Stroller Gridlock Marks ‘Pocahontas’ Park Premiere

“Pocahontas” fever swept Central Park on Saturday, turning the Great Lawn into an outdoor theater for 100,000 ticket-holders at the world’s largest movie premiere.

Despite occasional rain, the animated Disney movie began at 9:30 p.m. EDT after thousands spent a muggy afternoon picnicking, buying souvenirs and dancing.

The film about the Algonquian princess and English Capt. John Smith flickered on four 80-by-120-foot screens amid Manhattan skyscrapers. When it began, a loud cheer rose up, but rain began too, and viewers used umbrellas and blankets to shield themselves. No one headed for the exits, though, and the rain soon stopped.

“I have seen every picture from Walt Disney. I know every song. I love them,” said Natalia Corona, 16, of Newton, N.J.

At the end of the film, fireworks filled the sky over the park.

The gates had opened at 2 p.m., after thousands of people crowded the park’s fringe. Families, mired in baby-stroller gridlock, filed in with food, blankets, even sleeping bags and pillows for the kids--many of whom wore feathered headdresses.

“There’s absolutely no room,” complained Terri Long, as she crowded with her mother and three children beneath a tree at a rear corner of the lawn. “But that’s all right,” she rationalized. “We’re closer to the bathroom than anybody.”

About 500,000 people around the country entered a lottery for a shot at the free “Pocahontas” tickets.

“No one throws a party like New York City, and no one throws a party like Disney,” Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani told the crowd before the movie began.

Giuliani was criticized over Disney’s gift of 1,000 passes for city officials and their families, and Manhattan residents were upset that Disney excluded them while turning the park into “Waltstock.”