The history and heritage of Disneyland
Years before the Magic Skyway, but after the “Richfield Autopia“, there was – the “Midget Autopia” at Disneyland. The “Midget Autopia” was designed specifically for small children who couldn’t even see over the wheel of the original opening-day “Autopia” attraction. On April 23, 1957 – almost two years after Disneyland opened – the “Midget Autopia”…
Here’s the script from Abraham Lincoln’s Audio-Animatronic figure at ‘Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln‘. The speech is a combination of different speeches by Lincoln. Below are the references, and links to the original speeches. “The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in…
Pirates of the Caribbean opened on March 18, 1967 – just a few months after Walt Disney passed away. Lyrics by X Atencio | Music by George Bruns Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot Drink up me hearties, yo ho We kidnap and ravage…
It’s not a real plant, but the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse is pretty close to real. The Cooperative Welding and Mfg. Co. (Cowelco) built the super structure for the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse for Disneyland in 1962. According to PlantsOfDisneyland.com, the Moreton Bay Fig Tree in Anaheim was a model for the Disney Imagineers while…
It happened on May 4th, 1977 – Disneyland opened Space Mountain – though not ‘officially’… The attraction was open to guests to ride for an “E” ticket, but the park’s second ‘mountain’ wasn’t dedicated until a few weeks later on May 27, 1977. It’s also interesting to note that Disney World opened their version of…
On February 15, 2006 at 7:30am at Disneyland, the newest engine to the Disneyland Railroad was dedicated as #5 Ward Kimball. On the same day the Lilly Belle VIP parlor car was re-dedicated after being off the line for many years. In attendance was Betty Kimball, the wife of the new locomotive’s namesake, Ward Kimball….
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opened in 1979 and covers nearly 2.5 acres of Frontierland.
The original Star Tours opened on January 9, 1987, replacing “Adventure Thru Inner Space”. Here’s a great video of Darth Vader going to Disneyland waiting for the new version of Star Tours… http://vidtaggr.com/taggs.aspx?v=t4_dZPVg8KI
In 1948 Walt visited Henry Ford’s Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Upon his return to Southern California and wrote, what could be considered, the true beginning of Disneyland. On August 31, 1948 Walt Disney sent a message to Dick Kelsey (one of his production designers) outlining an idea for a park where people…