The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (195 page)

Called the
Orange Stinger
, this tribute to California oranges, although not related to any
Disney
characters or stories, was still popular with Guests.  The 40-foot tall attraction, enclosed in the metal skin of a titanic orange peel, featured 48 individual swings that mimicked black-and-yellow honey-bees.

Guests queued at ground level in lines that wrapped up to the second
story boarding area.  After placing their loose valuables in crates scattered around the platform, each Guest climbed into one of the swings and lowered the safety bar.  Cast Members verified that the bars were secured, and then the swings began to rotate around the central orange column which was painted with pictures of bees.

The revolving canopy sped up rapidly and tilted sharply, lifting the swings high off the ground and whirling them through the air at a wild angle.  The murmur of buzzing bees and the scent of
oranges filled the hollow of the orange.  Guests hurtled laughing through the sweetly scented air with the giddy effervescence of bubbles in a bottle of orange pop.

The ride was a minute-
and-a-half of heady, weightless wonder.  Hanging in their minimalist metal-and-canvas swings–mere harnesses, really–Guests had delightful freedom of motion, able to swing their torsos, arms, and legs as they flew through the air.  For safety reasons, of course, there were maneuvers that were prohibited, but even adult Guests, swept up in the moment, sometimes had to be cautioned by a Cast Member on a loudspeaker.  “Don’t try to kick the wall ...  Keep your safety bar lowered …  Don’t grab other swings.”  And so forth.  Guests who ill-advisedly wore flip-flops to the park sometimes lost them on the
Orange Stinger
.

When the
Paradise Pier
overhaul was mapped out,
Imagineers
knew they had to make the
Orange Stinger
relevant to
Disney
; re-theming the popular attraction was preferable to demolishing it.  The underpinning structure, a Zierer Wave Swinger, would be maintained, but the story and design would be thoroughly revamped.

Imagineers
needed a
Disney
story that involved characters spinning up into the air.  They found inspiration in
Disney
’s first color
Mickey
cartoon, 1935’s animated short
The Band Concert
.  Although
Disney
had introduced color to its animated shorts with 1932’s Academy Award-winning
Silly Symphony
short
Flowers and Trees
, the
Mickey
shorts were popular enough in their own right that there was no need to produce them in color; Depression-era audiences adored
Mickey
even in stark black-and-white.

But in 1935,
Disney
crafted its first Technicolor
Mickey Mouse
cartoon.  Like most
Disney
animated shorts,
The Band Concert
was artistically impressive, layered with imaginative gags that read instantly and were synchronized to a lively soundtrack.

Mickey
is a conductor guiding his band through the classic “William Tell Overture” (part of a Rossini opera, but anyone who came of age in the 1950’s will forever associate this piece with “The Lone Ranger”).  Mischievous ice-cream peddler and flautist
Donald Duck
adds a dissonant note by playing the folk tune “Turkey in the Straw”.  Shenanigans ensue.

When
Mickey
’s band plays the storm portion of the overture, the literal logic of the cartoon universe dictates that the stormy music will call forth an actual storm. 
Mickey
’s orchestra, composed of classic, early
Disney
characters like
Horace Horsecollar
, is whirled up into the vortex of a tornado, but the plucky performers continue to play their musical instruments.

Beyond being historically important–a phrase
which, unfortunately, seems to make anything it’s applied to sound dry–
The Band Concert
cartoon is dizzy fun, and the
Imagineers
discerned in it the perfect source material for a new,
Disney
-themed Zierer Wave Swinger attraction.

Like the
Golden Zephyr
and
Orange Stinger
, the
Silly Symphony Swings
have a ground-level, covered queue and observation deck immediately below the second-story boarding platform.  The attraction, including the central support post and its canopy, is rendered in the romantic Victorian style that knits the district into a coherent whole.  The red-and-white-striped canopy–the entire attraction, in fact–is limned with rows of hundreds of period-appropriate popcorn lights, its perimeter emblazoned with colorful panels.

The attraction’s appearance change
d drastically when it was remodeled, but its mechanical principles remain the same.  Guests enter one of two queues at ground level–there’s a special queue for little ones between 40” – 48” tall and their parents–and then proceed up the stairs.  Guests between 40” and 48” tall and their parent or guardian are allowed to board first and must select one of the tandem swings; the child must sit in the yellow seat.

Please note that Cast Members strictly enforce appropriate ridership on the tandem swings; they are reserved for children
between 40” and 48” tall and an accompanying guardian.  During a June 2010 visit I witnessed a snarky, unpleasant couple trying to commandeer a tandem swing, despite Cast Members’ clear instructions to the contrary.  A Cast Member politely but firmly directed the couple to climb out of the tandem swing and choose two of the regular swings.  The couple did so with ill grace, after delaying the adventure for the rest of us.

This is one of the few attractions at the resort where it’s OK to be barefoot–in fact, if you’re wearing flip-flops or loose sandals, it’s better to remove them and place them–along with your other loose valuables–in one of the handsome wicker baskets ringing the platform.  Because once you start spinning, any flip-flops, loose shoes, hats
, or packs are likely to fall and veer away, perhaps into the bay!

Once Guests are secured in their swings
, the Zierer canopy lifts and tilts, whipping Guests up into the air and spinning them around rapidly at steep, constantly undulating angles.  Instead of hearing the hum of bees, Guests are immersed in
The Band Concert
storm.  Music from the classic cartoon plays–the dramatic William Tell Overture.
Band Concert
characters are revealed on the telescoping support post around which Guests whirl.

For a minute-and-half Guests experience what it would be like to be in
The Band Concert
cartoon.  That’s
Imagineering
at its best, transporting Guests to places and experiences that previously existed only on film or in the imagination.  I took a spin on the
Silly Symphony Swings
on June 1, 2010, a few days after the May 28 soft opening, and was exhilarated.  With the giant orange peel removed one truly sees how high and how fast one is spinning.  Guests are more connected to the bay, the sky, and the colorful kinetics of the district.  It’s giddy fun, provided you’re not prone to motion sickness and aren’t afraid of heights.

In the years since the Silly Symphony Swings’ opening, the author and friends and family have taken plenty of turns around the bay on the zippy swings. 
Although not an
E-ticket
attraction on the level of
Soarin’ Over California
, the
Silly Symphony Swings
are a delightful addition to
Paradise Pier
, great fun and another fine addition to the district’s charming skyline. 
Did You Know?
Doesn’t “Zierer Wave Swinger” sound like a vintage amusement park ride, something developed in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s when the Dentzels were crafting their glorious carousel creatures?  It did to me, but I was surprised to learn that Zierer Wave Swingers weren’t developed until the early 1970’s.  Swing rides and spinners date back a long way, but the Zierer variation is new.  Immediately popular, they were purchased by amusement parks and theme parks around the globe and adapted to different attractions like the
Orange Stinger
and now the
Silly Symphony Swings
. Zierer Wave Swingers are a modern take on classic swing rides, distinguished by the fluctuating movements of their ornate canopies that make for a much more interesting ride.
Night Vision:
With its beautiful canopy and its popcorn lights lit at night, this is a glittering new jewel on
Paradise Bay
’s southwestern shore.  Guests riding the attraction at night enjoy sublime views of
Paradise Bay
’s glimmering lights; they paint the night with luminous sugar and neon icing.  Though the swings are closed to Guests during
World of Color
performances, Guests can gather around its ground-level observation deck for views of the water-and-light spectacular. 
FastPass:
  No.  Attractions that load
en masse
are poor candidates for the
FastPass
system. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  The
Silly Symphony Swings
are a lot of fun–you feel like you’re flying!  But when you take younger [Guests] who are under the height [requirement], they need to sit in the yellow swings.

S.S. rustworthy
(Closed 2010.  Razed.)

[
FastView:
 
Defunct.  Presented here for readers interested in
DCA
history.
]

At first I thought it was an atypical typo in the
DCA Guide
.  Surely the small boat on the western shore of
Paradise Pier
should’ve been named the “S.S. Rustworthy”, not “S.S. rustworthy”.  But, no–the guide was correct. 
S.S. rustworthy
it was, with a lower-case “r”.  Unlike most of
Paradise Pier
’s
Opening Day
attractions, the
S.S. rustworthy
has had a back story since the beginning and the unusual name is part of it.

Once upon a time–according to park mythology–
Paradise Bay
was protected by a stalwart little fireboat called the
S.S. Trustworthy
.  A handsome red boat with white trim, it performed its duties valiantly until the day it ran aground and broke in two.  It lay ashore in two pieces, the larger one composed of the bow and the bulk of the boat, the smaller a severed section of the stern.  Time passed, the boat decayed, and the “T” in
Trustworthy
fell away … and the boat was known as the
S.S. rustworthy
from then on.

This wa
s one of the few attractions in the original
DCA Park
that was geared toward small children.  It was sponsored by McDonald’s, which operated a nearby eatery called
Burger Invasion
until McDonald’s left the resort on September 2, 2008.

At
Burger Invasion
, where a massive burger dominated the roofline, Guests stood in long, confused lines for up to half an hour to purchase extremely expensive burgers and fries–they often cost more than double what you’d pay at your local McDonald’s–and then their little ones burned off some of the calories playing on and around the
S.S. rustworthy
.

Guests emerging from the hectic
Burger Invasion
queues balancing trays of food often had tousled hair and haunted eyes, as if they’d just stepped out of a hundred-mile-an-hour Rotor.  When the eatery finally reopened as the resort-run
Paradise Garden Grill
, service proved to be much, much better!

Like so much of the original
Paradise Pier
, the
S.S. rustworthy
suffered from a limited budget. 
Imagineers
did the best they could with the funds and guidelines provided, creating the boat’s story and adding a wealth of fun touches, but the result was less than unique; the
S.S. rustworthy
was a lot of fun for children, but didn’t exude signature
Disney magic
.

If yo
ur little ones like playgrounds, they would have enjoyed the
S.S. rustworthy
.  It had multiple decks, wheels to turn, levers to push and pull, bells to ring, fog horns and whistles to blow, surf boards to balance upon and–perhaps most important from a kid’s perspective–water cannons to shoot.  Adults could relax, gabbing together at one of the many nearby tables while the kids clambered over the boat and ran blissfully amok, a win-win situation when the grown-ups needed a breather but the kids were all fired up.