While there’s tremendous attention being paid to the Great American Eclipse happening on August 21, 2017, people are already planning out for the next event which will darken the skies over Florida’s theme parks. The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2045 will be even bigger than this year’s, with a wider zone of totality stretching across from California to Florida. On August 12, 2045, the moon will once again block sunlight from reaching the earth over vast parts of America, bringing darker skies to many. But in central Florida, totality will occur, plunging the theme parks there in total darkness for nearly 3 times longer than this year’s solar eclipse.
While it isn’t yet possible to book hotel and flights that far into the future, people are already making plans to be at Universal Studio’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter or Walt Disney’s Star Wars attractions for the big event. But with more than 25 years to go, the theme park landscape may look very different then than it does today.
The theme parks haven’t replied to our queries asking for 2045 plans, but they are busy preparing for the 2017 eclipse. Disney has announced these changes due to guest safety concerns with the total eclipse:
- The Marina at the Grand Floridian Resort will be closed all day on Monday and reopen on Tuesday.
- Tom Sawyer Island at the Magic Kingdom will close at 2 pm and will stay closed for the entire day on Monday.
- Animal Trails at Animal Kingdom will close briefly prior to it getting dark and will reopen once the darkness period is over.
- Blizzard Beach will close as needed at the onset of darkness. Entertainment will be available at the beach area of the park and additional lighting will be added. Also, buses will be running directly to Typhoon Lagoon from 1:30 to 2:45 pm.
- Typhoon Lagoon already has nighttime lighting installed and will be utilizing during the darkness period. There should be no impact to guests of the park.
- Sammy Duvall’s Watersports Centre will be closed from 12 to 5 pm on Monday since Disney is shutting down all lake activities.
- Ferry Transportation sounds like it will be also stopped between 12 and 5 pm per Sammy Duvall’s announcement. No official word on this has been announced by Disney as of now.
