Sailing through Disneyland

When I started researching The Stowaway, I became aware of tall ships everywhere. It's been fun to see how much sailing lore still exists in modern culture (as well as annoying to note the inaccuracies in everything from TV shows to video games--oh my, video games).  I recently spent a couple of days in Disneyland, which unsurprisingly turns to be a splendid place for ship-spotting.

Peter Pan's flight was the obvious first stop. There's something rather marvelous about "sailing" over London and Neverland in a tiny ship.

Donald Duck's home is a little ship too, the Miss Daisy, moored in Toon Lake in Mickey's Toontown.

My companion and I were impressed with the full-sized, three-masted replica of the sailing ship Columbia, which turns out to have a link to my research for The Stowaway (as do so many things). In 1790, the Columbia was the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, accompanied by Washington state's own Lady Washington on the first part of the voyage. Captain Robert Gray was the first recorded European to enter the mouth of the Columbia River, which takes its name from the ship.

Columbia has been a Disneyland attraction since 1958. It runs on a gas engine along a track, but does have rigging and sails, though they're rarely unfurled. It now plays the role of the Black Pearl in the Fantasmic! evening show, but for twenty-four years before that played the part of Captain Hook's Jolly Roger. I am, of course, sorry to have missed that.

Belowdecks in Disneyland's version is a galley and officers' quarters, added in 1964, all looking quite accurate to me. The twelve-minute ride around Tom Sawyer's Island doesn't provide quite enough time to examine every detail, at least if you also want to see the "shipwreck" on the island.

The Storybook Land canal boats take riders past Prince Eric's castle and ship from The Little Mermaid,

and also a tiny Kensington Gardens complete with golden Peter Pan statue.

Night falls with a glimpse of a pirate flag beyond the trees.

Here's one last ship from my favorite window on Main Street:

a diorama that rotates from the interior of the Darling children's house to their flight with Peter Pan over London.

I almost missed that transition. It's worth taking a second look at everything at Disneyland, probably, if you get the chance.