Disney's Crisis Communications Work

The crisis that my company dealt with that I decided to focus on was a death that occurred on the Everest roller coaster in Walt Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Since Walt Disney is an enormous company, they have to deal with crises such as accidents and deaths regularly. In December of 2007, Jeffery Reeb died of natural causes, but he had an enlarged heart. The major issue of the death was that only three of the 500 defibrillators on Walt Disney’s property were at Animal Kingdom and the location of the closest defibrillator was not close to the Expedition Everest roller coaster.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/attractionDetail?id=ExpeditionEverestPage

Even though that is a very serious problem, Disney at least took responsibility and cleared the air of the defibrillator issue. They are doing things to prevent any more issues like this unfortunate one and are working hard to keep all of their parks and attractions safe. Although not having a defibrillator as close as can be, the paramedics that worked on Mr. Reeb said that it’s possible that using a defibrillator may not have made a difference because of his pre-existing condition. Disney also has signs in front of every ride and attraction explaining that if you have certain medical conditions, you should not ride; and heart problems were written on that sign and Mr. Reeb decided to ride anyway.

Disney spokeswoman, Andrea Finger, said that they try to put the defibrillators in a consistent place where both the guests and cast members can easily find them and they rely on professional paramedics to respond to emergency situations. According to the Orlando Sentinel Finger also said that “the resort plans to train 500 more employees in CPR even as it adds the 200 defibrillators to the 500 already on resort property.”

I think that Disney handled the situation well, but I think they could have at least expressed their condolences for the family of the deceased. I believe that Disney should definitely add more defibrillators and to have them at all rides and attractions to take the necessary precautions. I also think that some of the wording that was used could have been said differently so it wouldn’t come off as rude or as if they didn’t care about the family and loved ones of the man who passed away.