Return Voyage

Closing a dark chapter in Disneyland history, guests rode the sailing ship Columbia around the park’s Rivers of America on Monday for the first time since a tourist was killed while waiting to board the ride on Christmas Eve.

With the cry “bow line clear,” sea shanties echoing on board and a news helicopter beating accompaniment above, crew members in striped socks and three-cornered hats eased the 212-ton ship away from the dock just before 1 p.m.

Most of the 200 riders seemed to ignore the reason for the media attention, concentrating instead on the sights as the replica of an 18th century tall ship, riding on a submerged rail, passed Splash Mountain and Tom Sawyer Island.

The accident “doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s mind much, does it?” said Lanae Ross, an annual pass-holder from near Temecula on board with her husband, Tom, and son, Dustin. The family was surprised but pleased to find the Columbia open, she said.

The death in December was the only incident in Disneyland’s 44-year history in which the parkgoer’s actions played no role in the fatality. It occurred when an assistant manager, filling in for a regular crew member, put a mooring rope on the ship’s bow as it approached the dock too fast.

The line ripped loose a metal mooring piece, flinging it into a crowd, where it struck a Duvall, Wash., tourist, inflicting fatal head injuries. The man’s wife and the Disney assistant manager also were struck and severely injured.

The accident prompted legislation in Sacramento, where a bill requiring parks like Disneyland to make public reports on accidents and submit to independent inspections is working its way through the state Legislature. California is one of only 12 states that don’t regulate permanent amusement parks.

State worker-safety officials fined Disney $12,500 for inadequately training the worker and misusing equipment.

In a report on how the problems have been fixed, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health noted that anyone assigned to the Columbia, including managers, now must have hands-on training before operating the ride. Guidelines including “verification of necessary knowledge and skills” have been put in place, Cal/OSHA officials said.

The agency also said it was satisfied with new procedures for bringing the Columbia to a full stop at the dock, and it noted that stronger mooring attachments have been installed, along with a bow line designed to break before it can pull any equipment free.

The Columbia carries parkgoers past robotic wildlife and Indian scenes in the back of the park’s Frontierland section. That part of the park is being refurbished, Disneyland spokesman Lynn Holt said, and indeed many of its features were shut off as the Columbia cruised by on Monday.

A bear no longer scratched its back on a tree, a moose no longer chewed river weeds, and a settler’s cabin no longer burned as it had for decades. Holt said no decision has been made on whether to reignite the natural gas flames at the cabin, a beloved if somewhat hokey emblem of the park for many Disneyland aficionados.

“Disney run out of gas? You’re kidding,” Lanae Ross said in mock horror.

The shutdowns renewed speculation that Disneyland doesn’t want to spend heavily on the area because it is considering someday adding a new attraction or attractions at the back of Tom Sawyer Island, the last major chunk of undeveloped land in the park.