07/17/2015
Need a little perseverance inspiration today? Did you know that so many disasters happened on Disneyland's opening day that Walt labeled the day "Black Sunday"? Take a look at just some of the many problems that plagued the park that day.
•The press had a field day with the problems calling opening day a "fiasco" as well as writing that "Walt's Dream is a nightmare". Many even went as far as to predict Disneyland's speedy demise.
•Fifteen thousand guests had been invited to the opening ceremonies that day, but because of a glut of counterfeited tickets, nearly twice as many showed up—inundating the park and creating massive traffic jams on the Anaheim Freeway.
•Since the attendance was double what had been expected, the park quickly ran out of food!
•The sheer mass of people loading onto Mark Twain’s Riverboat nearly caused it to capsize.
•A plumbers’ strike had forced Disney to make a choice between working bathrooms or running drinking fountains—thus, toilets flushed, but the lack of water left people parched and cranky in the blistering 101-degree heat.
•So scorching were the temperatures that the recently paved Main Street became a gurgling tarry mess that literally sucked off shoes Rides were failing all around the park
•A gas leak forced the closure of Fantasyland.
•To make matters even worse, the entire disaster was being televised live and viewed by nearly 90 million people.
•The star-studded extravaganza, featured Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings, and Art Linkletter as emcees, but various glitches and miscues while they were on camera, only made the fiasco more apparent. In one mortifying instance on camera, actor Fess Parker, who played the rugged Davy Crockett in movies and on television, was described as “the lovely Cinderella” as he led a parade down Main Street.
A lesser man might have been crushed by such a dismal day, but with all the pluck of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney forged ahead. Just three months later, Disneyland greeted its one millionth guest and went on to become the grandfather of an empire of theme parks, world renowned for their efficiency, cleanliness, and fun— and all with working drinking fountains.
Moral of the story: No matter what obstacles you may face along the way, don't ever give up on your dreams!
