Tokyo Disney Resort Discussion Thread

[redmenace8]

Apparently the damage to TDL's parking lot was actually caused by liquefaction rather than a direct hit from the tsunamis.

[thrillrider]

There is now a tsunami warning for the entire west coast of the united states.

[Saldek]

Surveillance video of the Sendai Airport getting hit by the tsunami.

 

[Lamoure]

^This is horrible, hope the park is allright ! (Also, of course all peoples !! )

[Mr. Starr]

I have family coming in today, and their flight to Houston was taking off in Hawaii as the tsunami sirens were going off, so they luckily made it out.

[freefallXL]

I hope and pray that this disaster do not turning out as a nuclear disaster.. if i following the news..

No good news.

But that´s planet earth and the forces of nature

[beatle11]

Please be safe everyone in affected areas.

[Sir Coaster]

And I thought NJ was getting horrible weather!

 

 

This is insane! I hope that no one dies in this disaster, and that hopefully damage will be contained...

[netdvn]

Click here for a full-length live feed of the disaster and all the coverage you really need.

 

This disaster looks pretty bad from what I've seen so far but it could turn for the worse. I'm praying that everyone comes out okay in this. As of typing this, the death tool has climbed to about 50-60 people and could climb higher. Scene looks pretty bad.

 

The internet is an amazing place.

[coastermaniac]

Wow that video looks like it's from a movie, and that's not really a good thing.

[thrillerman1]

Guests are reportedly stranded in Tokyo Disney:

 

http://www.huliq.com/10557/tokyo-disneyland-park-guests-stranded-theme-park-following-89-earthquake

 

The amusement park's 69,000 visitors are currently stranded inside the park, using the Disney park as a safe haven for the time being while Disney organizes a plan to have those inside the park safely return home. The park is off limits to anyone hoping to get inside the park at this time.

 

According to early reports portions of the parking lot were flooded but the exact cause of the liquefaction of the parking lots is still being determined. The tsunami was first to be blamed for the flooding but police in Japan are suggesting that excess water from the tsunami along the coastline have filtered in to the soil and liquefied soil due to massive shaking from the earthquake.

 

Tokyo Disneyland and the adjoining Tokyo Disney Sea were built on a landfill, making the attractions more vulnerable to flooding during a natural disaster such as the one that has struck Japan. No injuries have been reported

 

Tokyo Disneyland was the first Disney theme park to be constructed outside of the United States and was officially opened in April of 1983. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea are the only theme parks under the Disney name that are not owned by Disney. Both parks are operated by The Oriental Land Company, which pays a licensing fee to Disney. Tokyo Disneyland was built in a similar style as Disneyland in California and The Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida's Walt Disney World.

 

Though parts of California are bracing for their own tsunami there have been no warnings or indication that Disneyland in Anaheim, California will close or alter their schedule at this time.

 

Huliq continues to monitor the latest developments in Japan and will report the latest once it becomes available.

 

[ParkTrips]

Without being too insensitive about this, if there was ever a country that was prepared for this sort of disaster, it would be Japan. I can only imagine the troubles we would have if this happened in America (worse than Katrina, I'm sure)

 

There are some really cool videos out there

[robbalvey]

^ I totally agree. I wouldn't worry about Japan. They'll be fine. They are totally prepared for this. Elissa said to me last night "Wow, they already got that big fire put out...I'm sure there are still fires burning due to Katrina!"

 

We've been in Japan during two major typhoons and one earthquake and they treated it like getting a mosquito bite.

 

They'll be fine...

[spacemtfan]

Without being too insensitive about this, if there was ever a country that was prepared for this sort of disaster, it would be Japan. I can only imagine the troubles we would have if this happened in America (worse than Katrina, I'm sure)

 

There are some really cool videos out there

 

I'll take your word for it. Even so, those tsunamis are monstrous!

 

Thankfully, nobody at Tokyo Disneyland was hurt.

[thomas2]

Without being too insensitive about this, if there was ever a country that was prepared for this sort of disaster, it would be Japan.

 

People thought the same thing in the early '90s, and then the Hanshin earthquake happened, which totally destroyed the faith of ALOT of Japanese in the government and the anti-earthquake systems they used.

 

Saying they were prepared for this is not true. Sure they have earthquake building codes and warning systems in place, but the force of this earthquake was way beyond what they could have anticipated. We're talking about the biggest earthquake in Japanese history! The public transport system in the capital failed totally, and the communication network also. And Tokyo is about 400 km from the epicentre. Heck I tried to call with friends near Tokyo but it didn't work at all.

[nursemelis374]

I was just reading someone's report as they were stuck inside of Tokyo Disney. It sounds like the park and castmembers were doing an amazing job!

 

I will be interested to see how Japan handles this and recovers from it, hopefully our own government will pay attention and maybe learn something!

Heck I tried to call with friends near Tokyo but it didn't work at all.

 

Even when we have had relatively minor earthquakes in the LA area we have been unable to use cell phones and even landlines for sometimes hours!

Edited March 11, 2011 by robbalvey

[robbalvey]

Without being too insensitive about this, if there was ever a country that was prepared for this sort of disaster, it would be Japan.

 

People thought the same thing in the early '90s, and then the Hanshin earthquake happened, which totally destroyed the faith of ALOT of Japanese in the government and the anti-earthquake systems they used.

 

Saying they were prepared for this is not true. Sure they have earthquake building codes and warning systems in place, but the force of this earthquake was way beyond what they could have anticipated. We're talking about the biggest earthquake in Japanese history! The public transport system in the capital failed totally, and the communication network also. And Tokyo is about 400 km from the epicentre. Heck I tried to call with friends near Tokyo but it didn't work at all.

Sorry, wrebbit, but I strongly disagree. I've lived all my life in an earthquake prone area that is really NOT prepared for something like this. Had this earthquake hit Los Angeles, the place would look more like that movie that was released today.

 

The reports coming in from Japan have been fairly minor considering the magnitude of the quake. I give Japan a *LOT* of credit for being this prepared for one of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history. Yes, there is damage, yes there were systems temporarily out, yes there are amazing looking scary tsunami videos, but in reality, had an 8.9 earthquake hit most other places in the world, we'd be talking serious devastation and a death count that no one would even want to think about.

 

Like I said, I've been in Toyko during an earthquake that would have had Southern California on edge for days, and they just treated it like a normal occurrence.

 

--Robb "Stop being over-dramatic..." Alvey

 

And, oh, yeah, I received two emails from people in Tokyo last night about 45 minutes after the quake. They were still at work at their offices...couldn't have been too devastating if they were still at work sending out emails...

Edited March 11, 2011 by robbalvey

[SharkTums]

Yeah I agree with Robb.

 

The fact that there isn't crazy rioting, fires, buildings collapsing at an alarming rate speaks so well for the Japanese people and their buildings. Just look at Christchurch, NZ for a comparison with a less severe quake.

 

It was an 8.9. In most areas on Earth this would destroy an entire country for YEARS. The fact that they already have some rail lines open, some people do have power, and people are calm and working speaks volumes for an amazing place.

 

Like Robb said, if an 8.9 hit here we would already have marshall law, murders, rioting and tens of thousands dead. Oh and no public transportation (but we already didn't have that!)

[Sir Clinksalot]

From somebody who was in TDS during the quake ... as expected, the CM's at the park did an amazing job.

 

http://micechat.com/forums/tokyo-disney-resort/151091-big-earthquake-hits-tokyo.html

 

Posting from inside Tokyo DisneySea...

 

A strong tremor hit the Tokyo area just 20 minutes ago. I am in Cape Cod now still feeling aftershocks. I don't know what is happening in the city or surrounding areas.

 

Seems like guests are being evacuated from this part of the park. More details soon.

 

Seeing news reports in my mobile. Looks like the epicenter was in Miyagi Prefecture a few hundred miles north of Tokyo. Lots of tsunamis but TDR announcement said not in resort or Tokyo Bay area. Had a big aftershock 30 minutes after the first quake. I'm still stuck in Cape Cod in front of Aunt Pegs.

 

I'm ok but haven't been able to contact wifey in central Tokyo. Mobile can't get through to her and she works in a high-rise by Tokyo station.

 

In this part of TDS, lots of people shaken up but no one hurt. No visible damage anywhere. We are just waiting outside for further info from CMs. It's currently 3:50pm sun is shining with some clouds, cool weather still.

 

Earlier, CMs were giving out huge Duffy and Shellie Mae dolls to guests to cover their heads. Lots of people left with free dolls before CMs asked for them back. Now they are giving bubble wrap for guests to cover their heads.

 

Who wants to guess that it wasn't the Japanese who were stealing the dolls.

[xmichellex]

It really is an impressive contrast going on over there... the insane footage of the buildings shaking and the tsunamis was so scary, but there's a weird sense of calm and order that I can't wrap my head around. I'm sure that there is fear and there are certainly more fatalities/injuries we'll see down the line, but the fact that millions of buildings withstood this is mind-blowing and that people seem to be so patient with figuring out the next step is incredible. With so many people over there it seems hard to believe that things weren't worse, but that just gives credit to the whole country...

[Ed]

Christcurch was more damaging because the epicentre was practically underneath the city, like the '95 Kobe earthquake.

 

I think it's rather naive to say that Japan will just bounce back from this and that they will be unaffected. This is unprecedented in Japan's recent history and it's something from which the north east coast is going to take a very long time to recover from. Entire villages and towns have been wiped out by the tsunami which followed the earthquake. The newer buildings might have been able to withstand this but many older wooden buildings would have just collapsed, as evident from tv reports which show entire houses being swept along with the current.

 

Tokyo may be relatively unaffected, but think of the 400km of coastline where the tsunami has come ashore many kilometres. Thousands will have died as a result and many hundreds more will be homeless.

[Sir Clinksalot]

I don't think that anybody is saying Japan will be unaffected ... the point is, Japan is better equipped and prepared to bounce back from this quicker than most other areas. ESPECIALLY SoCal.

 

They are saying this Earthquake was something like 3000 times greater than the Northridge Earthquake and we weren't fully recovered from that for YEARS and the entire city of LA was pretty much shut down for a week or more.

 

I don't see this happening in Japan except for maybe the hardest hit area's of Sendai.

 

Not only is Japan dealing with the Earthquake, but the Tsunami as well.

[robbalvey]

It really is an impressive contrast going on over there... the insane footage of the buildings shaking and the tsunamis was so scary, but there's a weird sense of calm and order that I can't wrap my head around.

It's Japan. They don't freak out. They don't do stupid crap like most Americans would. They have patience and order that people in this country don't understand.

 

That's why it's our favorite place to visit!

 

--Robb "And if the language barrier wasn't an issue...I'd probably move there!" Alvey

[ginzo]

Japan's economy has been in the crapper for like 20 years. They have by far the highest national debt-to-GDP ratio in the developed world. The cost of repairing all this damage is something that they can ill afford.

[robbalvey]

I think it's rather naive to say that Japan will just bounce back from this and that they will be unaffected. This is unprecedented in Japan's recent history and it's something from which the north east coast is going to take a very long time to recover from. Entire villages and towns have been wiped out by the tsunami which followed the earthquake. The newer buildings might have been able to withstand this but many older wooden buildings would have just collapsed, as evident from tv reports which show entire houses being swept along with the current.

 

Tokyo may be relatively unaffected, but think of the 400km of coastline where the tsunami has come ashore many kilometres. Thousands will have died as a result and many hundreds more will be homeless.

As someone who has visited Japan fairly regularly, and have also recently visited the Sendai area, I agree with you that there will be areas affected, absolutely, no one in this thread has posted anything otherwise. But I don't think you realize, as you don't live in an earthquake prone area, how much more better off ALL the areas of Japan are than even a huge metropolitan area like Los Angeles and the California coast, and yes, even those areas that have sustained what looks like horrific tsunami damage you see through your television screen.

 

I'm not just sitting safely at home making a judgment based on the images I see on my TV screen. We have been through THREE natural disasters while in Japan. Sure, not quite of this caliber, but large enough to get an idea of what is happening and how the country reacts.

 

Go back and read Elissa's post again. She is 110% correct in everything she said.

Edited March 11, 2011 by robbalvey