Where in the World Wednesdays - Destinations to Explore Before Leaving this Life

DISNEYLAND RESORT – Anaheim, California

Disneyland, the theme park, first opened its’ gates to the public on July 17, 1955 (57 years ago next Tuesday), though Disneyland the idea, first started to percolate in the mind of its’ progenitor – Walt Disney, as early as the mid-1930’s.  It began as a dream of a magical little park, where parents and children could have fun together – as a father watched his little girls playing on the merry-go-round and other enticements at Griffith Park, not too far from Hollywood, where Walt would take his daughters on Sunday afternoons.

Through the years his magical little park grew in scope, and was placed on the back burner as a variety of events around the world played out throughout the late 1930’s and on through the 1940’s – most famous of all of course was World War II, when many activities at Walt’s studio were halted or at least temporarily ceased.  But after the war ended, the ideas began to bubble up once again to the surface of Walt’s imagination.  In the early 1950’s that magical little park was to be located across the street from the Studio complex in Burbank, CA.  But the ideas just kept getting bigger and grander, and Walt knew that there just wasn’t enough land available for what he wanted to do in his park.  So the search was on for a suitable location to build his dream – Walt’s Folly – as it came to be known throughout the entertainment industry. 

Concept Art for Sleeping Beauty Castle
by Herb Ryman - 1954

Walt invited Marvin Davis, Herb Ryman, Ken Anderson and a few select others to help him turn his dreams into concepts on paper.  Soon the park started to grow again as lands of fantasy, adventure, the American frontier and tomorrow began to appear.  And before long, Walt was selling the idea not just to those within the Studio, but to some outside the company. It was a rough beginning, and Walt put much of his own portfolio on the line in order to get the park built, but his persistence paid off. 

Sleeping Beauty Castle - January 2012

 July 17, 1955 – Black Sunday – as it became known within the management ranks in Burbank – came and the park was flooded with guests.  Many more than they anticipated, thanks to some clever counterfeiting of tickets – thereby swelling the guest count by nearly double what was expected.  Despite negative publicity following a variety of concerns on Opening Day (non-working attractions, not enough drinking fountains, excessive heat, super-sized crowds, and more) the public quickly embraced “Walt’s Folly”, defying what the critics had to say.  And even though the park was closed two days each week, by the end of September 1955, more than one million guests had passed through the park’s gates.  What was anticipated to be a passing fancy that would quickly shut down – not only survived, but thrived!  And here we are, 57 years later, about to mark another July 17^th and the much celebrated continued success of Walt’s magical little park. 

No other theme park venture has been the inspiration for not just one, but five sister Magic Kingdoms around the world… in Florida, Japan, France, Hong Kong and soon-to-be in mainland China – in Shanghai where the next Magic Kingdom is currently under construction.  No matter which park you visit – the original inspired design concept of the “Main Street” corridor leading up to the Central Hub is repeated time and again – all leading to that central structure – the castle – or the “wienie” as Walt liked to call it – beckoning guests forward to discover more delights that lie further in. 

But what IS Disneyland?  That question solicits a response that will be different from anyone that you ask.  To some, it is just an amusement park, like many others around the nation.  To others, it is a design inspiration.  Still to others it is a place where youth lives – and relives fond memories from the past – as well as allowing guests to dream about far off places, imagining themselves in different worlds or environments… much as they once did when in childhood playtime they let their imaginations run wild. 

As a theme park, Disneyland is comprised of 6 individual themed lands:  Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, New Orleans Square, Critter Country and Mickey’s ToonTown.  Be sure to check back next Wednesday for more individual information about Disneyland – the park.

As a Resort Destination, the Disneyland Resort is comprised of two theme parks:  Disneyland and Disney California Adventure (opened in 2001) – as well as a dining, shopping and entertainment district – Downtown Disney District – and three resort hotels: Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel and Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.

Disneyland Resort - Map art  © Disney

For the as yet Walt Disney World only guest - yes, of course the Disneyland Resort is small.  But that roughly 600 acres that it encompasses is jammed full of fun and excitement!  The resort itself just came off a 5-year expansion program that brought the all-new CARSLAND to Disney California Adventure, as well as a multitude of new and updated attractions, shows and other offerings at both parks, and at Downtown Disney and in the hotels.  It is a multi-day destination in itself, but also easily serves as a "home-base" for extended Southern California exploration.  

It is a resort destination that annually attracts more than 15 million visitors.  It is home to the original version of many beloved Disney theme park attractions now found in other Magic Kingdoms around the world, including:  Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mark Twain Riverboat, Tom Sawyer Island, Splash Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, the Jungle Cruise, Star Tours, the Enchanted Tiki Room and more. 

Disneyland is located in the city of Anaheim in Orange County, and is about 26 miles southeast of Los Angeles.  It is just minutes away from miles and miles of famed Southern California beaches, and not far from three metropolitan airports:  Los Angeles International, Ontario International and John Wayne-Santa Ana – plus two smaller airports: Long Beach and Burbank.  Convenient shuttles and buses can transport air travelers to the resort in comfort.

For more information and to reserve your next vacation to the Disneyland Resort, contact me at 855.776.1733 or via my websites:  www.neverlandadventurestravel.com or www.neverlandadventurescruises.com.  Be sure to follow me on Twitter, like my page on Facebook, circle me on Google+, and pin me on Pinterest. 

Tuesday Trivia - Disneyland's Flying Hostess

Tinker Bell made her in-person debut at Disneyland in 1961, in the body of Tiny Kline, the 71-year old former Ringling Bros. aerialist, who nightly opened the summer nighttime spectacular, Fantasy in the Sky.  The aerialist would awe and amaze guests as she would begin the fireworks show each night flying down a wire from the top of the Matterhorn Bobsleds, over Sleeping Beauty Castle and then on over towards Frontierland before disappearing from view.  Since then, Tinker Bell's opening has been a Disneyland tradition through many different fireworks spectaculars.

Featured Foto Friday - Mickey's ToonTown

Downtown at Mickey's ToonTown - Disneyland

The Residential District of Mickey's ToonTown - Disneyland

Today in Disney Parks & Resorts History - It's a Girl, Disneyland!

July 4, 1979 - Disneyland

The first baby is born at Disneyland, in Anaheim, CA. Teresa Salcedo is a bouncing, 6 lb, 10 oz, baby girl is born to parents Rosa and Elias Salcedo.  On a bench behind the Plaza Inn restaurant at the central hub, Rosa goes into labor and soon thereafter welcomes little Teresa. Later Mickey Mouse honors the Los Angeles area family with an embossed, commemorative certificate - "Disneyland Birth Certificate No.1."

Tuesday Trivia - The Enchanted Tiki Room

Did you know that the original concept for The Enchanted Tiki Room was to include a restaurant?  As originally conceived, the audio-animatronic performers would entertain guests in Disneyland's Adventureland following a nice meal in an tropically themed restaurant.  Due to limited capacity and the desire to maximize the use of the beautiful birds, Walt and his imagineers decided it would be best to drop the dinner portion, and simply expand the performance into a full-fledged show featuring the feathered performers.  The first performance was given in 1963, and the show continues to delight guests of all ages at Walt Disney's original Magic Kingdom, nearly 50 years later.

Today in Disney Parks & Resorts History - Disneyland's New Tomorrowland - 1967

July 2, 1967 - Disneyland

Disneyland's New Tomorrowland debuts.  The Peoplemover, Rocket Jets, General Electric's Carousel of Progress, and the Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant all open in the newly updated Tomorrowland.  The Peoplemover, an all-new family friendly attraction, offers a leisurely ride over Tomorrowland in all-electric vehicles utilizing linear induction motors.  Sitting high above the Peoplemover's station, the Rocket Jets, a 12 two-person spinning rocket attraction, thrusts guests high into the sky as they spin round and round above the central Tomorrowland plaza.  

Thanks to overwhelming success at the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York, Walt Disney had the imagineers bring the Carousel of Progress attraction west to Disneyland where it is still sponsored by General Electric - the World's Fair sponsor who Walt convinced to help build the attraction in the first place. Sponsored by Coca-Cola, the Tomorrowland Terrace features a stage for live entertainment, which hydraulic rises from underground when in use, and then lowers once again when dormant.  The Tomorrowland Terrace includes an all-new out of this world lunch and dinner menu. 

Tuesday Trivia - Disneyland Horticulture

A big part of the "living backdrop" for the stories being told throughout each of the Disney Parks around the globe - horticulture, or landscaping - plays a tremendous role in the various stories that come to life in such places as Adventureland, Fantasyland and Frontierland.  When Disneyland was under construction in 1954, as Walt's dream was slowly rising from former orange groves in sleepy Anaheim, CA and becoming a reality - landscape architects began filling in the initial tropical jungles and pine forests of the themed lands.  They also had to dress Gay Nineties America with formal floral gardens, medieval countrysides and futuristic landscapes as well.  But the surrounding nurseries and landscape companies simply couldn't provide enough of what was needed, and as Hedda Hopper, noted Hollywood columnist of the day wrote, "Walt Disney depleted our nurseries from Santa Barbara to San Diego."  Not only did the Disney team procure needed plant items from the nurseries, but trees along the then-under construction I-5 freeway route were relocated to the Disneyland job-site as well.  Once in place, the Disney horticulturalists then had the task of providing massive doses of "TLC" in making the plant life look as if it had always been there.  

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History: CARSLAND is FINALLY OPEN!!

JUNE 15, 2012:  DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE – Anaheim, CA

After a long 5 years of multiple parts of Disney California Adventure being being a myriad of construction walls, the long anticipated re-launch of the Disneyland Resort’s “second gate” is here!  It is the culmination of the park’s 5-year, $1.8 billion dollar “re-do”, which today sees the public Grand Opening of both CARSLAND and the all-new entrance land, BUENA VISTA STREET. 

Originally opened February 8, 2001, Disney’s California Adventure (as it was then known), was hoped to be a huge success at transforming Disneyland into a multi-day destination “Resort” as Walt Disney World is.  With more than a $1 billion investment to transform the old Disneyland parking lot into the new theme park, as well as build the Downtown Disney District and the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, the company was excited about the prospects that the second gate would offer.  Unfortunately the projections did not bear out as company management had hoped, but the park did produce one of the most original and sought after attractions in a long time – Soaring Over California (which as a result produced a copy on the east coast and opened as Soarin’ at Epcot on May 5, 2005).  In order to boost attendance and turn what was quickly viewed as a marginal, half-day park into a more full-fledged stand-alone park, additions and modifications were quickly put on the agenda:  incorporating more Disney characters and entertainment, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Turtle Talk with Crush, a bug’s land (the first new land added offering 4 new attractions designed specifically for young children:  Heimlich’s Chew Chew, Flik’s Flyers, Francis’ Lady Bug Boogie and Tuck and Rolls Drive ‘em Bugggies ), Monsters Inc: Mike & Sully to the Rescue and the Aladdin musical stage show all came between 2002 and 2005.  In addition the Block Party Bash, filled with Pixar characters debuted in 2005 and the Main Street Electrical Parade – re-christened Disney’s Electrical Parade was added in as nighttime entertainment in 2006.  After the Block Party Bash was moved to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida in 2009, the all-new Pixar Play Parade replaced it. In 2008 construction began on a number of new attractions to the Paradise Pier area, and in 2009 construction on Carsland began.

 New and re-themed attractions for Paradise Pier included Toy Story Midway Mania (originally conceived and designed for the Paradise Pier area of the park, and shortly after construction began in 2007 it was decided to be added in to Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida as well. Ultimately the Florida version opened just days prior to the California version as there was less construction needed in Florida than California, since the California version goes underneath the California Screamin' roller coaster (which was mildly re-themed for the redo) and the Florida version is housed completely inside a pre-existing soundstage structure at that park); Mickey’s Fun Wheel (formerly the Sun Wheel), Silly Symphony Swings (replaced the original Orange Stinger), Goofy’s Sky School (formerly Mulholland Madness), the beautiful nighttime water and laser spectacular World of Color, on Paradise Bay, and The Little Mermaid: Arial’s Undersea Adventures.  New shops and restaurants were also added to the mix, as well as various daytime entertainment offerings. 

BUENA VISTA STREET, the all-new park entrance land, transports park guests to Los Angeles and Hollywood of the 1920’s, when Walt Disney first moved to California from the Midwest.  It is completely new, offering a wide array of shops and dining locations – including the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Café, which is the home of the very first Starbucks inside any Disney theme park ever.  (Starbucks will be opening locations in all other domestic Disney parks in the near future).  It was a massive undertaking for the theme park to completely shut-down and redo its’ entrance area – and the first time in Disney theme park history that the company ever made the decision to do so, but it was such a good decision.  The theming, landscaping and surroundings are simply gorgeous, and well-worth the wait and inconvenience caused to the guests throughout the construction process. With the addition of the Red Car Trolley, and numerous walk-about themed characters and musical acts, Buena Vista Street is now a charming complement to Main Street, U.S.A. across the esplanade in the original Disney theme park – Disneyland, and continues the story, if you will.  Whereas Main Street, U.S.A. represents the small-town charm of Walt’s boyhood home in Missouri, Buena Vista Street represents the optimism of the young man and his dreams as he and his brother Roy embarked on cranking out Mickey Mouse cartoons and turning the Disney Brothers Studio into the entertainment behemoth we all know and love today.

At the end of Buena Vista Street, you’ll find the Carthay Circle Theatre, a full-scale recreation of the West Los Angeles theatre that was the site of the World Premiere of Walt Disney’s 1937 classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the first full-length animated motion picture.  This Carthay Circle Theatre doesn’t show films, but is an exquisite table-service restaurant, filled with tributes to the film and the original structure. Upstairs there is an additional dining location, open only to the membership of the newly expanded Club 33, Disneyland’s private, members-only club conceived of by Walt himself as a way to entertain various VIP’s and their guests over in New Orleans Square, on the second level of that land.  The Club has a waiting list several years long, with hundreds of people still waiting to be asked to join, but with the inclusion of the Carthay Circle’s lounge as part of the Club, several hundred new members were added to the Club’s roster. 

CARSLAND, the all-new 12 acre land recreating the Route 66 town of Radiator Springs from the Disney-Pixar CARS films is the home of 3 exciting new attractions, plus a myriad of shops and restaurants based on locations and characters from the films.

• Flo’s V8 Café is themed 
• dining location open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is one of the largest restaurants in the entire Disneyland Resort, full of beautiful and intricate details that help to tell the story of Radiator Springs.
• Cozy Cone Motel is a series of quick-service counter locations, selling things such as ice cream, popcorn, churros, beverages, including beer, and other snack items.  Limited table seating is available in the courtyard.
• Fillmore’s Taste In is a fruit and juice stand.
• Sarge’s Surplus Shop is filled with all kinds of clothing and toys. Several unique Carsland inspired items can be found here. 
• Ramone’s House of Body Art is full of adult clothing and car accessories, many of which are uniquely themed to the land and not available anywhere else. 
• Lizzie’s Curios Shop was designed to be an eclectic shop filled with unique and fun trinkets and finds just as people would have found when stopping along the famed Route 66 during their cross country treks, but sadly that fun concept was discarded by management, and so this shop just sells standard Disney souvenirs available in practically every other location throughout both of the parks and Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort. It is the official Pin Trading location for the land, and the Vinylmation center as well. 
• Luigi’s Flying Tires is a tire-inspired attraction that allows guests to hover above the air table as they move around the floor turning and bumping into each other.  It is a 21^st century updated version of the “Flying Saucers” attraction that once lived in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in the mid-1960’s.  The imagineers worked hard to bring this attraction to Carsland, but from all initial testing and reports, it’s a very slow loading, low capacity attraction.  Waits will be long for just a couple of moments of air time.
• Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree is the sleeper hit of the land!  It is a fun musical spinner attraction where guests sit in the “tow” portion of the vehicle, behind Mater and enjoy several moments of spinning fun!  With 8 regular musical tracks playing as they spin, and lots of funny interjections from Mater along the way, guests are sure to enjoy this experience.

• Radiator Springs Racers is by far the “star” attraction of the land.  This attraction takes guests on a thrilling journey through 6 acres of this new land!  Both indoors and outdoors, guests will find all sorts of stunning views of the new land as they interact with numerous characters from the films, and ultimately race another ride vehicle to the finish line! The theming is rock solid, the indoors sets are expansive and very well done, and the desert inspired landscaping is lush and very appropriate. The concept behind the attraction was based on the original Test Track at Epcot, but goes way beyond that in design, theme, technology and execution.  The attraction itself offers Fastpass and Standby lines, as well as a Single Rider line.

Disney California Adventure certainly has been transformed since what premiered back in February 2001.  It has been a long and interesting process to watch – but in the end, I believe that the park, and the Disneyland Resort is much better for it.   Personally I was very disappointed in the original park – with its' "hip & edgy" vibe, and very lackluster, non-Disney feel but I have and have been thrilled with each new addition. Just as Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios) was a half-day park when it first opened in 1989, that park and now this park have both grown and expanded into full-day adventures.  I used to take my son there as a “daddy-son” afternoon for an hour or two when the park first opened.  Our family has been many times through the years since we moved from Southern California to the Midwest.  We can’t wait to get back and experience it all together once more – now that the re-do has been completed.   After so long – and so many additions - the park has finally come into its’ own, and can finally be called a full-day, stand-along adventure, as the other parks in the Disney pantheon are.  


If you have not yet made a trip to the Disneyland Resort - now is definitely the time to start planning!  I'd be thrilled to help you with that process too.  If you need more information, don't hesitate to visit my website for more info. 

  

Featured Foto Friday - Disneyland - Adventureland panorama

Adventureland Bazaar

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Sailing Ship Columbia

June 4, 1958 - Disneyland


Sailing Ship Columbia, a full-scale replica of the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, is christened at Disneyland.  

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Ariel's Undersea Adventure

June 2, 2011 - Disney California Adventure Park

The Disneyland Resort celebrates the opening of the all-new adventure in the Paradise Pier area of Disney California Adventure,  The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure with a special ceremony featuring Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel, as she performs "Part of Your World," from the film’s Academy Award-winning score. (Both Jodi Benson and  Pat Carroll - the actress who voiced Ursula, the sea witch - had taken the first ride on the attraction the day before).

This attraction is currently being replicated at Walt Disney World as part of the "New Fantasyland" expansion, and is slated to open sometime in the fall of 2012, ideally prior to the Christmas season.

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - It's a Small World

May 30, 1966 - Disneyland

Walt Disney and Disneyland honor both Memorial Day, and the park's newest Fantasyland attraction - "it's a small world".  Walt presides over a Grand Opening celebration for the attraction that was first built for the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York. (The original flume and attraction components - the more than 500 "singing and dancing" dolls - have all been installed at the park in Anaheim).  During the celebration, appropriately costumed children representing nations of the world, join Walt Disney in pouring waters from the seven seas into the flume. The attraction features the well-known song of the same name, composed by Richard & Robert Sherman. (Since it premiered in 1966, more than 256 million guests have experienced Disneyland's "it's a small world" attraction.)

'it's a small world" decked out for
the Christmas season by day - 2008

and by night, when it is seasonally transformed
 into "it's a small world holiday" - also 2008

Tuesday Trivia - Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

Disneyland opened an all-new adventure in 1962, the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, in honor of the 1961 live-action film, "Swiss Family Robinson."  The tree stood over 80 feet high, and was created with over 6 tons of reinforced steel, over 100 cubic yards of concrete, and covered with over 300,000 handmade vinyl leaves and blossoms.

This Day in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Disneyland

May 25, 1983 - Disneyland

As part of the New Fantasyland renovations, Disneyland adds Pinocchio's Daring Journey, which officially opens to guests.  It is the first Disneyland attraction added to the park that first debuted at Tokyo Disneyland (opening a month earlier in April 1983) and the first attraction created by the Imagineers to use holographic material. The dark ride is based on Walt Disney’s 1940 animated classic, and Jiminy Cricket guides guests through various scenes from the film.

May 25, 2007 - Disneyland

In conjunction with the continued success of Walt Disney Pictures “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy (the newest film, “At World’s End” recently had its World Premiere on the Rivers of America at Disneyland), the long-time Frontierland attraction Tom Sawyer Island is rededicated as Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island.  An artificial island surrounded by the Rivers of America, originally left vacant during the park’s opening year, became Tom Sawyer Island in the summer of 1956. The network of intricate caves and caverns now contain to the Pirates of the Caribbean films, as well as the traditional Mark Twain characters from the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. 

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Legislation Creating Reedy Creek

May 12, 1967 – Orlando, Florida

Signing legislation, Florida's Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr., officially enables Walt Disney Productions to build and operate Disney World (later renamed Walt Disney World by Roy O. Disney, in honor of his brother Walt, whom Roy wanted everyone to remember who’s dream it was the company was building in Central Florida).  With the legislation signing, the Reedy Creek Improvement District is created as well as the cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake, and Florida taxpayers will not have to spend public money on Disney construction – and the Disney organization will not have to rely on state agencies for approval of anything built.  

Because Disney has so many plans for the theme park, the company decides to build it in phases.  Phase One will consist of a theme park, two resort hotels (called the "Tempo Bay Resort Hotel" and the "Polynesian Village Resort") and a campground.  The theme park will be a modeled after and built as a larger version of the company’s original theme park, Disneyland, in Anaheim, CA.  The park and the two hotels will be situated around a large, man-made lagoon, and near the existing, natural Bay Lake – located at the northwestern edge of the vast 43 square mile property acquired by the company between 1966 and 1967. 

Wordless Wednesday - Dinner at Disneyland's Plaza Inn

Tuesday Trivia - Disneyland

In 1957, Walt Disney gave a personal tour of his kingdom, Disneyland, to King Mohammed V of Morocco.  After the King and his entourage arrived back at his hotel, the king slipped past his bodyguards, returning to the Magic Kingdom incognito, wishing to see it again through the eyes of the average tourist.

Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Disney Dollars

May 5, 1987 - Disneyland - Anaheim, CA


Disneyland first introduces Disney Dollars, in $1 and $5 denominations.  This exclusive currency features Mickey Mouse on the $1 bill, and Goofy on the $5 bill.  Guests may exchange their regular U.S. currency for this special park currency at ticket booths and Guest Relations, and it may be used for purchases throughout the park.

Tuesday Trivia - New Orleans Square

New Orleans Square opened at Disneyland in July 1966 as the park's first new "land" since opening day in July 1955.  The grand opening dedication was given by Walt Disney, with New Orleans Mayor Victor Schiro accompanying him.  This three-acre land cost approximately $18 Million to build - $1 Million more than the park's original construction cost!  This land authentically captures the winding streets, iron-laced balconies, and the intimate shops and courtyards of the city of more than a century ago.  It was the first time Disney Imagineers used one single location - and one real city - as inspiration for the land, instead of using an amalgam of design concepts to create the overall feeling of time and place such as is found in Main Street, USA, Adventureland, Frontierland or Fantasyland - each drawing their inspiration from multiple sources.  

Tuesday Trivia - Mattherhorn

Disneyland's Matterhorn, the first of many Disney mountains, is exactly one-one hundredth the size of the real mountain in Switzerland;  147 ft tall vs. 14,700 ft. It is the equivalent of a 14 story building and was in its' day, the most expensive single attraction addition to the park, costing a then-whopping $1.5 million to build.  (Translated to 2012, that would equally roughly $44 million - relatively small compared to many of the $100million attractions that have been built in the past decade at Disney Parks around the world).