Earthquake Hits Disneyland as Customers Forced to Evacuate Rides

Disneyland was forced to shut a number of rides at its theme park in Anaheim, California, on Monday night, following a 3.5 magnitude earthquake.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake striking at around 8:09 p.m., with the epicenter recorded at just over a mile east of Fullerton—two miles north of Disneyland. A smaller aftershock was reported to have struck at around 8:30 p.m.

While there were no injuries or damage reported in the immediate aftermath of the quake, Disneyland took mandatory precautionary measures by shutting dozens of its popular rides as staff carried out safety checks.

"Damage, very unlikely, but guests will be inconvenienced while rides are inspected," read an 8:24 p.m. post on the news on X, formerly Twitter, by unofficial Disneyland information source MiceChat.

Around 20 minutes later, the account shared a post that read: "All attractions and queues are now closed. Guests are being informed that attractions will reopen after safety checks."

According to The Orange County Register, all rides at the theme park were closed, with the exception of Jungle Cruise and the Mad Tea Party. At the neighboring Disney California Adventure park, rides that remained open included Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind, Mickey's Philharmagic and holiday versions of Luigi's Joy to the Whirl and Mater's Jingle Jamboree.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Disneyland via email for comment.

Disneyland has closed in its entirety on very few occasions. Most recently, this occurred at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The park was shut down the first time during a national period of mourning after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, and again in 2001 after the attacks of September 11.

The only other time the park has closed was shortly after the 1994 Northridge earthquake—which struck the San Fernando Valley in southern California—when it was inspected for damage.

Disneyland has not made any comments regarding Monday's temporary shutdown on its verified social media accounts.

The Disneyland Resorts X account has not shared any posts since November 16. Its parent company Disney last month pulled advertising on X, because of hate speech and antisemitic rhetoric that is being shared on the platform. Apple, IBM, Warner Bros, and Lionsgate are among the companies that have also suspended advertising on X.

A recent report by the Anti-Defamation League said that since Elon Musk took over X, antisemitism on the platform has increased. The report stated it is up nearly 1,000 percent since early October, which is when the current Israel-Hamas conflict began.

Media Matters also investigated X's ad placement, discovering that major companies had ads shared next to content with white nationalist hashtags, despite assurances that this would not occur.

Elon Musk, who bought the social media platform in October 2022, faced backlash last month after he publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. The billionaire promoted a post that accused Jewish people of pushing hatred before he took aim at antisemitism watchdog the Anti-Defamation League.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk was last week asked about Disney and other companies stopping advertising on X during the New York Times Dealbook Summit. Disney CEO Bob Iger also spoke at the summit earlier in the day.

"What this advertising boycott is going to do is, it is going to kill the company," Musk said. "And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company."

He also spoke about Iger directly, saying: "Don't advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself.

"Go f*** yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob, if you're in the audience. That's how I feel, don't advertise."

Musk, however, also admitted that replying to the controversial X post containing the conspiracy theory was "one of the most foolish" things he had posted on the platform.

"I should, in retrospect, not have replied to that particular post, and should have expanded in greater length about what I meant," he added. "What I am trying to illustrate is that, sometimes I say the wrong thing."

Iger also addressed Disney's decision to stop advertising on X.

"I have a lot of respect for Elon and what he has accomplished," Iger said. "We know that Elon is larger than life in many respects, and that his name is very much connected to the companies he founded or owns. By him taking the position he took in a public manner, we felt that the association was not necessarily a positive one for us."