My day has been filled with good news today and it had a Disney twist. My older brother lives in Tokyo with his family and my younger brother lives on Maui with his family. I found out about the quake last night when my dad called to let me know that my older brother and his family were ok. I then received a text at 2:30 a.m. from my younger brother letting us know that he and his family had moved to higher ground.
Later on in the morning my younger brother and I had the following conversation via text.
Me: You awake? How's the tide?
Him: I haven't slept really. Water came up across the beach road but not much else has happened.
Me: Any damage anywhere else?
Him: Not really but Maui took the hardest hit. The Kahului Harbor got 9 to 12ft surges that went about a city block and a half inland.
After listening to the news all day I knew he would be fine.
About an hour ago I received this email from my older brother (and here's the twist).
"Wife and two youngest (oldest stayed home) are stuck at Disneyland. They can't get out until probably tomorrow. They are there with four other families and she just called me and they're all ok. The tsunami put about 8 inches of water in the Disneyland parking lot and it's still dangerous so they're not letting anybody leave. Since it's in Tokyo Bay they hardly got affected.
Our office was shaking for a good 5 minutes before it settled down. All the trains stopped and I had to walk to Shinjuku which is a couple of miles from my office. By the time I got there the train I take to get home had just started running so I was able to get on that and that was about 10 PM. I didn't get home until about midnight though.
Since the subway and trains weren't running *everybody* in Tokyo had to walk. I've never seen so many people walking in Tokyo ever. Everybody was carrying the emergency packs they get from their companies.People weresaying that there hasn't been an Earthquake that big in Tokyo for as long as they could remember.
Right now, they're showing the tidal waves on TV and they're saying they are about 10 meters high (about 30 feet). There's a lot more damage from that than anything else.
The one earthquake close to Tokyo was only 7.4 and was an aftershock of an 8.8 farther north. That'swhere a lot of damage and tsunamis hit. The cell phones were out in Tokyo for most of the day but I was able to contact Wife with the SMS like application. The Internet seemed to be fine all day though."
It's a terrible disaster and I'm very thankful that my brothers' families are ok. My heart goes out to those families who wee not so lucky today.
"You can't keep blaming yourself. Just blame yourself once, and move on."
David Landsel (@davidlandsel on Twitter) is a Travel Editor for the New York Post, and was visiting Tokyo Disney Resort when the quake hit. Here are some of his most recent Tweets about spending the night at the Cafe Portofino, and finally returning to his hotel.
Up on the 47th floor of the hotel now; building shaking, creaking. Apparently we've had 70 aftershocks since yesterday. Sounds about right!
Arriving in Shinjuku after long trek to subway, long ride, long walk from Takadanobaba. Long everything. But we're here! #Tokyo#earthquake
@Rachel_Ayre Thanks. But we had it so easy -- lights, heat, clean bathrooms, nibbles, tea, coffee, great team of people looking after us.
@dannyhunty1989 As far as I know, Disney parks both fine. Our side certainly was. Everyone leaving slowly this morning.
@TAdoubleMY Was awesome! Gave myself a private tour of the park around 3 o'clock this morning. Only wish could have got some pix out!
@danicp Cast all said they'd never experienced anything like it; however, they were exceedingly well trained to handle.
Subway abnormally jammed for a Saturday but otherwise things feel nice and normal. Again - lucky us.
Finally busting free of the park - a subway line 20 minutes away will bring us within 30 of our hotel. We'll take it.
Just now seeing news - unbelievably tragic. Boy were we lucky. #tokyo#earthquake
All In our little corner here agree - its defo Suntory time! #tokyo#earthquake
Breakfast now being served - first hot meal for everyone in twelve hours. Pork buns and veg soup. More please!
Trying to rest a little - shaky ground hardly conducive to sleep.
More than 30,000 people in park at the time. All ended up outside on the ground waiting for shaking to stop. Meanwhile, 10 hrs later...
Where we were: Drinking Irish coffees in a bar here in the park. I still have the unpaid check in my pocket - will try and settle up tom ...
Sorry, this happened while I was at Disneyland and I wasn't able to post when it happened. At about 2:30pm (Pacific) the Disney Parks Blog posted an update on the Tokyo Disney Resort, Disney's still-under-construction Aulani Resort hotel in Hawaii, and the Disney Wonder cruise ship sailing off the coast of Mexico.
As many of you know, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck near the coast of Japan on Friday and Tokyo Disney Resort was one of the many areas affected. Fortunately our team on the ground has reported only minor injuries and minimal property damage at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. The safety of our guests and cast members is always our first concern so both parks will remain closed on Saturday to allow for a thorough inspection of our attractions and facilities. Cast members at the Tokyo Disney Resort are also providing humanitarian aid in the form of blankets, food and water for guests who are still at the resort due to the transportation challenges associated with the earthquake.
Because of the quakes effect on the waters of the Pacific, the Disney Wonders itinerary was altered slightly due to the closure of the Port of Cabo. Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, currently under construction in Ko Olina, Hawaii, was not impacted.
Our thoughts and sympathy go out to our guests, fellow Disney cast members and all of the people in Japan affected by this terrible disaster. Well share any additional information today by posting updates at the top of this page.
The post was very similar to an internal e-mail circulated to Disney cast members earlier Friday morning. Disney also sent the following message simultaneously via the @Disneyland @WaltDisneyWorld and @DisneyParks Twitter accounts:
Our thoughts & sympathy go out to our guests, fellow Disney cast members & everyone in Japan affected by the earthquake http://bit.ly/h4ugpv
Thousands of guests and cast members reportedly spending a second night in the Tokyo Disney Resort due to transportation issues.
As biolabetty said above, Tokyo Disney Resort cast members are being told the parks may remain closed until March 20 or 21.
Here are some additional Tokyo Disney Sea videos from You Tube user x3mendo, showing guests in the Tower of Terror queue during the quake, and sheltering outside the ride overnight.
at Disney sea after the first earthquake inside the tower of terror TOKIO
Tokyo second earthquake aftershocks Disney sea Tokio 11 march 2011
at Disney sea post-earthquake after few hours later we all convert in Homeless! plastic bag and cartoon for cover us from the cold!11 March 2011
Earthquake hit Japan on 3/11. This is the video recorded at Tokyo Disneyland Maihama-Station. You can see how big earthquake it was.
Earthquake hit Japan on 3/11. Here is the TokyoDisneyland which has a damage. This video was recorded on 3/12.
From You Tube user HOTD2010, another video from Tokyo Disney Sea during the quake. I used the Google (frankly amazing) language tools to translate the Japanese caption.
March 11, 2011 (Friday), a large earthquake occurred off the coast of Sanriku earthquake with seismic intensity of 7.
This large earthquake in the Kanto area in Chiba Prefecture] [Disney also affected greatly.
And stop all the attractions, Entrance to the building has been banned. Also, when the earthquake occurred, water has to do a show, the show was canceled by another earthquake, broke from the base of the speaker (?) And damage occurred. At the time, did not sway enough had to stand outside in spite of.
The Tokyo Disney Resort Web site has posted a few updates to the Japanese-language pages, but has not updated the English-language site. Thanks to the Google Languages tool, I got a very rough translation of the announcement, which confirms that the Resort will be closed at least until March 21.
About the park management since March 13 - at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, but we postponed today due to the operation of northeastern Taiheiyou earthquake that occurred on March 11 and will continue after tomorrow closed I will. Forecast for the resumption of operations, we'll decide by around March 21. No major damage in buildings of the park's facilities and the recently earthquake, but we also check the security already in progress, with regard to resume operations when, in addition to the safety of park facilities, given the situation and restoration of transport and surrounding infrastructure decisions will continue to carefully.
There's also a notice that they have suspended online sales of photos [tickets?] from the Resort due to the earthquake.
The impact of the earthquake occurred on March 11, we have stopped selling online photo Tokyo Disney Resort.
So far, we can stop sending out your order for the commodity.
Thank your order for the commodity is expected to be out one by one as soon as ready. However, when sending out resumes and sales will be announced on this site. Shimashi to the inconvenience, I am sorry.
Here's a video from You Tube user davidgibbo, taken inside Tokyo Disneyland during the quake, and then experiencing the aftershock in the parking lot.
Japan Times Online puts the count of people who spent the night in the Tokyo Disney Resort at 20,000, which is much lower than the earlier reports of as many as 70,000 people.
Working on it. Had a package through Expedia. They've refunded us the hotel, but we need to call back tomorrow to find out about the flight, which is the more expensive part.
People who were at the Tokyo Disney Resort during the quake are posting more photos and video of the quake and the aftermath. There are still no reports of serious injuries to cast or guests. The extent of the physical damage to the theme parks has not yet been publicized, though the images from inside the park so far show no major damage.
Cast members have posted that the Resort area is subject to rolling blackouts and water outages, and two entertainment department CMs have said that scheduled rehearsals were canceled because of these issues along with the continuing transportation outages. As noted above, the Tokyo Disney Resort will be closed through at least March 21, after which we expect another announcement about the Resort's future operating plans. The US Department of State has issued a Travel Alert, effective through April 1, advising US citizens to avoid travel to Japan.
While we wait for additional reports surface about the physical condition of the Tokyo parks, I'm going to post videos and photos as I come across them.
If you can donate in any way to the relief efforts, here are some options:
I have also been making extensive use of Google's Languages tool to translate Japanese-language Web sites and Twitter postings. The translations are inexact, but it's a fantastic resource.
Here are some new videos from YouTube:
jtcent posted this video taken at Disney Sea during and after the quake, with some English-language captions. You can hear the automated earthquake announcement played repeatedly, and see the reaction of guests and cast members. Beginning at about 4:10 in the video you can see cast members handing out large stuffed Duffy Bears to delighted visitors. (Many quickly turned the bears into improvised head coverings against the rain). At about 7:40 in the video (4:30 p.m. local time) you can hear an English announcement of train and road closures. A bit later you can see guests sheltering in restaurants and in the entrance plaza of Tokyo Disney Sea, and hear another English announcement about train disruptions. The last minute of the video is a slide show of still photos from Disney Sea following the quake.
kakenori was on a Jungle Cruise boat, and posted a video of the 10 minutes immediate after the quake as cast members held the boats at the dock for about 4 minutes, and then led disembarking passengers to shelter, first in the queue and later in front of the attraction.
takimakiunko posted 9 videos on their YouTube channel. This video shows how calmly the Tokyo Disneyland cast members directed guests out of the covered "Main Street" and into an open space in front of the park.
ucchi5000 posted a short video from the unload area of "it's a small world." You can see the water sloshing around the boat.
bloisyjenkins shared an English-captioned video of the scene in Tomorrowland after the quake. In the video, cast members distribute plastic bags and cardboard to guests to help protect against the rain, wind and cold until they can allow people to take shelter inside one of the buildings deemed to be safe.
This video by mikkyland is a round-trip on the Tokyo Disneyland Resort Monorail showing the condition of the park after the quake.
After watching all of these videos, I am in awe of the way the Tokyo Disney Resort cast members responded to this emergency. Jarrod Lentz has posted that several of the Entertainment Department cast members are currently (as I type this) volunteering in the surrounding community to help residents shovel sludge and debris from around their homes. Here's a photo he shared of his fellow cast members heading out to help.
The Tokyo Disney Resort has posted an announcement on their Japanese and English Web sites stating that the parks, hotels, shops and guest service offices will remain closed for an "undetermined" time due to the rolling blackouts impacting the area. Here's the complete list of closures as shown on the site:
Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo DisneySea
Ambassador Hotel
MiraCosta Hotel
Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
Resort Welcome Center
Resort Ticket Center
Resort Reservation Center
Resort Information Center
Online Reservation and Purchasing Support Desk
Online Reservations and Tickets Web site
Guest Relations Center
Bon Voyage
Ikspiari
Cirque Du Soleil Theater Tokyo
Group Reservation Center
Magic Kingdom Club Administration Office
Special Group Reservations center
Executive Club Administrative Offive
Park Fan Club Office
Thanks AVP for all the updates and videos. Thoughts and prayers go out to all the people of Japan. Hopefully TDR will reopen soon the give the Japaneeze citizens a place to go to get their minds off of all the difficulties of this tragedy, even if only for a short while. Disney parks have always been a place where everyone can escape from the real world, can't think of any place that needs that more than Japan right now. Good luck to everyone in Japan during the days and months to come.
A Tokyo Disney Resort entertainment CM, Francisco Thurston (@TheeFrancisco) sent a Tweet to Paula Abdul earlier today that read "dancer @ tokyo disney stuck here in japan. they wont send us home because of our contracts. just wanna leave. just wanna get out." His mother gave an interview to a Fox affiliate in Detroit and expressed frustration that Disney was not allowing the cast to return to the US, even though Oriental Land Company announced this morning that the parks are closed until further notice. The article quotes her as saying, "They're not even going to have enough cast members to teach the other cast members, so what is the point of keeping them there. End their contract, pay for them to come home and be done with it."
Jarrod Lentz (@JarrodLentz) just posted to say that the entertainment cast members met with park management today, and the company is allowing those who wish to return to the US to do so, with the option of returning to their roles in Japan once the parks reopen. Jarrod says that Oriental Land Company is paying for these flights.
There's also a report on Twitter that the water remaining in the Tokyo Disney Resort parking lot will be used for toilets in neighboring schools, which would then be opened to the public. The report was attributed to Yosoko News, but I can't find anything on their Web site, or any other site, to confirm that.
Yomiuri Online reported (in Japanese only) that the water from Tokyo DisneySea's Mediterranean Harbor is being used to provide water for the restrooms in a nearby municipal elementary school. You can read a rough translation using the Google Language tool, but a very helpful Twitter user named Eriko (@ErikoYaybee) translated the article for us:
On Marth 14th, Urayasu City,Chiba announced that Tokyo Disney Sea decided to provide Mediterranean Harbor's water for Urayasu City's local people. They are to use the water for the toilets at junior schools in the city.
Accorting to Urayasu, 2 water wagons will carry the water from Disney Sea to 5 schools in a week. On 14th, almost half of all the families(37000 families) are lack of water. Tokyo Disney Sea and Tokyo Disney Land are closed now and OLC says "We want to help Urayasu as much as possible. We have responsibility as a local company of Urayasu."
<2011.3.15. 05:28 Yomiuri News Paper>
I'm walking in the 2012 Disneyland Half Marathon in honor of two incredible Lymphoma survivors in my life: Gramma Jan and my friend Michele. If blood cancers have touched your life, please consider a donation to my walk fund to help fund better cures.
Quite a few have left already for their home countries. There are a lot whose contracts were up pretty soon and it makes sense to go home, and others who want to be where it is a little easier to live until the park reopens.
It's funny how out of those two Cast Members, one is being a hysterical *** (along with his mother) sending tweets to Paula Abdul and Kim Kardashian (seriously now?) and the other is calm and even helped out on a clean-up crew. Yes both are coming home, but one was patient (and already saying that he wants to come back) and the other demanded to be sent home almost immediately after the quake.
The way you handle adversity shows a lot about your character.
The Disney Parks Blog posted an update today announcing that Disney has made a $2.5 million donation to the Red Cross, and is matching employee donations dollar-for-dollar up to another $1 million.
The Blog also states "a decision regarding operations at the Tokyo Disney Resort will be made on March 21." This is consistent with the statement published on the Japanese Web site of the Tokyo Disney Resort on March 12, but as I noted yesterday, that announcement was later changed to say the resort would remain closed until an "undetermined" time. With Disney allowing the entire international entertainment team to go home, it seems the resort is preparing to be closed much longer than a week.
AVP
I'm walking in the 2012 Disneyland Half Marathon in honor of two incredible Lymphoma survivors in my life: Gramma Jan and my friend Michele. If blood cancers have touched your life, please consider a donation to my walk fund to help fund better cures.
It's funny how out of those two Cast Members, one is being a hysterical *** (along with his mother) sending tweets to Paula Abdul and Kim Kardashian (seriously now?) and the other is calm and even helped out on a clean-up crew. Yes both are coming home, but one was patient (and already saying that he wants to come back) and the other demanded to be sent home almost immediately after the quake.
The way you handle adversity shows a lot about your character.
My daughter was so angry when I showed her the post about that first cast member. The majority of the people she knows there have been actively looking for ways to help out.
My daughter was so angry when I showed her the post about that first cast member. The majority of the people she knows there have been actively looking for ways to help out.
Have you seen what he has posted on his Twitter feed? Maybe you should check that out and see for yourself.
Also some contradictions between what Francisco is saying to the public on Twitter and what Jarrod is saying. Read both their Twitter feeds and it's like light and day.
I give mad props to Jarrod. Francisco doesn't seem to have learned very much from his time in Japan and Jarrod has, even though he's only been there for what, a week before the earthquake struck?
It's obvious to see that one is scared out of his mind, hell I've been through plenty of earthquakes in SoCal and they are pretty damn scary... but one chose to act honorably and was patient while things were settled out and the other stamped his foot and chose to make a scene until he got his way. I'm sorry, but tweeting Paula Abdul (multiple times) and Kim Kardashian and then getting his "story" out on Fox News (lol!) with his mother just shows that he just wanted attention. I hope the invitation to come back or to ever work for the Company again was not extended to him.
I'm postponing my trip to Japan next month (I was supposed to be there for the FANTASMIC! premiere) until probably the Fall... but when I do visit and Jarrod is still there, I'd like to buy him a drink. I'm proud to have Jarrod as a Disney Cast Member brother because he's shown dignity and respect and didn't choose to act like a spoiled brat in this time of adversity.
Have you seen what he has posted on his Twitter feed? Maybe you should check that out and see for yourself.
Also some contradictions between what Francisco is saying to the public on Twitter and what Jarrod is saying. Read both their Twitter feeds and it's like light and day.
I give mad props to Jarrod. Francisco doesn't seem to have learned very much from his time in Japan and Jarrod has, even though he's only been there for what, a week before the earthquake struck?
It's obvious to see that one is scared out of his mind, hell I've been through plenty of earthquakes in SoCal and they are pretty damn scary... but one chose to act honorably and was patient while things were settled out and the other stamped his foot and chose to make a scene until he got his way. I'm sorry, but tweeting Paula Abdul (multiple times) and Kim Kardashian and then getting his "story" out on Fox News (lol!) with his mother just shows that he just wanted attention. I hope the invitation to come back or to ever work for the Company again was not extended to him.
I'm postponing my trip to Japan next month (I was supposed to be there for the FANTASMIC! premiere) until probably the Fall... but when I do visit and Jarrod is still there, I'd like to buy him a drink. I'm proud to have Jarrod as a Disney Cast Member brother because he's shown dignity and respect and didn't choose to act like a spoiled brat in this time of adversity.
I showed the twitter feed to my daughter and she shared the info with her friends who are still in Japan. They all know that cast member and were more than disappointed to hear how he was reacting. I'm sure a lot of it is that he is young and hadn't really experienced an earthquake before, but one shouldn't really bite the hand that feeds them. The cast members have been well cared for by people who don't get to leave the country. I'm thankful that some have decided to repay the kindness they have received. Jarrod sounds like one of those.
Originally Posted by Tisha
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