Disneyland - 1965 - 10 Year Anniversary Article

Today we dig into the archives and dust off my old copy of the San Francisco Sunday Chronicle from February 21, 1965. I scanned in the above article on "Mr. Disney's 10-Year-Old Playpen," by Travel writer Polly Noyes. I share it with you above and below. You should be able to click on the picture to view it in enlarged form.

If not, well then squint really hard.

Little did the reporter or Walt realize when giving the interview that Mr. Disney would pass away the next year. In the article he speaks of his plans to build an "underground" Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I don't know. I don't see any marketing tie-ins to existing Disney products. Doesn't sound to me like the "Pirate" ride Walt's planning will EVER work.

Maybe if we added Johnny Depp it would have a better reception.

Finally, for my dear fellow blogger, Viewliner Limited, I had to include the ad below from the same 1965 newspaper. In '65 you could still board the then-dying California Zephyr for a round trip to Chicago from California for under $100. Sure, those new-fangled jet aeroplanes seem to be grabbing all the headlines, but mark my words train travel will never be replaced in this great country!
To all who come to this happy blog...

...accept my fondest wishes for a great weekend! I'm working Jungle on Saturday!

---Mike

Disneyland - Jungle Cruise - Return

Hi, kids!

Sorry for the slow posting this past week, but Thanksgiving and shifts at the Park have kept me off the computer.

Did I mention I am a Disneyland Cast Member again after 21 years?

If I didn't,

...I am.

Adventure/Frontier Attractions.

BACK in the Jungle.

I'm sure I'll have more to talk about...

...though a lot of the stuff I know is now suddenly "confidential" because I am once again a Disney employee.

Oh, and, by the way, it is simply great to be back.

Merry Christmas!

--Mike

Disneyland - Hungry Bear Moments

Along the Rivers of America in what used to be Bear Country sits the wooded and shady porch of the Hungry Bear restaurant.

It is one of the last, quaint reminders of old Bear Country. Indeed, it is one of the few remaining "out of the way" spots in all of Disneyland.

Downstairs you can sit around a table and watch the ducks float by---or feed them if you'd like. Even on hot days, this area stays pretty cool.

From this vantage point you can get a clear view of the Mark Twain steaming along, while waving at the guests on her lower decks. Her massive sternwheel plows through the water, which sparkles and froths behind her. Her steam engine puffs and chugs loudly as she churns ahead toward the bend.

To your left, you can peer into the woods of an America of long ago. In the farthest corner of the porch, the illusion that you are somewhere along an American river, near the forest, is all too convincing. Above you, a steam engine of the Disneyland Railroad rolls into view, clicking along on its way through the wilderness.

Across the way, Tom Sawyer's Island beckons, with children and adults clambering over its rock formations. There's the remains of old Fort Wilderness.

To your right, Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes still load up guests for a true, people-powered attraction. You watch as a splashy, out-of-synch bunch of paddlers glide by---with their exasperated guide and oarsman in the stern.

The area music softly plays bluegrass in the background.

It's a good spot. Relax and enjoy it.

There'll be plenty of time for Fast Passes and Fantasmic later.

Disneyland - Christmas Parade, Fireworks, Snow

Friday and Saturday saw the return of Disneyland's "A Christmas Fantasy" Parade (daily 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.), fireworks (daily at 9:25 p.m.) and snow. The crowd was not too bad Friday, grew quite bigger on Saturday, and will simply increase as we plow forward into the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Snow lovers: stick between the buildings on Main Street for your best viewing and participation. The snow drops daily at 7:30 p.m. and once again after the fireworks show.

Pedestrian traffic alert: the Hub.

With Fantasmic erupting nightly at 9:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., a 6:30 p.m. Christmas parade, 7:30 p.m. "snow" and 9:25 p.m. fireworks show ("Believe in Holiday Magic"), the Hub area in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle becomes...

...shall we say...

...busy. Guests are directed through a one-way traffic flow system that goes counterclockwise around the outside of the Hub (the brick walkways). Fireworks viewing is in the middle of the street, in front of the castle and down Main Street. Arrive early for a spot or enjoy marching around the Hub with 15,000 of your closest and dearest new friends.

Oh.

Small World's open, too. It is decked out for the holidays and has new boats. Most of it has remained true to its original self---at least what we can see so far. Enjoy!

There's more to follow on the whole me skippering a Jungle boat thing.

Heck, I may take one of them out for a spin tonight!

Love and joy come to you!

And don't forget the wassail. Make mine a double.

Disneyland - Plaza Pavilion, Christmas Decorations, Wild Fire

Old news, but the Plaza Pavilion is done with its rehab enough so that they took down the construction wall and guests can sit on the front porch again. The kitchen construction in the back continues and nears completion. Great to see the "gingerbread" woodwork and the luxurious new coat of thick paint. Bravo!

Christmas officially arrived at Disneyland recently as well, with the big tree now up in Town Square and decorations everywhere else. The official parades and fireworks are scheduled to kick off on November 21, 2008, as I recall.

The Christmas music on Main Street is cool and does help set the scene, though I must admit it was a surreal scene during last weekend's fires in nearby Corona/Yorba Linda/Anaheim Hills/Brea. A huge plume of black smoke and ash covered Disneyland last Saturday, literally blocking out the sun for most of the day. As I stood on Main Street I listened to Christmas music while baking in a hot Santa Ana (Santana) Wind and watching ashes rain down. There's a Southern California holiday scene for you.

Over on the Jungle Cruise, as our boat came round the bend into the Elephant Pool, I felt like we were in Apocalypse Now. The sky was orange-grey, ash was falling like we'd been napalmed and dense smoke surrounded us. I half expected to stumble upon Marlon Brando sitting in the tent with the gorillas and the overturned Jeep.

What made it most interesting, 101 fans, was that I was skippering the boat.

Not kidding.

More on that later.

Love,

Mike

Disneyland - Tomorrowland - Um, Now What?

I have not posted much about Tomorrowland.

There's not much to say these days.

We could talk about Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.

But what would we do when those fourteen seconds were up?

Perhaps our time would be better suited mourning the passing of Circle Vision.

This lovely attraction provided a fabulous 360-degree motion picture tour of the United States (and, later, China). It was air conditioned. It took a good number of guests out of the Park.

Or the loss of America Sings or the Carousel of Progress to Innoventions? Ack. Pphhhphth.

I've heard that the Peoplemover may be making a come back, but I'm not making any promises.
That would be a step.
Putting the Rocket Jets back where they belong would be good, too.
Updating the Star Tours attraction after 21+ years would be a nice touch. (I think we've attacked the Death Star enough already!).
A little more white paint on the buildings and perennials in the flower beds would go quite a ways.
Oh, I don't know, it'd be nice to ride the Skyway again.
At least we have (or are trying to have) a new Monorail. Hope they finish getting the bugs out. Funny, the other ones worked fine for over 50 years! Leave it to the 2008 model to be a clunker.
Mission to Mars? Okay, I'll give 'em that one. Why not stick Mission Space in its place? Beats a dirty, smelly old Pizza Planet any day.
Bring.
Back.
Tomorrowland Terrace.
Give us some primary colors on the Autopia.

My now familiar rant is now over for today.

Pax vobiscum, my friends.

Disneyland - Mint Juleps, French Market And Jazz - New Orleans Square

If you have never experienced a mint julep drink from the little service counter at the back side of the French Market in New Orleans Square---I feel for you.

The drink is cool and green, and comes with a cherry or two.
I could try to describe the flavor to you.
But I would fail to do it justice.

For whatever reason, from my very first mint julep, I have loved them.

I seek them out on almost every trip to the Park.
I love the little counter where they are served.
I love the canopy that spreads out like a fan over the French Market dining area.
I love the little song stage there where Dixieland Jazz bands play.
I love this corner of New Orleans Square.

I miss deeply those warm summer evenings in the days before Fantasmic,
when the West Side would slow down,
when the candles on the tables would glow,
when the Mark Twain would round the bend,
resplendent with lighted decks,
and a when a jazz ensemble would play to the guests seated around their small stage.
Simple.
Sweet.
Immersive.
Disneyland.
You folks who "get it" know what I mean.

As for everyone else: sorry there's no "wayback machine" for us to jump into for a spin. Nevertheless, you can still get a mint julep.

At least that's a start.

And jazz bands still appear on that little stage.Take a moment the next time you're in New Orleans Square and there's a jazz band playing,
sit down at the French Market.

Sip a julep and take a listen.

I'll wager that you'll find it's good for the soul.

Disneyland - A Splash Of Photos of 1980s Cast Members

For you whippersnappers of today's generation, this post will be a bit boring, I suppose. Just a few pictures of Disneyland cast members from 20 or more years ago---with the Park in the background.

Oh well.

That never stopped me before!

To the right you will see (in absolutely no particular order), some classic mid-1980s pictures.

We shall begin with a photo taken behind Main Street (with the old Administration and Wardrobe Building seen in the background). We find Sleeping Beauty wide awake with her Prince on a rather unconventional carriage. [Thanks to Trish Gunzel for originally posting this photo of herself and Erik Gradias]. I offer this photograph because, though I never knew either of them personally, I saw them in the Christmas parade almost daily (when I worked Main Street) AND because I love the fact that old "Backstage" Main Street is shown in the photo. The dark squares located just above the parked cars and along the face of the beige Admin building are the windows where I would go to drop off my costume and pick up a fresh, clean one before my next shift. Ah, Wardrobe. Nothing like a crisp, clean set of custodial whites or the hideous orange of a Tiki Room polyester Hawaiian shirt!

Similarly, I offer the next photograph (with thanks to Bruce Nelson who posted it originally)---not because I ever personally met or knew "Paula"---("Miss Bear Country 1986"), but because I sat at the table on which she is posing many, many times during my breaks when I worked in Custodial in New Orleans/Bear Country. I think those same vending machines are STILL there! Some things at Disneyland never change. Besides, the photo also brings back fond memories of the Country Bear Jamboree and the costumes worn by the cast members who worked there in the 1980s.

Our next photograph shows a fellow Jungle skipper (Ed Pace) and his friend (Patrice Millard) [my thanks to Ed Pace for originally posting and sharing this photo!] in 1980s attire at the helm of a Jungle boat parked at the dock. You can see the costume we skippers wore back then. Love the leopard hat band! You can also see the gloriously colorful canopies and cushions that adorned our boats. Ed's costume is identical to the one I wore almost every day during my Jungle shifts.

I knew Curt Visca, the sweeper shown in our next photograph, at around the time this picture was taken. I love how the picture shows the old entrance to Pirates, along with the hostess' attraction costume from back then. [My sincere thanks to the fantastic Sandi Miller---who took tons of photos over the years!---for originally posting and sharing this picture]. I also like the old trash can and the Swiss Family Treehouse, which you can just make out in the background. This was photo was taken long before the "bridge" that now crosses over the queue to the Pirates main entrance.

We will close out today's "Memory Lane" post with a shot taken at the old Coke Terrace or Tomorrowland Terrace. I actually knew Tammy Irwin---pictured here with two of her co-workers, as she also worked with a friend of mine from school at the Terrace. Dig the cool, red Coke costumes! Better still---that register sure doesn't look "digital." Tomorrowland Terrace had not yet met Buzz Lightyear---or his horrific color scheme---and still had some groovy, Mary Blair-esque tiles in its decor! By the way, according to the menu board in the background, you could buy a Moon Burger for $2.15 or a Space Burger for $1.95. Nowadays, you won't see "$4.50" as your register total unless you're buying a churro or something.

Children of the '80's, UNITE!
You have nothing to lose but your big hair, headbands and Reeboks!***

***---with apologies to Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

Disneyland - What Will You Celebrate?

I heard from a Cast Member that Disney has been putting on some informational seminars about next year's "What Will You Celebrate?" promotion. There has been quite a bit of interest in the offer to let you get into the Park for free on your birthday. Picking up where the "year of a million dreams" left off, next year will seek to turn Disneyland into a giant party. Guests will be invited to celebrate just about anything and everything.

The event comes at a time when it looks like the 2009 economy will be a gaping, smoking crater. Getting ANYTHING for free next year will sure sound good to a LOT of people, I'm sure.

You have probably heard about the promotion where Disney will pay for three days at WDW if you cover the first four. How's that for a promotion? Earlier this year, they offered to pay for our meal plan if we booked a Disney World trip. Have they gone insane? Disney, giving away money?

Something tells me we're in for a bumpy economic ride. Disney's offering steep discounts means we have all crossed over into the economic equivalent of The Twilight Zone. There's the signpost up ahead...

Disneyland - Adventure/Frontier Offices

Dateline: Adventureland/Frontierland

Nestled above the Riverbelle Terrace, at the intersection of Frontierland, Adventureland and New Orleans Square, are the manager's offices for Adventure/Frontier and New Orleans/"Critter" Country. A small conference room sits behind the second story porch pictured above---or at least it used to in the 1980s. Given that things "back stage" don't change much at the Park, I'll bet you the conference room remains.

After ducking behind a large door near the Bengal Barbeque, Adventure/Frontier cast members would make their way to a narrow staircase and up to a break area/porch. A door at the far end of this small porch led to the offices.

On rainy, cold days, a dash upstairs into the cozy office for a styrofoam cup of mediocre coffee was a small slice of heaven.

The Area Managers who worked there had their hands full with the wacky crews at Jungle and Thunder Mountain (and probably still do). It was cool to be upstairs and look out the curtained windows at the crowd along the Rivers of America.

I envied those managers.
They had radios.
They got to wear civilian clothes.
They always had an earpiece.
They looked like CIA and Secret Service all wrapped up in one.
They got called in for all the exciting stuff: an injury in the area, an attraction shutdown, a VIP in the Park, etc.
They were Disney cool.
When one of them stepped onto your Jungle boat, you prayed that the S.O.P. ("Standard Operating Procedure") version of your spiel would pour easily from your mouth---without accidentally letting out a non-approved joke.

Well, that is today's "remember when" cast member snippet.

Today's post has been brought to you by "Jungle Is 101," where dreams really do come true, if only occasionally and with some additives and preservatives.