During World War II, Dad's artists designed thousands of insignia for planes, tanks and shoulder patches; over 4000 designs in all. I collected them in scrapbooks, so I ought to know. Uncle Roy figured that each of those insignia cost the studio about twenty-five dollars, and the studio did the work for nothing. That is a pretty big giveaway-$100,000. "How could you turn them down?" Dad asks. "It meant a ...

The place is surrounded by a berm, a high barrow of earth, that insulates it from the external world. There is a single gateway where admission is charged. This, the land of Disney, is more secure than ancient Troy. No Trojan horse will get into Disneyland. Guards at the main gate closely scrutinize all who enter. Not even an unseemly teenager will get past them, much less a Trojan horse. Disneyland is ...

The Country Bear Jamboree, a 17-minute show made up of more than 20 audio-animatronic bears, originally opened as an "E" ticket ride in Walt Disney World Florida, as one of the premier attractions for the park's opening in 1971. Just one short year later, it opened here in our very own Anaheim Disneyland, in Bear Country to be exact, on March 24, 1972. It's been there ever since. The original Jamboree ...

When we asked readers to share their favorite Disneyland moments, we expected to hear about "Snow White's Scary Adventure" and shaking hands with Mickey Mouse. What we didn't expect were the more poignant moments -- the Vietnam vet overcome by emotion when a greeter welcomed him home from the war. The adopted orphan from Russia who started to embrace her new culture through the wonder of Disney. ...

The woman Disney animators modeled Tinker Bell after flitted into town Tuesday for a private tour of Pixie Woods. I caught up with her at the giraffe slide. Margaret Kerry, 78, is a pixilated 5-foot-2 and still has many of the perky moves that won her the role as "reference model" for Tinker Bell in Disney's 1953 "Peter Pan." She also uses the expression "Good golly." "I am enchanted; that ...

Disneyland's Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland is fondly remembered by the men who ran it. Before there was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a roller coaster that hustles about, there was a battery-powered mine train that rolled along in that same stretch of Disneyland, an attraction that its former operators fondly remember. Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland was the first major attraction ...

The long list of unique "firsts" which have catapulted Disneyland to the top of vacationers lists throughout America will grow even longer and more distinctive in mid-June when Walt Disney unveils Nature's Wonderland, a new $1.8 million attraction. Beaver Valley, Rear Country, Old Unfaithful Geyser, the Living Desert, Graveyard of the Dinosaurs--these and many more areas filled with performing ...

Who ever heard of a mule skinner with blonde hair, blue eyes, pretty smile and peaches-and-cream complexion? Well, that's the way they grow them in Disneyland. And this year, Carol Spaeth, who broke the all-male mule skinner tradition at the "Magic Kingdom" five years ago, has opened up still another man-size job for the girls by becoming the Park's first female surrey driver. Disneyland has ...

The seventies at Disneyland started with an invasion, then went into space, and ended with a wild ride in the frontier. Unfortunately for Disneyland, the riots that had been happening in cities across America during the latter half of the sixties and some of the protesters turned their attention to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom. On Aug. 6, 1970, the Yippies (an offshoot of the hippies of the sixties) ...

Changes at Disneyland in the 1980s started slow, then ended in a splash down a mountain. During the first couple years of the decade, Disney Imagineers were busy with the design and building of Epcot Center (as it was called then) at Walt Disney World. But they were also planning a project for Disneyland - rebuilding Fantasyland. 1980-83 In early 1982, most of Fantasyland was behind a ...

"Critter Country" was originally called the "Indian Village." Until 1971, that section of Frontierland contained Native American shows and attractions. The following year, it became "Bear Country," the first major expansion since the "Haunted Mansion" and cost $8 million. "Bear Country" was themed like the forest of the Pacific North-West. The centerpiece attraction was "Country Bear Jamboree" and was also ...

It has been a wild ride worthy of a Disneyland attraction. After a groundswell of support built up for the idea of re-theming Splash Mountain at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Disney responded by announcing that the parks would do exactly that. While no timeline has been given, both parks' Splash Mountain rides will be replacing the existing Song of the South theme with The Princess and the Frog ...

Disney Parks are known for their legendary entertainment, but one attraction seems to stand out above the rest regarding immersive storytelling: the Haunted Mansion. Walt Disney World 's version of the ride features a chilling detail that most fans have never noticed. The Haunted Mansion is famous for its spooky set design, classic songs, and groundbreaking storytelling that was over a decade ...

Back in 2020 Disney announced that its popular (but highly controversial) attraction Splash Mountain would get an overlay, this time themed to “Princess and the Frog,” its 2009 animated feature that starred the studio 's first African American Princess, Tiana (voiced memorably by Anika Noni Rose). Now the company has finally announced some details, chiefly that the attraction 's new name will ...