Congregants, Park Employees Will Help Form Human Chain : Disneyland, Cathedral Lend a Hand

Mickey Mouse will be holding hands. So will Goofy, pink-and-purple-clad elementary school singers and the Rev. Robert Schuller.

They and about 20,000 others will wind up and down Disneyland’s Main Street, meander through the Crystal Cathedral and snake through six cities, forming Orange County’s link in a planned 4,125-mile human chain Sunday known as Hands Across America.

Orange County participants will clasp hands at noon along a 20.2-mile course that will cross the Riverside County line near Yorba Linda and proceed through Anaheim Hills, Orange, Anaheim, Garden Grove, Fullerton and La Habra before it leaves the county at the Los Angeles County line and eventually stops at the Queen Mary.

Orange County’s link has space for 26,664 hand-holders, but “probably a couple thousand” spots were still available Tuesday, Hands Across America spokeswoman Vicki Pipkin said. Participants are being asked to donate $10 to $35 a spot, with proceeds to be distributed to organizations helping the hungry and the homeless.

Pipkin said participants are still needed to fill sections of the chain in Orange County along Katella Avenue to Anaheim Stadium and on Harbor Boulevard in Fullerton and La Habra. But filling the spots in the well-populated, relatively wealthy county should “not be a problem at all,” Pipkin said. “It’s just a matter of getting word out to people so they can realize there are places.”

No E Ticket Required

Orange County’s premier landmark, Disneyland, will claim a mile of the chain. No E ticket is required: the 1,320-person line will be filled by off-duty Disneyland employees, their family members and several of the amusement park’s best-known costumed characters.

The chain will stretch from West Street, enter the parking lot, forge through the main ticket gate and west tunnel, go up one side of Main Street, wrap around Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, wind back down the other side of Main Street, pass through the east tunnel and flood gate and exit through the parking lot onto Harbor Boulevard, said park spokesman Bob Roth.

Mickey Mouse will be holding hands right in front of the castle, Roth said. The rest of the characters will be interspersed throughout the mile, and specific positions have not yet been determined, he said.

Could it be that the spirit of the event will inspire the Big Bad Wolf to hold hands with the Three Little Pigs, and Peter Pan with Captain Hook?

Those Disneyland employees not in a costume will have a uniform of sorts--Disneyland is providing special T-shirts for all of its volunteers, Roth said.

Disneyland paid $13,200 for its link in the chain, participating “for the same reason as everyone else. It’s a good cause and we like the grass-roots involvement. Our people like to participate and get involved,” Roth said.

The park will be open during the event. “Not everything will come to a stop. Obviously Main Street will come to a halt, though,” Roth said.

The human chain will also go to church Sunday. The regular 11:15 a.m. Crystal Cathedral service will stop at noon when the line enters the church gates at Lewis Street, meanders through the parking lot and passes through the opened east doors of the massive glass church. About 3,000 to 4,000 churchgoers inside are expected to join hands, and the chain will exit through the west doors and out the north side of the parking lot, said church spokesman Mike Nason.

The Rev. Schuller will “definitely” be part of the human chain, Nason said. The idea of passing through the church came about several months ago when Hands Across America organizer Ken Kragen, a friend of Schuller, was a guest on the television preacher’s show, “Hour of Power,” Nason said. “He and Bob (Schuller) got talking and between them they said, ‘Why not have it go through the cathedral?’ ”

Sunday’s event has inspired a special program at the church, he said. The 200-piece Santa Ana Winds band will play as the congregation sings “We Are the World,” followed by “Hands Across America” and “America the Beautiful,” simultaneously with the 5 million other participants needed to flesh out the coast-to-coast chain, Nason said. At the same time, a 55-by-100-foot American flag will be unfurled inside the cathedral.

Live TV Coverage

The church also will tap into the live nationwide television coverage and project images of other scenes along the chain onto the cathedral’s oversized screen so that the congregation can get a better feeling of the uniting event, he said.

“We think that will add to some of the excitement,” Nason said.

Church members are being asked to sign up at the church and donate $10, but no one will be precluded from linking hands Sunday, Nason said. So, far there has been “heavy response.”

“This is what the cathedral was built for, why it was built in this size and scope. . . . Just maybe we’ll help raise $30,000 to $40,000. That’s exciting. That’s what it was built for. Bringing 3,000 to 4,000 people together, that’s significant,” Nason said.

Down at Crown Valley Elementary School in Laguna Niguel--dozens of miles away from the route--students are excited, too, said fourth-grade teacher Carole Allen.

About a dozen members of the school’s award-winning choral group, the California Junior Light Opera Company, will be in line in their glittery pink-and-purple costumes from their latest musical production, Allen said. The 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds will be accompanied by family members for their stretch of the line, on Douglass Road near Anaheim Stadium. Each student was asked to earn the money required to participate, Allen said.

“They’re very excited, but they’re also very serious. I think they really understand why they are doing it,” Allen said. “Each year we try to do something special. This will be history, and we want to be a part of history.”

First Hand-Holder

Also stationed near Anaheim Stadium will be the first person in the nation who signed up for the human chain.

Bob Bowcock, 21, of Pomona, a plant operator for the Metropolitan Water District, recalled Tuesday that he was at work last October when he heard Hands Across America organizer Kragen on the radio, speaking of his idea to unite the country with a human chain.

“I immediately picked up the phone and dialed the 800 number,” Bowcock said. “This is a people project.”

Since October, he’s signed up other members of his family, even his 3-month-old daughter, Candice. His wife, Bobbi Sue, his parents, in-laws, aunts and uncles will all be together for the group hand-holding. But that isn’t enough for Bowcock. He has taken a week off to volunteer his services at the Hands Across America California headquarters in Hollywood, answering phones and helping to smooth out participants’ problems.

Rallies to stir up last-minute hand-holders are set for 9:30 a.m. Thursday at La Habra City Hall and at the same time Friday at Orange City Hall. The rallies are being coordinated through Coca-Cola, one of the corporate sponsors of Hands Across America.

MP, GUS KELLER / Los Angeles Times