"Here you leave today and enter the world of tomorrow, yesterday and forever."


Disneyland. Self proclaimed, "The Happiest Place on Earth". The dream of millions of children across the world.

Despite their facade of happiness and gaiety, tragedy has befallen this enchanted place. 13 guests and 1 cast member have died inside the park. This wouldn't have been so bad, IF Disney had press conferences explaining to the public what happened, IF Disney had apologized to the families, and IF Disney had let the authorities clean up the accidents. But they didn't. The boiled-down reason? Bad PR.

In 1998, Disney hid the truth to protect its public image. An accident killed an innocent fun-seeker but the park didn't take accountability for the accident. Disney blamed it on an employee and did not put the public at ease.

In 2000, Disney did not give any empathy or apology to the family or the public. Another accident and victim killed, and still Disney failed to accept responsibility.

In 2003, Disney finally got its act together and launched a new safety campaign. It let the public know it was still safe in Disney. They weren't going to hide anymore. They made safety brochures, finally created a chief safety officer position, played safety audio announcements, and created trading pins for kids.

The Thunder Mountain Railroad accident in 2003 gave them a chance to test their new campaign. They allowed the police to come investigate, they held a press conference to discuss what had happened, they took full accountability and set up a toll-free number for the public to call about the victims.

The attendance at Disneyland went down a few percentages when people heard about the dishonest truths in 1998 and 2000, but in 2003, the next year had a higher visitor attendance rate! Moral? Be honest and you won't get hurt by your customers because they will trust you.

Another happy ending.