Disneyland, the "Happiest Place on Earth," was rocked by an explosion on Tuesday, May 28 that left the area in which the fulmination took place -- Toontown -- to be closed down by authorities for a number of hours. No injuries were reported and Toontown was later reopened.
But what happened?
According to reports by news outlets that were quickly on the case such as NBC News, the small eruption occurred thanks to dry ice that was for some reason in a water bottle ... and left in a Toontown trash bin.
The report initially stemmed from the Anaheim, Calif. bomb squad, which investigated and helped Disneyland determine that Toontown was safe enough to reopen. What is still not known is how the water bottle filled with dry ice ended up in a Toontown trash bin.
"At this point, we don't know it was on purpose or by accident or accidently thrown away," Anaheim Police Department Sgt. Bob Dunn said. "We are looking at all aspects."
The "accident" could have been the result of a person who didn't understand that dry ice can explode if enclosed in, say, a water bottle. Dunn explained that many people are unaware of this fact of nature.
There is meanwhile an investigation underway in which authorities are going over surveillance footage of the area in question in order to determine who may have placed the exploding water bottle in the trash bin ... and, possibly, why.
Dunn issued a chilly sentiment to whomever may have dropped the bottle in the trash bin (should the act have been intentional), suggesting that as his team "respond[s] to these quite a bit," investigators "know what to look for."
"This afternoon, a small bang was heard in a trash can at Mickey's Toontown [and] in an abundance of caution, we evacuated Toontown to allow local authorities the opportunity to investigate," Suzi Brown, a spokesperson for Disneyland, said as regards the theme park's own official statement on the rather explosive subject.
Although Dunn and his team are not certain about the exact time of the explosion, Disneyland patrons nearby where the incident took place took to Twitter at just about 5:30 p.m., implying that's when the eruption happened.
Such patrons included filmmaker Allen Wolf who, at 5:33 p.m., tweeted, "Something went BOOM in Toontown at Disneyland and now they're evacuating."
Wolf explained that though there was no panic among the patrons being evacuated from Toontown, there was certainly a "tenseness."
"It sounded like a gun shot, but it was so out of place because we're in Toontown [so] most of [us] didn't know what to think," Wolf told CBS News. "When no one panicked and there was no indication of what happened, we continued doing what we were doing."
Wolf concluded that though the Disneyland employees who helped usher patrons out of the Toontown area remained "smiley," they did not inform anyone as to what had happened. Patrons were merely told they were to vacate the area.
What would you have done if you were at Disneyland and an explosion took place? Have you ever had such an experience before? Let us know in the comments below!
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