The world of news and connectedness is completely different today than is was as few as 6 months ago. This is particularly true for those partake in social media, and in particular facebook, friendfeed, plurk, or twitter, each of which can be updated by SMS messages.
Walter Schwabe was at work, while his family visited Disneyland today. Although he was unable to directly contact his family after the quake, he tracked the event through Twitter and was able to ascertain that no damage had occurred at Disneyland. Reassuring news, I’m sure, but not possible with that sort of speed without social media.
Many tweets came from people who were inside Disneyland. User @hollister was one of the first with “Earthquake. Currently being funneled out of Disneyland.” @scratchpad tweeted “Done with Disney. 5.4 earthquake. Stuck on a ride for an hour. Park at a standstill. But at least it’s sunny. I guess.”
All rides were evacuated and many guests left the parks heading back to the hotels, only to find pools and elevators closed and awaiting inspection. DCA attractions came back up first and Disneyland’s attractions started coming back online just before 1pm.
But for long form reporting, we’re still relying on more established media. The OC Register had some excellent coverage and was able to get the latest status from Disneyland officials once attractions started to come back online.
Thanks for the mention, it’s nice to know that Disney is listening. That was a scary day for all concerned. My family was safe after all and mentioned that your staff were very professional, calm, cool, and collected at all times during the quake. Thank-you.
Regardless of the fact you’re not directly affiliated…it’s nice to know someone was listening none-the-less…
Comments are closed.