Midway to Main Street | Disneyland, New Year's Eve, and Y2K @MidwaytoMainStreet | Uploaded December 2017 | Updated October 2024, 10 hours ago.
In just a few days we’ll all be ringing in the new year and with that comes all of the typical traditions surrounding it. The Disney parks are a popular vacation spot to welcome the new year, making it one of the most crowded seasons to visit. They’re usually prepared for the crowds, but did you know one year they were also prepared for disaster?
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The New Years switchover from 1999 to 2000 was a big one. Besides being the year everyone was celebrating the new millennium it was one filled with uncertainty all because of Y2K.
Y2K, for those too young to remember, was a computer bug that was anticipated years before 2000 actually arrived. The fear was that software that represented the year with the last two digits would switch over from 99 to 00, and the computer programs wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the year 1900 and the year 2000. It would also cause issues with software that ran calculations using dates. 99 minus 98 would get you one year, but 00 minus 99 would get you negative 99. This would, in theory, cause all sorts of problems with all sorts of computer systems.
The issue wasn’t worth ignoring, and with years to update software as needed to avoid the bug, the problem wasn’t much of an actual problem. However that didn’t prevent months of ever increasing fear over what potential apocalyptic catastrophe we would meet when the clock struck 12 that New Years Eve. Some people were taking survival courses, stockpiling supplies, and even preparing bunkers. They genuinely thought this Y2K bug might trigger the downfall of civilization.
The world wasn’t going to end on January 1st, 2000, but Disney wasn’t going to chance it. For their own Y2K prep, Disney planned to shut down select attractions in Disney between 11:45pm and 12:15am that would be especially troublesome to evacuate in the event something did happen. The list included Peter Pan’s Flight which had guests suspended in hanging ride vehicles and both Rocket Rods in Tomorrowland and the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square which both required elevators to access.
According to an LA Times article the planning went beyond just shutting down attractions for a while. All of the departments at the park had access to cell phones in the event that landlines malfunctioned at midnight. In the event those cell phones stopped working, they also were outfitted with walkie talkies. And if the walkie talkies failed? Well, each department had designated runners who would be responsible for hand delivering messages during a coordinated evacuation.
All departments were also provided with Y2K labeled flashlights in the event of a wide scale power outage. Over in Disney World the property was sprinkled with backup generators and lights along the roads in case the main lights went out.
Now looking back, those precautions might have seemed like overkill, but considering the competition, it wasn’t so bad. Over in California for instance, Universal Studios and Knott’s Berry Farm decided to play it safe and close rides for the night at 11:45pm. Magic Mountain closed its doors entirely at 8pm that night.
Obviously when January 1st, 2000 arrived, nothing really happened. There were a few isolated reports of software issues, but nothing that wasn’t eventually fixed. Planes weren’t falling from the sky, power grids weren’t going offline, and thankfully, the only thing going on at the Disney Parks was celebration.
In just a few days we’ll all be ringing in the new year and with that comes all of the typical traditions surrounding it. The Disney parks are a popular vacation spot to welcome the new year, making it one of the most crowded seasons to visit. They’re usually prepared for the crowds, but did you know one year they were also prepared for disaster?
New here? Be sure to subscribe!
🔷goo.gl/x17zTL
My Patreon!
❤patreon.com/RobPlays
My Disney Podcast!
🎧ttapodcast.com
Follow me on Twitter!
📱Twitter.com/RobPlays
The New Years switchover from 1999 to 2000 was a big one. Besides being the year everyone was celebrating the new millennium it was one filled with uncertainty all because of Y2K.
Y2K, for those too young to remember, was a computer bug that was anticipated years before 2000 actually arrived. The fear was that software that represented the year with the last two digits would switch over from 99 to 00, and the computer programs wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the year 1900 and the year 2000. It would also cause issues with software that ran calculations using dates. 99 minus 98 would get you one year, but 00 minus 99 would get you negative 99. This would, in theory, cause all sorts of problems with all sorts of computer systems.
The issue wasn’t worth ignoring, and with years to update software as needed to avoid the bug, the problem wasn’t much of an actual problem. However that didn’t prevent months of ever increasing fear over what potential apocalyptic catastrophe we would meet when the clock struck 12 that New Years Eve. Some people were taking survival courses, stockpiling supplies, and even preparing bunkers. They genuinely thought this Y2K bug might trigger the downfall of civilization.
The world wasn’t going to end on January 1st, 2000, but Disney wasn’t going to chance it. For their own Y2K prep, Disney planned to shut down select attractions in Disney between 11:45pm and 12:15am that would be especially troublesome to evacuate in the event something did happen. The list included Peter Pan’s Flight which had guests suspended in hanging ride vehicles and both Rocket Rods in Tomorrowland and the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square which both required elevators to access.
According to an LA Times article the planning went beyond just shutting down attractions for a while. All of the departments at the park had access to cell phones in the event that landlines malfunctioned at midnight. In the event those cell phones stopped working, they also were outfitted with walkie talkies. And if the walkie talkies failed? Well, each department had designated runners who would be responsible for hand delivering messages during a coordinated evacuation.
All departments were also provided with Y2K labeled flashlights in the event of a wide scale power outage. Over in Disney World the property was sprinkled with backup generators and lights along the roads in case the main lights went out.
Now looking back, those precautions might have seemed like overkill, but considering the competition, it wasn’t so bad. Over in California for instance, Universal Studios and Knott’s Berry Farm decided to play it safe and close rides for the night at 11:45pm. Magic Mountain closed its doors entirely at 8pm that night.
Obviously when January 1st, 2000 arrived, nothing really happened. There were a few isolated reports of software issues, but nothing that wasn’t eventually fixed. Planes weren’t falling from the sky, power grids weren’t going offline, and thankfully, the only thing going on at the Disney Parks was celebration.
