Look Out Disneyland Here we Come 7A

Our long time friend standing proud
to welcome us home.

I have a life long friend.  He has a special place in our family.  His name is Mickey Mouse.  I joined his club, The Mickey Mouse Club, when I was a kid.  I watched the show every day after school.  It was both entertaining and presented you with knowledge.  My mom insisted we went to Disneyland in 1955.  We returned every year to see the changes, the evolution and the 'Disney Plussing'. As the years went by and I grew up I learned that my mother was a big Mickey Mouse fan.  She too grew up with Disney only in the theater.  She was born in 1928, the same year as Mickey. Because of this she felt a special kinship. We are going go visit this friend really soon. We are heading for the Disneyland Hotel for a weeks stay.  If you have read any previous posts, you will know we are collectors of Disney memorabilia.  Not just collectors but maniacal collectors.  When we leave for our vacation we have  a prominent Disney presence.  Matter of fact we have to raid the Harry Potter room (the cupboard under the stairs) for Disney items that we take on every trip. Over the years, we have gathered many items that we carry with us on Disney trips and also on other trips.  

So many snacks so little time

The case we use the most on our adventures is what we call the 100 Year Bag.  It was purchased from the Disney Catalog by my mother.  The bag was a commemorative of a 100 years of Disney Magic.  This is not a shoulder bag, it is like a carry-on sized bag.  We use it to carry all our snacks for all our trips.  It holds bags of chips and jars of salsa.  Boxes of crackers for my wife can be put in one of the many pouches.  It holds hot peppers and hot gairdiniera pickled vegetables all for dear old dad. Is it full yet? No, we have plenty of room for granola bars and candy for the twins. My mom got this bag for us when she ordered many Disney items monthly from the Disney Catalog.  She ordered so much she had her own private shopper with Disney.  She was considered a Best Guest. 

Bless you mom you gave us so much!

When we first begin to get ready to go to Disneyland, we gather up things that we need for our visit when we get there.  For dad and mom that means backpacks.  When the twins were babies and toddlers, the carrying of a backpack was easier.  It could hang on the stroller.  Later, we needed to carry it backpack style.  In 2001 when Disney California opened, we found a backpack we loved. It had adequate pouches to drive security people crazy.  It has water bottle pouches on both side. Plenty of space for sweaters when the weather changes. This portable home had one drawback, it could carry so much it could get heavy.  To compensate it had a lumbar waist belt to help distribute the weight on your hips. 

An oldie but a goody

The next backpack does not have as much space or as many spots for carrying stuff.  It is more compact.  This means you'll have to go back to the hotel for your coats and sweaters.  It doesn't have zipper pouches or dedicated spots for water bottles, but it is lighter. We also have the matching carry bag which is good to bring to the pool.  Since we like spending time at the pool when we spend summer days at the Disney Resort Hotels, we need an extra bag.

I love the Mickey representation

Been to the many pools of the Disneyland Resort.

At the Disney swimming pools they provide everything you might need except a suit.  Their towels are large and lush.  When the children were young and not strong swimmers, we were happy to find that Disney supplied floatation vests.  This allowed my children to enjoy the many Disney pools. The first was the Olympic sized pool at the Disneyland Hotel that was removed when the expansion and rededication of the area for Downtown Disney happened. They have enjoyed the Redwood Pool and the slide and the Mariposa pool at the Grand Californian Hotel.  Not to be left out the old Peter Pan pool at the Disneyland Hotel because of these flotation vests.  Now they can swim.  Like the Treasure of Sierra Madre, if you asked my twins it they needed a towel they would in unison, "Towels! We don't need no stinking towels!"  That is because they had always brought their favorite Disney character towels.  A Princess or Arial for my daughter and a Buzz Lightyear for my son were most often chosen.  Of course, they had to have a bag. They left their first bag at home and it was replaced in December of 2002.  The new bags hit the store marked with the date of 2003.  We had to get one.

The twin's pool bag.  Thank you Nonna.

Back about forty years ago, I bought a camera strap for my 35mm camera.  It was sturdy 1 1/2" strap.  This made it very comfortable because it was wide.  It had an elastic inner storage which held three film canisters for 35mm film.  I used it for a year or so.  The only thing I hated was the length.  Standard for the time when around your neck it located the camera in the middle of your chest.  The next year when I returned to Disneyland, I went to the Kodak Corner to purchase another identical strap.  I figured I would hook them together and wear the camera Bandelero style.  However, they did not carry the black and white, they were now red and black. so I bought it anyway. Those straps were the pinnacle of form fits function.  It has lasted 40 years and has been on three 35mm SLR's and three digital cameras.

1000 of pictures & 1000 of compliments.

Who goes anywhere without a computer.  So many places offering WiFi.  Disneyland Hotel offered in-room computer connection early on.  Back then it was supplied to your room via ethernet cable.  We have always carried a computer to stay in touch with sports scores, world news, and emails from friends.  Now we have iPhones, iPads, and four computers.  I have one of each of these items. I needed a case to carry them.  A very good friend gave me the best computer case ever.  Not only because it has space for the computer, iPad, and power cords, it is a Mickey case.  I carry this case with double pride.  First, the person who gave me this is as big a Mickey fan as me, and it reminds me of Mickey Mouse and Disneyland everywhere I go.  So many people comment on this carrying case.

Too cool for school, thanks Mrs A.

Does anyone remember the Fly n' Buy?  Yes, you got it.  This shopping area was located in Condor Flats in Disney California Adventure.  In 2001, I purchased the most obvious symbol of a a tourist, a fanny pack.  I bought this because it held Fast Passes, batteries, insulin, and Park Hopper or Annual Pass.  When the the twins were young, I carried all their Disney related items too.

Best fannypack ever!

Too bad I didn't leave some money in it.

The Harry Potter room has yielded those items essential for another trip to the Disney Resort.  We will be there next week at this time.  Have you ever, when you planned your trip, wondered what will be the first thing that you will do?  Well the next post, we will explore what the different individuals in our family want to do first at Disneyland or Disney's California Adventure.  Until then peace and we'll see you in the parks.

Look Out Disney We Have Pins 1986- 1995

The Biggest Magical Milestones

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.  

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.  

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.

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.

"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.  

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.

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."  

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.

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. 

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.  

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.  

          

Look Out Disney We Have Pins 1976 - 1985

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. 

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.

A July 4th for my age

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."

Best attraction in our Galaxy

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.

That's where the Snowman from Monsters Inc. ened up.

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.  

I fell in love twice with my wife and the ride.

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.  

Twenty five year love affair

I'm represented several times in that number.

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.

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.

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.  

"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.

Look Out Disney We Have Pins 1966-1975

More Magical Moments 50th Anniversary Pins
  
All of us witnessed another magical milestone with the opening of Cars Land on June 15th, 20012.  Disney California Adventure is like a grandson of the original Disneyland.  It was like an unruly upstart.  But, it is now a hopeful glimmer with the recent renovation that Disney California Adventure will grow up to be worthy of its family line.  Walt Disney and his Imagineers has been filling the empty spaces with more and better attractions.  They have "plussed" the originals and other rides to keep them exciting and fresh. However before this week's spectacular opening there were fifty years of these Magical Milestone events at Disneyland.  In a previous blog, I introduced the pin collection that celebrated many of those moments in time.  Magical Milestones pins were offered during the Happiest Homecoming, the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland.  
In 1966, Walt Disney himself oversaw the dedication of this, New Orleans Square, the first new land since the original layout in 1955.  At the dedication Walt quipped that New Orleans Square cost as much as the Louisiana Purchase.  New Orleans Square has become a vital area in Disneyland. It started as an anchor for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  It provided us a great a restaurant, Blue Bayou.  Along the way you see the close French Quarter streets that offer unique shopping opportunities.  

I love this little alcove for pictures of the family

If rode with me on the Time Machine Travelogue Four trip, you know that in 1967 the New Tomorrowland opened.  I was fortunate to travel to Disneyland with my brother after my high school graduation.  We went on our own without parents.  This was a definite magical milestone in my own life.  The Magical Milestones pin that celebrates Disney's achievement with the Carousel of Progress.  This attraction took the audience for a ride, literally.  The scene of the progress that were made during the 20th Century in electrical devices that made our lives better.  Labor saving devices, lights, and entertainment were shown on four different stages.  Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter were spread over years from the early 1900's to the 1990's.  

"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow"

A honey of a candidate

Does anyone remember Pat Paulsen running for President of the United States?  Seems obscure doesn't it.  On the Smothers Brother's television show the deadpan comedian ran for the highest office.  However, I don't remember Winnie the Pooh for President at all.  If anyone does please leave a comment telling me about it.

There once was a house that sat on the edge of New Orleans Square.  It sat their empty for six years.  Making us all wonder what was going to be in there.  My mother always wanted to live in such a fine looking mansion.  For years there was a sign out front advertising for ghosts.  This mansion finally gathered 999 ghosts and opened its doors in 1969.  After the ghosts materialized we were in for a treat, the Haunted Mansion.  Everything from the Stretching Room to the Doom Buggies immerse you into the storyline of the metaphysical home of Captain Gracey.  So don't get caught up at the ball in the dining room, the Grave Yard Jam, or the Hitch Hiking Ghost.  If you thing this would be a good final resting place just take the advice of the tiny Ghost Hostess and you are exiting.

     “Hurry back. Be sure to bring your death certificate, if you decide to join us. 

      Make final arrangements now. We've been ‘dying’ to have you…”

Listen to Madame Leota

The decade of the Bicentennial

On December 31, 1969 I went to my first New Years Eve party at Disneyland.  In those days the New Years Eve and some other dates were hard ticket events.  Regular daily patrons were exited and the party goers are let in.  We were given really cool pressed cellophane hats a noise makers.  There was no need for Lettered Tickets.  I'll never forget the sight in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride where the standing pirate skeleton impaled by a sword was surrounded by these hats.  Many people were attempting to make a ringer on the sword's handle.  When it turned Midnight bringing on the new Decade of the 1970's, as they do every year welcomed the new year with a fireworks display.  I was riding on the Mark Twain.  It was an interesting feeling riding on a 19th Century mode of transportation when it was changing a new decade.  The next day, January 1st was my only visit in the year 1970.  It was amazing the next day the entire park was totally cleaned.  Not one hat was left in Pirates. We stayed until it closed and made the long drive home.

A ride you get to work at

The 'Backside of Water" ride

Plussing to achieve political correctness is how the Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes were born.  Previous to this attraction there was another canoe ride known as the Indian War Canoes.  They had an Indian guide who escorted the guest paddlers.  However, the original Indian Village was removed to make way for Critter Country.   The canoe ride gives the guest a leisurely journey along the Rivers of America.  The pin is pivoted in the center so it shows the name and gives you a graphic of the attraction.  

In 1972, the best nighttime parade at Disneyland or maybe anywhere was instituted, the Main Street Electrical Parade.  I have had so many memories of this parade.  In fact, it got me back into Disney Parades.  Where in previous years, I would never wait for a parade.  If I caught a parade, I just walked up and stood behind those seated on the curb.  This often worked if I was taking pictures.  There were some trips when I went to Disneyland just for the Main Street Electrical Parade.  It was like a Clark Griswald Christmas light display every time it was presented.  

I can still hear the infectious music

Walt Disney was lost to us way too early.  He accomplished so much in his lifetime.  Starting with synchronizing animation and sound, full length animated movies using a multi plane filming process, and the invention of the theme park.  Disneyland was a total commitment of vision and money.  The story was held in the Main Street Opera House.  Moments with Mr. Lincoln was removed which caused controversy.  There was a static display of Walt's office.  There was a drawing table and other historic items.  The quill pens from this display figured in the solution of one of mine and my daughter's favorite books.  No, none of the Harry Potter books but Kingdom Keepers, Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson.  

Solve the Riddle of the Stonecutters Quill

When Disneyland opened in 1955, they had a Rocket to the Moon ride in Tomorrowland.  But by 1969, the United States space program actually put men on the Moon.  The future caught up and passed tomorrowland.  It became necessary to renovate the Moon ride and point it to a new location.  That location has been the object of our collective imagination for eons, Mars.  Mission to Mars added a Audioanimatronic characters that "manned" a Mission Control.  The actual attraction was more dynamic then the previous Lunar flight.  There was more G force apparent. Also they introduced the concept of "Hyper Space" a region beyond regular space that if entered allowed the craft to travel greater distances faster.  Every Sci Fi movie since has had some form of hyper space.  

Jump into Hyper Space

In the next ten years of Magical Milestones, we will celebrate the 25th Anniversary and many more changes to Disneyland.  Also the most important date for my family July 4, 1976, the Bicentennial.  Watch for our return to the Magical Milestones soon.  Until then make your own Disney memory milestone.

Look Out Disney We Have Pins 1955-1965

The 50th Anniversary Magical Milestones Pins 

We will open the shoulder carry pin case again.  The special Golden Attraction pins were covered on a previous blog post.  The 50th Anniversary at Disneyland on July 17, 2005 was a splendid celebration.  My family and I had an enjoyable time before, on, and after July 17th.  One of the things that I did was shop.  I shopped for pins.  There were plenty of pins to choose from.  Because the Happiest Homecoming On Earth was focused on the Disneyland Park, the Disney people instituted a collection of pins called the Magic Milestones.  

Let's unzip the case and see what is inside.

It wasn't my first adventure at buying pins.  Now, the hunt is what I enjoy.  I like going to different pin shops and kiosks. The Magical Milestones pins were offered well before the actual anniversary.  By the time we arrived, the pins were well picked over.  This only increased the hunt.  I started my hunt at Disneyland since the family enjoys Disneyland the most.  One Magical Milestone that I remember was the opening of Tom Swyer Island.  Getting away from mom and dad and being able to run free with my younger brother is what we both enjoyed.  There were dirt paths, caves, barrel bridges, and a fort.  Fort Wilderness was a log fort that had toy guns that you could point and shoot at the passing riverboat, Mark Twain.  Mom and dad probably got to sit down and have popcorn waiting for us to return at our appointed time.  

Who is rocking the raft?

I chose to keep the card that the pins were displayed on.  The display card added to the charm.  In my case the card and the pin are kept together.  When I turned the cards over, I was surprised by the price of each pin.  

Maybe a collector would like to have the card

Shh! Don't tell my wife how much I spent for each pin

I don't know about you but if your as old as me and you went to Disneyland early you will remember the Monsanto's House of the Future.  I remember standing in line with my mom in line to see the House of the Future.  My mom wore a dress. Nearly every woman in those days wore dresses.  She also wore high heel shoes.  You would be surprise how many women in the 50's wore high heels to Disneyland.  My brother went with my dad to do what two gearheads liked best, ride Autopia.  


I asked perhaps whining, "Why do I have to go through here?" 


To this day over fifty years later I remember my mother responding,  "This is the kind of house you are going to live in.  This is your future." 


It was made of strong plastic and had many innovations.  It had a huge television screen on the wall in the family room.  In the 50's everything was atoms, jets, and rockets especially when talking about the future.  The kitchen was labeled Atoms for Living Kitchen.  That's because of the microwave oven.  I remember my first Radar Range.  It was difficult to move because it was so heavy.  My mom was right, there was the future right in front of me.

The home was indestructible

How did we survive the 60's without the black light? Well the first time I saw the effect was before the 1960's on the Alice in Wonderland attraction.  The ultraviolet light made everything in the ride pop with color.  As you pass down the Rabbit hole you enter the garden where the flowers are singing "All in the Golden Afternoon.  Then you enter the croquet game with the Queen of Hearts.  As you leave you are wished "A Very Happy Unbirthday."

I wonder if it glows in black light

In 1962, I went to the Seattle Worlds Fair.  The had a Monorail that ran from a station downtown to the Fair site. It was so exciting to ride on the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere, The Disney Alweg Monorail System was started in 1959. The Monorail was just a ride in the beginning.  Only a couple years later it was extended to stop at the Disneyland Hotel.  This made it a transportation system now.  It is a great transportation for a guest with sore feet.  

In those days your choice of monorail colors were red and blue

Does anyone know of this parade?

I don't remember this parade.  I hate fighting for a place to sit.  Waiting was not my dad's thing.  He was the get in use all your 15 tickets and head for home.  In  those days, my mom had to fight for him to stay for Fantasy in the Sky fireworks.  However, as we waited in the parking lot inching our way out my dad made sure that the family understood how stupid waiting for some fireworks was. 

The next attraction was one of my favorite rides.  It was in Tomorrowland.  It was the Flying saucers.  These hover craft bumper cars were fantastic.  You moved side to side or back and forth by leaning in the direction you wanted to go.   My brother and I at first went after each other.   We then discovered it was more fun to team up a bump into some unsuspecting person. Now I see coming to Cars Land the June 15th an attraction called Luigi's Flying Tires.  We may get to fly and bump again.  

Look out those blond boys are heading right at us!

In 1960 Disney Studios released the movie Swiss Family Robinson.  It was about a family stranded on a tropical island.  They were forced to build a new home using things salvaged from their shipwreck.  Their new home was built high up in a tree.  The new treehouse incorporated an eclectic array of items, including an organ.  They transported water by the use of a water wheel lifting water to he treetop using  bamboo tubes.  There were other ingenious elements to protect them from pirates that of course eventually attacked.  The Swiss Robinson Tree House was built in Adventureland to resemble the one in the movie.  As a child it was fun to run up the stairs and across the rope suspension bridge.

Where once I ran up now I'd be huffing and puffing.

What is a Tencennial?  For Disneyland it was their tenth year anniversary.  They had a parade and the Wonderful World of Color television show.  Walt Disney himself was the host of the show which featured a dancing birthday cake with dancing candles.  The only way I got to see the celebration of the Tenth Anniversary was on the TV.  

What will we get when we unwrap this gift?

Oh look! It's a dancing birthday cake.

In that show, Walt himself told us about changes that were coming to Disneyland.  Changes that included New Orleans Square and Pirates of the Caribbean.  So I'll take my cue from the master himself and wait till next time we visit Magical Milestones of Disneyland. Disneyland celebrates their anniversary every as a birthday.  The birthdays that fall on every ten years especially so.  Remember the sixtieth is coming in three short years.  With all the celebration for the Queen of England's Sixtieth Diamond Jubilee or sixtieth anniversary, I'm hoping that Disneyland celebrates as grand.  Let's celebrate together.   Meet you in Disneyland.