Strange New World for Apaches : Disneyland: A group of Indians discovered that a typical day at the Magic Kingdom is far different from life on the Arizona reservation.

Beneath the Disneyland Monorail they stood Tuesday, listening respectfully to the same Apache blessing that their warrior ancestors, Geronimo and Cochise, had heard before going into battle against the U.S. cavalry a century ago.

Facing heavenward with closed eyes, medicine man Reppert Cassadore--great-great grandson of “the Apache Kid,” a 19th-Century warrior--beseeched the good will of Indian spirits for the 60 Apaches who gathered around him.

When the prayer was over, the Indians, many of them elderly people off their San Carlos Reservation in Arizona for the first time, blinked in wonder at the strange new sights. They were with 78 other Apaches from the White Mountain Reservation in Arizona for a long-anticipated day at Disneyland.

“To them, it’s a thing they will always remember--that they can tell their grandchildren that Disneyland is real,” said Reno Johnson, chairman of the White Mountain Apache Nation.

The Apaches arrived in Anaheim on Monday night, journeying 13 hours in a bus across the Southwestern deserts that their forefathers used to travel bareback. The itinerary for their four-day stay in Orange County also included a first-ever visit to the beach and a day at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.

Although there were many children on the two reservations who wanted to go along, Elizabeth Classay, a San Carlos reservation Apache who organized the trip, said this was intended only for the elderly Indians because most had never ventured beyond the reservations.

“I never thought I would be here,” 95-year-old Mae Dewey marveled as Mickey Mouse sidled up and planted a kiss on her weathered cheek.

Classay added: “They are getting too old. This is the first--and maybe their last--trip (to the outside world).”

The two reservations, which sprawl over more than 2 million acres of alpine forests and high desert plateau, were established by the U.S. government during the Apache Wars of the 1870s and 1880s. Many of the older residents said they are descendants of Geronimo, whose band of warriors staged raids on stagecoaches and wagon trains out of the San Carlos Reservation.

The Apache Wars ended Sept. 4, 1886, when Geronimo surrendered himself and 16 warriors to Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles in Skeleton Canyon, near the Mexican border. Geronimo and 394 of his tribesmen were subsequently sent into exile in Florida and, for more than 20 years, were kept in captivity.

The modern-day Apaches make a living off the land, raising cattle and hunting the deer, elk and bear that inhabit the higher mountain ranges of the reservations, Cassadore said. But he added that the reservations, like many others in the United States, are also plagued by high unemployment and alcoholism.

Tuesday, the visiting Apaches left all of those worries at home. Each had paid $290 to go on this week’s trip. The money was raised by the San Carlos and White Mountain Apache tribes selling native-made cradle boards, jewelry and burden baskets, Classay said.

The Apaches stepped off two charter buses from their nearby high-rise hotel and into a land of fantasy. Disneyland characters, including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, greeted them.

Wearing colorful native dress that drew stares from camera-toting tourists, they were then loaded aboard a convoy of antique model trucks so they could participate in the Main Street Parade.

After enduring a seemingly endless photo session in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, they got around to the really important business: going on the rides.

Ranging in age from early 50s to 95, the Indians mostly steered clear of high-adventure rides such as Splash Mountain. However, 74-year-old Alice Wesley didn’t realize until after she had already been fastened in that the Matterhorn Bobsled ride was not exactly suited for seniors.

“Ohhh, it almost gave me a heart attack,” she wailed afterward.

The attraction called It’s A Small World was a little less intimidating. Old, lined faces lit up as the ride carried them past colorful, dancing Disney puppets all singing “It’s a Small World.”

“Ohhhh. Look!” Arlene Holmes, a recreation director for the San Carlos Reservation, said with laughter as a puppet Indian chief in full headdress came into view.

Many of the older Indians could not speak much English. But their enthusiasm was marked by their repeated use of the word kayah , which Classay said is Apache for golly .

Mae Dewey, who is the oldest person on either reservation, felt quite comfortable easing out of her wheelchair and getting on an artificial steed on the Disneyland merry-go-round.

“It brings back the memories of when I was a little girl and I used to gather acorns in the mountains,” Dewey said later.

Seeing Dewey and her companions in their red, pink, blue and yellow native dress, a vacationing couple from England introduced themselves and then attempted to present their little daughter. Dewey, eyes twinkling in delight, reached out to shake the shy girl’s hand--and then suddenly pulled her close.

“Don’t be afraid,” Dewey said with a laugh as the girl stared in fright. “I’m tame now.”