I said no, I hadn't heard his story - so he recounted to me a situation that occurred to him while living in Los Angeles in the early 1990's. It was such a great story, I asked his permission to tell my friends on the Down Under Disneyana website. He agreed, so here is his true story about how Mickey Mouse saved his life.
Phil had only recently arrived in LA and was living up near the Hollywood area of Los Angeles. Wanting to kill some time while he was waiting to begin his new job, he thought he have a look at what entertainment offerings there were. He found a brochure on Disneyland and decided a day trip down to Anaheim would be a great idea.
So on the weekend, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, he takes a bus into downtown LA, then finds another tour bus that will take him down the Disneyland. He had only intended to stay a short time down there as he was used to Australian-style parks, however once he got to "The Happiest Place on Earth" he couldn't leave!
He stayed to sunset and realised it was getting chilly, and not being prepared for the cool Anaheim nights, he had to buy a sloppy-joe to stay warm. He was going to watch the Main St Electrical Parade and stay right to park closing. Being Disneyland, he went to the shops and purchased a sloppy-joe with a big Mickey Mouse face on it.
He stayed at the park to closing and beyond, taking extra time in the shops etc (as you do!). Of course, when he got out, he realised he was going to have trouble getting a bus back to LA - the tour operators had gone.
Through various public transport means, he finally made his way back up to downtown-LA by around 2am. He then had to work out some method of getting home to Hollywood.
Downtown LA at 2am on a weekend in the early 1990's is dead - not a soul to be seen. And here's this tall white guy with an Australian accent, walking around in a big Mickey Mouse sloppy-joe all by himself.
He suddenly hears a lot you abusive yelling and he looks around. Running down the hill towards him are a group of around 15 gang members yelling taunts along the lines of "we'll kill you white boy!" - you can use your own imagination to guess what else they were saying. Phil, fearing for his life, had nowhere to go - he was standing out like a sore thumb. He looked around for anyone else who might help him, and there was nothing to be seen.
The gangs members were still running and getting closer - when all of a sudden, a car came screaming around the corner with two little old ladies in it! They threw open the door and one of the old ladies yells out "HEY MICKEY MOUSE - GET IN NOW!!"
They had seen what was happening, took one look at Phil wearing his big Mickey Mouse sloppy-joe, perceived him to be safe, and had raced to his rescue and took him home to Hollywood.
Phil to this day believes that if he was wearing anything other than his big Mickey Mouse head, the old ladies would never have stopped. Hence he believes that Mickey Mouse, saved his life
