45 years ago today one of the darkest days in Disneyland's history began harmlessly as a bunch of free spirits had a little too much anti-establishment fun in the park. Supposedly, the spark for this came from the dress code and pro-Vietnam War Bank of America's sponsorship of Disneyland.
The 500 semi-tongue-in-cheek flyers distributed by David Sacks told of the day's agenda:
Black Panther Hot Breakfast: 9am—10am at Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House
Young Pirates League: 11am on Captain Hook’s boat
Women’s Liberation: 12 noon rally to liberate Minnie Mouse in front of Fantasyland
Self Defense Collective: 1pm—2pm at shooting gallery in Frontierland
Mid-Day Feast: 3pm barbecue of Porky Pig
Late in the afternoon Yippies plan to infiltrate and liberate Tom Sawyer’s Island. Declaring a free state, brothers and sisters will then have a smoke-in and festival. Get it on over to Disneyland, August 6. YIPPIE!
As you can see, things began harmlessly enough.
When people at Disneyland got baked, they weren't making bread.
Things took a wrong turn when the establishment got tired of the rebels.
A riot squad on Main Street? Definitely not thematic.
It was a lesson learned by Park management that would hopefully never occur again.
More Yippie Day stories at my main website.
Dave,
ReplyDeleteVan France's book, "Window on Main Street" does a wonderful job of also explaining the happenings of the day. I don't have it in front of me, but it included liberating Tom Sawyer's Island by hoisting the Viet Cong flag over Castle Rock (where your second photo shows the youths). Van said he was to patrol Tom Sawyer's Island and the kids would all yell, "Hark a Narc" as he wandered around. Finally, if I recall, Dick Nunis had, had enough and closed it all down. Everyone felt sorry for the Guests who had been planning their vacations (some for years) only to be met by these Yippie folks.
Always your pal,
Amazon Belle
Happy to see that this infamous event was remembered today. My memories of it as a cast member then remain quite vivid, in particular my girlfriend and I being caught in the middle of a skirmish in the parking lot in stalled traffic attempting to exit through West Street. Having been released early because of the closure, it eventually turned into a great date night. This morning,I flew into Orange County looking out the window at the Disney Resort thinking of that day. BTW, Dick did make the call to shut the place down.
ReplyDeleteKS
Quite a day.
ReplyDelete