Let's Take a Look at the Magical Milestone Anniversary Pins.
Grab a Starbucks, it is now sold in Disney's California Adventure, and a Ghirardelli chocolate, also now sold there, sit down and unzip that 50th Anniversary pin bag. We need to continue looking at those Magical Milestone pins. Fifty years of history at Disneyland is incredible. Luckily, I got to share many of those times. When they released the Magical Milestone pins, I was drawn to the 1976 pin.
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| Whose the leader of the pins? |
It was a pin that not only represented a specific event at Disneyland; it was the greatest 4th of July event in our lifetime, the Bicentennial. On July 4th, 1976, our country turned 200 years old. This was celebrated across the country. I was excited to witness the festivities that the Bicentennial would offer. I could not afford to travel to Washington D.C., Boston, or any of the east coast cities that were the Cradle of Democracy. Living on the west coast I figured the only place that would "do it up right" was Disneyland. So I gathered my family, including my mother and made reservations for a stay at Disneyland.
Boy, I was right. It was a glorious day. Every 4th of July, guests entering Disneyland receives a US Flag lapel pin. There were lot of guests too. The park actually closed the gates off early. Yeah, it was crowded. But it was a good crowded. Happy guests brimming with patriotic pride. Any way, if you are patriotic, you need to go to Main Street Town Square and witness the Retreat, the lowering of our flag. However, on the 4th of July , It is a special event. The ceremony, the band, the service members stepping forward, make people brim with pride. It is so emotional. Yeah, I cannot help but to discretely whip the tear that has leaked from my watering eye. Fireworks are part of every 4th of July holiday. The Bicentennial fireworks were awesome. Crowds of people standing shoulder to shoulder as if at attention, eyes turned skyward, and ears filled with pariotic music. I have seen many fireworks displays both at Disneyland and in other cities, but the Bicentennial Fireworks that year were incredible. That makes the Magical Milestone pin one of the most special in my collection.
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A July 4th for my age
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As the movie says, "They cannot hear you scream in space." But in Space Mountain, you'll feel like your in space and you'll hear screaming. In 1977, with much fanfare, they opened a totally enclosed steel tubular roller coaster. The opening on Memorial Day 1977 was yet again another retheming of Tomorrowland. The opening ceremony included six Mercury astronauts. As a youth of the sixties, I admired these original space pioneers. The ride originally was in the dark. That freaked some people out. Therefore, they added a little more lights. This I found disturbing because you could now see the superstructure of the ride. Beams and cross beam bracing seem to jump out at you at the speed of the roller coaster. When I went there in 2005 for the 50th Anniversary, Space Mountian reopened with a different track layout. It has always been fun. When my daughter was young, she wasn't into roller coasters. But finally, she went for her first time. She told someone that it was her first time and they gave her a button on which they wrote, "First time on Space Mountain."
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Best attraction in our Galaxy
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We love to ride the mountains at Disneyland. The first mountain was the Matterhorn Bobsled ride. Brought into service in 1959 the Matterhorn was the first tubular steel roller coaster in the world. The attraction has had additions to the storyline but in 1978 they added a permanent resident, the Abominable Snowman. Whenever the bobsled passes by the Snowman he roars at you. I always roar right back at him. It was a small "plussing" but it added to the attraction.
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That's where the Snowman from Monsters Inc. ened up.
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Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and the next mountain to open was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There was a previous Rainbow Cavern Mine Train attraction. It was a flat land mining train that shared the Living Desert with the stage coach, Conestoga Wagons, and the famous Pack Mules. In 1979 that all changed, the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opened. Using audioanimatronic animals and elements from the Living Desert and the Rainbow Caverns a new gold mining Boomtown of Rainbow Ridges was created. My wife and I shared a ride on this mountain the first year it opened. In Kingdom Keepers, the T-Rex comes to life and tries to attack Finn and Philbe. We as a family love this mine train ride. It is a perfect representation of an out of control train.
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I fell in love twice with my wife and the ride.
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How quickly the years pass. In 1980, Disneyland celebrated its 25th Anniversary. There was a 25th Anniversary Parade and a Disney's Wonderful World television show. There were no silver vehicles or anything astoundingly special about that landmark in time. At least I cannot remember. I didn't go for the July 17th anniversary that year. The early 80's had an entirely different milestone. Disneyland was expecting. No not a new baby like Mrs. Jumbo's son Dumbo. They were expecting the two hundred millionth guest. That lucky person would receive a Golden Pass, it was 26-year-old Gert Schelvis of Santa Barbara, California. I hope she still enjoys it.
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Twenty five year love affair
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I'm represented several times in that number.
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Do you have any old Disneyland tickets with some of the old "A-E tickets" still attached? I do. Of coarse the unused tickets were mostly "A" tickets. In October of 1955 the Disneyland ticket books were first sold to guests. In those days they only had admission and "A-C" in the book. "D and E" tickets were then sold in 1956 and 1959 respectively. The cost of that first ticket book was $2.50. When they say a new attraction is an "E" ticket ride it was because that ride was the most thrilling. There were people who through their work got the opportunity to join the Magic Key Club and they did. Both my mom and my family joined to receive lower cost tickets. In 1982, the ticket books were retired. Then the real Disney mission started, you had to try to ride every ride in a day.
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| Tickets to paradise |
Ever miss a friend or go to their house and they are not home. That is how I felt when Fantasyland was closed. What once was a Renaissance themed festival was rebuilt into the European village setting the Walt Disney imagined when he first planned Disneyland. The New Fantasyland has a Bavarian village appearance. The Sleeping Beauty Castle's drawbridge was raised and then ceremoniously lowed for this 1983 event. A bronze plaque was placed with the words inscribed that Walt spoke on Opening Day 1955.
"Fantasyland is dedicated to the young, and the young at heart and to all those who believe that when you wish upon a star, your dreams do come true."- Walt Disney.
So an old friend was back and they were at home.
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| The only Fantasyland my twins know. |
"I want my, I want my, I want my MTV," older readers will remember when MTV showed music videos. You don't? Well, "Videos killed the radio stars." It was the 80's and music and the young people were changing. Not only was there sound and music there was sights and sounds. In 1985 at night, the Fantasyland Theater turned into Videopolis. It was a dance club for a modern time. These were seventy television monitors that showed music videos. It wasn't like dancing the night away at the Tomorrowland Terrace but it was fun anyway.
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| "Dancing the night away" |
"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long
as there is imagination left in the world."—Walt Disney
In the next ten years because of Walt's Vision, we will see many new attractions, entertainment, mountains, and lands. Disneyland is worth going back to not just for what they had in 1985, but the next ten years will bring major changes. So dispose of that Starbuck's coffee cup properly, and wipe that little bit of chocolate out of the corner of your mouth, and meet me at Main Street and we will view 1986 - 1995.
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