Credit: Marada, FlickrRemember the new millennium? Well, here’s the throwback you never knew you needed.
Back in 1999, anticipation was high for the new millennium. However, so was the fear. The worry was that when clocks struck midnight on December 31, 1999, they would expose a computer flaw that would cause major technological and operational issues on everything from airplanes to theme park rides. You can see where this is going…
Related: History – Disneyland and Disney World Shut Down Due to COVID-19
While Disney World was as worried about the Y2K bug as anyone, guests were surprisingly nonchalant. Walt Disney World Resort was swarmed with visitors keen to experience the resort’s special Y2K experiences, which started as early as October – including the iconic (and widely hated) Sorcerer Mickey hand and wand on EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth, IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, Tapestry of Nations, and Millennium Village.
Concerned enough about Y2K to take action – but not so scared as to block guests from the parks completely – Disney came up with a plan. As reported by the Orlando Sentinel in December 1999, both its Disney World parks and Disneyland Park (these were pre-California Adventure times) took precautions, just in case.
Disney World “installed emergency lights and backup generators at the theme parks” at Downtown Disney (AKA Disney Springs’ predecessor), and the resort’s many hotels.
Walt Disney World Resort also decided to shut down all of its rides a few minutes before midnight before restarting them at about 12:15 a.m. Universal Orlando Resort (then known as Universal Studios Escape) did the same thing, with both reportedly saying that this was just to give guests the chance to see the fireworks—and definitely not about that scary Y2K bug everyone was talking about.
Prior to the big day, Disney tested all of its rides (as well as anything else computerized). The resort utilized a team of engineers and mechanics – Disney called them “time travelers” – who studied over 3,000 pieces of equipment, including everything from fire alarms to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at what was then known as Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park.
“We’ve been planning and testing our systems, and we’re prepared to deliver a great product on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. But we’re backing everything up with contingencies, and part of that is reserve power that we may need,” a Walt Disney World spokeswoman told the Orlando Sentinel.
Cast members were also trained to manually process credit cards for hotel reservations and store purchases, just in case those computers thought it was 1900 because of the Y2K bug and went down.
Thankfully, 25 years later, we now know that these precautions were pointless. However, better safe than sorry—nobody needed to enter the new millennium stuck on “it’s a small world,” after all.
Were you at Disney for Y2K? Share your memories in the comments!