Tragic Kingdom - A Death On Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain

Today, we have another post that can be filed under the heading of, "Tragic Kingdom."

Twenty years ago today, a fatal accident occurred on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction.  It was the tenth death in the park's history, and the second in only five years, following an accident in 1998, involving the Columbia Sailing Ship.

Ten other passengers aboard Big Thunder were injured, with nine of them being transferred to local hospitals.

The timeline given below has to be wrong, because if the passengers boarded the ride "about 11 a.m.", it wouldn't have taken 20 minutes for them to reach the second lift, where the passenger cars detached from the engine.

The section labeled, "Accidents Since 1997" (above), reveals just how many incidents had occurred at the park, within only a six-year period.  However, it fails to mention the 6-year old girl who lost two-thirds of her index finger, after getting it caught on a rifle on Tom Sawyer Island (in January of 2001).  It also does not mention the 4-year old boy, who fell off of King Arthur's Carousel, and ended up in the hospital with a concussion.  That accident occurred on the same day as the Columbia incident.  And that last accident listed, mentioning a "double-deck boat" tipping over, is referring to the Mike Fink Keel Boats.  Unfortunately, that attraction never reopened after that incident.

Following this accident, and the one involving the Columbia, there was a lot of finger-pointing at park management, accusing them of making cutbacks to proper employee training and attraction maintenance.  According to Wikipedia, "The cause of the (Big Thunder) accident was determined to be improper maintenance.  Investigation reports and discovery by the victim's attorney, confirmed the fatal injuries occurred when the first passenger car collided with the underside of the locomotive.  The derailment was the result of a mechanical failure, which occurred due to omissions during a maintenance procedure."

For further information on the accident, and the legal settlements that followed, here is an article which also mentions how park management admitted to incorrectly performing maintenance on the attraction.

Incidentally, Cynthia Harriss resigned from her role as President of the Disneyland Resort, just one month after the Big Thunder accident.  The next year, she followed in the footsteps of former chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Paul Pressler, and took a job working for The Gap.  I wonder if she ever gave couch-painting lessons to The Gap employees (as she had done once, during a Disney cast member party).

 

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 Columbia Sailing Ship's Fatal Accident - December 1998

Today's post is another one that can be filed under the heading, "Tragic Kingdom."

Twenty years ago this month, Disneyland's Columbia Sailing Ship was involved in a tragic accident affecting two guests and one cast member. This Los Angeles Times article is from the following day (Christmas Day).

Also mentioned, is a completely separate incident that occurred on the same day. A 4-year old boy fell off of King Arthur's Carousel and ended up in the hospital with a concussion.

This article doesn't mention it, but the man from Duvall, Washington, who was struck in the head was Luan Phi Dawson. Sadly, he was declared brain dead at the hospital and passed away two days later, after being taken off of life support.

This second article (which I believe was from the O.C. Weekly) asks the question, "Did cost-cutting cause Disneyland mishap?" Some Disneyland cast members were reportedly blaming Paul Pressler for the accident. Can we just blame him for everything that was wrong with Disneyland in the 1990's and 2000's?

This Los Angeles Times article is from about a month after the incident:

And this short article was published after the Columbia reopened to the public:

Tragic Kingdom....

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

First up, we have two cartoons from The Los Angeles Times. Both are referencing the measles outbreak that affected more than 140 people here in the U.S. and spread to Canada and Mexico, as well. The outbreak was traced back to Disneyland, with a starting time of December 2014. Four months later, the California Department of Public Health reported that there were no new cases within the U.S. (from this particular outbreak), and that nobody had died. The outbreak sparked a national debate over vaccinations, because most of the people that were affected had not been vaccinated.

This first cartoon is by political cartoonist and illustrator, Ed Hall. I like how he incorporated the Disneyland sign, which used to stand at the entrance of the old Disneyland parking lot from 1989 to 1999.

And this one is by political cartoonist, Tom Meyer. It might be a little difficult to make out, but the back of the mom's T-shirt reads, "Moms Against Vaccines."

Next we have an undated article from The Los Angeles Times. I am guessing that it is from the 1990's, but maybe somebody out there remembers this story and will chime in with the year or at least confirm the decade. (Post Update: Meet The World reader, "Chuck" has posted a comment below with a date of April 16th, 1981, for this incident. Thank you, Chuck!)

I cut out this next article when I was very young. It is one of the two oldest newspaper clippings I have related to Disneyland. I believe it is from around the approximate time period of 1974-1976. I remember cutting it out of my Grandmother's local newspaper, The Daily Breeze, which serves the South Bay area of Southern California. I also think I shared this one during "current events" at school.

This incident is much more recent (May 28, 2013). It turned out to be a Disneyland cast member that had put the dry ice into a bottle and placed it in the trash can.

I decided to include this Knott's Berry Farm Log Ride incident that occurred in 2014 (the article is from 2015).

America Sings Opening & Cast Member Tragedy - 1974

This advertisement (below) for the opening of America Sings is one of the oldest Disneyland newspaper clippings I have. I cut it out of the L.A. Times when I was very young and have saved it all of these years.

America Sings opened on June 29th, 1974. On July 8th, just nine days after the opening, a cast member was crushed to death by the rotating walls inside the attraction. I heard about the incident from kids at school, but I hadn't actually read anything in the paper or seen anything on the news relating to it. I decided to write to Disney News Magazine to ask if the story was true. I received this response back from them. The letter is dated, July 25, 1974, and postmarked the following day.

If you are interested in reading more about this tragic incident, you can click below for a 2010 post from the blog, "Vintage Disneyland Tickets": Vintage Disneyland Tickets - Remembering Deborah

Grad Nite Tragedy at Disneyland - June 1980

The article below appeared in the L.A. Times, following the death of a Grad Nite guest who had climbed out of a PeopleMover vehicle.