TOURISM

Maintenance Award: Disneyland has won the 1990 “best maintenance organization award” for a non-industrial company from Maintenance Technology, a trade magazine.

The magazine’s executives, who visited the park after evaluating a written questionnaire submitted by Disneyland maintenance specialists, were reportedly impressed with the park’s 99% operational readiness year-round. “In an industrial plant, that would be just phenomenal,” Disneyland quotes magazine editor Robert C. Baldwin as saying.

Despite the magazine’s praise, the fabled park’s maintenance has not been entirely flawless.

A metal support arm snapped last April on the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride in Fantasyland--one of the oldest rides in the 35-year-old park--and slightly injured a 13-year-old girl. About a year before, a metal bracket failed on another one of the ride’s flying elephants, causing the car to lurch suddenly, resulting in a few minor scrapes and bruises to a family of three.