Tokyo Disneyland closed to assess damage, Monorail testing underway

A few quick updates from Tokyo Disneyland.

Although entertainment cast members had been called in to rehearse on Monday, the rehearsals were canceled due to rolling blackouts scheduled for mid-day at the resort. Cast Members are dealing with their own blackouts and struggles for food and water, but a group of Disney entertainment cast members who found themselves freed up from the canceled rehearsal, picked up rakes and shovels and went out into the community to help clear away some of the debris and silt from the homes of elderly.

Here’s a pic of the crew from Disney performer @JarrodLentz‘s twitter stream. Lentz said of the adventure, “The human spirit will not be broke” and “Helping people was the best medicine so far.” I continue to be astounded by how professional and caring Tokyo Disneyland cast has been in the face of tragedy.

Although myself and others had speculated that liquefaction damage near the Monorail stations would result in a long delay in the trains returning to service. That has not been the case. Here’s a short video showing damage near one of the monorails and in the second half you can see them testing the monorail. So that’s good news for Tokyo Disneyland and OLC.

The parks themselves continue on a schedule to open after the 21st. Meanwhile they’re assessing damage and making small repairs. Below the jump is a press release put out by the Oriental Land Company after the quake:

We’d like to express our heartfelt sympathy for the citizens who have suffered from the earthquake on March 11, 2011. We will announce the circumstances around the Company as follows.

I. Situation of Damage
1. Situation of Human Suffering

There’s no guest nor cast member has been injured so far based on our information.

2. Situation of Facilities
(1) Tokyo Disneyland / Tokyo DisneySea
At the present moment, there’s no serious damage in facilities and buildings, or no liquefaction phenomenon in the theme parks. We are carrying out our safety inspection. The resumption of operation will be determined by around March 21, 2011.

Note: The phenomena which seem to be liquefaction can be found only in the limited area of the parking spaces, and are under reconstruction in a rapid manner.

(2) Disney Hotels
There’s no serious damage in facilities and buildings. We are carrying out our safety inspection. The resumption of operation has not yet been decided, but is scheduled in accordance with the theme parks operation.

(3) Other Facilities
There’s no serious damage in facilities and buildings of Ikspiari, the Disney Resort Line, and Cirque du Soleil Theatre Tokyo.

The resumption of operation will be determined based on the safety confirmation and other situations.

II. Influence on Performance
The damage from the earthquake to the facilities and buildings is minimal, but the impact from the suspension of operation has now been reviewed.