The OFFICIAL HIDDEN MICKEY FAN CLUB!

Disneyland's Canoe Secrets
By David W. Smith

Hello Hidden Mickey Fans!

Like our Hidden Mickey novels, we hope to inspire some adventure in our readers; consider it a 'quest' to decipher some 'inside' information about Disneyland and things related to Disney.

A little-known event that has taken place every year for over 45 years at Disneyland is the annual Employee or 'Cast Member' Canoe Races. This event is a favorite among Disney workers, usually drawing more than one thousand participants forming ten-member teams in women's, men's and mixed divisions.

What started in 1964 has become the 'Summer Showcase' for teams to grab the gut-wrenching honors of the 'Fastest Paddlers' of the Park. Indeed, the creative minds of those who work there compete often for the most creative canoe team names as well. Teams such as Mylar Maidens, Bad News Canoes, and Engulf and Devour, just to name a few from the past.

In fact, back in 1979, it was my Men's team, Bad News Canoes, that upset the long-time champions, Engulf and Devour, a team made mostly of lifeguards from the Disneyland Hotel, to win the canoe races that year. In a thrilling, ESPN-Highlight Reel moment, our team finished with a time of 4 minutes, 11 seconds, and 4 tenths of a second to beat E&D by a mere 4 tenths of a second! (They had been tied with another team, Entertainment I, with a time of 4:11.8 when we entered the river with a team of first-year rookie employees who had never raced before!)

The races take place every summer, starting with practice and steering training for all teams in July and end with the semi's and finals and sprint races in early August. Each morning starting at 5:30am, teams assemble at the Davy Crocket Explorer Canoe area, captains making sure they have a full team in attendance. The hardest thing for captains is making sure everyone gets up and shows up!

One of the things that makes the Canoe Races so fun is being at Disneyland in the wee morning hours without any guests in the park. Walking through the park within quiet solitude, a stark contrast when working there with 30 to 50 thousand people milling about is a memorable, if not tranquil moment to reflect personally on what Walt Disney had built. I have many fond memories of those mornings when you can really take a look around and see all that makes up Disneyland.

For two weeks, teams train, work on rhythm and paddling technique. The races are truly one of the most grueling athletic events I've ever participated in. For over four minutes, you are leaning out over the rail of the canoe, paddling with a 3 ' foot paddle and keeping pace with the person in front of you. There is not only an athletic 'art' to paddling for 4 minutes straight, but there are 'switches' so you are not paddling on the same side the whole time that must be done with precision. Captains call switches so that the canoe does not lose momentum. Today, most teams switch using a method developed I believe by my friend Grant Dawdy (the guy in the red shirt in the top photo), a process where only two paddlers at a time switch, keeping the rest in sequence so the canoe does not slow down much. The cadence of the switch continues down the ten-person team until all have switched. In my day, we switched as a whole team, all ten members bringing their paddles up, sliding their rears across the narrow wooden seats, and then continue their paddling without, hopefully, losing a beat. The burn in the arms is pretty severe after just thirty seconds of paddling. The anaerobic moments at a difficult position of sitting low in the canoes make the arms do almost all the work'and make the switches feel like a momentary moment of incredible relief'that lasts for about fifteen seconds!

With the canoes weighing in at about one and a half tons each, there is a lot of weight to get moving in the water'and a lot of weight to keep moving. With each race taking the trek of 5/8's of a mile around Tom Sawyer's Island, each person must contribute and 'pull their own weight!'

The rear steering person is the most important person in the race. He or she can make or break your team. With times coming in literally in tenths of a second apart, one bad turn'too wide or too close to the corners of Tom Sawyer's Island'can ruin a team's chance of winning a race.

Check out this YouTube video clip of a Disneyland Canoe Race to get a better idea of the races.

Well... that's it for this issue...
Enjoy, and have a Magical Hidden Mickey Day!