Naperville Central’s annual marketing Florida field trip was forced to return a day early on Oct. 8 due to the impending threat of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on Oct. 9.

The marketing class visits Orlando, Florida yearly to study different roller coasters, hotels and restaurants at Universal as part of a class project to develop a theme park.

“Our class that they take was scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, so they were able to do that,” Marketing teacher Kathleen Barry said. “Our Wednesday activity was Hard Rock Cafe with a tour of the facilities and a seminar. Obviously, we needed to change that.”

Milton would wind up causing over $85 billion in damages in the U.S. according to the Washington Post.

After the group of 26 students landed in Orlando, Floria on Sunday, Oct. 6, Barry and Marketing teacher Christine Bell were able to switch the tickets home scheduled for Oct. 9 to either 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. flights on Oct. 8.

“We communicated before we left on Sunday that we were aware of [the hurricane] and that we were watching it,” Barry said. “We were hoping to make sure to change flights if we [needed] to.”

Students were able to use their park passes at Universal over the first three days of the trip as originally planned.

“Our biggest thing was always saying that the kids should not know what’s going on behind the scenes and all the stuff that we had to change, just be able to enjoy what they were doing down there,” Barry said. “I think we were successful.”

Parents and Central’s administration were also kept apprised of the changing situation while Bell and Barry were rescheduling flights.

“We still got to go on all the rides and everything, and we tried to make the most of it,” said sophomore and Marketing student Lauren Moderi. “But it was just a bummer that it was cut short.”