This is terrible! (Thread orginally posted 9/11/2001)

Uponastar

Well-Known Member
I knew I would come back here this morning to reread this thread yet again.
God's peace to those we lost, those they left behind, and to Tramp, whose informative posts and constant reassurances are such a big part of this thread.
And for all of us...hope for a better world.
 

imagineer boy

Well-Known Member
So hard to believe its been ten years. I remember first hearing about it on the radio when I was heading to school with my mom. And then they turned on the tv in the class room and the destruction was unbelievable, I remember it reminded me of the movie Independance Day. After they made a special announcement with a moment of silence, we pretty much spent the rest of the school day watching the live tv.
 

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
I traveled up to NJ (where I grew up) for Labor Day weekend in 2000. On September 4, 2000, I was in Liberty State Park across from a fog covered lower Manhattan. It was so strange to see the towers fully blanketed in dense fog...as if they didn't exist... basically an empty sky. I never dreamed that exactly one year and 7 days later, that empty sky would become a reality.

On September 25, 2001, I flew from Houston, TX to Newark, NJ on American Airlines to be with family and attend several memorials. We were all a bit scared, but even in those early days- we clustered together assessing how we could defend ourselves if attacked. There weren't many restrictions at that time, but I had some spiky heels, a hair dryer with a long cord, and the woman next to me had assorted knitting needles.

I had a layover in Dallas where I also paid my respects at a memorial for the American Airlines employees lost. A good friend of mine is a former AA flight attendant and one of her friends was working onboard flight 11 that morning- so it hit me really hard seeing their tribute in person, but getting off that plane in Newark was a tear jerker.

I flew into Newark's terminal A- pretty much right across from the gate where United flight 93 took off for the last time. It was impossible to not look over there and up the terminal walkway and think that just 2 weeks and a few hours earlier all of those innocent people and the hijackers were in the same space I was walking...and then I turned around and saw a wall of people just standing there. I approached and realized- they were all standing there...looking at the empty skyline...most wiping tears from their eyes. I spent around 2 weeks up there- spending time with my grandparents - attending memorials and hearing stories of escape - being told they were happy to see another friendly face alive - and shedding many tears for those we lost. I was invited to go down to Ground Zero and help feed the firefighters and rescue crews, but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't walk around midtown without breaking down! Everywhere you turned, the fallen were being memorialized and you couldn't help but cry. I attended a Giants game during this trip and even there- flowers and wreaths were resting in seats of season ticket holders who died in the attacks.

In August of 2002, I returned to NYC with DH and finally made my way downtown. I stayed as long as I could, but just couldn't stop sobbing.

Now 10 years later, I still cry at the thought of the people who were lost and the images of the attacks themselves. I thank G-d that my cousin chose not to go into work that morning (supposed to start a job that day in Tower 1), I thank G-d that 2 close family friends who also worked in the towers were out of town on business that day, I thank G-d for the handful of people I know who were able to navigate their way out of the towers in time, I thank G-d that one of my high school classmates originally among the missing turned up alive, I thank G-d that my friend whose husband flew out of Dulles within minutes of flight 77 was on a safe plane, I pray for everyone (not just the people I knew) who were lost that day and lost loved ones, and I pray we never have anything so horrific happen in the future.

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!
 

acishere

Well-Known Member
I'm a new member so this is my first time reading this thread. I give great kudos to the site runners here for preserving such a great look into everyone's reactions at the moment that basically all hell broke loose. I was in school at the time and they did not tell us anything whatsoever, so I was honestly clueless for the better part of the day. It wasn't till I got on the school bus at 2pm and the bus driver asked everyone to make sure they tell their family when they get home that you love them, did I start to suspect something. Next thing I know as I'm walking off the bus my mom squeals to a stop in front of me in tears and tells me to get in the car. At that point it had all happened and towers had collapsed. To read through this helps me actually get a sense of what it was like to actually see it all unfold, not hours later. Thank you admins and site runners once again and thank you to all who posted on here that day.

I live in NJ and had several family members who worked in and around the WTC, and thanks to just some usually meaningless coincidences they are all alive. I had a cousin who missed the PATH train by a second, so instead of being in the tower when the plane hit, he was still in the tunnel only to be turned around when they arrived under the site. My aunts husband was running late to his job at Wall Street, if he was on time he would of been a block away. And my mom's cousin who worked in WTC 7 and who was in her building when it happened and who had to run for her life and is still here today. They were lucky. I was lucky for not losing anyone. Many were not so lucky. For everyone who has lost someone in 9/11 and the aftermath, you my true deepest sympathies.
 

mightyduck

Well-Known Member
Thank you to those who have stopped by this thread to remember today.

To give a little perspective if you're reading the thread for the first time, I was in New Jersey watching the Today Show and then we lost the feed when the tower collapsed. My comments in the post came, for the most part, from the local New York City news, which it was brought to my attention today differed from the way the rest of the country was watching the coverage. It was including very specific instructions to those in the area of where to go, what was closed, what was needed immediately... Reporters were struggling to keep up with what was happening, and I remember watching Giuliani live on the streets of Manhattan walking as he tried to get people to hurry without creating a bigger panic.

What is missing here is the heartbreak of watching over the next few days as people showed up and posted pictures of missing family members with phone numbers begging to hear. We thought there would be more survivors in the rubble. It was not to be.
 

MsSnuzi

Well-Known Member
Never forget . . . .

Thank you to my WDWMagic family for the support and love through good times and bad. That is what a true family does and I'm so grateful to have you in my life.

Life gets in the way of connecting with people we care about but it is a comfort to know I can always come here and know I am welcome.

God bless you all

God bless America
 

smilesby5

New Member
in my heart

Our family was spending our last day in Disney Orlando on 9/11/2001. We had checked out of Key West and were spending our morning at the park before we flew out that day. We had no idea why the park was being closed, we just knew we were being quietly directed to the gate....then we heard rumors in the crowd of maybe a bomb in the park. Brief thoughts flashed through my mind..where is it? what if it goes off right here? What can I do for my girls? There was panic within me, but the calm approach to emptying the park was amazing. I will always be so impressed by that and so grateful with how the park responded. I just wanted to share how I would never imagine a crowd of that size to be evacuated so well. And how the Disney approach to all was more than we could ever have expected.
Key West opened its doors to us once again..back to the very suite we had just left. We finally learned more about what was happening as we turned on the TV and went numb. We were in the happiest place on earth on one of the saddest days.
We were lucky we still had our rental, and ended up driving that home to New England. We could have stayed at Disney longer, but all we wanted was to be home. We took a route that would bring us far away from NYC and DC, going inland and then making our way to relatives. By the time we made our way east, it had been days but we could still see the smoke rising in NY from the distant road we traveled. Once back in school, we joined our little ones as the entire school sang "You'll be in my heart". That song always makes me cry, but that is when the tears really flowed.
 

Alexx

Member
I'm a day late but I just stumbled across this thread. I was 8 years old when this hit. I had just come in from school with my friend. We put the TV on and it was just on every channel. We were 8 and we didn't understand what was going on. 18 now and my thoughts are with everyone in America who suffered on that day. I just hope nothing like this will ever happen again.
 

prberk

Well-Known Member
Thank you to those who have stopped by this thread to remember today.

To give a little perspective if you're reading the thread for the first time, I was in New Jersey watching the Today Show and then we lost the feed when the tower collapsed. My comments in the post came, for the most part, from the local New York City news, which it was brought to my attention today differed from the way the rest of the country was watching the coverage. It was including very specific instructions to those in the area of where to go, what was closed, what was needed immediately... Reporters were struggling to keep up with what was happening, and I remember watching Giuliani live on the streets of Manhattan walking as he tried to get people to hurry without creating a bigger panic.

What is missing here is the heartbreak of watching over the next few days as people showed up and posted pictures of missing family members with phone numbers begging to hear. We thought there would be more survivors in the rubble. It was not to be.

You are right. I remember the stories and pictures at the time of those looking for loved ones.

I was also watching the Today Show at the time, and later ABC News, and I remember that they told us that (1) New Yorkers could not necessarily see what we saw (due to their antennae being on the towers, and (2) some anchors could not see what we were watching. This was especially true on ABC when the first tower fell, and Peter Jennings (the anchor) had to be told what we had just seen. I was taping it at the time, and have converted it to a DVD clip (among others). Maybe I will find time one day to put it on YouTube, so that people can see the "live" coverage with what the anchors knew at the time.

Like this thread, it is clearly valuable to see what people were saying, and feeling, in the moments as they occurred.

Thank you again, Steve, for maintaining this thread as live each year.

Paul
 

mightyduck

Well-Known Member
I have school in the morning. I'll be in front of a room full of teens who were in kindergarten on September 11. And as always, my thoughts are here at Magic with my friends.

I won't watch any of the memorial services. For me, the memories are here on this thread, archived by our friend Steve (thanks, Steve). After over ten years of consideration, I've decided that the best way I can remember the day is by reaching out to others and battling hate.

I will never forget that day. More important, however, is that I will never forget my family here who held my hand in the most terrifying experience of my life.

And to the Big Dog, I know you're with me, too.
 

figmentmom

Well-Known Member
I, too, will be in a classroom, but full of 3-and-4-year-olds who were born long after 9/11. On that day, I was teaching a fifth grade music class when our principal knocked on my classroom door, took me aside, and told me the terrible news. I'll never forget it. Nor will I ever forget the phone call I got several days later, when I found out a good friend, Ken Cubas, had died in the collapse of the first tower.

RIP, Ken, forever loved and forever missed. And Tramp, I know you're listening, too.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom