Disneyland to Take a Few Y2K Precautions

On guard against computer malfunctions and fireworks accidents, Disneyland will shut down a few elevators and tough-to-evacuate rides from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 12:15 a.m. Saturday as the new year arrives.

Peter Pan’s Flight in the park’s Fantasyland section, where riders are carried along an overhead track, will be one of the closures, park spokesman Tom Brocato said Wednesday.

At least the first part of the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square also will close because it involves an elevator descent. However, park-goers who insist will be taken down a back staircase and allowed to greet the millennium aboard one of the ride’s “Doom Buggy” vehicles, which will continue to operate.

Elevators will close at Innoventions and Rocket Rods, both in Tomorrowland, but those attractions will stay open for customers who are willing to use the stairs.

The Matterhorn Bobsleds will close from 11:50 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. while fireworks explode. Brocato said the attraction, an Alpine-themed roller coaster, always closes for pyrotechnics.

Walt Disney Co. officials seem confident the change from 1999 to 2000 won’t create hazards by causing Y2K software glitches in the park’s computers.

“We don’t foresee any problems,” Brocato said. The closures “are just a precautionary measure.”

Disneyland, which will stay open until 3 a.m., is the only Los Angeles-area amusement park that plans to operate rides past midnight. Universal Studios Hollywood and Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park will stop operating rides at 11:45 p.m. Magic Mountain in Valencia shuts down at 8 p.m.

New Year’s Eve often is the most crowded day of the year at Disneyland, which in the past has closed its gates by afternoon Dec. 31 because the park reached capacity. Only guests at Disneyland Hotel and Disneyland Pacific Hotel adjacent to the Anaheim park are being guaranteed admission Friday.