Journey Publications LLC
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Journey Publications LLC
Stories from Eighteen Years in Disneyland Security 1970–1978 1996–2006
by
Most visitors experience Disneyland from the public side of the berm. James R. Petersen spent eighteen years working on the other side.
In Protecting the Dream: The Other Side of the Berm, Petersen shares his memories of working in Disneyland Security during two remarkably different periods—1970 to 1978 and 1996 to 2006. Beginning as a young schoolteacher looking for summer work, he eventually served as a Security Officer, Foreman, Lead, investigator, and trainer.
His stories range from quiet overnight patrols and humorous encounters with guests to historic events, major emergencies, celebrity performances, Disneyland traditions, and the transformation of a single theme park into the Disneyland Resort. Along the way, he introduces the dedicated Security Officers and Cast Members whose largely unseen work helped preserve the experience Walt Disney created.
Warm, candid, and filled with firsthand detail, this is not an exposé or a guide to current Security operations. It is a personal memoir about friendship, responsibility, tragedy, humor, and the privilege of helping to protect the dream.
For millions of visitors, Disneyland is a place where the outside world disappears behind music, attractions, parades, and carefully created magic. But beyond the public pathways was another Disneyland—one most guests never saw.
In Protecting the Dream: The Other Side of the Berm, James R. Petersen recounts eighteen years working in Disneyland Security during two distinctly different periods, from 1970 to 1978 and again from 1996 to 2006. He first arrived as a 27-year-old schoolteacher looking for summer employment. What began with quiet assignments guarding the old Pack Mule Trail eventually led to positions as a Security Foreman, Lead, investigator, and trainer.
Petersen takes readers behind the scenes of a changing Disneyland. He remembers the unrest of Yippie Day in 1970, Grad Nites and private parties, major entertainers performing at Tomorrowland Terrace, overnight patrols through an empty Park, celebrity encounters, Flag Retreat ceremonies, and the friendships formed among Security Officers. He also writes candidly about serious accidents, medical emergencies, remarkable survivals, and the difficult moments that occurred inside a place devoted to happiness.
After returning in 1996, Petersen found a familiar Disneyland preparing for enormous change. The original parking lot was disappearing, Disney California Adventure was being built, and the Disneyland Resort was taking shape. His later experiences included Hotel and parking assignments, training new officers, the opening of the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, New Year’s Eve 1999, the response to September 11, and the daily work required to keep a growing resort operating safely.
Some of the book’s most memorable stories are not historic events at all. They are the small, funny, touching, and occasionally absurd moments that happen when ordinary people are responsible for protecting an extraordinary place.
This independent memoir is not an exposé or a description of present-day Security operations. It is a warm and honest account of the people, responsibilities, humor, tragedies, and traditions Petersen encountered while helping to Protect the Dream.
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