Earthquakes and Disneyland?

[LoveThatMouse!]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080414/ap_on_sc/california_quakes

I just saw this article on Yahoo's homepage, and it raised my curiosity about how many times Disneyland has survived a major earthquake and what special precautions does Disney have to take to insure the safety of its guests.

Anyone know or have any experiences to share?

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080414/ap_on_sc/california_quakes

I just saw this article on Yahoo's homepage, and it raised my curiosity about how many times Disneyland has survived a major earthquake and what special precautions does Disney have to take to insure the safety of its guests.

Anyone know or have any experiences to share?

Never actually been at DL during an earthquake! The Northridge quake and the Whittier quake of 87 both were early in the morning,which helped. Neither of those are all that "close" to DL. Earthquake damage varies on so many factors- the type of ground you are on, liquefaction, as well as building age. Rest assured that California has very strict building codes. Most of the buildings damaged in the previously mentioned earthquakes were pre-1971. DL doesn't have large multi story buildings (okay except TOT!!) that could fall over. The larger earthquake faults are not close to DL as far as I know. However, the Northridge quake was on a previously unknown fault, so

In the 30 years I have been living in Southern California, I have heard "guarantees" that the Big One is coming within 30 years. Really. Maybe it's coming, and maybe it's not. Science in this area is a long way from predicting accurately. We don't know. No reason to worry, though. You can't do anything about it.

At least if you were stuck at DL for awhile, you know they have food there!!

 

[Albort]

Disneyland has evacation zones with cast members fully informed. The main zones are usually the parking lots.

IE
Westside evact to Ponochio parking lot.
Eastside evact to shuttle area.
Northside evact to a empty part of backstage/Ponochio lot.
DCA East evact to Timon Lot.
DCA West evact to Simba lot.

Also, as a emergency safety lanes, The Majority of wide spaced area are safe haven zones, ie the parade route for both parks and along the rivers of america.

 

[LoveThatMouse!]

Thanks for the Heads Up....
I wasn't really concerned for my safety...more concerned about our beloved Disneyland being harmed. What are the Matterhorn and Castle constructed of?...Would they withstand a big one?

I love that place so much to have just been one time...
LOVE at FIRST SIGHT!

 

[scooter15]

What are the Matterhorn and Castle constructed of?...Would they withstand a big one?

Well if we knew they would withstand the "Big One", I think that everything in California would be constructed specifically of the same material. You just never know what will survive or not. There are so many variables, factors, etc. to consider. During the earthquake in the Bay Area (think it was '89), streets in Santa Cruz split apart. If DL were located on an unknown fault and it had activity the buildings may be strong enough to withstand shaking however if the ground split in half or was uplifted, there's no way it would be ok. DL is also located near the Newport-Inglewood Fault which I have heard could be potentially more devastating than the San Andreas. I actually live very close to the Foothill Fault which is just a hop, skip and a jump over the mtn to the San Andreas Fault. I live only 25 minutes drive b 57 fwy to Disneyland.

So you just never know.

 

[stopher1]

The castle, and many of the other original structures (i.e. Main Street, Frontierland, etc) are stick construction, or wood frame buildings. The Matterhorn has a steel superstructure, then covered with cement, lathe and plaster. Same with BTMRR and Splash - Space Mtn is steel, then covered with metal, etc.

There have been numerous earthquakes throughout Southern Cal since DL opened, but no serious damage has been done, since most have not been all that close by...but of course aftershocks can be felt many miles away from the epicenter of any earthquake. Since nobody can truly predict where or when a quake might happen, DL, like the rest of California just goes through each day preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. If a major quake were to level parts of DL, no doubt the company would rebuild, or take that as an opportunity to "re-imagine" something for what might be damaged.

 

[audrabolster]

wow, how scary would it be to be at DL during an earthquake- what if you were on a ride???

It's good to know that the CM's are well-informed!

 

[honeymom]

I lived in Brentwood for the Northridge quake. Even though centered in Northridge, it radiated out on the Santa Monica fault and was pretty much under my feet!

I vaguely remember there being minor damage to the DLH. But, I also remember some retrofitting being done to it afterwards. That and the Paradise Pier Hotel are the buildings I would be most worried about. GCH is ingenious. After staying there, I am convinced that the arts & crafts design was a clever way to be able to conceal all of the structural stuff built in for earthquake safety. A lot of "wood" beams are actually steel reinforcements if you look at them. Plus, each door had a steel reinforcement around it (I believe they are painted green to blend in with the design).

Tower of Terror was built pretty recently. I suspect it is pretty safe. I used to work in a tall tower outside Universal Studios (10 Universal City Plaza). It was pretty safe, but it really swayed during a quake (felt like being on a ship - I would get seasick) as well as from the wind.

As a previous poster noted, it is really the Newport Inglewood Fault or an unknown fault that is dangerous to the Anaheim area. I think that while a quake on the San Andreas may be the huge "big" one, it will be far enough away from Disneyland. The further out, the more gently the land rocks (it will still rock a lot, but unless there is liquefication which I don't think is a problem in Anaheim it should handle it ok.)

I wouldn't be too blase about the big one. It is well known that it is overdue and there is plenty of history pointing to it happening some day. But, it won't stop me from going to Disneyland. I try not to think about it while I'm there and just have fun. It does remind me of something funny that happened while I worked at Universal City Plaza. We had an earthquake (I think a 5.5). Not a huge one, but certainly big enough to be felt and take precautions. Right afterwards, I left work and I saw all of these disappointed looking people leaving Universal Studios. I later found out that because of the real earthquake, they had to shut down "Earthquake, the Ride!"

 

[Albort]

wow, how scary would it be to be at DL during an earthquake- what if you were on a ride???

It's good to know that the CM's are well-informed!

probably wouldnt know until you wonder why the lights are off completely and your train is still going...

 

[stopher1]

I was in high school during the Whittier quake - on campus in L.A. that morning, ready to go on a field trip...sitting in the school van, watching the hills around the school start to roll... just like waves coming crashing to shore at the beach. It was awesome. Sad for all of the damage and destruction in Whittier, yes, but we were miles away and nothing happened around us, except the ground rolling underneath. At home (closer to Whittier), our back yard fence and garage came crashing down - that was no fun.

Several years later during the Northridge quake (earlier in the morning), my roommate came into my room yelling at me to wake up and get out of bed as the house shook around us - but I slept right through that one!

Growing up in Southern Cal, earthquakes were just a part of life. Some bad, some not so bad - some terrible. You learn to deal, just like the folks in FL learn to prepare for hurricanes, and here in the midwest you have to be ready to move and take action when a twister is spotted and headed your way. My earthquake stories always scare the pants off my friends here - just like their tornado stories scare the pants off of my DW and I !!!

 

[ashbyyokosuka]

ugh
this whole thing freaks me out.

i went through the flood of '93 where DM IA was w/out water for a wk (flooding all up and down the MS as well)

went through Katrina in MS (lived across the river from Biloxi which was demolished)

and went through the recent fires in SD (didn't have to evacuate, but i could see the fires from my window)

i seem to be a magnet for natural disasters.

my luck (though, actually, i have pretty good luck--EVENTUALLY it has to run out though, doesn't it???)

the "big one" will hit while living in SD.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Disneyland has evacation zones with cast members fully informed. The main zones are usually the parking lots.

IE
Westside evact to Ponochio parking lot.
Eastside evact to shuttle area.
Northside evact to a empty part of backstage/Ponochio lot.
DCA East evact to Timon Lot.
DCA West evact to Simba lot.

Also, as a emergency safety lanes, The Majority of wide spaced area are safe haven zones, ie the parade route for both parks and along the rivers of america.

Albort, does DL ever have earthquake drills? Like a big mock one, where the fire dept responds and people are assigned roles such as injured, dead, etc? Others are assigned triage, crowd control, food and water, etc?

I ask because our school district does one like that every few years. It's planned in advance, and kids and teachers are assigned roles. I am one of 2 teachers who are search and rescue duty- our job to go room to room, clearing them and marking them with an X so the firefighters who arrive later can see if there are any injured or dead inside. During a previous drill DD got to play an "injured" child who was trapped in her classroom. She and her fellow classmate giggled and giggled until I came to "rescue" them.

I assume that DL has such a major disaster protocol for a variety of potential problems. I just wondered if they ever did a drill like this. With the high turnover of CMs at any given time I would imagine it would be hard to pull off, and would obviously have to be done outside of park hours.

 

[arliepooh68]

school district and government buildings have to do those. . . I work in a hospital, we have small drills, but hey growing up in california, you tend to go into auto pilot when the ground starts shaking. I was on the phone with a pt one time when i had put him on hold, went back to him and he was calming his daughter down, well a few minutes later we started feeling it. . so of course when he came in his first comment was "nice shaking with you". . .
I was in a nonweightbearing cast when the whittier one hit. . . our joke used to be when the big one hits we are all jumping in my mom's old house, which was an early1900 box car train. . . well I was IN this part of the house when that struck and seeing that sucker wave up and down the length was FREAKY! needless to say i was weightbearing at that moment. . my mom was in her car and felt nothing, got into work and everyone was coming out from under their desks! the one place I would not want to be when a big one hits is the 10/215 interchange. . . most of the bigger rides in dl were built after the codes became more strict. having been through a tornado and a hurricane I'll take my quakes any day of the week!

 

[LoveThatMouse!]

Thanks everyone for the interesting discussion!
Funny that we experienced our own 5.6 Earthquake on this side of the country this morning. Glad that it was far, far away from Disneyland!!!

 

[Monkey Monkey]

ugh
this whole thing freaks me out.

i went through the flood of '93 where DM IA was w/out water for a wk (flooding all up and down the MS as well)

went through Katrina in MS (lived across the river from Biloxi which was demolished)

and went through the recent fires in SD (didn't have to evacuate, but i could see the fires from my window)

i seem to be a magnet for natural disasters.

my luck (though, actually, i have pretty good luck--EVENTUALLY it has to run out though, doesn't it???)

the "big one" will hit while living in SD.

Um, any plans to move away from America's Finest City?