Lucky Little Visitor to Disneyland Wins Big

Brooks Arthur Charles Burr was speechless Saturday when he learned that the parade was in his honor and that he had won a battery of prizes for becoming the 250-millionth person to pass through Disneyland’s turnstiles since the Anaheim amusement park opened 30 years ago.

As a brass band bedecked in red and gold finery played Disney tunes and a park official announced that he had won, the 3-year-old Seattle resident put his arms around his father’s neck and took it all in with a serious stare.

He examined his winning admission ticket as he was handed a lifetime pass to the three Disney theme parks and fingered a placard representing the 30,000 miles of free air travel he had just won.

He shook the keys to his new 1985 Cadillac Sedan de Ville back and forth for the applauding crowd to see, but by the time he heard about his free trip for two to Japan, Brooks was hugging his mother’s leg and appeared distinctly dismayed.

The towheaded toddler’s mood seemed to brighten only when Mickey Mouse bounded over, scooped him up and gave him a big kiss and a crystal key to the Magic Kingdom--”the happiest place in the world,” Brooks’ father, Bruce Burr, confirmed for the crowd.

Bruce Burr said that his family came to California on vacation “just to see Disneyland.”

They had planned to ride in from the Disneyland Hotel on the park’s monorail, but, when they found it was closed because of the ceremony, they walked through the main gate instead.

Burr, a 32-year-old auto service manager, said that his knees “began to shake” when his son passed though the turnstile in front of him about 9:52 a.m. and bells began clanging.

He hoisted Brooks to his shoulder, raised his hand in the air and shouted: “This is him! This is him! I can’t believe it!”

Brooks’ parents had visited Disneyland in 1981 when Connie Burr was carrying him.

The 28-year-old flight attendant for Alaska Airlines said that she is expecting another baby in January.

The cornucopia of gifts is part of the Anaheim amusement park’s yearlong 30th anniversary celebration, in which every 30th, 300th, 3,000th, 30,000th and 3-millionth guest receives a prize.

With more than 8 1/2 million visitors so far this year, the park has given away 288 automobiles, including two Cadillacs, in the promotion, a park spokesman said.

About 40% of the winners have been too young to drive.