Disney Declassified: Tales of Real Life Disney Scandals, Sex, Accidents and Deaths (7 page)

Now living in this country permanently, he began his artistic conquest again, initially as a hobby. Scharff, interested in mosaics since childhood, started to create chests, desks, and lamps all inlaid with mosaic designs. The hobby eventually became a way to support himself. He opened a small studio in New York City where he gained a following. By the mid 1950s he relocated across the country to Los Angeles and started selling his work commercially. Scharff created tables for Disneyland, fountains at Los Angeles City Hall and UCLA, along with swimming pools in Vegas. His work continued not only through the state of California but the country.

In 1971, one of Scharff’s masterpieces was created at Walt Disney World’s Cinderella Castle. The five murals at the castle measure 15-feet high by 10-feet wide. They feature millions of pieces of hand cut Italian glass with authentic gold and silver, all placed by hand. They capture several scenes from Cinderella and aren’t the only work by Scharff at Walt Disney World. He created another mosaic for the Land Pavilion at EPCOT.

Hanns Scharff passed away in 1992, the same year a book came out which spoke of another piece of Nazi artwork that supposedly took up residence at Walt Disney World—the key word here is supposedly.

In a mural at Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian Resort, there is a scene that is supposed to depict a Great Gatsby-type theme, as the artist claims. It was about “rich people in the good old days;” the people were depicted as happy and prosperous. One of the scenes was a street scene, where a well-dressed couple is conversing in front of a hotel. On the balcony floor of the hotel above them in the background is a man who is dressed in a dark uniform. The artist claims this man is a Nazi SS storm trooper.

Allegedly, the Nazi is the artist's comment on the world at the time. Here are these folks living it up, while the Nazi party was running rough shod over Europe. Now, this story comes from a book named
Sabotage In The American Workplace
:
Anecdotes of Dissatisfaction, Mischief and Revenge
. The book is a collection of stories about people doing exactly what the title implies. The only problem is there is really no way to substantiate or verify just about anything in the book. The book tells stories and then merely puts the person's first name and their occupation. The above story about the Nazi mural was by “Harvey,” a mural painter, not the most reliable source; nonetheless, it is an interesting story. Perhaps you can lump this tale into the other Disney urban legends of Walt Disney being cryogenically frozen and the hearse in front of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion belonging to Brigham Young.

Being an eternal optimist, we can’t end the chapter with a group of negative stories; there’s still an entire book left for that. So let’s highlight a few good deeds and close out Mickey Mania with a few Disney-inspired stories that pull on the heartstrings a bit.

 Five-year-old Bryce and four-year-old Dorothy met in 2012 at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona. They were both undergoing chemotherapy for their leukemia. The two became instant buddies and shared a strong bond, beyond their illness. Bryce really wanted to go to Walt Disney World, so he asked the Make a Wish Foundation if he could go and bring his friend Dorothy along so they could enjoy the trip together. In December of 2013, that wish came true and the two took a trip down to Orlando to visit with Mickey and had the time of their young lives. 

In another story, if you can’t get down to Disney to watch a parade, how about having the parade come to you? An even better option is to have the parade feature and honor you. This is what happened to five-year-old Claire, from Dickinson, Texas, who really got the royal treatment, and she deserved it.

Little Claire loves the Disney princesses. She received a surprise in February of 2014 when her town threw a princess parade to honor her. Claire has a rare form of cancer called alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. The cancer causes malignant cells to form in muscle tissue, and there is no known cure.

Hundreds of people went out to honor the town’s princess. Claire had no idea what was in store for her until women dressed as Cinderella and Snow White knocked on her front door. Next, she was whisked away by her father to see what the fuss was all about. Outside of her house she saw a red carpet, covered in rose petals, which led to a horse-drawn carriage. Claire and her parents threw on their royal attire (Claire dressed as Belle from
Beauty and the Beast)
and went
on their parade. The Texas City High School's cheerleaders and marching band cheered them on, as nearly 1,000 people lined the streets and participated in the two-hour parade. Claire was having such a good time she did several laps.

A touching story for a little girl who during her forty-two weeks of chemotherapy never cried or acted sad, she always maintained a positive attitude and even looked forward to seeing her doctors every week. "I haven't been feeling good," Claire told KHOU News in Houston about her cancer battle. "I have tubes in my sides. And I had my hair in a knot. But they gave me shots, and they have to give me some medicine. They were trying to just make me feel better, but it really hurt."

Not all Disney—or real life—stories end happily ever after. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to try.

 Lights, Camera, Accident!

In September of 2006, Disneyland adopted a six-year-old German Shepherd Labrador Retriever mix named Hemmingway. The pooch was put to work at the Big Thunder Petting Zoo. Two weeks into his job, Hemmingway mauled the face of a two-year old girl who was petting him. Disney settled out of court days before the trial.

The pilgrimage to Walt Disney World and Disneyland for millions of people around the world is a happy, relaxing family-centric experience. There are, however, a very minute percentage of people who unfortunately have different views of the “happiest place on earth.” For these folks, a Disney park is anything but a nostalgic or fantastic dreamland. Instead it’s actually a nightmare, a place of sorrow, accidents or negligence—not all of which are Disney’s fault.

The tragedy and loss of life within the confines of a Disney theme park can’t help but make you look at the wonderful world of Disney with a different perspective. Which is certainly something that may happen to you after reading these next few chapters.

Unfortunately, no one is immune to an accident in his or her everyday life. Accidents and incidents are not avoided just people because they are on vacation. As the top family vacation destination in the world, no place has more of a focus on them than Disney, especially when it comes to accidents, crimes, and death.

In the heavily-regulated society that we live in today, most people are surprised to learn that there are no uniform safety standards at the federal level in regards to the large theme parks across the country, and the parks would like to keep it that way. There is the Consumer Product Safety Commission that oversees traveling amusements like fairs and carnivals, but permanent theme and amusement parks are self-governing in regards to federal oversight. At the state level, things are different, yet similar. California and Florida have state agencies. In California it is the Department of Industrial Relations. In Florida it’s the Department of Agriculture—Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection.

The Florida agency inspects all rides of permanent or temporary nature, except for theme parks that have more than 1,000 employees and their own full-time inspectors. Obviously, Walt Disney World falls into the exempt category here; however, in 2002, Disney and the other major theme parks in the state entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Florida Department of Agriculture. The MOU requires quarterly reporting of any serious ride-related injuries and immediate reporting of fatalities. The MOU also performs biannual site visits, consultations, and reviews of the safety programs at Florida's permanent amusement facilities.

Over in California, home to Disneyland, the park was also self-governing for safety from 1955 until 1999. In 2000, a Theme Park Inspection bill—California's Permanent Amusement Ride Safety Law—was enacted allowing for the state’s Department of Industrial Relations to annually inspect permanent theme parks; thus, Disneyland is inspected by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health that performs ride inspections, operational and documentation audits, along with maintaining public reports on any accident requiring more than first aid.

Regardless of the state or federal involvement, when it comes to safety, the house of mouse’s reputation and business model relies heavily on safety. An accident or tragic event hits the media and, regardless of cause, brings unwanted publicity onto their theme parks; hence, Disney has a pretty thorough and detailed safety protocol for their attractions. According to Disney’s executive vice president for facilities and operations management, “you take care of the attraction like your family goes on every ride.”

With that in mind, Disney spends hours each night inspecting every ride after the park closes. Once the last guest is gone, maintenance crews descend on each attraction. The crews perform inspections of ride vehicles and tracks based upon Disney’s daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly maintenance checklist. They look for wear and potential mechanical problems. The ride engineers and maintenance workers perform their tasks, and by the end of their shift, just mere hours before thousands descend on the parks again, the attractions are powered up and run through their paces again before any guests can climb aboard. All of this preventive and corrective maintenance equates to roughly 1,000 daily hours of inspection time, on all attractions.

Disney’s diligences with safety, along with many of their cohorts in the industry are doing a commendable job. Just take a look at the numbers: you have a better chance of being seriously injured by a bee sting (1 in 79,842), being struck by lightening (1 in 34,906), or mauled by a dog (1 in 144,899) than being seriously injured on a ride at a theme park.

According to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions  (IAAPA), the chance of being seriously injured on a ride at a fixed-site park in the U.S. is 1 in 24 million. In 2012, of the 1,415 ride-related injuries, 61, or less than 5%, required some form of overnight treatment at a hospital. Pretty remarkable if you think about how many millions upon millions of people attend amusement parks around the country every year.

As we know, accidents do happen, and not every accident at Disney has to do with vacationing. Many of the accidents on Disney property happen on the job.  For many, and just ask a cast member the next time you’re at a park, working for Disney is a dream come true. They love their job and the environment. Aside from being entertaining, the parks are complex, chaotic, and a mechanical labyrinth with many details to be aware of.  Oftentimes, people lose sight of this, things go awry and accidents ensue, or shall I say, people sue. 

When an employee gets hurt at a Disney park, it is national news. The same can’t always be said for other workplace accidents, although injuries or fatalities do happen every day at work somewhere in this country. According to OSHA, in 2012, twelve deaths happen each workday in America; it’s just much more newsworthy when things happen at Disney.

 Many of the accidents, incidents, and deaths to guests on Disney property are not always Disney’s fault. As history has revealed, there was often negligence or unknown pre-existing medical conditions that unfortunately were exasperated by a ride. Before we dive in, first and foremost, condolences to the families affected.

Let's take a look at some of the accidents over the years. First stop, the place that started it all, Disneyland. Disneyland opened in Anaheim in 1955, fifteen years before the United States government created Occupational Safety Health Act, known as OSHA. Just four years after the opening, another Disney innovation made its debut, the Matterhorn Bobsleds.

The Matterhorn was revolutionary for theme park rides. Instead of using wooden tracks, as all roller coaster rides had relied on for decades, the Matterhorn utilized metal tubes as the track. With metal being malleable, it allowed for a tighter, faster and smoother ride. It set the standard for thousands of tubular steel coasters around the world. Unfortunately, the Matterhorn also has the dubious distinction of being a part of the first fatality in Disneyland’s history.

In May of 1964, Mark, a fifteen-year-old boy from Long Beach, California, was riding the Matterhorn. As his bobsled approached the apex, the young man stood up and was subsequently ejected from the sled he was riding in. Mark was found lying on a ledge about three feet from the coaster's track, about a third of the way down the mountain. Investigators determined, for reasons unknown, that Mark unfastened his seat belt and then stood up.

At the time, there was speculation that his actions were part of initiation into a private club or some sort of hazing. The other belief and more realistic one was that it was “horseplay” as Mark and his friends were quite rambunctious in the queue, joking around and screaming. Unfortunately, due to the injuries suffered, Mark passed away several days later in the hospital. The investigators deemed his death accidental.  

Regretfully, the Matterhorn was the scene for another accident twenty years later in January of 1984. This time it took the life of a forty-eight-year-old woman, Dolly of Fremont, California. Dolly was riding the bobsled with her friends. They were in the front and Dolly was in the back by herself. When her trip on the Matterhorn started, her seatbelt was fastened. When police investigators witnessed the accident scene, her seatbelt was open, obviously as she was ejected from the sled. When Dolly fell from the ride and landed on the tracks, she was hit by another sled and pinned underneath it. Dolly was pronounced dead at the scene, giving Disneyland their seventh fatality in nearly thirty years and 230 million visitors. 

The same month and year the Matterhorn made its debut at Disneyland so did another legendary Disney attraction, the Disneyland Monorail in June of 1959. The first of its kind in North America, the futuristic transportation was one of Walt’s favorites. Disney didn’t invent the concept of the elevated train with rubber tires traversing a concrete beam, but Walt always had an affinity for anything having to do with trains. With the monorail concept, Walt envisioned this mode of transportation all over the country. Today, the concept is utilized all over the world, just not to the degree Walt believed it could be. Despite its overall lack of popularity around the globe, Walt’s own monorail did gain worldwide notoriety.