Disney raised even more questions with the recent announcement of plans to temporarily close the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island and the Disneyland Railroad to allow for construction of Star Wars Land. Here's what we know so far: The new 14-acre land will feature two attractions set in a remote frontier town on the outer rim of the "Star Wars" galaxy. While no opening date has been set, ...

Disneyland is now past the half-way point in a spring construction program that will add 1 1/2 million dollars in new rides and amusements to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom in Anaheim. Major areas of activity are Frontierland and the Tom Sawyer Island in the Rivers of America. More than $250,000 is being spent to make the island a "playland out of a youngster's dream." On the island -- named for and ...

When Walt Disney completed the $2,000,000 expansion program at Disneyland this summer, it was estimated by park officials that the capacity had increased by 100,000 rides per day. Completion of Disneyland"s first expansion program came this past month with the opening of the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train Ride in Frontierland. The Rainbow Caverns ride was the last and most costly of the new ...

The Walt Disney Company recently announced that an entirely new land based on the Star Wars universe would be coming to Disneyland, likely in 2019. The 14-acre mini universe will feature two major new rides and other attractions including a restaurant based on the Mos Eisley cantina in the films. I'm not a big Star Wars aficionado, but I hear that the designers working on it are, and genuine fans can ...

As the final scheduled day for the Rivers of America attractions at Disneyland comes to an end, it marks the closing of Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, the Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia and Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes and "Fantasmic!" for more than a year. Also included in the closures is the Disneyland Railroad. All of this is so that Disney can reroute the Rivers of America to ...

People going to amusement parks in the post World War II boom times of the early 1950s were looking for fast, not slow; they wanted to be thrilled, not dropped into a peaceful and pastoral setting. But that's just what Walt Disney gave them in The Rivers of America. From the moment Walt Disney began to think about what would eventually become "Disneyland," he conceived of it as a park - a "themed park." ...

It wasn't until I was almost finished with the human stupidity portion of this "Dangerous Disney" article that I realized that this should be a two-parter, so that (in addition to keeping it from being too long) some might hopefully regain some faith in humanity. Here is that second part. Again, some of these I've only read about on one site. I start with the PeopleMover, again. In 1968 a rainstorm ...

Picture this You're an artistic designer; You're scheduled to attend a design meeting for a project you drew the design that "greenlighted" the project you're currently working on; Deadlines are rapidly approaching; And in walks your boss He looks concerned -- something between worried and extremely serious; He opens the meeting and begins talking about a specific part of ...

The Rivers of America is as old as Disneyland, with the Mark Twain Riverboat as its only attraction (with the dry docks for refurbishments), though Mike Fink Keel Boats would open in December that same year. The Rivers and all green waters in the park are interconnected underground, allowing the water to naturally filter and de-stagnate the way a lake would. They act as a single body of water and prevent ...

Rafts were making the journey with visitors again from the mainland at Disneyland to Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island. The island was closed in early 2016 as the park worked on shortening the route for the Rivers of America in Frontierland to make room for the 14-acre "Star Wars" land project. In May of 2017, the river was refilled with water, and final preparation began to reopen the island. ...

With Disneyland kicking off its retro-inspired "After Dark" event this week, here are eight things from Disneyland's past that I wish I could see return to the park someday. Helicopter rides from the airport - Yes, you once could fly in a helicopter from LAX straight to the Disneyland Hotel, soaring above Southern California's notoriously traffic-choked freeways. Sure, a one-way helicopter trip to the ...

They took away the wench-chasing pirates. Now, they've stopped shooting the hippos. Disneyland officials, who say they're only keeping up with today's sensibilities, have quietly disarmed the skippers of the Jungle Cruise, raising eyebrows among fans of one of the park's oldest, most cherished attractions. No more do the wisecracking skippers reach for their Smith and Wessons and fire a few ...

Well, howdy there, pioneers and sod-busters ... welcome aboard the ol' Gullywhumper ... Ya know, this here's the boat that ol' Mike Fink used a while back when he took on Davy Crockett for the wildest keel boat race this river has ever seen ... well, we ain't goin' to be doin' no racin ' today, so ya'11 sit back, relax, kick off yer shoes and we'll get a first-hand look at what's happenin' out on the ...

"Queen of the River" that's what they called the paddle-wheel steamboats that plied the muddy waters of the Mississippi between New Orleans and St. Louis a half-century ago. Ornate and sometimes gaudy, the Mississippi sternwheeler nevertheless was a proud ship of the great inland waterways, casting its own shadow of dignity at every port of call. All that remain today of these typically ...

Let the lads and lasses loot, plunder and pillage to their hearts' content at Disneyland - if they can get past some scurvy scallywags ready to defend their precious spoils. Now that facets of old Tom Sawyer Island have gotten the heave-ho, the attraction reopens today with a redesigned "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme meant to boost the aging interactive playground and capitalize on the success of ...

Well hello to all you Disney fans. I want to tell you about some of the exciting times when working on the river. One of the memorable times I recall quite a bit is working the mid-night shift on the rafts. This was a scheduled shift that started at 1am 9am. I know that seems a bit odd but yes the rafts ran at this time. My job was to assist the technicians who worked on the Fantasmic equipment by ...

Disneyland spokesman Tim O'Day, hired as a parade performer in 1976 and knowledgeable about virtually every Disneyland detail, is practically the grand marshal of the theme park's rich history, including its integration to motion pictures. The co-author of Disneyland: Then, Now and Forever talked with Box Office Mojo about the Happiest Place on Earth. Box Office Mojo: Which principle defines ...

A recent four-night stay at Disneyland proves that this rich, glorious theme park, celebrating its 50th anniversary from now until 2007, is best enjoyed as a planned excursion, not as a whim. Begin with Birnbaum's, an indispensable annual paperback that's available for around twelve dollars. The goal-oriented guide should be read by every visitor to insure unit cohesion. It answers detailed ...

There is a site called Yesterland and it details all attractions that have closed, from the PeopleMover to the House of the Future, Main Street Electrical Parade to Carnation Ice Cream Parlor, as well as the seasonal Explorer's Canoes. Of the aforementioned attractions, House of the Future closed twenty years before I was born and that's the main one I've wanted to see. The pictures posted ...

While Disneyland is technically and geographically not even in Los Angeles County, it has been a big part of the L.A. lifestyle dating back to the 1950s. A fine pictorial map created by Sam McKim in 1968 shows the Magic Kingdom during a year when the park as most vintage Angelenos know it was in place and making indelible memories. Baby Boomers can mark stages of their lives by visits to Disneyland, ...

“Twenty years ago,” Walt said as we drove toward Disney­land, some 25 miles south­east of central Los Angeles, “I was always trying to think of a place to take my two small daughters on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon-a place where I could have fun, too. “At an amusement park, the only fun provided for a father, besides having his bottom dropped out from under him on the roller coaster, was the ...

Before the pandemic shuttered Disneyland in March, there had only been a few days that the park had unplanned closures: the day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, after the Northridge earthquake in 1994, and after 9/11. But there was another day, in 1970, when Disneyland was overtaken by protesters, whose number and fury - about Minnie Mouse and miniskirts - closed the park early. ...

The era of Samuel Clemens' America has been reborn in Disneyland's sternwheel steamboat the Mark Twain. Because of its massive size, the Mark Twain (108 feet long, 150 tons, designed to carry 350 passengers) was much too large to move through the doors of the giant sound stage of the Disney studio. The triple-deck paddlewheeler was built only to be dismantled so that it ...

Hop aboard the horse-drawn trolley (or if you prefer a surrey, a double-decked bus, a "horseless carriage" or fire wagon) and let's begin a tour through Disneyland with a jaunt down 1900 Main Street. To our right as we leave Town Square is the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad Station, where passenger and freight trains depart for a trip around Disneyland. Facing the square are a bank, in ...