The Vacation Lodge Motel, near Disney’s Animal Kingdom, on the 192 caught fire around 10:45pm last night and is still burning strong right now. All three wings of the sprawling motel have burned to the ground, displacing 150 guests. Although it was an operating motel, many guests actually lived at the lodge. So far 8 injuries have been reported as serious to require a trip to the hospital and the Red Cross is assisting.
The fire was so big it could be seen from I-4 freeway and maybe be causing delays there too. The pictures on CFNews13 show how big the fire was. The long fight to put out the fire was also an issue. Many backup firefighting units were called in to relieve the first units on scene.
The 192 highway is currently closed in the area. You can take Osceola Parkway as an alternative. Traveling east on 192, turn left at Sherberth then right on Osceola Parkway. (This is also a pretty good way to get to DAK from that part of Kissimmee.)
Here at The Disney Blog we hope the injuries aren’t too serious. These motels that are really homes to hundreds of families who can’t afford even a small apartment, is one of the darker sides of the Orlando economy. There just aren’t enough high paying jobs in Central Florida. That’s not Disney’s fault, but a city needs more than just tourism to thrive.
Update: A few updates and grammar fixes. Apparently writing a story in five minutes before I leave for work does not produce the clearest writing in the world. Sorry about that.
Disney can also be reached by taking toll road 429 over to Western Way and entering next to Coronado. Less traffic that way. Oh and as of 9:30am the fire is still burning.
Tragic. I hope everyone is okay.
Not to nitpick, but the first couple of sentences are confusing. I’m not familiar or the hotel, so I can’t quite figure out the message you’re trying to convey. Are some of the units homes to people? Or are they weekly vacation rentals?
We live in Celebration a few miles away from this area and when I stepped outside this morning, all you could smell was the smoke. I hope that no one is seriously injured.
crazy! my friend lives down the street from there…
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Many cities don’t have high paying jobs or tourism. I heard a speech by a former Director of the Kennedy Space Center, and he mentioned all the layoffs at NASA. Where are these highly educated people supposed to get a new job at? It’s scary for everybody. I think we should cut our foreign aid by 50%. Americans need the money here.
Not counting military aid, foreign aid is right around 1% of the budget. That 1% prevents a lot more spending as wars are much more expensive. Witness the $2 trillion plus we’ve spent on Afghanistan and Iraq. Doubling our foreign aid might have prevented both those wars by strengthening their economies, providing more freedom for citizens who then fight for more freedom on their own. That is the most efficient political and budgetary way to ensure those countries unsafe havens for extremist forces now and in the future. Witness Egypt, our aid to Egypt meant their army took the side of the protestors and overthrew decades of dictatorial rule.
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Thanks for the updates and clarifications.
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