The Calculus Diaries - Jennifer Ouellette [38]
Everyone should visit Disneyland with a physicist in tow, just for the novelty; it’s an entirely new way of looking at the Magic Kingdom. (Motto: “All headgear is improved by the addition of mouse ears.”) I guarantee that nobody else on that ride found their thoughts wandering to calculus and parabolic curves; they were too busy screaming with joy at the free fall. Sean had never been to Disneyland, and I decided it was time to rectify that gap in his cultural development, insisting that it is a slice of Americana that must be experienced firsthand—and besides, what better place to find examples of calculus and classical mechanics in action?
Amusement-park physics is all the rage among high school physics teachers desperate for novel ways to engage their easily distracted young charges. Case in point: Every year, on Physics Day, more than four thousand high school students swarm Six Flags America in Largo, Virginia, armed with homemade accelerometers (devices to measure acceleration) and stopwatches, eager to experience the park’s extreme roller coasters—and perhaps learn a little physics along with the adrenalin rush. So Sean good-naturedly agreed to spend a Sunday at Disneyland, being dragged from one long queue to another, filled with overexcited youngsters, frazzled parents, and purple-haired hipsters with multiple piercings doing their damnedest to look bored and act as though they were Really Just There for the Irony.
FREE-FALLIN’
That diverse mix of young and old is exactly what Walt Disney had in mind when he first dreamed up the notion of a “magical park” in the late 1930s. World War II put his plans on hold, but by 1953, he had found one hundred acres just outside Los Angeles where he could build his Magic Kingdom. On July 19, 1955, Disneyland held its official grand opening. It was a disaster. Disney had intended the day to be an exclusive, invitation-only event for a select 6,000 people. But counterfeit invitations were quickly forged and snapped up by eager hordes. People began lining up at the park gates as early as two A.M., and by midafternoon, over 28,000 “ticket holders” had swarmed the park. Vendors ran out of food, and all the rides were overcrowded. A few desperate parents tossed their wailing offspring over the shoulders of bystanders blocking the way, just to get them onto the King Arthur Carousel.
The weather didn’t cooperate either. The mercury hit 110 degrees Fahrenheit, part of a fifteen-day heat wave that baked the greater Los Angeles area that July. Newly laid asphalt hadn’t had time to set, so women’s high heels got stuck in the melting tar, and hardly any of the park’s water fountains worked because of an ongoing plumber’s strike.23 Adding insult to injury, there was a gas leak that forced the afternoon closure of Adventureland, Frontierland, and Fantasyland; only Tomorrowland emerged from the debacle unscathed. But Disneyland proved hugely successful in the long run. By the time the park celebrated its tenth anniversary in 1965, over 50 million people had visited.
Disneyland is much better at crowd management these days, even though lines remain long for the most popular rides. And the Disney empire has expanded and gone global. Within the original park, in Anaheim, there is now New Orleans Square, Critter Country, and Mickey’s Toontown, in addition to the original four “lands.” Florida has Disney World, and there are now Disney theme parks in Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. The California Adventure theme park opened adjacent to Disneyland in 2001; the Tower of Terror can be found in the Hollywood Pictures