Disney Lies

There is, unfortunately, a long tradition of vandalizing the statue of Mr. Toad inside Disneyland’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Frequent visitors will remember a time when the statue’s right hand was held in front of its face with a haughty gesture of satisfaction at his living arrangements. But after years of guests putting their chewed gum on the hand, it eventually collapsed beneath the weight, leaving poor Mr. Toad a limb shy of a quartet.

Just last week, Toad vandalism reached new heights when a guest released several dozen wild poison dart frogs into the attraction (see the Official DisneyLies Photographer’s official DisneyLies photograph below). Only a few guests were poisoned — hardy any of them fatally — and, more importantly, Disney’s Animal Control Department was able to round up most of the critters before serious damage was done to the attraction.

But the long-term effects of this prank are still to be realized. Apparently, a few survived and now animal-rights groups are petitioning to have Disneyland declared a poison dart toad wetland preserve. Since these are now the only wild frogs of their type in southern California, consensus is that they may win when they have their day in court. Should that come to pass, Disneyland guests may find their activities severely curtailed as the endangered frogs will be given right of way at all times. It is not clear what effect this will have on already-crowded Dumbo and Peter Pan queues.