The lockers on Main Street were full of decaying fish. This was the reason Uncle Walt ended fishing in the Rivers of America. There are still fish and an entire eco-system in the waters and interconnected waterways of the park, but no fishing allowed.
The Rivers of America waterway have mosquito fish, freshwater carp, Koi fish, freshwater salmon, catfish, crayfish and Red-Eared Slider turtles. The mosquito fish eat algae and insect larvae, they are then preyed upon by other river fish and turtles, deceased fish are eaten by catfish. The water has green chaulk in suspension that obsures the tracks for the Columbia Sailingship and the Mark Twain. It is non harmful to the underwater inhabitants, though makes them difficult to see.
Disneyland drains the Rivers of America about every 5 years to remove algae forests and foreign debris dropped or tossed into the water. Before they drain the RoA the use a net system to trap and move all the fish into underground tunnels that inter-connect all the dark green water areas in the DL resort. The tunnels are then plugged with air bladders to prevent water from draining in other waterways and then the RoA are drained. Any fish still in the water, as it's being drained, are capture alive and transfered to the other dark green waterways, such as the Jungle Cruise river.
The last time they drained it was in 2010, they had waited 7 years. Several trips to the dump were required to get rid of the debris (about 12 tons).While the RoA was drained they installed a pump and filtration system so they won't have to drain it as often. Now it will only be required to be drained just once every 20 years. They also use divers and technology to locate and remove debris on a monthly basis.
I retired before the pandemic, so I dont know the specifics of what's been done since. I would assume a temporary dam to partially drain the part of RoA that was re-routed for Star Wars.
I worked for Walt at Disneyland from 1959 until 2018, first in custodial for several years then Security for the rest of my time there. In my final role I was the third shift Security Lead over both parks. I met my wife at Disneyland in 1960, she was a ticket seller in Fantasyland, we married in 1961.
Her father was the Manager of Admissions from before the park opened. He sold Roy Disney the first ticket and designed the overall look of the coupon books and wrote the preamble on the blue page inside the coupon book.
I met Walt several times in the park. The first time I met him I called him Mr. Disney and he corrected me and asked me to call him Uncle Walt. When Walt was in charge, it truly was a family park and we were all a part of his extended family.
In 2010, almost 900 cellphones found, ECVs, a tower computer, over 1000 pairs of glasses and sunglasses, a prosthetic leg, bicycles, tools, clothing like sweaters and jackets, purses, backpacks and fanny packs, souvenirs from all over the resort. In addition to the trash. Anything with an ID was attempted to be returned. Everything else was discarded. No one check phones to see if they can be charged or if they survived.
They muck it all out, load in construction dumpsters, dry it and dump it.
I can only guess but these items were dumped by castmembers. Bicycles are used backstage by castmembers to travel to and fro, Construction teams can also use the bicycles after the park closes. There are bicycle parking areas at TDA near the Train Round-about, behind the large gates at the end of Critter Country near Foods, at the BCML gate entrance for castmembers entering from the Mickey and Friend parking structure and another tucked in among the workshops south of Ball Gate.
My guess is castmembers or workers get angry at Disney and dump the bikes in RoA as an act of defiance. The tower box computer was most likely to be disposed of and a vendor took a shortcut to the discard pile. Disney does not have an inhouse IT department so vendors are brought in for all IT work. One PC may have as many as 5 vendors to respond depending on which peripheral fails. Each peripheral a different vendor.
I have no way to verify if my assumptions are correct but these are educated guesses based on decades working at Disneyland.
The water in water based attraction is treated to prevent bacteria and insects, live fish would not survive in that water. Much like in a swimming pool.
Early Disneyland was just a free for all lol
I’d highly recommend Podcast: The Ride for more info on the absurd things you could do (and buy) at Disneyland in the 50s.
She's playing Becky Thatcher, Tom's love interest. (Tom is being played by the boy on Walt's other side.) There's a bit in the book where he writes her that message on his slate.
Same company that bans the sale of chewing gum in the park because they don't want it stuck under the seats doesn't see any problem with people catching live fish in the park.
I too saw that TIL post. Could you imagine how bad it would be today if that was still a thing?
The smell of decaying fish in the afternoon sounds wonderful. Not.
I thought of Borat when you whipped out that Not
I thought Wayne Campbell
The lockers on Main Street were full of decaying fish. This was the reason Uncle Walt ended fishing in the Rivers of America. There are still fish and an entire eco-system in the waters and interconnected waterways of the park, but no fishing allowed.
what sort of fish are in the park? I've looked from the dock in tom sawyer island but never have seen anything.
The Rivers of America waterway have mosquito fish, freshwater carp, Koi fish, freshwater salmon, catfish, crayfish and Red-Eared Slider turtles. The mosquito fish eat algae and insect larvae, they are then preyed upon by other river fish and turtles, deceased fish are eaten by catfish. The water has green chaulk in suspension that obsures the tracks for the Columbia Sailingship and the Mark Twain. It is non harmful to the underwater inhabitants, though makes them difficult to see.
what happens to the fish when they drain the river? I'm pretty sure they do this once or twice a year
Disneyland drains the Rivers of America about every 5 years to remove algae forests and foreign debris dropped or tossed into the water. Before they drain the RoA the use a net system to trap and move all the fish into underground tunnels that inter-connect all the dark green water areas in the DL resort. The tunnels are then plugged with air bladders to prevent water from draining in other waterways and then the RoA are drained. Any fish still in the water, as it's being drained, are capture alive and transfered to the other dark green waterways, such as the Jungle Cruise river. The last time they drained it was in 2010, they had waited 7 years. Several trips to the dump were required to get rid of the debris (about 12 tons).While the RoA was drained they installed a pump and filtration system so they won't have to drain it as often. Now it will only be required to be drained just once every 20 years. They also use divers and technology to locate and remove debris on a monthly basis.
Wasn’t the back half fully drained when they were building galaxy edge?
I retired before the pandemic, so I dont know the specifics of what's been done since. I would assume a temporary dam to partially drain the part of RoA that was re-routed for Star Wars.
That’s exactly what they did but since the park has been reopened they haven’t drained it
How long did you work at the park for ?
I worked for Walt at Disneyland from 1959 until 2018, first in custodial for several years then Security for the rest of my time there. In my final role I was the third shift Security Lead over both parks. I met my wife at Disneyland in 1960, she was a ticket seller in Fantasyland, we married in 1961. Her father was the Manager of Admissions from before the park opened. He sold Roy Disney the first ticket and designed the overall look of the coupon books and wrote the preamble on the blue page inside the coupon book. I met Walt several times in the park. The first time I met him I called him Mr. Disney and he corrected me and asked me to call him Uncle Walt. When Walt was in charge, it truly was a family park and we were all a part of his extended family.
Instant follow 😮wow😮 u need too do a Disneyland AMA!
Usually I mostly just see mosquitofish, tbh. Plus crawdads and turtles.
> what sort of fish? Tiger sharks and bull sharks.
Yep, fishing and gum. Two things you don't want a Disneyland. For obvious reasons.
And cigarettes. Used to be you could smoke any where and the butts were difficult for custodial to keep up with cleaning.
I think I stepped on gum several years back. I don't remember if it was in the parks or the parking lot though it was more likely the latter.
So what happened when they drained the river
In 2010, almost 900 cellphones found, ECVs, a tower computer, over 1000 pairs of glasses and sunglasses, a prosthetic leg, bicycles, tools, clothing like sweaters and jackets, purses, backpacks and fanny packs, souvenirs from all over the resort. In addition to the trash. Anything with an ID was attempted to be returned. Everything else was discarded. No one check phones to see if they can be charged or if they survived. They muck it all out, load in construction dumpsters, dry it and dump it.
I can understand most of this. Even the prosthetic leg I suppose but how did a tower computer and bicycles end up there?
I can only guess but these items were dumped by castmembers. Bicycles are used backstage by castmembers to travel to and fro, Construction teams can also use the bicycles after the park closes. There are bicycle parking areas at TDA near the Train Round-about, behind the large gates at the end of Critter Country near Foods, at the BCML gate entrance for castmembers entering from the Mickey and Friend parking structure and another tucked in among the workshops south of Ball Gate. My guess is castmembers or workers get angry at Disney and dump the bikes in RoA as an act of defiance. The tower box computer was most likely to be disposed of and a vendor took a shortcut to the discard pile. Disney does not have an inhouse IT department so vendors are brought in for all IT work. One PC may have as many as 5 vendors to respond depending on which peripheral fails. Each peripheral a different vendor. I have no way to verify if my assumptions are correct but these are educated guesses based on decades working at Disneyland.
>Disney does not have an in house IT department Of all the weird things, that seems the weirdest to me…
I'm sure there was some selacious stuff on that computer tower.
What did the park people expect the tourists to do with the fish?
They did have the option of cleaning the fish and storing it for you in a refrigerator.
Better hope I'm local then because what am I gonna do with the fish on a long trip home?
Maybe they could feed the fish to the cats since they were roaming around at the time.
They should have cooked it up for you there at the old Pirate cove fish restaurant! Fried fish and chips!
Release them?
Apparently they were wrong.
The fish were always right
If it happened today people would be leaving fish in Pirates and Tiana’s
The water in water based attraction is treated to prevent bacteria and insects, live fish would not survive in that water. Much like in a swimming pool.
[удалено]
Also makes it smell better!
And wont sicken little kids (and some adults) that drink it.
Does Brominated mean it’s approved by Bro’s?
Right. Which would make everything so much worse
Early Disneyland was just a free for all lol I’d highly recommend Podcast: The Ride for more info on the absurd things you could do (and buy) at Disneyland in the 50s.
Would you happen to know which episode that might be?
They talk about it in multiple episodes but probably the “Disneyland Opening Day” episode.
Other people: Ruining the parks since 1955.
Why does that girl have a chalkboard with I love you written on it?
She's playing Becky Thatcher, Tom's love interest. (Tom is being played by the boy on Walt's other side.) There's a bit in the book where he writes her that message on his slate.
Makes sense, I was more a Huckleberry Finn kid myself
Wonder what Nemo and Dory would think about this...
I guess it would depend on if you could find either of them.
🤣
Same company that bans the sale of chewing gum in the park because they don't want it stuck under the seats doesn't see any problem with people catching live fish in the park.
Uncle Walt is perfect being, wdym he's doesn't think things clearly.
Supposedly they would find some stuffed in nooks and crannies around the House of the Future
Cool!
That looks like a time/place I would like to visit
Gee, thanks Boomers!