Showing posts with label Rides & Attractions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rides & Attractions. Show all posts
Monday, July 30, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Rock N Roller Coaster
July 29, 1999 – Walt Disney World
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith premieres at Disney's Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney-MGM Studios) with a special, by invitation-only party featuring Aerosmith as the featured guests of honor. The party includes a buffet of all-you-can-eat food and beverages and an opportunity to ride the roller coaster with a member of the band! This all-new enclosed steel
roller coaster is found at the end of Sunset Boulevard, near the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction. The attraction will open to the public the next day, July 30th.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Featured Foto Friday - Mad Tea Party
The Mad Tea Party - Disneyland |
One of my favorite aspects of the attraction has to be the lanterns strung overhead across the turntable. At nighttime they are just oh so charming.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Tuesday Trivia - Matterhorn Bobsleds
The Matterhorn Bobsleds, which first opened at Disneyland on June 14, 1959 is noteworthy for a number of "firsts" that it can claim. Those firsts include:
The Matterhorn has not been duplicated in any other Disney theme park yet. It was at one time considered for inclusion in Epcot's World Showcase for a proposed Swiss Pavilion, but of course that concept was scrapped later on.
It is the tallest structure inside of Disneyland, coming in at 147 feet tall, and it is a near perfect 1/100th replica of the original mountain in the Swiss Alps. To build the mountain, the Imagineers used 2,175 individual steel girders, countless tons of concrete, and enough lumber to build approximately 27 1950's era tract homes.
- first thrill ride designed for Disneyland (and as such it retains the title as first thrill ride for any Disney theme park)
- first tubular steel roller coaster ever built
- first fully themed indoor/outdoor roller coaster
- first Disney attraction to feature two separate track systems in order to increase guest capacity
- first roller coaster that allowed multiple vehicles to operate on the same track at once.
The Matterhorn has not been duplicated in any other Disney theme park yet. It was at one time considered for inclusion in Epcot's World Showcase for a proposed Swiss Pavilion, but of course that concept was scrapped later on.
It is the tallest structure inside of Disneyland, coming in at 147 feet tall, and it is a near perfect 1/100th replica of the original mountain in the Swiss Alps. To build the mountain, the Imagineers used 2,175 individual steel girders, countless tons of concrete, and enough lumber to build approximately 27 1950's era tract homes.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Featured Foto Friday - Mickey's ToonTown
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
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.
Monday, July 2, 2012
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, June 26, 2012
Tuesday Trivia - Walt Disney World 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 Walt Disney World was in the planning stages, one of the first things to be done was to establish a "tree farm." Disney horticulturalists set aside a 145-acre farm beginning in 1967, where seeds and unrooted cuttings were brought in from destinations around the world, including such far-off locales as Australia and Africa. Young trees were relocated from California, Texas and other states, as well as surrounding communities. In doing so quickly, the horticultural team was able to assess which trees and plants not typically grown in Central Florida would or would not adapt to their new home, thereby aiding in the development of suitable "living backdrops" for such highly themed attractions as the "Jungle Cruise", "Tom Sawyer Island" and more.
Friday, June 15, 2012
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 CafĂ©, 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 CafĂ© 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 21st 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.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Sailing Ship Columbia
Saturday, June 2, 2012
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.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
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 |
Friday, May 25, 2012
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.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Today in Disney Parks and Resorts History - Norway
May 6, 1988 - Walt Disney World
Norway, the second new World Showcase pavilion at EPCOT Center to be added to the
original roster (taking the count up to 11 nations), has a soft opening. The new pavilion includes the Fjording shop, Puffin's Roost shop, Kringla
Bakeri og Kafe restaurant, and Restaurant Akershus. The pavilion will not actually officially open until July when the featured attraction, Maelstrom, will officially set sail on July 5th. This innovative attraction features the first time a Disney attraction vehicle switches direction, turning the boat and its' passengers around not once, but twice during it course through its Scandinavian settings. Following the boat ride, passengers are treated to a short, 5 minute film about the Norwegian history, culture and landscape.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
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).
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Tuesday Trivia - Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Tuesday Trivia - Sailing Ship Columbia
The Sailing Ship Columbia was christened at Disneyland on June 14, 1958. The ten-gun, three-masted ship was designed using plans and historical documents to be a full-scale replica of the first ship to carry the American flag around the world. The ship (with the exception of its' hull which was built at a Long Beach shipyard) was build entirely at Disneyland. Her creation & addition to the park came about as the result of a conversation between the manager of Frontierland and Walt Disney as they observed the waters of the Rivers of America one day in 1957 - which at that time contained the Mark Twain, two Mike Fink Keel Boats, three Indian War Canoes and two Tom Sawyer Island Rafts. As the men talked, Walt said, "Look at that, now there's a busy river." The manager expected a complaint from Walt, but instead was surprised when Walt said, "What we need is another BIG boat!"
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Tuesday Trivia - Grand Canyon Diorama
Disneyland's Grand Canyon Diorama, the world's longest diorama, situated along the section of track between Disneyland Railroad's Tomorrowland and Main Street, U.S.A. stations, opened in 1958. At the dedication ceremony, 96 year old Hopi Indian Chief Nevangnewa blessed the trains that would transport visitors past the dramatic scenes. The Diorama was expanded in 1966 with the addition of Primeval World, taking guests back in time to the age of the dinosaur. The dinos found in the diorama originally debuted at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, and at its' conclusion, were relocated to Anaheim.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Tuesday Trivia - Epcot and Hollywood Studios
Did you know that there is a 100 degree temperature difference between the hot & cold rooms within Epcot's Test Track attraction?
Did you know that Beauty & The Beast-Live on Stage premiered at Disney's Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney-MGM Studios) on the same November day in 1991 that the film premiered in theaters?
Did you know that Beauty & The Beast-Live on Stage premiered at Disney's Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney-MGM Studios) on the same November day in 1991 that the film premiered in theaters?
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