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OC Register: DCA Goes Dark

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gjw

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Jul 8, 2001, 2:07:07 AM7/8/01
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Disney's California misadventure: Park goes dark
Blown transformer brings power outage, evacuations and disappointment.


July 7, 2001

By DANIELLE HERUBIN and VIK JOLLY
The Orange County Register


Anaheim -- For at least a half-hour Thursday night, a few guests at
Disney's California Adventure theme park hung in precarious positions
on Grizzly River Run.

If they happened to notice, they had a great view when fireworks began
at Disneyland next door, said Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix, a guest who
was there for Thursday night's unexpected, nearly parkwide power
outage.

Disney has always worried about such a scenario, especially during the
state's energy crisis: frightened guests sitting on stalled rides in a
dark park.

"We wish it hadn't (happened), but it's one of those things that
occasionally happens when you're operating a big resort," said Cynthia
Harriss, president of The Disneyland Resort. "The guests actually had
a good time."

No one was hurt, and some power was restored in about a half-hour.
Most of the major rides did not reopen before the park closed at 11
p.m.

The outage was caused by a blown transformer behind the "Who Wants To
Be A Millionaire" attraction. It caused an interruption that shut down
power to the park's rides, restaurants, shops and even bathrooms at
about 8:35 p.m. The only apparent exception was the Mondavi winery.

The "Millionaire" area is under construction and scheduled to open in
September.

Water was drained from part of the Grizzly River Run ride so people
could be evacuated out of the rafts, according to Mouseplanet.com, an
unofficial Disney Web site. The big Ferris wheel had to be manually
turned and each cabin evacuated one by one.

The Electrical Parade, a battery-powered parade of more than a
half-million lights on floats, went on as scheduled, but parts of the
sound system didn't work.

Disneyland was unaffected, and Disney allowed some visitors to enter
the older park. Others who asked to leave were given complimentary
passes to return later to California Adventure.

After half an hour, a few rides in the Paradise Pier area were
restarted, said Disney spokesperson Chela Castano-Lenahan.

Some California Adventure visitors thought the power outage was
because of the state energy crisis.

"We assumed it was a rolling blackout," said Maggie McDonough-Rice of
Wellesley, Mass.

She and her husband, Kenny, and their two daughters, Cassie, 9, and
Alanna, 5, who were staying at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel, had
planned on riding Grizzly River Run and Mulholland Madness at
nighttime.

So after dinner, the family headed back, only to find out the rides
were shut down. The family stayed for the 10:30 p.m. run of the
Electrical Parade, which Disney resurrected at its new park this week.
The girls were still able to have some fun in a children's play area,
the family said.

Others were upset they couldn't enjoy California Adventure at night.

"You had a lot of disappointed people," said Imajean Asher, 33, of
Reno, who had left the park earlier and then returned about 8 p.m. so
she and her sister's children could ride the California Screamin'
roller coaster.

Asher, her twin, Regina Cavanah of Merced, and their five children
were in the dinner line at the Pacific Wharf Café inside the park when
the outage happened. With the cash register out of order, the
restaurant doors were closed and servers started taking orders by
hand, the family said. The clam chowder and broccoli chowder bowls and
canned sodas -- the soda fountain didn't work -- were on the house
because of the inconvenience, they were told.

"All the rides were shutting down," Asher said. "You saw massive
amounts of people heading to the gates. The bathroom lights were out."

Most shops were closed, and the lights were dimmer everywhere than
they had been the night before, the twins said. An employee mentioned
that the restaurant was operating on backup generators. After dinner,
the family decided to leave.

"What do you do when you have nothing to do?" Asher asked.


Annual Passholder

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Jul 8, 2001, 2:23:08 AM7/8/01
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gjw wrote:

The Orange County Register prints quotes from Alpo and AdVinPhoe(and
advetises for LousePlanet... what a joke.
Talk about getting quotes from clowns with no journalistic integrity.


AP says - The Orange County Register SUCKS!!!


--
AP
"Come away with me......"


TheDisneyAddict

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Jul 8, 2001, 3:39:47 AM7/8/01
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>> If they happened to notice, they had a great view when fireworks began
>> at Disneyland next door, said Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix, a guest who
>> was there for Thursday night's unexpected, nearly parkwide power
>> outage.

I like this... yeah, she was "just a park guest!" haha, she probably ran right
up to the reporter & started bitching so she could get a plug in for MP.

Laurie
"The stars are out where dreams are born & fairy tales come true. No matter who
you are there's magic in the stars reachin' out to you." ~ Believe... There's
Magic In Stars!

The above post does not reflect the opinions of the company for which I work

The Doctor

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Jul 8, 2001, 12:58:56 PM7/8/01
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Annual Passholder <A...@NOS.DL> wrote:

>
>The Orange County Register prints quotes from Alpo and AdVinPhoe(and
>advetises for LousePlanet... what a joke.
>Talk about getting quotes from clowns with no journalistic integrity.

Hey that's par for the course for just about any jouralistic
enterprise now a days. The OC Register isn't alone in producing
"news" of questionable content and sources.

The Doctor

"And isn't sanity really just a one trick pony anyway? I mean
all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when
you're good and crazy, oooh oooh oooh, the sky is the
limit!"-The Tick

Annual Passholder

unread,
Jul 8, 2001, 2:55:07 PM7/8/01
to

The Doctor wrote:

> Annual Passholder <A...@NOS.DL> wrote:
>
> >
> >The Orange County Register prints quotes from Alpo and AdVinPhoe(and
> >advetises for LousePlanet... what a joke.
> >Talk about getting quotes from clowns with no journalistic integrity.
>
> Hey that's par for the course for just about any jouralistic
> enterprise now a days. The OC Register isn't alone in producing
> "news" of questionable content and sources.
>

Yeah pretty much - but they are my local paper and they seem to love to
interview and/or get quotes from idiots.
Doobie is the only local(DL regular/Disney-fan site master) that has been
in the Register frequently that IMO is not an idiot. And his website is
just plain nothing but impressive!

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