Read Online Uncle John’s Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader by Bathroom Readers’ Institute - Free Book Online Page B

In 1954, ground was broken in an Anaheim orange grove.
    OPENING DAY
    In the wake of its enormous success, people have forgotten that Disneyland’s opening day was a disaster. Nearly 33,000 people—twice as many as the number invited—packed the park with the help of forged tickets and surreptitiously placed ladders. Not all the rides were operational, and the restaurants ran out of food after a few hours. In some parts of the park, concrete and asphalt hadn’t hardened properly, and women walked out of their high-heel shoes.
    Also, there had been a plumber’s strike during construction, and there weren’t enough drinking fountains. The press thought it was a ploy to get visitors to purchase soft drinks. What they didn’t know was that, in order to be ready for opening day, Walt had to choose between installing toilets or drinking fountains.
    Thanks to nationwide TV coverage emceed by Ronald Reagan, the entire country learned of the mess. The next day’s headlines read, “Walt’s Dream A Nightmare,” and Disney seemed to agree: For the rest of his life he referred to opening day as “Black Sunday.”
    LAND OF ILLUSIONS
    When Uncle Walt bought the property for Disneyland in Anaheim in the early 1950s, he couldn’t afford to buy all the land he wanted. So, in order to fit everything in, he used movie makers’ tricks to make everything look bigger.
    One trick was to use things that are familiar, but make them smaller than normal. Unless you look carefully and measure with your eyes, you’ll assume, for instance, that the Disneyland train is normal size. It isn’t. It is built to 5/8 scale. Many of the Disney buildings use the same trick, but that’s just the beginning.
    If you look carefully at some of the Disney buildings, especially those on Main Street, you’ll notice there’s something a little odd about them. They are not only smaller than normal, but their second and third stories are smaller still. This is known in art and in movie making as “forced perspective.” By tapering the upper stories, the designers fool your eye into believing that they are bigger and taller than they really are.
    The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head.
    This is done especially skillfully on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, even to the point that the bricks get smaller and smaller with each level.
    In making Disney World this was less of a problem, because by that time the company could afford to buy an area bigger than most cities. It used many of the same tricks, but on an even bigger scale.
    DISNEYLAND DEATHS
    According to an article in Egg magazine, at least 53 people have died at Disneyland. According to Egg :
    • The first Disney death was apparently a suicide: In 1964, after an argument with his girlfriend, a passenger on the Matterhorn stood up on the ride and was catapulted onto the tracks when his car came to a sudden stop. He never regained consciousness, and died four days later.
    • The Matterhorn killed again in 1984, when a 48-year-old woman fell out of the ride and was struck by the following car. (For the rest of the day the Matterhorn was closed due to “technical difficulties.”)
    • Two people have been killed in accidents in Tomorrowland’s PeopleMover ride, two others drowned in the river surrounding Tom Sawyer’s Island. Another person was run down by the Monorail when he tried to sneak into the park without paying; and a park employee was crushed by a moving wall in the “America Sings” attraction.
    • The park’s first homicide occurred in 1981, when a man was stabbed after touching another man’s girlfriend. (Disneyland was found negligent in the death and fined $600,000 after a park nurse neglected to call paramedics—and instead had the victim driven to the hospital in a park van.)
    • Not all of Disneyland’s deaths happen inside the park: In 1968, 44 people were killed in two separate helicopter accidents traveling between Disneyland and Los Angeles International