C.R. Wood, Amusement Park Pioneer
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Charles R. Wood, known as "the grandfather of the American amusement park," died of cancer Thursday at his home near Glens Falls, N.Y. He was 90.
Wood, who told an industry magazine last year that he had had fun all his life, made a fortune providing thrills, chills and fun, in a controlled atmosphere, to people of all ages. Then he had fun giving millions away.
He got his start in the amusement ...
Cage Wants A National Treasure Ride
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Nicolas Cage is begging Disneyland bosses to create a new ride based on his movie franchise NATIONAL TREASURE. The actor is a huge theme park fan and insists it's his dream to ride his own rollercoaster. National Treasure and new sequel Book of Secrets were produced by Disney - and Cage is hoping they will grant him his wish. He says, "My biggest thrill would be if Disney was so happy with the movie that ...
California Closes Disneyland Ride After Accident
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California safety inspectors on Friday said they have closed Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride for at least two weeks to investigate a Thursday evening accident, the roller coaster's third in less than a year.
Three passengers were injured and sent to the hospital after two trains on the Western train-style ride collided in the loading area Thursday evening, said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for ...
California Dreaming
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[*This article has been edited non-Disneyland Info removed--MMP*]
Disneyland
It's not surprising that the 1955 breakthrough occurred in Los Angeles. It grew out of the resident movie industry's capabilities and the special kind of ingenuity that for years had gone into inventing convincing effects for the camera. The park's chief innovator, Walt Disney, was a movie man. His contribution was the ...
California Oks Reopening Of Ball Parks Disneyland
California has cleared a path for fans to hit the stands at opening-day baseball games and return to Disneyland nearly a year after coronavirus restrictions shuttered major entertainment spots.
The state on Friday relaxed guidelines for reopening outdoor venues as a fall and winter surge seemed to be ending, with COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths plummeting and vaccination ...
California Once Upon A Time
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It's when she's perched at the top of a five-storey watery descent that my daughter and I both have epiphanies. In the nanosecond before descent, she realises just how profoundly angry a little girl can possibly be with her dad and I realise that she will still get that angry despite me bringing her to Disneyland.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Taking our seats on Disneyland's famous Splash ...
California Supreme Court's Ruling On The 'Indiana Jones' Ride
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Last week, the California Supreme Court decided that the "Indiana Jones" amusement park ride at Disneyland was like a city bus. It therefore held that Disneyland owed the duty of "utmost care" of a common carrier to the passengers on the ride.
As I will argue below, the majority opinion in the case is a telling example of bad common law reasoning.
The Facts of the Case, the Plaintiff's ...
California Theme Parks Must Close Some Indoor Rides And Shows State Guidelines Say
Revised state guidelines will force Disneyland, Universal and other California theme parks to minimize attraction lines, close some indoor rides and shutter indoor shows once they reopen starting next week after more than a year of coronavirus closures.
California has issued revised COVID-19 health and safety guidelines for theme parks that detail new rules and regulations regarding ...
California vs. Blackpool: Alice In Wonderland
In my main article this month I compared selected references to Disney's 1951 animated movie Alice in Wonderland found within the Magic Kingdoms in California and Paris.
In one particular section of my article, I compared Anaheim's dark ride (with the same name as the film) to Alice's Curious Labyrinth in Paris. However, there is a similar attraction to the former in Pleasure Beach, Blackpool (the ...
California vs. Blackpool: General
Earlier in the year, I wrote an article for DLDHistory.com comparing the Alice in Wonderland ride in Disneyland to Alice's Wonderland at Pleasure Beach Blackpool (the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom).
As I have recently come back from a week's vacation in Blackpool (and seeing as my main article this month was shorter than usual) I thought I would compare Anaheim's Disneyland Resort as a ...
California vs. Paris: Adventureland
This month, I shall be comparing the Adventurelands found in the two Disneyland parks closest to my heart (California and Paris).
Standing in front of the castle, with your back to Main Street, U.S.A./World Bazaar, the first land you encounter clockwise in four of the five Magic Kingdoms is Adventureland. Internet rumors abound that in Shanghai, Adventureland will take up the ...
California vs. Paris: Alice In Wonderland
In the seventh of my series comparing the two Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris), I shall be looking at selected references to Disney's 1951 animated movie Alice in Wonderland within the parks.
The best place to start is perhaps the "Teacups ride", officially known as Mad Tea Party (MTP) in California, and Mad Hatter's Tea Cups (MHTC) in Paris. Both were opening day attractions, ...
California vs. Paris: Animation
This month, as part of my mini-series of articles comparing Disney California Adventure (DCA) to Walt Disney Studios Park (WDSP) in Paris, I will be looking at the animation buildings.
In WDSP, the attraction is called Art of Disney Animation whereas in DCA the equivalent is simply called Disney Animation Building. Both were opening day attractions, and both share elements with the Florida equivalent ...
California vs. Paris: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
The description in the Disneyland Paris park map for Big Thunder Mountain tells you that riders will "Hurl through an abandoned gold mine at breathtaking speed aboard a runaway mine train!" making this attraction one of only two within this park to have a blurb ending in an exclamation mark. (The other is Star Tours).
Although I do not necessarily believe that the mine is supposed to be abandoned ...
California vs. Paris: Casey Jr. Circus Train
In the sixth of my series comparing the two Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris), I shall be looking at the section of the park featuring Casey Jr. Circus Train and Storybook Land Canal Boats.
When designing the Anaheim park, Walt's original plan for this area of Fantasyland was to build a rollercoaster called Rock Candy Mountain, upon which guests were transported on Casey Jr. style ...
California vs. Paris: Disney Junior - Live On Stage
This month, as part of my mini-series of articles comparing Disney California Adventure to Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, I will be looking at Disney Junior - Live on Stage!
Both of these replaced a thematically similar attraction called Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage! which in turn replaced an opening day feature. In California, this was the ABC Soap Opera Bistro (a restaurant themed to daytime ...
California vs. Paris: Dumbo
In the fifth of my series comparing the two Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris), I shall be looking at selected references to the 1941 movie Dumbo within the parks.
Please note, I am specifically referring to the Dumbo paraphernalia within the Magic Kingdoms, rather than anything related which can be found in the hotels, the other parks (such as in Off The Page and World of Color at ...
California vs. Paris: Fantasyland
My articles so far, in which I have compared the two Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris), have focused on individual attractions found in Fantasyland. This month, after previewing what I shall be writing for the site in the future, I shall be looking at any aspect of Fantasyland which does not fit into any of my other articles (past or future).
As well as the attractions covered in ...
California vs. Paris: Fantasyland Shops
This article shall finish off my series of comparisons between the Fantasylands of the Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris) by looking at the shops found in that Land.
The shops in the Paris Fantasyland are La Bottega di Geppetto (Geppetto's Shop), La Boutique du Chateau (The Castle Shop), La Chaumiere des Sept Nains (The Seven Dwarfs' Cottage), La Confiserie des Trois Fees (The ...
California vs. Paris: Frontierland
Looking back at the articles I have written comparing the two Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris) I realize that the only Land in the Paris version of Disneyland Park which I haven't covered in any detail yet is Frontierland. [The only elements of this Land I have looked at, to date, are Tom Sawyer Island and the Railroad].
With regards to Anaheim, I also haven't covered Critter ...
California vs. Paris: Frontierland (Part Two)
In Anaheim, Frontierland has five very distinct shops (Bonanza Outfitters, Pioneer Mercantile, Silver Spur, The Spirit of Pocahontas Shop and Westward Ho Trading Company) whereas there is really only one store in the Frontierland of Disneyland Paris. This is the Thunder Mesa Mercantile Building, although it is split into three separate parts: Tobias Norton & Sons, Bonanza Outfitters and Eureka Mining ...
California vs. Paris: It's A Small World
This month, in my article comparing the two Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris), I shall be looking at "it's a small world", the ride which according to Walt Disney Imagineering's international Ambassador Marty Sklar- has a "song [which] will drive you bananas if you hear it often enough, but from a message standpoint is a timeless attraction".
Both versions of the attraction ...
California vs. Paris: It's A Small World -- At Christmas
In an article for this very site, published August 2011, I discussed the it's a small world attractions in the Disneylands in Anaheim and Paris, mentioning that at "a more seasonal time of year" I would take a look at how their festive overlays compare.
For Christmas, both versions have placed a Santa hat on the Gregory S. Marinello-designed clock, but to the untrained eye, this seems to be the only ...
California vs. Paris: Park Two, Cars And Armageddon
For my next few articles comparing the Disneyland resorts closest to my heart (Anaheim and Paris), I am going to focus on comparing some of the attractions in the non-castle parks: Disney California Adventure (DCA) and Walt Disney Studios Park (WDSP). Although some of the shops, eateries, meet and greets, and photo ops in WDSP have equivalents in DCA (and/or elsewhere in the world), none are of enough note ...
California vs. Paris: Peter Pan
In the fourth of my series comparing the two Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris), I shall be looking at Peter Pan's Flight.
When I mention California's Peter Pan's Flight in this article, I am referring only to its current post-1983-refurb version, which added the interior queue-line, a Peter Pan audio-animatronic, the pirate-ship deck scene and the "return from Neverland" finale.
...
California vs. Paris: Pinocchio
In the third of a monthly series of comparisons between the two Disneylands closest to my heart (California and Paris), I will be looking at the rides, shops and eateries based on Pinocchio.
In California, the ride is called Pinocchio's Daring Journey (as it is in Japan), whereas in Paris, it is called Les Voyages de Pinocchio which translates literally as The Journeys of Pinocchio. For the benefit ...
California vs. Paris: Pirates of the Caribbean and Blue Bayou
This month, I shall be comparing the versions of the Pirates of the Caribbean found in the Disneyland parks closest to my heart (California and Paris).
The Californian of Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC) can be found in New Orleans Square (NOS), was the first attraction of its kind worldwide when it opened in 1967 and was the last attraction Walt was thought to have personally worked on. The Paris ...
California vs. Paris: Rivers of America
I learned something today.
My comparison article for January 2013 was always going to be about the Rivers of America in Anaheim's Disneyland Park, and its counterpart in Disneyland Paris.
However, until perhaps five minutes ago, I had assumed that the Paris equivalent was also called Rivers of America. Turns out, it's the Rivers of the Far West.
Whilst it has been made clear which rivers ...
California vs. Paris: Snow White
In the second of a monthly series of comparisons between the two Disneylands' closest to my heart (California and Paris), I will be looking at the rides based on Snow White.
In California, the ride is called Snow White's Scary Adventures whereas in Paris, it is called Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains which translates literally as Snow White and The Seven Dwarves. For the benefit of this article, I ...
California vs. Paris: The Castle
In the first of a monthly series of comparisons between the two Disneyland's' closest to my heart (California and Paris), I will be looking at Sleeping Beauty Castle.
The French equivalent, officially known as "Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant", is 167ft high, to California's 77ft. The latter features a coat of arms with three lions passant thereon. Although not officially the Disney Crest ...
California vs. Paris: The Lands of The Future - Part One
This month and next, I shall be comparing the Lands of The Future found in the two Disneyland parks closest to my heart (California and Paris). In California, as per Florida, Tokyo and Hong Kong, this land is called Tomorrowland; in Paris this is called Discoveryland.
For the benefit of these articles, when I say Tomorrowland, I am only referring to the California one; I am also only writing about the ...
