When was the last time a US President visited WDW?

[Senderella]

I was at WDW the day George Bush arrived (Friday, 17th of February, 2006). Even worse, I was walking around the CONTEMPORARY when I found out he was coming (I was staying at the Beach Club, and wanted to return to my hotel and sleep).

After a while, they began to give warnings that they were going to stop all transportation involving the Magic Kingdom resort area at about 4 pm (boats, buses, monorails, etc). I began to freak out because it was 2:30, and got onto the monorail as quickly as possible. My goal was to return to MK and catch a bus to Beach Club (I thought walking to MK would be a bad idea).

There was one problem with my plan. At ALL of the monorail stops, the monorail stopped for about 10-15 minutes, and I still have no idea why. It took me almost an hour to get back to the Magic Kingdom. It was 3:25 when I got off the monorail.

Anyway, I didn't see any buses for YC+BC, so I hopped onto a BoardWalk bus and walked. Police and security were stationed ALL OVER the main road that leads to the Magic Kingdom area (it's the road that runs along the Epcot monorail line). Although it was an exciting experience, it made me very nervous.

we were at MGM that day and noticed a lot of the black choppers flying all over the place.

 

[darthjohnny]

One time I was walking out of MGM in the afternoon and 3 fighter jets flew very close. The whole ground was shaking. Maybe someone important was visiting that day.

 

[CRO-Magnum]

I used to work with a former secret service agent...

After a while, they began to give warnings that they were going to stop all transportation involving the Magic Kingdom resort area at about 4 pm (boats, buses, monorails, etc).

whom I would pepper with questions on a daily basis. Many she couldn't answer directly but would walk me through the thought process to figure out the why. I asked her about this after we had a horrible accident in Flint, MI when they stopped traffic on I75 for Clinton during which a truck slammed into the stopped traffic killing other motorists. She helped me realize that the majority of assassins wait until the last minute to get into position and the president is most vulnerable during travel. Holding traffic, unannounced until it happens, freezes people in place reducing the number of potential security threats the secret service has to deal with at one time. Typically once the President has arrived at the destination, or has left some pre-determined envelope, the hold is lifted.

What really sucks is being at an airport waiting to board a plane when Air Force One arrives - the whole place shuts down. In Minneapolis my flight a couple years ago was delayed 3.5 hrs.