. These are temperatures Florida just doesn’t see, especially not in February.
But here’s where it gets really wild: the wind chills. Because it wasn’t just cold, it was WINDY. Like, tropical storm force winds hitting 50+ mph along the coast. And when you combine freezing temperatures with insane winds, you get wind chills that drop into single digits. The coldest spot in Central Florida? Longwood at 7 degrees wind chill. SEVEN DEGREES. In the Sunshine State. Make it make sense.
Disney had no choice but to shut things down. You can’t have guests getting soaked on water rides when it feels like 7 to 13 degrees outside. That’s not just uncomfortable, that’s actually dangerous. So Typhoon Lagoon closed AGAIN (it’s been closing on and off all month because of cold weather), and the water rides at the main parks are running limited hours to avoid the worst of the freeze.
This is one of the most significant weather-related shutdowns Disney World has dealt with in recent memory. And the timing is brutal because this is supposed to be winter vacation season when families escape cold weather at home to come enjoy Florida sunshine. Except right now, Florida is colder than some northern states. The irony is not lost on anyone.
Temperature Records Are FALLING Everywhere
Okay so let’s break down just how historic this cold snap actually is. Sanford recorded 23 degrees Sunday morning, which broke its previous all-time February record of 25 degrees set way back in 1958. That’s 68 years this record stood before Sunday shattered it.
Daytona Beach also hit 23 degrees, beating its old record of 24 degrees also from 1958. Melbourne dropped to 25 degrees, breaking the 27-degree mark that was set in 1967. Leesburg tied its all-time February record of 23 degrees from 1967.
Orlando measured 24 degrees, which demolished the previous February 1 record of 28 degrees set in 1936. That’s a record that stood for NINETY YEARS before this weekend came along and destroyed it. Now, Orlando didn’t quite hit its all-time February record low of 19 degrees from February 7, 1895 (yes, 1895, that’s how rare extreme cold is in Orlando), but 24 degrees is still absolutely bonkers for a city that’s supposed to be warm year-round.
And these are just the raw temperature numbers. The wind chill situation made it feel SO MUCH WORSE.
Wind Chill Made It Feel Like the Arctic
The wind was absolutely RELENTLESS all weekend. We’re talking sustained gusts that made the already-freezing temperatures feel genuinely dangerous. Longwood had the coldest wind chill in all of Central Florida at just 7 degrees. SEVEN. In Florida. That’s colder than a lot of northern states were experiencing at the same time.
Sanford International Airport recorded 10-degree wind chill. Geneva hit 11 degrees, Winter Springs got 12 degrees. In Orange County, right where Disney World is located, Reedy Lake and Lake Buena Vista both measured 11-degree wind chills. Apopka and Winter Garden reached 12 degrees, while Orlando and Windermere recorded 13-degree wind chills.
The wind itself was crazy strong. Coastal areas saw gusts over 50 mph at Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, Oak Hill, and Playalinda Beach. Orlando International Airport measured a 49 mph gust at 7:45 p.m. Sunday. Sanford-Orlando International Airport hit 48 mph, and Maitland saw 41 mph gusts.
The National Weather Service had an Extreme Cold Warning in effect for ALL of Central Florida through 10 a.m. Sunday, then issued ANOTHER warning from 7 p.m. Sunday through 10 a.m. Monday because temperatures were expected to drop below freezing again. We’re talking lows of 22 to 30 degrees with wind chills making it feel like 9 to 21 degrees. That’s not Florida weather. That’s like, Minnesota weather.
Typhoon Lagoon Just Can’t Stay Open
Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon has had the WORST month. The water park keeps trying to open and then Mother Nature is like “nope” and forces it to close again because of freezing temperatures. It reopened on January 26 after a previous multi-day closure, operated for ONE DAY, then had to close again on January 27 when forecasts showed this arctic blast coming.
The park stayed closed through January 29, then reopened for a single day on Friday, January 30, running its normal 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours. But Saturday? Closed again. And it’s staying closed through Monday, February 2 while this historic freeze keeps its grip on Central Florida.
Right now, Typhoon Lagoon is scheduled to reopen Tuesday, February 3, but honestly, that could change if temperatures stay brutal longer than expected. Disney’s Blizzard Beach isn’t affected by any of this because it’s already closed for its annual refurbishment, so it’s just sitting there frozen by choice instead of by weather.
Here’s the thing though: Typhoon Lagoon is supposed to close for ITS annual refurbishment starting February 15. So the park has less than two weeks of operating time left before it shuts down anyway. The final day to visit Typhoon Lagoon before refurbishment is Saturday, February 14. During the closure, contractors are rebuilding the Humunga Kowabunga waterslide as part of routine maintenance.
Both water parks will run simultaneously from May 26 through September 8, 2026, which will be the second summer in a row Disney operates both at the same time. They brought this back in 2025 after not doing it since 2019. During that period, Disney Resort hotel guests get free water park admission on check-in day as part of the “Cool Kid Summer” deal.
Water Rides Running on Skeleton Hours
Typhoon Lagoon closing completely makes sense, but Disney also had to cut hours at two major water attractions in the main theme parks. Both Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom and Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom are running significantly reduced schedules to keep guests from getting absolutely DRENCHED when it feels like single digits outside.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is operating 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, February 1 and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, February 2. That’s way later openings and earlier closings than normal. They’re basically avoiding the coldest morning hours when wind chills are at their worst and closing before evening temperatures tank again.
Kali River Rapids has it even worse with just SIX HOURS of operation each day. The ride runs 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on both Sunday and Monday. That’s opening way later than usual and closing way earlier than the park’s normal hours.
And honestly? This makes total sense. Both these rides get you SOAKED. Like, dripping wet from head to toe. Now imagine stepping off Tiana’s Bayou Adventure completely drenched when it’s 24 degrees outside with wind chills in the teens. You’d be frozen solid before you even got to the exit. That’s legitimately dangerous, not just uncomfortable.
Disney doesn’t do reduced hours like this unless conditions are genuinely unsafe. The fact that they’re willing to lose operating hours on popular attractions shows how serious this weather situation actually is.
Florida is Having a Whole Winter Moment
This freeze created scenes across Central Florida that people are going to be talking about for YEARS. There were actual snow flurries reported in Oviedo, Mount Dora, New Smyrna Beach, and Ormond Beach. SNOW. In FLORIDA. It didn’t stick or accumulate or anything, but the fact that frozen precipitation was falling from the sky in Central Florida is absolutely wild.
The University of Central Florida became an accidental tourist attraction Sunday morning when students discovered the campus’s iconic reflecting pond had frozen SOLID overnight. People were out there taking photos and videos, joking that UCF now stands for “U Can Freeze” instead of University of Central Florida. The whole scene looked like something out of a northern college campus, not a Florida school.
Irrigation systems that people forgot to turn off overnight created ice sculptures everywhere. One parked van at UCF got completely coated in ice from sprinklers. Landscapes, buildings, everything got covered in thick ice. It looked like a winter wonderland, which is the absolute LAST thing you expect to see in Florida.
Farmers were working through the night trying to protect their crops. Workers at Southern Hill Farms in Clermont spent Saturday night irrigating fields of strawberries, blueberries, and peaches. The water creates a protective ice shield around the fruit that actually prevents freeze damage, which is a technique they only need to use during the rare times Florida gets cold enough to destroy crops.
This is Weather Florida Just Doesn’t Get
Look, Florida gets cold snaps occasionally. But this? This is different. These are record-breaking temperatures that haven’t been seen in decades, in some cases almost a century. Wind chills in single digits. Snow flurries. Frozen ponds. Ice-covered everything. This is the kind of weather that makes tourists who came to escape winter back home absolutely furious because Florida is supposed to be the WARM place.
And for Disney World specifically, this creates a logistical nightmare. You’ve got guests who booked vacations months ago expecting to enjoy water parks and water rides, and instead they’re dealing with arctic conditions that have shut down Typhoon Lagoon and limited hours at other water attractions. Some families probably packed swimsuits and shorts and now they’re frantically trying to find winter coats in Florida.
The good news is this won’t last forever. Forecasts show temperatures starting to climb back toward normal Florida levels over the next few days. By mid-week, we should be back in the 60s and 70s where Florida belongs. But for this weekend? Central Florida is living its best (worst?) arctic life.
Were you at Disney World during this insane freeze? Did you try to ride any water attractions? Are you a local dealing with frozen pipes and iced-over everything? Drop your cold-weather Florida stories in the comments because honestly, this is the kind of weather event people will be talking about for years. And if you’re planning a Disney trip soon, maybe check the forecast before you pack only shorts and tank tops!
