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Polar33
03-19-2004, 10:05 PM
From the Orange County Register (http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=86406&section=BREAKING_NEWS&subsection=BREAKING_NEWS&year=2004&month=3&day=19):

ANAHEIM - The Tomorrowland area of Disneyland opened 30 minutes late this morning after a park landscaper found a suspicious package at the bathrooms near the Autopia ride.

The Orange County sheriff's bomb squad declared the incident a false alarm after deploying a robot equipped with an X-ray that determined the object was not an explosive.

"We don't know whether it was an elaborate hoax or just something left behind," said John Nicoletti, Anaheim city spokesman, who was at the scene.

The incident did not delay Disneyland's scheduled 9 a.m. opening, but patrons were unable to visit such Tomorrowland attractions as Club Buzz, Innoventions and Starcade until 9:30 a.m.

Officials said that the landscaper found the object around 7 a.m. at the bottom of a staircase. He notified security personnel, who in turn called police. Police summoned the bomb squad.


Due to some random prior knowledge, I have determined that the supposed bomb was actually a Geocache.

For those who are not aware, Geocaching is more or less a high-tech game of hide and seek using GPS devices. Read the FAQ (http://www.geocaching.com/faq/) at the Geocaching website for more details.

The cache in question apears to have been this one (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=12efd5f6-c97a-400b-9143-eb94bb2b17aa). It was located exactly where the bomb scare occurred, and the logged visits include a message to contact an APD officer.

Whoo Hoo! You heard it here first! I scooped the rest of the media! :pbjtime:

Yah, technically nothing's "official"...but I think the evidence points straight at it.

The incident did not delay Disneyland's scheduled 9 a.m. opening, but patrons were unable to visit such Tomorrowland attractions as Club Buzz, Innoventions and Starcade until 9:30 a.m.

Such Tomorrowland attractions as Club Buzz, Innoventions, and Starcade? I know that Tomorrowland is hard up for attractions...but why pick the worst possible examples? Heck...one isn't even an attraction and the other two could easily be disputed as well.

CujoSR
03-20-2004, 11:40 PM
Polar would you post what the link to geocaching says about the item? I can't see it without signing up.

Polar33
03-21-2004, 02:38 AM
It's actually a lot of information...including coordinates, clues, photos, and messages from people finding/looking for the cache and the contents of the cache. It's described as "a toy cell phone that has been gutted, and is held in place by magnets."

SpaceRanger
03-21-2004, 08:48 AM
Such Tomorrowland attractions as Club Buzz, Innoventions, and Starcade? I know that Tomorrowland is hard up for attractions...but why pick the worst possible examples? Heck...one isn't even an attraction and the other two could easily be disputed as well.

heh... AND Club Buzz isn't even open that early anyway :roll:

DrStephenCW
03-21-2004, 10:41 AM
Cell phones were used to set off the bombs in Spain so a cell phone hooked to something like that is something worth being concerned about.

-- Stephen

Polar33
03-21-2004, 01:30 PM
Here (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/gallery.aspx?guid=12efd5f6-c97a-400b-9143-eb94bb2b17aa) is a link that shows some photos of the cell phone container.

DrStephenCW
03-21-2004, 05:30 PM
I wonder when they will update their log with the minor detail that it caused a bomb scare :) .

-- Stephen

VonSeegs
03-21-2004, 07:32 PM
There's nothing inside TL anyway. (Except that the new track is being put in at Space. I saw zone 11. It's preeeeetty!)

DisneyPrincess
03-22-2004, 01:37 PM
That's kinda funny. Could be another reason most of our caches at WDW are virtual :)

Pschtyckque
03-24-2004, 06:08 AM
Here is an update from the Geocaching website, posted by the cache owner...

O.K. I finally got a call back from the police on this case. Yes, it was my cache that was found. When they opened it up, they found my log page and one of their Sergeants was a geocacher a year or so ago and recognized it at that point as being a cache. They are not going to proscecute because no law was broken. Disneyland doesn't want any caches in their parks. The PD says Disneyland still has the option to pursue civil charges, but he doesn't think they will. Whew !!!!!!!!!! I have learned a lot from this experience. Ask permission, write www.geocaching.com on the outside, and thirdly...ask permission. This should be the end of my saga. I will post again if anything changes. 4forfun