The Biggest Magical Milestones
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| Who knew this case hold memories. |
Anytime you take a trip down memory lane, you meet those moments where the Universe pays you a dividend. While going through the Disney Magical Milestones from 1986 to 1995, it flashed that the year 1994 was the most important in my wife's and my life. Our life was doing really good in the late 80's. We were able to get to Disneyland every year. Many of the Magical Milestones attractions and events, we looked forward to seeing. It was a special time. Disneyland was expanding and adding some of the major changes that we think of as Disneyland itself. Where many of the previous Magical Milestones pins were a major part of my childhood and youth, that old 50th anniversary case is yielding some treasured moments of my adult life. The Magical Milestones pins from 1955 to 1965 were my finest childhood memories not only of Disneyland but in my life. The Magical Milestones pins from 1966 to 1975 were also my first steps into adulthood. Expanding on those happiest moments and finding a someone to share them with was a major joy in the Magical Milestones pins from 1976 to 1985. That someone is my wife. My wife is a Disney girl. Her uncle worked as a film editor for the Walt Disney Studios. Growing up in Burbank, she attended Disneyland with her cousins many time. She knew all the Disney films. We were a perfect Disney match.
The Magical Milestones pin for 1986 is a parade, the Totally Minnie Parade. Disney has so many different parades. Parades on a yearly and seasonal basis always changed to give the guests a different reason to visit the Magic Kingdom. Depending on the time of year the parades vary in length. I saw parades in the winter when the operating hours were shortened that started in Main Street looped around the Hub and returned backstage where it began. Some parades are grand. They originate on Main Street and continue all the way through the Magical Kingdom for the daytime show and then reversing the route for the night time performance. The Minnie parade was a short parade. It had dancers wearing 1980's styled dance wear, that really cool legging look, you know.
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| Worlds longest lasting girlfriend |
In 1987 the first attraction that was not a Disney movie opened. It was based on George Lucas's Star Tours. Star Tours used the motion simulator to combine a movie projected on a screen while the audience was shaken, raised, and dropped in their seats. I remember explaining it to my brother. I put him in a chair and thrashed him back and forth and side to side. I was explaining the attraction so he would consider joining us on a trip. One of the clever "plussing" things in the rides queue are the announcements,
"Departing Endor passenger Sacul, Mister Egroeg Sacul
please see Star Tours agent at gate three".
Egroeg Sacul is George Lucas spelled backwards. The surprises are amazing. Also the G2 Driods that are used as repair droids are the Audio-Animitronic geese from America Sings.
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| Now serving more Galactic destinations |
The greatest dream of mine once we moved from Southern California was to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. We were never in a position to afford a stay there. Finally, a sequence of events occurred that had me staying at the Disneyland Hotel. It was really by coincidence on a Thanksgiving weekend. I happened, on the spur of the moment, to drive to Disneyland just for the shrimp at the Carnation Plaza. The lady I was with and I decided to stay over for the remaining days of the weekend. By chance we tried the Disneyland Hotel on a lark. They had a room and we checked in. It was strange. Here we were being escorted upstairs by a bell hop with only a Winnie the Pooh bear. The Disneyland Hotel then was not owned by the Disney people. It was owned in cooperation of Disney by Jack Wrather family. In 1988, the Disney Corporation bought the property. The Disneyland Hotel now was an extension of Disneyland. The Magical Milestones pin for 1988 commemorates the landmark change. Disneyland became the Disney Resort.
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| Wanna go? We don't even need bags. |
Since 1955, Disneyland was defined by the berm. The raised mound of earth that served as Disneyland's boundary and the road base of the Disneyland Railroad. Disneyland kept growing and they had to extend beyond the berm. The first extension is now known as Critter Country. The Country Bear Jamboree was opened there in 1972. The area needed another anchor attraction. That attraction was opened in 1989, Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain completed the Mountains of Disneyland. Let's hope there will be more. Splash Mountain is a log flume ride themed with characters from Song of the South. Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear are involved in many adventures. Mostly to catch the elusive Br'er Rabbit. As told by Uncle Remus they are searching for their Laughing Place. Just before you plunge over the five story drop and splash down, you are serenaded by them singing the song. Getting wet is part of the charm, and our family has been soaked happily on several occasions.
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| "Everybody's got a laughing place" |
1990 Magical Milestones was another parade to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Disneyland. Party Gras consisted of six large balloons of Disney characters. There was a large Minnie Mouse in a Carmen Miranda styled fruit adorned hat. Mickey's balloon was dressed as Sorcerer Mickey. As in Mardi Gras in New Orleans, costumes are very chic. I even bought a Sorcerer Mickey beach towel. Of course, Donald Duck was seated on a big ball cruising down the street. The balloons looked huge because of the smaller scale of the Main Street buildings. Would Mickey go anywhere without his trusty pal Pluto? No way Pluto was there floating by big as life. The last of the six was Roger Rabbit. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released in 1988. There were several smaller floats that were from other Disney films. I was not fortunate to catch any of the traditional Mardi Gras styled beads which were tossed to the crowd along the parade route. Nor was I able to garner one of the Party Gras coins which were part of the party favors. These coins were like the Doubloons distributed at Mardi Gras.
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| Toss me some beads |
Okay, I have had too many afternoons free. During those misplaced hours, I watched Disney Afternoon. It was a block of two hours of cartoons especially created for syndication for afternoon viewing and Saturday morning airing on the television channel, ABC. They had shows that were created just for Disney Afternoon. Duck Tales, Dark Wing Duck, TaleSpin, and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers were in integral part of the cartoons. There were many memorable characters that were included in Disneyland's Afternoon Avenue. This section was located between Fantasyland and It's a Small World. Young people were given a map which they were to get stamped. Don Karnage, the Beagle Boys, Rebecca Cunningham, and my favorite Gadget Hackwrench were in costume among others. The 1991 Magical Milestones pin remembers this short lived Disneyland area.
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| Maybe Scrooge McDuck can give me some money. |
OMG! Before anyone ever thought of using that acronym, my wife and I both said it about the 1992 Magical Milestones pin's event. One evening we were walking towards New Orleans Square. There was a crowd gathered on the edge of the River's of America. We stopped standing near the back. A cast member said, "You'll need to move up. There is a spot right there you can stand." We asked what was happening. "It's Fantasmic." We took the advice and waited. What we saw was beyond entertaining. It was a thrilling, emotional, and heartfelt show of good and evil. Mickey Mouse battles Maleficent in an epic struggle. Music, laser lights were incorporated bringing Disney movie scenes and villains into Mickey's dream scene. As an audience member you feel the spray of water that emanated from the river. That water in the struggle erupts into fire. You feel the heat drawing you into the show. It was then that my wife and I turned to each other and said, "Oh my god."
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| With Sorcerer Mickey how can Evil win? |
Beyond the berm is where we are going again. After the demise of Disney Afternoon Avenue, the stroll toward It's a Small World was not as thrilling if it weren't for the opening of Toontown. To get there you travel under the Disneyland Railroad tracks marked by the berm. Toontown gives you the perspective that you are in the cartoon. Mickey's House, Minnie's House, and Donald's Boat are all there just like the cartoons. There are many laughs and gags that you would see in cartoons. It is a favorite spot for my family. The Magical Milestones pin show the goofy population sign that is located at the outskirts of town. It contains rotating symbols and character that never really means anything but whimsy.
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| Meet me at Pluto's Dog House for a real hot dog. |
1994 was my wife's and my magical milestone. It was the year my twins were born. Disney should have commemorated this event. That year two incredible Disney fans were brought into the extended family. Disney had an event of minor importance, The Lion King. It celebrated the birth of a new king of the beasts. However, for our family it was a movie that came out in 1992, Aladdin. In that was a song that became our families theme song. We sang it to our children. Not only was it a song and lullaby it was a philosophy that we lived our lives. We still are, eighteen years later, following the songs meaning. The song "A Whole New World" still holds a special place for us.
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| Simba wasn't the only notable birth that year. |
Star Tours was an undeniable success. It took a non-Disney movie and made it into a phenomenal ride. Working in collaboration with George Lucas was important in the next attraction. George Lucas with Steven Spielberg made old time Saturday matinee cliffhanger style movies in the Indiana Jones franchise. In 1995, the Indiana Jones Adventure opened. The ride and the queue were thrilling. As you wind your way through the the Temple of the Forbidden eye, you see excavated artifacts mined from the mysterious temple. After a Movietone newsreel tells you of the wonders and riches that people have taken from temple, Indy's sidekick Sallah tells you of the Curse of Mara's Eye. You need to ride the attraction several times because the enhanced motion vehicle can take different routes. I was shocked once when instead of one of the doorways we went through the wall to the Fountain of Eternal Youth.
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| I still carry me Marabic translation card in my wallet. |
Now the true adventure begins at this point in 1995. My wife and I get to fulfill the promise of the song, "A Whole New World". We would be able to show the real world and the Disney world to our twins.
"I can show you the world"
"Take you wonder by wonder"
In the the next ten years of Disney changes, we get to share them all with our family. I will be able to also share them with you next time.
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