Lead Exposure, Explosions, & Expanding Waistlines, at Disneyland!

Today's post can be filed under the heading of, "Tragic Kingdom."

On October 18, 2011, the Los Angeles Times published an article stating that, "Dozens of leaded-glass windows and brass rail chains, door knobs and drinking water fountains at some of Disneyland’s most popular attractions, expose children to high levels of lead.....according to an environmental group."

One of the items listed in the article, was the handle of the "Sword in the Stone," on display in Fantasyland.  There used to be a special "Sword In The Stone Ceremony," performed throughout the day.  During the ceremony, a young guest was picked from the audience to pull the sword from the stone and become "King or Queen of the Realm."  I believe that these ceremonies are no longer performed in the park, but guests can still approach the sword and attempt to pull it out on their own.  These pics of the official ceremony, are from December of 2006.

Another potentially hazardous object mentioned in the article, was the stained glass window in the door of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

The brass doorknobs in Minnie's house in Toontown were also on the list.

The photo from the article, shows a stained-glass window in the former Village Haus restaurant.

The stained glass image was of Pinocchio.

In 2017, this restaurant was converted into the Red Rose Taverne, and is now themed to the film, "Beauty and the Beast."  The Pinocchio-themed stain glass window was removed at this time, and replaced with a red rose design.  The question now would be, does this new window also contain lead?

This Los Angeles Times article from ten years ago (May of 2013), is about an incident that involved a water bottle containing dry ice, exploding and causing the temporary closure of Toontown.

After that article had been written, it was later disclosed that there had actually been two bottles involved, and two explosions, just minutes apart.  A 23 year-old Disneyland employee was arrested the same day, and pleaded guilty 6 months later, to a misdemeanor count of possession of a destructive device.  He was sentenced to 36 days in jail, 3 years probation, and 100 hours of community service.

The subject of this last Los Angeles Times article isn't necessarily as tragic, as it is comical.  It's from 2007, and mentions how the park's It's A Small World attraction would be closing after the Christmas season, to fix a problem that had been plaguing the ride for quite some time.  The boats had been repeatedly "bottoming out" within their water-filled flume/track, and were getting stuck.

I had heard multiple stories of this happening.  In fact, just one year earlier, during a December 2006 visit to the park, I almost experienced it myself.  We were riding in a boat that contained mostly "full-grown" adults, and there were multiple times when we slowed waaaaaay down, and almost came to a complete standstill, because our boat was dragging along the bottom of the flume.

Awww, Al Lutz was quoted in the article!  How much do we all miss reading Al Lutz' articles on his website?  I know, I do!  At least Disney was gracious enough not to blame the "fattening of America" as the reason for the boats getting stuck.  Although they did mention the steady increase in the size of their employees, over the years.

By the way, that 2008 It's A Small World refurbishment also happened to include the addition of 29 Disney characters, shoehorned into scenes throughout the attraction.  Now it's sort of like a ride-through version of "Where's Waldo?", but with Disney characters.  I won't even comment on the addition of the "American room."  (T.R.E!!!)  I'm kind of surprised that by now, they haven't added a bunch of projections, made riders wear 3D glasses, and given everyone a laser gun, or a web-shooting device.  Soon, I suppose.

The Family Circus At Disneyland (1978) - Part 4

In the Summer of 1978, The Family Circus comic strip followed "the family" as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive days.  I have been posting a "week's worth" of those comics each week, within the month of July.  This is "Part 4," the final part to this series.  To see "Part 1," click HERE.  For "Part 2," click HERE.  And for "Part 3," click HERE.

Sunday, August 13, 1978:

Monday, August 14, 1978:

Tuesday, August 15, 1978:

 Wednesday, August 16, 1978:

Thursday, August 17, 1978:

Friday, August 18, 1978:

Saturday, August 19, 1978:

I don't have the panel for Sunday, August 20th.  I think if there had been a Disneyland-related panel that day, I would have it in my collection.  I'm assuming by then, the family had gone back to "normal activities" at home, and that's why I didn't save that one.  However, the next day (Monday, August 21, 1978), the family was back at home, and there was a reference made about their Disneyland trip:

I hope everyone enjoyed this series of "The Family Circus" comics, from 1978!

The Family Circus At Disneyland (1978) - Part 3

In the Summer of 1978, The Family Circus comic strip followed "the family" as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive days.  I have been posting a "week's worth" of those comics at the end of every week, within the month of July.  This is "Part 3."  Please check back next week for the fourth and final set from this series!  To see "Part 1," you can click HERE.  To see "Part 2," click HERE.

Sunday, August 6, 1978:

Monday, August 7, 1978:

Space Mountain was only one year old, at this point.

Tuesday, August 8, 1978:

The following day, the family was still waiting in line for Space Mountain.  Clever!

Wednesday, August 9, 1978:

Thursday, August 10, 1978:

I'm pretty sure that the short mouse wearing the pillbox hat and the large bow, is supposed to be "Bianca," from The Rescuers.  That film had it's original release just one year earlier, and it's characters were still being used within the park.

Friday, August 11, 1978:

This one is dedicated to Meet The World reader, commenter, and guest blogger, J.G.!  And he knows why!

Saturday, August 12, 1978:

The Family Circus At Disneyland (1978) - Part 2

In the Summer of 1978, The Family Circus comic strip followed "the family" as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive days.  I will be posting a "week's worth" of those comics at the end of every week, within the month of July.  This is "Part 2."  Please check back each week for a new set!  And to see "Part 1," click HERE.

Sunday, July 30, 1978:

Monday, July 31, 1978:

Tuesday, August 1, 1978:

Wednesday, August 2, 1978:

The "New Matterhorn" had just opened, that summer of 1978.

Thursday, August 3, 1978:

Friday, August 4, 1978:

Saturday, August 5, 1978:

For the 2015 republishing of this panel (for Disneyland's 60th anniversary), Jeff Keane had altered his dad's original caption by replacing "The Bee Gees," with "Justin Bieber."

The Family Circus At Disneyland (1978) - Part 1

The Family Circus is a comic strip, created by Bil Keane.  It debuted in newspapers in 1960, and has been in continuous production ever since.  Bil's son, Jeff, began helping him with with the series in 1981 and took over production in 2011, after his father passed away.

In the Summer of 1978, the series followed "the family" (which consists of a mom, a dad, and their four children) as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive days.  I was 13 years old at the time, and my mom subscribed to two different newspapers, but I rarely ever read the comics section.  It was my mom who alerted me to the fact that "The Family Circus" was doing a series at Disneyland.  And she didn't realize it herself, until several days into the series.  Once we realized that "Disneyland" was going to be a continuing theme, I went outside to our trash cans to dig out our old newspapers to see exactly when the series started, and how many I had missed.

I thought I had been able to find all of them back to the very first day, but it turns out that I had missed the very first one.  Fortunately, "Meet The World" reader and commenter, "Kathy!", was able to locate that first panel and was nice enough to share it with us (thank you, Kathy!).

Monday, July 24, 1978:

This panel is the earliest one I found, when going through my family's trash cans!

Tuesday, July 25, 1978:

While searching online, I also found out that this series was republished in the Summer of 2015, apparently for Disneyland's 60th anniversary.  Color was added to all of the panels by Bil Keane's son, along with some other minor changes to a few of them.  This one was republished on July 17, 2015:

For some reason, I was also missing the panel for Wednesday, July 26, 1978, but again....thanks to "Kathy!", here it is:

Thursday, July 27, 1978:

The Mad Hatter shop used to be located in Fantasyland, between Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Peter Pan's Flight.  I took this photo of the Mad Hatter shop, in early 1982.  You can see how accurate Bil Keane was, at replicating the signage for the shop.

Friday, July 28, 1978:

 Saturday, July 29, 1978:

Please check back each week, throughout the month of July.  I plan to post a "week's worth" of The Family Circus' 1978 visit to Disneyland, every Friday this month!
 

Happy 200th Birthday, America! (1976 Sunday Comics & More)

Thirty-nine years ago, our nation was celebrating it's bicentennial. I recently came across the Sunday Comics section of the Los Angeles Times, dated July 4, 1976. These pages were stored in a box in my mom's garage along with some other bicentennial items that I had saved.

First up is the front page. It's odd that Peanuts and Andy Capp did NOT have a patriotic theme that day, especially when almost all of the other comic strips did.

Here are some highlights from the pages inside:

These commemorative bicentennial Pepsi cans were in the same box as the comics. The can that's been converted into a bank was given to me at a barbershop back in the summer of 1976. The barber had a case of these and was giving them out to his customers. I saved the other can after "emptying" it's contents. This was back when the tabs on top of the soda cans were removable. Just about this time, the tabs started being made to stay on top of the cans in order to reduce litter. As Woodsy Owl used to say, "Give a hoot, don't pollute!"

Last up for today is this bicentennial pressed penny. I don't remember where I got this originally, but I found it in a separate box along with some pressed pennies from Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and Magic Mountain. I will post photos of those in a separate post.

To view a couple pages from the "Long Beach Press Telegram" that are also dated July 4, 1976 (including a vintage Disneyland advertisement) click here: Long Beach Press Telegram - Disneyland Advertisement

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!!!