Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

One of the happiest, lightest and brightest places on Earth suddenly went dark this week when Disneyland experienced a power outage. Due to the holidays, this is a very busy season for the Anaheim, California theme park but park goers got more than they bargained for right around 11a.m. on Wednesday, December 27.

The outage was due to a transformer issue and, according to park spokesperson, Suzi Brown, left some guests stuck on various rides. Parts of Disneyland affected were Toontown and Fantasyland as well as approximately a dozen attractions. Guests were accompanied off the halted rides, said Brown but the park was up and running once again by 4p.m.

"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience to all of our guests who were impacted," Disneyland said. The park also kept guests updated through social media, mainly Twitter (News - Alert). At 4p.m., the same time the power was back, Disneyland tweeted this: “PARKS UPDATE: Disneyland Park is currently only accepting Guests for re-entry at this time. Disney (News - Alert) California Adventure Park remains available for your enjoyment. Updates to follow.”

Geoff Feinberg said that he was on the “It’s A Small World” ride when the power stopped but there was not much commotion. "It was just dark; music was still playing, so that will be in most of our heads probably for the following year.” However, this outage kept parts of Disneyland down for five hours and for a brand like this, it is a costly affair as it is estimated each Disney Park brings in $6.2 million per day.

This is why it is vital to have a power protection plan in place for a few core reasons. First off, it will save resources. Not only did Disneyland have to pay employees for waiting on the power to come back but it was also losing visitor money, not operating properly. Guests could not come in and out, tickets could not be purchased; if guests were stuck on rides, they were not spending money on food and retail.

Additionally, having a power source will avoid any equipment damage, especially if the blackout strikes in a blink of an eye. Safety is key, especially in a large operational park like Disneyland.

Disneyland continued to tweet throughout the day and was officially open to the public by 5p.m. that same evening. The final tweet about the outage included an apology, “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience to all of our Guests who were impacted by today’s power outage at Disneyland. We are happy to report that all attractions are fully operational.”