[Question] How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

[Streamliner]

With Anaheim figuring prominently in the news lately due to the near-riots within five miles of Disneyland, it made me wonder what plans the Resort has in place to deal with this kind of thing? I know the 1992 riots were pretty widespread in the L.A. area, but I don't think it affected Disneyland. Anybody remember? With the Resort being so entwined in an urban area, it should be prepared for any civil disorder in the same way it is for natural disasters.

In case you're not following the news, here's a link to the story from the LA Times:
Anaheim on edge after police shootings, violent protests - latimes.com

I also read an article in the OC Weekly where the author was commenting (complaining?) that Disneyland was shooting off fireworks seemingly oblivious to the window-smashing and molotov cocktail throwing mob just miles away.

Just thoughts to consider, I hope that the current issues between neighborhoods and the City of Anaheim get resolved quickly.

EDIT: This thread isn't intended as a place to post rumors or debate about current events.

[jsmith11618]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

They probably have a plan in place that relates to a riot situation, but its a large scale riot with a large number of people and they decide to converge onto Disneyland, it would be difficult to control the situation, Disneyland isn't exactly ft. knox and thousands of people involved in a riot would be difficult to stop.

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

I know the 1992 riots were pretty widespread in the L.A. area, but I don't think it affected Disneyland. Anybody remember?

The thing I remember about the 1992 riots is the insane amount of fear-based rumors that spread on the early internet about what "They" (the rioters) were "planning to do next." I remember the same rumor mongering happened with my parents' generation during the Watts riots, except the transmission medium was the telephone.

You can be assured that the same kind of fear-based rumors, hearsay and exaggerations will spread in the social media about the Anaheim disturbances -- but orders of magnitude faster and more unchecked by reality than in 1992.

[Daboltz]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

The thing I remember about the 1992 riots is the insane amount of fear-based rumors that spread on the early internet about what "They" (the rioters) were "planning to do next." I remember the same rumor mongering happened with my parents' generation during the Watts riots, except the transmission medium was the telephone.

You can be assured that the same kind of fear-based rumors, hearsay and exaggerations will spread in the social media about the Anaheim disturbances -- but orders of magnitude faster and more unchecked by reality than in 1992.

Internet wasn't as sophisticated as today and these radical movements are usually formed, controlled and communicated via Internet.

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

Internet wasn't as sophisticated as today and these radical movements are usually formed, controlled and communicated via Internet.

Calling the Anaheim civil protests "these radical movements" is exactly the sort of fear-based rumor mongering that I was referring to. The protests in Anaheim are occurring spontaneously and are community-and neighborhood based, not "formed, controlled and communicated via Internet" like some international terrorist organization.

[Bob Weaver]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

There was a protest inside Disneyland once.

The Yippie Invasion of Disneyland!

Daveland Disneyland Yippie Photos

Top LA Legends #18: Vietnam War Protesters Took Over Disneyland | Blogging.la

[DisneyIPresume]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

The LA riots effected OC very much, if not in only in the spread of rumors. During the LA riots I was working at Robinson's in Fasion Island in Newport Beach (any old timers here remember that store?). The store closed 3 hours early that day because there was a rumor that the rioting was spreading to Orange County. So if the rioting effected (at least indirectly) Newport Beach I don't see why it wouldn't have effected Anaheim, which is closer to LA.

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

My dad works at Union Station in Los Angeles and had to go there everyday during the LA Riots. You can imagine the affect it had on my mom. :/

I can only imagine how TERRIFYING it'd be to be in Disneyland during a riot or some other form of protest. I know that Disney and their security do their best to make sure all of their guests are having a great and safe time but I can only imagine the terror and stress that would come with a riot inside perhaps one of the most famous theme parks on earth and its recently renovated sister.

[Daboltz]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

My dad works at Union Station in Los Angeles and had to go there everyday during the LA Riots. You can imagine the affect it had on my mom. :/

I can only imagine how TERRIFYING it'd be to be in Disneyland during a riot or some other form of protest. I know that Disney and their security do their best to make sure all of their guests are having a great and safe time but I can only imagine the terror and stress that would come with a riot inside perhaps one of the most famous theme parks on earth and its recently renovated sister.

Inside the park would probably be the safest place to be during a protest and/or riot

[penguinsoda]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

MOD WARNING:

This is a most volatile time and situation we find ourselves in. Lets focus on the question and topic of the thread, "How does Disneyland plan for unrest?"

It will serve no purpose at this point to speculate on any other rumors going on about what will or will not happen in the future. By posting rumors of what you may or may not have heard from people you know, is no better than playing a game of telephone... rumors and probabilities that have little or no basis in fact serve no purpose and do more harm than good in the long run.

If you want to discuss in general terms what steps the resort might have in place or might use during a crisis situation, proceed with extreme caution.... do not post rumors, do not post specifics, and do not turn this into a political discussion pitting one side against the other.

We do not want to censor discussion, but do remember that this is first and formost, a family friendly Disney board. We have moved one thread related to this to the debate lounge already today.

The general atmosphere of the time is scary and charged enough... do not make it worse by making assumptions and spreading the fear just for the sake of spreading fear....

[Streamliner]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

Thanks for the Mod Warning, penguinsoda. I didn't realize there was another thread (or that there was a debate lounge!).

I suppose we could broaden the topic a bit. Disneyland definitely prepares for natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms, etc., so I wonder if they utilize those plans for manmade problems. After the 2011 Japan Earthquake, we all saw firsthand how the parks should respond to trouble, hopefully we are just as well organized here.

One of the reasons I brought up this topic is because I was reminded of an article Al posted last year about the Tokyo Earthquake (see bottom: "What if it happened here?"). It makes me wonder if they have rethought their procedures, and it worries me if the haven't thought about every possibility.

[Mr Wiggins]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

After the 2011 Japan Earthquake, we all saw firsthand how the parks should respond to trouble, hopefully we are just as well organized here.

Per the posts after the 2011 Japan Earthquake, DLR's disaster preparedness and employee training for a major emergency can only be described as a pathetic joke. They bear no relationship whatsoever to the disaster preparedness and employee training of Tokyo Disneyland.

Some quotes from Al Lutz' update "Timelines and Faultlines"...

...Anaheim has never conducted a park-wide earthquake drill for its Cast Members, and the few minutes of earthquake training Cast Member’s receive when they hire in is so basic and so vague it comes across as rather meaningless.

...the response for a moderate or severe earthquake is for all Cast Members to abandon their work locations and go to a designated “Cast Assembly Area”, while the park visitors are mysteriously directed by seemingly no one to move to separate yet unlabeled “Safe Havens,” which are open areas away from buildings.

If the earthquake response is carried out accurately, the employees and customers would be segregated into separate assembly areas that are only identified on a handful of dusty maps posted backstage.

Not a single word is mentioned in any of the Cast Member training about how to respond to panicky or injured visitors, or what to tell them, or where to direct them.

The salaried park management have also had just a few minutes of vague and useless training in earthquake response techniques, the same as the average ride operator or shop clerk got, so don’t look to the guy wearing the Dockers and the earpiece for useful direction or assistance either.

...There are vague plans to evacuate the parks along designated corridors in the strong earthquake scenarios, dumping up to 100,000 people at one time out into the Esplanade and/or surface streets around the parks.

[Bob Weaver]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

It's good to know that Disney has plans to deal with disasters like earthquakes, wildfires, floods, terrorist attacks, the Kardashians, etc.

[Mom kissed Walt]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

Disneyland may not be Fort Knox but it's not shabby at all security wise. It's probably one of the better surveilled properties out there in fact and don't forget that they have an extremely tight relationship with the armed forces and some the best defence people and technology at their disposal.

I see a lot of people on here complain about them not installing the fingerprint scanners like WDW, it is NOT because they don't have the resources, believe me. It is to keep the appearance that there is no need for it. They should probably rethink this at some point but it's like metal detectors at schools. It is depressing.

Anaheim is a lot like DC in this way. Such symbols of America but with an "oh wait, don't look over there" mentality. It's very sad.

[ShelbyH]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

The biometric scanners at WDW have nothing to do with metal detectors or a need for security. It's to combat ticket fraud.

I don't know what kind of plans DLR has for civil unrest, but I do know that the resort district is a very high priority for law enforcement. I think a large earthquake is a much bigger danger inside the resort.

[JMazz]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

The thing I remember about the 1992 riots is the insane amount of fear-based rumors that spread on the early internet about what "They" (the rioters) were "planning to do next." I remember the same rumor mongering happened with my parents' generation during the Watts riots, except the transmission medium was the telephone.

You can be assured that the same kind of fear-based rumors, hearsay and exaggerations will spread in the social media about the Anaheim disturbances -- but orders of magnitude faster and more unchecked by reality than in 1992.

Most ppl didn't have access to this technology and it was the TV and radio that kept us up to date and spread rumors (station to station used the technologies). Those news casts should have been ashamed at the fear-mongering they did. I can only imagine in 2012 it must be 10,00X worse! Ugh...

Anyway, If someone has a beef w/ the cops, why take it out on local business? I never understood this. And quite frankly, I don't want to do a ton of research on the topic this a.m. But if DLR is affected this weekend, or anytime in the near future, I will be totally convinced that the "end is near"!!! [mostly sarcasm]

I would like to think (as a Health and Safety Compliance Officer) that DLR is well prep'd for large issues. Look how the delt w/ a freakin' tornado! They did pretty well. (Look it up online). I would hope that a mob could be deflected or forced to go somewhere else by TDA's security.

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

Yahoo News coincidentally posted an article about the riots this morning.

Mom condemns violence in wake of police shooting - Yahoo! News

[DisneyIPresume]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

I was going to start another thread about this but it seems that every thread that comes up on the subject turns controversial fairly quick. So I'll just add to this.

This article from this morning's Register asks whether the civil unrest is causing Disneyland guests to stay at home. Pretty interesting --

Disneyland reputation tied to Anaheim protests | disneyland, anaheim, city - News - The Orange County Register

[flynnibus]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

My guess is the city would form a police line trying to keep a mob from approaching the esplanade. A perimeter security line.

Large mobs don't tend to climb walls and fences.. and individuals that do could be ran down by park security. I wouldn't expect the non-surface boundaries of the park to be challenged. And if they were started to in volume.. police could move and cut it off too.

A scenario I would expect is a confrontation out on the entrance plaza.. and Disney having to try to flush the park out one of the other entrances. Worst case scenario is where Disney can't move the guests off property even once outside the gates, and in that case would have to try to keep the guests inside the park.. keeping them calm and cared for. (much like the Toyko Situation).

Disney and the city would surely try to hold a perimeter against any challenging mobs to keep them on the outside and worst case.. shutting down DLR.

Disneyland is too inaccessible to have some sort of large mob suddenly show up out of no where and bum rush the turnstyles and be running rampant in the park.

[calsig31]

Re: How does the Disneyland Resort plan for civil unrest (riots)?

I think the solution is fairly obvious: they would call in the Avengers. Isn't that why Disney bought Marvel?