travel

So That's Where the Rum Went

Earlier this year, Disneyland, in Anaheim, California began draining the Rivers of America, a large circular river that is home to The Columbia ship, the Mark Twain paddle steamer, and the canoes and keel boats that take passengers across to Tom Sawyer's Island.

It had not been drained, cleaned and overhauled for seven years, so you can imagine the fun the workers probably have finding things that people have lost in the water. Seven years ago, the strangest things they found were a toaster and a bottle of rum.

This year, among the things they found were half of a canoe from Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoe ride, plastic swords, Mardi Gras beads, hundreds of cell phones and walkie talkies, hundreds of baby pacifiers, Mickey "mouse ear" hats, sunglasses, and a PC processor tower. These are all pretty predictable, except the half a canoe (didn't someone notice that half of one was missing? Hope there were no people on board when it went down) and the computer. That had to be an inside job -- some disgruntled park employee.

So far, they've never found a body, but they did find koi from the moat around Sleeping Beauty's castle. The going explanation is that the ducks get the roe stuck to their cute little webbed feet, then fly to the rivers, where they hatch.

I've learned that there are a lot of things found in the river that aren't released to the public. Alligators, watches, jewelry, etc. And in 2003 they found a bowling ball. The treasure from 2003 was much more fun. Shoot! I'd sneak a bottle of rum into the park just to chuck it in for someone to find later! Makes me wonder, though, how much all the coins they found added up to. I should think it was quite a haul.

Steph Waller is an author and composer. Her Rock novel, With a Bullet, which takes places in lat 70s London, is set to be published in Spring 2010. Read more at Incurable Insomniac and StephWaller.com.