Flashback – Burbank – 1957

“The rebuilding of the Fred Gurley is coming right along, Walt”

Walt looked over from the storyboards that filled one of the walls. On that side of the room, the Grand Canyon Diorama was laid out scene-by-scene in the same manner as an animated feature. As the story progressed, guests would experience the Canyon starting from early morning, into a thunder and lightning storm, and end with a beautiful sunset. “Yeah, that train was a good find in Louisiana. And, with the open-sided Narragansett passenger cars that face toward the Park, the guests’ll get a better show.” Walt turned back to the storyboard, quiet as his head slowly shook back and forth.

That subtle movement from Walt never bode well for the animators or designers. A quick look went around the assembled group to see who would ask. “Something wrong, Boss?”

Walt’s eyes didn’t leave the colored panels when he finally answered. “I think we can do better. I’ve seen dioramas in museums in Los Angeles and in New York. I’m going to send Claude to Arizona and then we can start again.”

Surprised, the artist/set designer/animator looked up from his notebook. “What!?”

A new set of storyboards covered the wall. Arms folded across his chest, Walt paused in front of one of the panels. “They don’t have turkeys in the Grand Canyon, Claude.”

“Yes, they do, Walt.”

“You saw them.”

“No, but I didn’t see a mountain lion, either. That doesn’t mean they weren’t there. I saw the turkeys in a local museum.”

Silent, his mind always working, Walt moved on to the next rendering.

Later that week, Walt showed the storyboard to a friend who was visiting the Studio. “Say, did you know they had turkeys at the Grand Canyon?”

“They do? I didn’t know that.”

Once his friend was out of the room, Walt turned back to Claude. “I’m still not sure about this. Are you positive there are wild turkeys in the Canyon?”

Knowing his boss, Claude was ready for him this time. “Yep. I called the park superintendent responsible for the Canyon and he said the flocks are on the increase!”

On March 31, 1958, after an elaborate dedication ceremony, the first guests got to travel through the Grand Canyon Diorama. They were treated to a 34-foot high, 306-foot long seamless background that had taken more than 300 gallons of paint and over 80,000 man hours to design, paint and construct at a cost of $435,000. The diorama included mountain lions, deer, mountain sheep, skunks, and various birds—including wild turkeys.

Fullerton Hospital

“Catie, you should have seen all the costumes! As far as I could see, they were just hanging here, waiting. It was awesome!” Peter, for the moment alone with his friend, first told her the exciting part of his story. So far he hadn’t related his mistake, the one that still ate at him. “They have this computer on the wall that they call Wall-E. It tells them where they need to go to get their costume parts. Your mom said they used to have these cards on the wall like baseball cards. Each costume would have its own card and it would list all the different pieces they needed. Now they have Wall-E and sensors.” Aware he was rambling to stall the inevitable, Peter fingered a pink teddy bear propped up on the stand next to her bed. All of the colorful Get Well balloons had been removed after inadvertently wrapping around her IV bag and setting off an alarm.

Before he could continue, her eyes slowly opened. Her forehead creased with confusion, Catie moved her head to stare straight at Peter. Already told this was a common occurrence now, Peter softly patted her hand. “Hi. It’s okay, Catie,” he whispered. “You’re safe. I’m here. I was just telling you…” He broke off when her eyes closed and she drifted back into the less-muddled darkness. With a silent sigh of disappointment, he had to wait a moment before he was able to continue. “I was just about to tell you about my mistake. I really blew it, Catie. I was totally in the wrong building. Costuming doesn’t lead anywhere. But, you probably would have known that, huh?” After a quick glance at the empty door, Peter leaned closer to the bed to finish what he had started to say. “I miss you, Catie. I miss your help and I miss you being there with me. Please wake up so we can work on this together. I know where to go now. Dad helped me figure out the way to get in. But he won’t let me rappel in from the ceiling. Go figure.” At his little joke, a crooked smile turned up the corners of his mouth in the darkness of the room. It faded when he finished what was in his heart. “I…I just wish you were with me.”

Peter moved over to the window to stare into the night sky. Moments later, Wolf came into the room. When he heard the movement, Peter, arms folded across his chest, turned and frowned at his friend. “Don’t say it, Uncle Wolf. I’m not wishing on a star. You already have that song playing over and over in my head every time I look out a window.”

Over by Catie, Wolf’s small smile went unseen. In a soft voice, he spoke to the girl in Lakota, his words low and melodic. When he was done, his hand lightly brushed the hair off her forehead. “Rest up, little one. You’ll be back with us soon.” He looked up to see that Peter still stared at him. The boy’s expression, though, had changed from challenging to curious. “What? Can’t I say good night to her, too, Pete?”

It wasn’t often that someone witnessed the softer side of Wolf. He himself had been on the receiving end, but it still intrigued him. Biting back a grin he knew wouldn’t be appreciated, Peter merely shrugged. “That’s cool. Are you ready to take me home?”

As they walked through the hospital corridors, they quietly discussed Peter’s next move.

“I still don’t see why I can’t…”

“No.”

Peter glanced at his friend. “No what? You don’t even know what I was…”

“You are not going to rappel into the building.”

A smile passed Peter’s lips. “I still don’t see…”

“Besides the fact that it’s extremely dangerous? You do know that the Diorama building is four stories tall, right? Even if rappelling was the only way to get in—which it’s not—you would have to know exactly the right spot to enter the roof or you’d be in the wrong part of the room.” Wolf knew Peter had just been trying to push his buttons. He had to add one of his own. “You’d never have enough time. Though it would be fun to see you dangling in the air twenty feet from the roof when the next train went by. You were given two other options to get in. I assume you picked the more difficult of the two?”

“Two? Dad only told me about the way in through the building on the Tomorrowland side.” Peter heard an amused snort.

“Figures.”

“What?” Peter couldn’t make out what Wolf had just mumbled. “Mom’s going with me Saturday. Did you want to help me, too?”

“I have to work.” And keep an eye on you.

Peter let it go. He had something more interesting on his mind. When they reached Wolf’s car, Peter had to ask. “So, what did you say to Catie? I only understood a couple of the words.”

Wolf slid behind the steering wheel. “I just told her you were turning into Jiminy Cricket.”

“Hey!”

His amused smile hidden as he checked his side mirror, Wolf had one more question for the eager boy. “So, you figured out what to do about the Intruder Camera in the Diorama?”

“Camera? What camera??”

Disneyland

Kimberly and Peter pushed through a cast member-only door near the Redd Rocket Pizza Port and headed behind the buildings that led to Space Mountain. “Okay, Peter, we’re almost there. Now, when we get to the right building,” she started to kid but then broke off. A glance to her side showed Peter, focused solely on the mission ahead, had missed the intended humor. She could have danced a jig and he wouldn’t have noticed. “Cast Health is on the second floor.” With an inconspicuous gesture she indicated a plain brown door as they walked passed it. “There’s your door. You’ll need to get in and out as quickly as you can.”

“I know, Mom.” Realizing he had been abrupt, he felt he should add something. “You think a headache is enough of a reason to go to Cast Health?”

“I got to know the nurse pretty well when I was expecting your brothers. We’re due for a nice chat. I’m just hoping she’s working on a Saturday. The headache is just in case I’m questioned.”

Peter absently nodded as his mind returned to the task ahead. As his mom entered the long, gray building, he knew the music from the towering Observatron in the middle of Tomorrowland would fade away for her. For him, the blaring, soaring music was part of the mosaic of background sounds from the Park. Peter’s goal was at the end of the tunnel nearest the Tomorrowland train station. The Hopi ruins were the first of the features the guests would see when the train started through the Grand Canyon Diorama. This unmarked brown door at the top of a short flight of cement stairs was at least at the correct end of the tunnel.

Peter mentally went over the bits of information he had gathered in his second and third rounds of research. Safe behind glass, safe from any items guests might have attempted to throw into the depths of the display, the attraction required little maintenance. The long room was air conditioned and the climate was held at seventy-four degrees—a measure that also kept the glass windows from fogging over. Thanks to special lighting, the carefully-painted backdrop hadn’t faded in all the years it was on exhibition. With an ingenious dust precipitator, the animals preserved inside needed only minimal care now and then. The tree trunks and evergreens were real plants. Following Walt’s instructions, they had all been hung upside down for a year to preserve them and retain their unique shapes. The lightning effects were carefully monitored so no burned-out bulb spoiled the illusion of early morning light or a summer storm or the finale of a beautiful sunset. Because of this care and attention, Peter felt only a few access doors inside would be needed—doors that could only be reached after getting past the Intruder Camera.

Peter pulled out his phone and brought up a favorite game. After setting it on Pause, he returned it to his pocket, ready to go. After a quick glance to the right and left, his heart hammering, he brought out the other item in his pocket: his treasured Key to Disneyland. Seeing no one in the vicinity, he was now ready to try the first part of his vague plan. Waiting until he heard one of the trains pass through the tunnel, he ran up the stairs to the brown door. Trying to time it in his mind, he didn’t want to open the door too early in case some unwelcome light flooded that part of the display. A quick-thinking conductor might call in the incongruity and stop his plan before it really got started. When he felt it was all right, he unlocked the door, pushed it all the way open, and immediately slammed it shut again. Running back down the stairs, he positioned himself a ways down from the door and checked his watch. With a nonchalant air that belied his sweaty palms, he pulled out the game, leaned back against a rail and started to play, loud pinging and ringing bells obvious.

Within three minutes, a custodian and an unknown security guard came hurrying up the walkway. After a perfunctory glance at Peter, they hurried up the stairs and entered the Diorama. The two men did a thorough search inside the vast room. When they came out five minutes later, they were obviously confused. The security guard came up to Peter who, like most kids these days, he thought, seemed to be engrossed in something on his phone.

“Excuse me. Have you been here a while? Did you by chance see anyone go inside that brown door?”

“Huh?” Peter assumed a confused air. “Where? What door? Oh, that one? Uh, no, I didn’t see anyone. Where does it go?”

His last question was ignored. The guard looked over at the custodian and shrugged before turning back to Peter. “You’re positive? No one came out of there?”

“I’m just waiting for my mom. She went into Cast Health and made me stay out here.”

“Okay, then. Thanks.” The guard returned to the custodian, their voices low as they walked away.

Peter heard the words “malfunction” and “bug.” He smiled. The plan had worked so far.

When enough time had elapsed for the two men to get back to wherever they were going, Peter repeated his actions. Only this time, after he ran down the stairs, he hid out of sight but still in view of the door.

The same two men responded to the alarm from inside the Diorama. When they were done with their inspection, they were perplexed. There was no one inside and no sign of any entry. Nothing had been touched or moved. “It has to be a bug in the system, Rob. Do you think we should shut it down and get the camera checked?”

“Good idea.” The custodian made the call and then lowered his two-way radio. “I just had the alarm shut off. We can’t be running back here every five minutes until it gets fixed. But, the bad news is that the tech guys won’t be here for at least an hour.” Rob looked around at the area with a critical eye. “There isn’t much traffic back here. It should be alright until they get here.”

“I don’t see that kid anywhere, either. He and his mom must have left.”

Rob slapped the guard on the shoulder. “We did what we could, Ken. Let’s get back to work.”

From his hidden nook, Peter watched until the men were out of sight. Having heard every word, he knew how much time he had. With a confident, cocky smile on his face, he slipped inside the cool room.

From his low vantage point at the bottom of the painted canvas, he looked up to see the edges of the adobe-colored plaster bricks that formed the Hopi homes. Supposed to be ruins, the rounded dwellings were incomplete, jagged. Portions of wooden stick ladders, held together by rope, were part of the authentic-looking display. A short one stuck out of the roof of a square building. Another, longer ladder came up behind the first ruin. Peter was extremely pleased and relieved to see that the longer ladder was a real one. Metal at the bottom, it was, thanks to the magic of Imagineering, finished off at the top to look like wood.

Relaxed, thinking he had plenty of time, he looked all the way across at the uneven top to guess which animal was where. A strong desire came over him to run down to the far end of the Diorama to check and see if the snow really was ground-up Styrofoam. But, after a glance at his watch, he found he had already wasted five minutes gawking. “Better safe than sorry.” Grabbing the sides of the ladder, he slowly started to climb the metal rungs.

At the top, he cautiously peered over the ragged edges of the bricks. When there was no train car full of passengers to stare back at him, he finished the ascent. Knowing Walt’s way of making everything sturdy, he didn’t hesitate to climb over the parapet and onto the rough surface of the ruins. Built with varying heights normal to the time period, Peter had to be careful where he stepped. Tripping over a rough brick and tumbling back down to the bottom of the Canyon was not what he wanted to do.

Standing there with hands on hips, he had to decide which building would be best to explore first. The rounded, open-topped structure was intriguing, but he would be in view of the passing trains. The one that Peter felt was most promising was a ruin that had been built into the side wall. It was the most secluded place, the seemingly perfect spot for Walt to have hidden a clue. All he had to do was get through the window and hope there was a solid floor on the other side.

With only four minutes before the next train would pass by, he carefully walked a few steps to test the strength of the rectangular window. When he found it didn’t even wobble, he gave a slight jump and pulled himself through. To his relief there was a solid concrete floor. Now he had to find Walt’s clue.

Suddenly he heard the whistle of the train as it set off from the Tomorrowland Station. The train passengers would only have time for a quick view of the old Skyway terminal’s location and the back storage buildings before they headed into the first tunnel. What he didn’t want them to see was him crouching inside that first brick dwelling. As he waited out the slow train, his back pressed against the wall, he saw flashes of light from hopeful guests attempting to get a photograph of the Canyon. Having tried that himself, he knew they would only be rewarded with pictures of the camera’s flash due to the glass dividers. Eyes ever moving around the small area, his noticed something engraved on the base of the window sill. Still down out of sight, he edged over to the brick-like material and smiled. WED. There was his indicator.

As the last car, the luxurious Lilly Belle, inched out of sight, Peter’s hands were inching over the rough surface around and below those initials. Near the bottom, off to the left side, was a loose plaster brick. Silently congratulating himself, Peter carefully pulled the orange brick out of its home and set it aside so he could reach inside.

He found nothing. “What? Really? Oh, come on.” Frowning, he got down on the ground to peer inside the dark hole as best as he could in the soft orange light. What he could see was probably the side of the frame of the viewing window and a wall. Trying again, stretched as far as his arm could go, he could only feel the wall. There was no capsule or container or even a scrap of left-over wood.

Pulling his arm back out of the hole, Peter leaned against the wall as he tried to think. “Why isn’t there another clue? Did someone else find it? Wouldn’t Wolf have known if something was wrong? Did I miss the real spot?”

Feeling like he must have missed something, Peter leapt to his feet. Even more carefully he examined the rest of the small room, especially the area he had been leaning against. “Hey, that’s a door! Shoot. How come I didn’t see it when I came in?” He ran his fingers over the simple latch. The lock would be on the other side. “Well, I know how I’m getting out of here, anyway. Sheesh. This must have been what Wolf was hinting at. Coulda just told me.”

With a disgusted shake of his head, he decided to search one of the other little buildings. “How long ago did that train go by? Shoot, I forgot to time it. Now I’ll have to wait for the next one.”

To kill some time, he picked up the brick to return it to its home. As he fingered the rough surface of the face, he found the back was relatively smooth. “Shoulda known it wasn’t a real brick. Not sure what it was made…”

Flipping it over, his eyes wide, Peter’s mumbling stopped. On the back of the brick was some engraving. He ran his fingers over the carefully-formed words:

“Mind Thy Head – 1787

Look out bellows!”