Disneyland: The Way We Were
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Part of the magic of the Magic Kingdom, of course, is that despite the slings and arrows peppering the outside world, it somehow remains as seemingly immutable as one of Aristotle's First Causes, or Walt's immortal mouse, whose 60th birthday the park-itself pushing a healthy 33-is celebrating this year from March 19 through September 8 with a new Mickey at the Movies Parade. However, as any Disneycologist ...
Disneyland: Working The crowds
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Visitors making their annual pilgrimage to Anaheim over the next 10 days could be greeted by this sign: Disneyland is full. The holidays are the busiest time of year at the Disneyland Resort and this year, with heavy marketing for the 50th anniversary, even more people are trekking to see the Christmas tree, entertainment and nighttime snow on Main Street. While "sold-out" is good news for most ...
Disneylands 25 Million Dollar Job Started
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Construction of new facilities in the Tomorrowland area of Disneyland has been started by J.B. Allen & Co., Anaheim and Santa Barbara general Contractors following the company's demolition of practically all the old facilities. J. B. Allen, president of the firm, noted that the total construction cost projected for work in Tomorrowland totals approximately $25 million. Under way is construction ...
Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Festivities
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A year-long celebration begins on New Year's Day with a special pre-show at the Rose Parade. On January 11, Art Linkletter and Bob Cummings-who were emcees at the 1955 opening ceremonies-will join Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner for a rededication of Disneyland. Disneyland guests will find other exciting birthday festivities in the Park, with such highlights as "The Dream Machine," a year-long ...
Disneyland's 50th Anniversary Party Will Start Early And Run 18 Months
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A refurbished old standard, Space Mountain, and a new, high-tech interactive ride, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, will help Disneyland mark its 50th anniversary with a prolonged celebration. "If there is one year to be at Disneyland, this is it," said Disneyland Resort spokesman Tim O'Day, pitching events that will, in fact, run for 18 months. Some customers have been given sneak peeks of what's ...
Disneyland's Alice In Wonderland Ride Closed To Install Safety Equipment
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One of Disneyland's oldest attractions, the Alice in Wonderland ride, has been closed since last week while workers install safety barriers recommended by California work-safety inspectors. Park officials said they hope to reopen the ride in the next few weeks. Disney officials said the Anaheim park voluntarily closed the ride July 15 after California Department of Occupational Safety and Health ...
Disneylands All Real With No False Fronts
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Talk to any citizen about Disneyland park and his eyes light up like a sincere neon sign. Walt Disney is the No. 1 Californian and it didn't require an official proclamation by the Governor last week to make him so.
And somewhere during the citizen's enthusiastic summary of the master's latest accomplishment will be added the phrase
''And it's all real. ...
Disneyland's Big New Pirate Ride
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Cutlasses to all hands and prepare to take the town! In the costliest and most technologically sophisticated amusement park ever built, California's Disneyland has evoked the blood-curdling buccaneering past of the Spanish Main. Called The Pirates of the Caribbean, it is a 15-minute boat ride through the sacking of a town, marked by as harrowing a series of misadventures as the likes of Captain Kidd and ...
Disneyland's Blue Bayou
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I had no idea Disneyland had a fine dining restaurant until my friend, Regina, told me about Blue Bayou. And after a long day of walking in the sun, it sounded like the perfect place for dinner. Nestled in New Orleans Square, the restaurant is known for its down-home, Louisiana-inspired cooking. I was surprised to discover that Blue Bayou is actually located inside Pirates of the Carribean, and the ...
Disneyland's Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Resturant
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Walt Disney's first Fantasyland was designed to give the impression that Sleeping Beauty Castle (with its rockwork turrets and extended walls of stone) was the single permanent structure in the area. Fantasyland's rides and concessions were arranged in the castle courtyard as if part of a traveling fair or medieval tournament. Peter Pan and the other dark rides (housed within the castle walls) had entrance ...
Disneyland's Christmas Tree Is Up For The Holidays
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The massive bottom half of Disneyland's Christmas tree slowly made its way along Main Street USA - followed by the top half. Both were carried by cranes early Tuesday morning, as the theme park finished decking itself out with annual holiday decorations. The 13-ton, 60-foot-tall artificial tree is in its second year at the theme park; two years ago, in part to go more green, Disney quit using ...
Disneyland's First Snow White
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She's jitterbugged on ice skates at the old Cocoanut Grove in L.A. Looked adorable in a cowgirl hat for a photo shoot with Roy Rogers. Stood in for Judy Garland. Danced for Red Skelton. And if you were one of the 90 million TV viewers who watched Disneyland's grand opening on July 17, 1955, you surely saw her. She was Disneyland's first Snow White, the only princess to get her own ...
Disneyland's Five-O--California's Storied Theme Park Celebrates A Half-Century Of Mouse Ears And Family Cheers
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Disney was inspired a half-century ago to build a special amusement park in California-a place where adults and children would be amazed by a tropical forest, astonished by a fairy tale castle and astounded by sights of the space age. Disney, a man of creativity, talent and perseverance, ran a successful movie studio where he put in a lot of hours. He also was father to two young girls and, as he once ...
Disneyland's Fresh Candy Canes Return Friday
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The 35-year tradition of making fresh candy canes is set to return Friday to Disneyland. Disneyland guests often line up for the chance to buy a limited number of the newly made sweets. Others crowd around the windows to watch teams of candy makers stretch the liquid-like sugar into hook shapes. The canes are in such high demand that Disneyland workers plan to hand out tickets on a first-come, ...
Disneyland's Grand Opening
I was at Disneyland when it opened for the public on Monday, July 18, 1955. Since I have some facts about that event that many websites evidently haven't known, I thought you might like to publish them: It's true that Roy Disney, Walt's brother, requested the first printed ticket for his grandchildren's memorabilia. It's also true that the park opened the previous day (Sunday) for a preview for ...
Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Turns 40 Years Old
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Disneyland's Haunted Mansion celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend. KPCC's Susan Valot says the creepy mansion on Disneyland's New Orleans Square was something Walt Disney envisioned, but never saw come to life. Susan Valot: Adorned with wrought iron and surrounded by tombstones, the eerie Southern-style mansion fills a ghoulish space near Disneyland's New Orleans Square. Tom Fitzgerald of ...
Disneyland's Hidden Treats
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Since 1955, Disneyland has entertained guests of all ages with a mixture of rides, attractions and performances... but some of the most fun aspects of the park aren't necessarily well-known or easily seen by everyone (unless you're an avid visitor, hardcore fanatic, or trivia buff.) There are countless little in-jokes, fun facts and visual hide-and-seeks around the park, but listing them all would ...
Disneyland's Holiday Enchantment Opens
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Well, we don't know where you'll be -- possibly working away on one of those famous Candy Palace candy canes that only come out at the holidays -- but we'll be over by Snow White's Wishing Well some time after dusk. Why? Because that's the best place to see Sleeping Beauty's Castle all dressed up for the holidays. Wait. Scratch that. That's the best place to see *the reflection* of Sleeping Beauty's ...
Disneyland's It's A Small World Turns 50
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Richard Sherman didn't know why Walt Disney summoned him to a Southern California sound stage. In it was a huge mock-up of some attraction. A banner about a salute to children of the world hung over a serpentine path lined with a bunch of audio-animatronic dolls. The figures sang a cacophony of national anthems in 25 or 30 languages that ran together in a din. "We've got a problem. You are ...
Disneylands Long Lost Midget Autopia May Roll Again In Missouri
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The Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline, Mo., is hoping to revive the vintage Disneyland attraction known as Midget Autopia, the first park ride ever moved to a non-Disney property.. The museum plans a $500,000 Kickstarter campaign to bring back the 10-car ride that ran in Anaheim from 1957 until It's a Small World displaced it in 1966. In a chapter known mostly to serious Disneyphiles and ...
Disneyland's Longtime Tinkerbell Turns In Her Wings
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Nearly every summer night for 21 years, Tinkerbell floated down from Disneyland's Matterhorn peak, far above the crowds of cheering children and away into the starry sky. Then she climbed into her BMW and slogged back home to the Valley. Now that Gina Rock's run as Tinkerbell is over (Disneyland debuted a fireworks show last week and with it a new Tink), she is writing a motivational book for ...
Disneyland's Main Street Magic Shop Loses Its Magic
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This time last year, Disneyland guests could stroll into the Main Street Magic Shop and immerse themselves in a mesmerizing world of magic tricks and gag gifts. An enthusiastic cast member would sit at the counter of the intimate yet bustling shop, entertaining guests with clever antics, while the walls were bursting with merchandise running the gamut from basic card decks to whoopee cushions. Now, ...
Disneyland's Main Street, Restaurants to Expand
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Yesterday marked the beginning of a year-long expansion plan of Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. that will affect many the street's current eateries. The plan also includes a 2012 debut of a new bakery in the park. Disney doesn't seem to be losing the renovation momentum they've been showing in both parks this year, and the restaurants along Main Street, U.S.A. are next on their expansion agenda. ...
Disneyland's Matterhorn Still Packed At 50
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Mothers, fathers and children pack the queue leading into Disneyland's Matterhorn - families have been clamoring for a ride on the classic bobsleds for 50 years, a ride that turned 50 on Sunday. The dual-track rollercoaster is an Orange County landmark, of course, whether seen from outside the park or inside Disneyland. "It was the first thrill ride at Disneyland," said Disney Industrial Engineer Paul ...
Disneyland's Mickey's Halloween Party 2011 Offers New Tricks And Treats
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Disneyland Resort's Halloween Time is almost here, and Disney Cast Members and fans are getting into the spirit of the holiday. One of the highlights of the season is Mickey's Halloween Party, the after-hours event that takes place at Disneyland Park. On Sept. 7, Disneyland released information to help guests planning their visit. Here are some highlights of what's new for the 2011 Mickey's Halloween ...
Disneylands Mine Train Still Runs In Their Memories
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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 ...
Disneyland's Monorail Red Puts Rumors To Rest
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Disneyland has been conducting regular after-hours tests of Monorail Red, putting to rest persistent Internet chat room rumors that the new Mach Mark VII would have to be sent back to the assembly plant for major modifications. Disney officials said that the new monorail has been cycling around the beamway under its own power and that sending the futuristic bullet-nosed train back to the Vancouver, ...
Disneyland's New Celebrate! A Sneak Peek At Street Show Debuting Friday
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I was up well before dawn this morning to watch a dress rehearsal of "Celebrate! A Street Party," the new interactive "street show" debuting at Disneyland on Friday. The Anaheim theme park's Main Street USA was surreally alive at 3 a.m. - with overnight "third-shift" crews watering flowers, trimming trees and planting perennials. A backhoe stood sentinel before Sleeping Beauty Castle as a ...
Disneyland's New Matterhorn: Snow White Sights Abominable Sounds
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Steps away from the honking traffic jam of humanity crushing into the grand opening of Cars Land on Friday, Disneyland quietly welcomed back one of its icons the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The Swiss-Alps themed ride was the park's first roller coaster in 1959 and has been undergoing much-needed minor repairs and refurbishment during the last six months. The most notable alteration is completely cosmetic, ...
Disneyland's New Monorail Glass Changes Color In Sunlight
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Disneyland has updated its classic monorail train meandering through the amusement park, adding a better seating arrangement and glass that changes color in the sunlight. The new Monorail Red, or Mark VII, train debuts Friday. Monorail lead designer says Disneyland is "always looking for ways to update and refresh classic attractions." The first electric monorail cars have blue glass and red ...
Disneyland's New Mr. Lincoln Mixes Technology With Emotion
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After a long hiatus, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is set to return to its home on Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland. Imagineers plan to bring back the attraction with the same charm and nostalgia, but with new technology and more emotion, creators said today. "In bringing the Lincoln show back, one of the things I remember about the first show is it made you emotional and proud to be an American," ...
