Meet The World

Knott's Update: Part 1 - Totally Eighties, Mine Train Ticket Booth & More

2012-01-07T20:28:00.000-08:00

ROCK The Ghost Town, or BURN It Down....or just BE NEAR It! During a recent visit to Knott's Berry Farm, I was surprised to see.....or should I say hear, that they have replaced the themed music for each section of the park with top 40 hits from the eighties. Why? I don't know, but it was odd walking through Ghost Town and hearing, "Rock The Casbah", "Burning Down The House" and "Be Near Me" blaring away instead of fiddles and banjos playing! Now don't get me wrong, I love music from the eighties, and it might not be that bad hearing it play in the "Boardwalk" area of the park, but in Ghost Town and Fiesta Village? Come on, Knott's management....what are you thinking?

There have been some other changes made at the park recently, some good and some bad. Here's a good one.....Claude Bell's "Marilyn and Cecilia" figures are back! They have reappeared in Calico Square after a very long absence.

This is where "Marilyn and Cecilia" sat for many years. The over-sized and out-of-place Calico Stage was built in that spot back in the nineties.

The stage towers above Calico Square and covers up part of the original buildings that used to face the square.

Here's a vintage postcard of Marilyn and Cecilia years before the stage displaced them.

And here's a 1959 shot from Gorillas Don't Blog, used here with permission (thank you, Major Pepperidge!) Note the names on the trunk in front of them. This is back when they were known as "Nell and Belle."

Also note the popcorn wagon to the left of them. These wagons used to be located throughout the park, but have slowly disappeared over the years. The one in Camp Snoopy is still there, but it's kind of hidden and I haven't seen it open in years. There was also a popcorn wagon located outside the park across from the Cable Car Kitchen. I used to work in that one sometimes! Well, I was glad to see that one of these vintage wagons has returned to Calico Square.

The wagon replaced a row of ugly outdoor vending stalls that had been built across the front of the Calico Mine Train. Good move!

However, do you notice something missing in the photo above? The original ticket booth for the Mine Train is now gone! It was recently demolished after sitting in the same spot for over 50 years! Let's move in a little closer.

And even closer.....

I had no idea that it was going to be torn down, so I'm glad I had taken a picture of it in the past. What a shame that someone didn't care enough to try and protect this structure.

This postcard dates back to when it was a functioning ticket booth.

A wooden arch went up in it's place very recently. I think I like it better with just nothing there!

In real life, aren't these kind of beams supposed to be holding up the ceiling of a mine and not just free-standing? Weird!

Meanwhile, the original Log Ride ticket booth still remains....for now anyway. It was converted into a snack shop years ago. I hope there aren't any plans to demolish it!

I was told by some of the employees that Knott's has a brand new CEO, and that most of these changes (including the choice of music played throughout the park), are his decisions. I guess we will just have to wait and see what other changes might occur at Knott's.

Check back for Part 2 of my Knott's Update and to see what vintage Knott's attraction from the seventies has made a return to the park! (No, it's not Knott's Bear-y Tales, darn it!)

New Year's Eve At Disneyland - 1996

2011-12-31T03:05:00.000-08:00

Today we have two photos from the 1996 New Year's Eve party at Disneyland. Walt was sporting what I like to call a "trash hat." The park used to give these hats out to guests on New Year's Eve. I call them trash hats because they were made up of shrink wrapped scraps of paper and cellophane. I wonder if they still pass these out? On this particular night, someone had managed to get over to Walt and place one of the hats on his head. Funny or sacrilegious? You decide!

The photos today were taken the year of the Disneyland New Year's Eve "Flower Trampling" incident. We were pretty safe....and so were those poinsettias seen around Walt and Mickey, because this was actually "the eye of the storm." Things stayed calm in the dead center of the Plaza where we were located while everyone was going crazy around us. I mentioned the incident in my Disneyland Millenium New Year's Eve post from two years ago. Here's the part about the flower trampling:

<< The last New Year's Eve that I spent at Disneyland was in 1996 and it was so unbelievably crowded that I haven't attempted it since. It seemed like the entire park was packed into the Plaza for the midnight countdown and fireworks. Afterward, it was complete gridlock in the Plaza and surrounding areas and it was taking forever for the crowd to dissipate. People got very impatient and eventually just started climbing over railings and trampling flowers to get out of the area. It was a little scary!>>

According to the clock on the Castle, the photo above was taken at 11:23 (and 02 seconds!) It really doesn't appear to be that crowded around us.....but it was! Oh, and you can see two people in the crowd wearing their "trash hats."

Here's a close-up of the signage on the Castle. This was actually taken earlier in the evening as shown by clock.

Well, I will not be going to Disneyland tonight for New Year's Eve....and you can't make me! I'll be spending the evening at a much smaller-scale event.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!

(To see some Disneyland New Year's Eve ephemera from 1980 and 1981, click here.)

Santa's Village: Part 8 - Miscellaneous Images, Souvenirs, and Links

2011-12-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's time for the final part to my Santa's Village series. Today we will be looking at some miscellaneous images from the park. First up, we have "The North Pole." Guests to Santa's Village could see, touch, lick and be photographed next to this "North Pole" that happened to be made up of real ice. I wonder if this thing was turned on 24 hours a day or if once the park closed, the plug was pulled and it was allowed to defrost? This was located just inside the entrance to the park. Santa's house can be seen in the background.

Here's a better view of Santa's house. We actually saw this building in yesterday's post. This view of it shows Rainbow Man on the far left (rockin' his rainbow bell bottoms) and the Lollipop Lady, as well as some elves and possibly Cinderella or Alice. I would say that she's Alice because of the blue dress and white pinafore, but we saw her riding on Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach a couple days ago, so who knows....they may have intended for her to be Cinderella.

Not only did Santa have a home at Santa's Village, but the Easter Bunny did as well. Or at least, he had a nursery there. I'm pretty sure he lived there too because we have seen him in plenty of Santa's Village pics....and where else would the Easter Bunny live anyway?

Here's the Mechanical Toy Factory, which is listed on the map as just "Toy Shop".....not to be confused with the Mill Wheel House/Toy Shop. I do get the names of those two locations confused. They seem to have changed names over the years. They were definitely two separate buildings. One had a waterwheel on the front of it and the other had this mechanical gear or cog on the facade.

This postcard is just labled, "Gift Shop."

There is a "Gift Shop" listed on the map, but I'm not sure if this "Pixie Flower Stand" was part of the Gift Shop or if it was located in one of the other shops on the property.

This was the Coaster Bobsled Ride. I wonder what happened to this little ride?

Visitors to Santa's Village could also ride Santa's Candy Cane Sleigh Ride.

The Candy Cane Sleighs operated year round whether there was snow on the ground or not. They were pulled by only four "not-so-tiny" reindeer.

Once again, here is that Santa's Village map from the late seventies/early eighties. I've circled the attractions and buildings that were mentioned above. It looks like over the past week, we have taken a close-up look at everything listed on the map except for the "Pebble Candy Mine", which I have yet to find vintage pics of, and the "Old 99 Train." Who knew that Santa's Village had two trains?

We also did not take a look at the "Barn", the "Burro Ride" or the "Animal Pen", but we certainly did see plenty of animals pictured in the vintage postcards! And speaking of Burros, here's a postcard showing "Bim, The Playful Burro." Cute!

Below, are some miscellaneous items I found for sale on eBay. The first is a group of five black and white photos from 1957. One of the pics shows a goat in a sleigh with a kid (no pun intended). Another pic shows a burro (Bim?) coming right up to some guests and trying to drink out of their cups. I thought the animals were shown out in the open on the postcards because those were publicity shots, but were some of the animals just running around loose in the park?

Vintage pics of the park often show kids wearing these buttons. This one is available on eBay for a Buy It Now price of $18.00. I wonder if these were given out or if they had to be purchased?

This S.V. magnet has a Buy It Now price of $22.00.

And here's a really interesting item. It's a record album of Christmas songs sung by the students of the Claremont High School Vocal Music Department. There doesn't appear to be a date on it, but based on the student's clothing in the cover photo, it looks like it was probably taken in the fifties or sixties. And that building in the background is Santa's Toy Shop. It originally had a Buy It Now price of $99.99, but it can now be yours for the reduced price of $49.99. Aren't these prices kind of steep? Maybe that's why the items have been listed for over a week now and have not been snapped up.

Here are some links for more information on Santa's Village:

Santa's Village History - for a fascinating history of the men behind Skyforest's Santa's Village and the world's first "theme park chain" (AND the first suspended monorail in the United States.)

Photo Essay: Santa's Village Theme Park Abandoned - for blogger, Sandy Hemmerlein's "Avoiding Regret" blog post recalling what it was like poking around the old abandoned Santa's Village site.

The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California - for information about the new location of Santa's Village's Crooked Treehouse, the Guard Shack, the playhouse version of Santa's House and many of the park's concrete mushrooms. (The Flower Fields are currently closed and will be open to the public from March 1st thru May 13th of 2012.)

The Santa Ana Zoo in Santa Ana, California - for information about the new home of Santa's Village's Magic Train (now the Zoofari Express.)

I think we'll end this series with another pic of the spinning Christmas Tree Ride, just because it looked so cool!

So long Santa, and so long Santa's Village!

Santa's Village: Part 7 - Crooked Tree House, The Magic Train & More!

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's not all doom and gloom for Santa's Village! Some parts of it went on to have a life beyond the Skyforest park and are now entertaining the masses at other Southern California locations.

This Santa's Village is located in a children's playground at The Flower Fields of Carlsbad, California (near Legoland).

Through an auction that was held after the closing of Santa's Village, they were able to acquire many of the park's cement mushrooms and also the park's Guard Shack. I wasn't able to find any vintage images of this structure, so I'm not sure where it was originally located. The Santa's Village in Dundee, Illinois (same owner) had an almost identical structure that stood in it's parking lot.

Does this little playhouse look familiar? We saw it a couple days ago in a vintage postcard.

Here's that vintage image again. See it in the lower right corner of the pic? It's rotated around in the postcard so we're looking at the other side of it.

It was actually supposed to be a miniature version of Santa's house. The full-sized version can be seen below. The playhouse even had the clock hanging out front with the months on it instead of hours. A great vintage shot of it can be seen here on Gorillas Don't Blog.

Here's another beloved structure from Santa's Village that can also be found at The Flower Fields, The Crooked Tree House.

This is how it looked when it was at Santa's Village. If I were a kid, I would much rather go down that longer, taller, metal slide! Are there any metal slides in parks anymore? Oh well, at least the structure still exists!

I've circled the original location of The Crooked Tree House in green on the map.

And here's roughly where it would have sat in the aerial photo. I've also circled the location of The Magic Train in blue because now we're going to be taking a look at that attraction.

It was a train......but it was also magic.

It was......The Magic Train!

Today.....not so magic.

....at least not at the old Santa's Village site.

HOWEVER, this little gem also continues to have a life beyond it's 43 years of service to Santa's Village. It can now be found at the Santa Ana Zoo in Santa Ana, California (a few miles southeast of Disneyland). This train was actually built by Bud Hurlbut of Knott's Calico Mine Train and Calico Log Ride fame....to name just two of his incredible pieces of work!

The train was acquired by the Friends of the Santa Ana Zoo in November of 1998 and brought back to the Hurlbut Amusement Company in Buena Park (across the street from Knott's Berry Farm) and completely restored. A new train station was built at the zoo and the attraction opened in 1999 with a new name, the Zoofari Express. In 2005, the 50 year old engine underwent a conversion from a gasoline powered engine to battery powered. At this time a new train was brought in to cover for the original engine while it was being refurbished. Today, both trains are running at the Santa Ana Zoo, so if you go to the zoo to see the Santa's Village train, it's the one with the #1030 on the engine. The newer train is engine #1036.

Well, I have one more part to this series and then we'll be done.

I would like to wish a very Merry Christmas to all my readers, commenters, lurkers and followers! (And a big "thank you" too!)

Santa's Village: Part 6 - Cinderella & Alice

2011-12-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

Let's go for a ride in Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach! Just enter through the brightly painted castle turret!

The coaches may be long gone, but yep....that turret is still standing today. This is the view from behind it. See the blue wooden railings on the other side? Those are the multicolored railings visible in the vintage postcard above.

There's those blue railings again. The Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach entrance is just out of view on the left. That tree trunk-shaped structure once served as the entrance to the Alice In Wonderland attraction. Hey, where are the caterpillar ride vehicles?

This attraction was actually a walk-thru.

And now you can just enter through one of the broken glass panels.

What a trip, huh? Maybe someone else should try to reopen this place? I read somewhere that local residents are still hoping that someone will do just that, but I don't know what that is based on exactly. Maybe the fact that someone was attempting to do it 10 years ago is giving them hope that someone else will come along?

Here's the location of these two attractions.

We'll end today with a close-up of Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach. Who's that riding on the back? Why it's Rainbow Man! Did I hear someone ask who the heck is Rainbow Man?

Well, here's a better photo of him posing along with the Lollipop Lady. It kind of sounds like a seventies variety TV show, "The Lollipop Lady & Rainbow Man"! Sort of like "The Pink Ladies and Jeff".....hey, whatever happened to that group anyway? I wonder if Rainbow Man ever stood in for Santa?

Santa's Village: Part 5 - Christmas Tree Under Glass, Candy Kitchen & More!

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas tree under glass, anyone? Out of everything that is still standing in a state of decay on the old Santa's Village property, this one has to be the strangest. It's a disheveled Christmas tree just sitting there behind glass, apparently untouched for years!

"O Christmsas Tree, O Christmas Tree, thy leaves are so unchanging....."

Hey, somebody forgot to open their Christmas gift!

Here's a vintage postcard showing how it appeared in happier times. Check out the crazy, larger than life jack-in-the-box! And there's the Easter Bunny and Mr. Scary Pumpkin-Head Guy (taking a nap on the ground). The building with the blue roof on the left was the Candy Kitchen.

"Sunshine, Lollipops and......."

Mmmmmmmmm......C-A-N-D-Y!

Here's a close up look at that psycho jack-in-the-box. I wonder what happened to him? The Pixie Pantry is just down the hill. Gee, blogger "A Snow White Sanctum" was right when he commented yesterday about Santa's elves having their hands full with reindeer, donkeys and goats! Not to mention children!

Again, here's the map and an aerial photo to get our bearings.

I've also circled the Antique Auto Ride because I believe the path it followed can be seen in the aerial photo below. It looks like there is at least part of a concrete road sitting just beyond the Pixie Pantry building.....which corresponds with the Antique Auto Ride's location on the map.

Does anyone know where the cars ended up? I'm guessing they would have gone to another amusement park.....it's hard to believe that they would have been scrapped.

Check back tomorrow for Part 6 of this series. Only two more parts to go! Or maybe three!

Santa's Village: Part 4 - Pixie Pantry, Enchanted Castle, Doll House & More!

2011-12-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

Here we go with Santa's Village: Part 4. The structures we will be looking at today were all located pretty close to the entrance of the park. The larger building with the green roof used to be the Pixie Pantry. It looks like the right side of the building was added on at some point. The building with the brown roof was the Doll House.

This vintage postcard shows what the Pixie Pantry looked like once upon a time.

And that small structure in the foreground was the Enchanted Castle, which sat in the middle of Silver Slipper Lake.

Well kids, Silver Slipper Lake still exists, but it looks pretty stagnant today! There's the Doll House again on the left. Off in the distance is the Chapel and on the right is the old Wheel Mill House.

Here's the map and an aerial photo showing us where we are in the park.

Let's take a look at the Wheel Mill House first. See that pink bridge in the vintage pic.....it's still standing! How is it that termites have not devoured something like this over the years.....not to mention the natural elements. It does snow there, after all.

This is the Doll House. Hey, how great would it be if these buildings were turned into cabins and guests were allowed to stay on the property in a former Santa's Village shop? Of course, I would rather see the entire property restored to it's former glory so I could make up for the fact that I never got to visit Santa's Village!

Here's a closer look at the Chapel building today.

And the vintage image.....

This postcard shows the Doll House in the background and another wooden bridge in the foreground. This second bridge is also still standing and is visible in the two previous panorama shots as well as the aerial view. Oh, and here we have yet another seasonal character (Mr. Pumpkin-Head Guy?) that apparently hung out at Santa's Village along with the Easter Bunny, who we saw in Part 1 of this series.

I like ending these posts with pleasant images, so here's an interior shot of the Doll House......

.....and an interior shot of the Mill Wheel Toy Shop. (The map shows it listed as the "Mill Wheel House" and shows another structure listed as "Toy Shop", but older postcards including this one call it the Mill Wheel Toy Shop.)

I want that robot!

Santa's Village: Part 3 - The Good Witch's Bakery & Mrs. Claus' Spice Kitchen

2011-12-21T01:01:00.000-08:00

Nibble nibble at my house.....Hey kids, it's the Good Witch's Bakery at Santa's Village!

And it's still standing today!

The building has seen better days, but at least Gingy still has both of his gumdrop buttons.

There's that spur section of monorail track that we saw in yesterday's post. And there's one of the cars that we saw being stored on it.

The place is like a ghost town....creepy! I believe that colorful structure to the left of the Good Witch's Bakery was the Wee Puppet Theater, but I'm not positive. I don't have a vintage shot of it for comparison. The building that is partially visible on the far left was Mrs. Claus' Spice Kitchen.

Here's a map and an aerial photo to show where we are in the park.

Here's a better look at Mrs. Claus' Spice Kitchen.

And this is how it appeared back in the day.

We will end today with a vintage interior shot of the building. It looks like Mrs. Claus is trying to peddle her jams and jellies. Who does she think she is....Cordelia Knott?

Santa's Village: Part 2 - The Bumblebee Monorail & Christmas Tree Ride

2011-12-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

In the early sixties, the very first suspended monorail system in the United States was built at Santa's Village in Skyforest, California. The Bumblebee Monorail gave guests an aerial view of the park while riding in suspended bee-shaped vehicles.

The map below, shows the monorail route. I've highlighted the path in yellow since it didn't show up very well in the scan.

Here we see a monorail car traveling past the spinning Christmas Tree Ride.

Well, today the Christmas Tree Ride is long gone. You can see the old railing that used to surround it in the photo below. The Bumblebee Monorail however, is still standing....cars, track, station and all! This shot was taken from pretty much the same angle as the one above....just several yards further back. How sad is this photo? Look away if you want to, because it only gets worse from here!

Here's a better shot of the station. The piece of track on the right is a spur that leads to a storage area. The track outside of the station does not seem very high compared to the first two vintage photos. I wonder if there was originally some kind of fencing in this area to keep guests from being hit by the cars?

This car is in a perpetual state of "entering" the station.

Step right up to the beehive-shaped ticket booth to buy your monorail ticket!

There are more cars parked on the spur track in the storage area.

Tragic!

These two cars have been left hanging high above another section of the park.

The track layout can be seen in this aerial view.

Zooming in closer, we can see the station and the beehive ticket booth. Also, if you look just to the left of the station, you can see one of the cars suspended among the trees.

Once again, I will leave you with a happier image of the park during it's glory days. If you compare this photo of the Christmas Tree Ride to the other one, you will notice that many of the decorations were removed from the tree. Also, the ride vehicles lost their detailed paint jobs at some point.

Tune in tomorrow as we venture deeper into the remnants of Santa's Village!

Santa's Village: Part 1 - Main Entrance & Park Map

2011-12-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time in Southern California, residents and tourists alike could "Enjoy A Fun-Filled Day At Santa's Village!" Santa's Village was located in Skyforest, near Lake Arrowhead and opened in 1955....six weeks before the opening of Disneyland. The park operated year-round for 43 years before closing in 1998.

Unfortunately, I never made it to this park. I remember seeing the television commercials as a kid and hearing how guests could eat at the "Pixie Pantry", visit the "Good Witch's Bakery" and ride the "Bumblebee Monorail." I really wanted to go...but alas, it never happened. The closest I got was during a family trip to Big Bear Lake. We had passed it on the drive up, so on the way back down the mountain, I asked my grandfather if he would pull over so I could take a closer look. My grandfather was always a good sport. He pulled the car over and even though the park was closed, I was able to peek through the fence at the colorful little buildings all trimmed with "gingerbread." Around that same time....actually, it may have been during that Big Bear trip, I was able to pick up a brochure for the park and I have kept it all these years.

Here's a vintage postcard showing the entrance to the park. When I saw this building in person, it was almost completely covered with shade from the growth of trees that had popped up around it. Gee, now I'm wondering why I didn't take a picture of it. I do have pictures from that trip and this is definitely something that I would have taken a picture of back then, so maybe I had run out of film!

So what happened to Santa's Village after if closed in 1998? Well, a developer bought the property in 2001 and began refurbishing the buildings with the intention of reopening the park, but he died in 2005 before the project could be completed. Today, a logging company has taken over the property. If we look at an aerial photo, we can see the former Santa's Village parking lot filled with cut timber.

Let's zoom in closer, shall we? Wait a minute....that building on the right looks like it could be the old Santa's Village entrance!

If we zoom in even closer, we can see what looks like part of a giant candy cane out in front.....it's even casting a cane-shaped shadow onto the ground in front of the building. Am I just imagining it because I want to see it?

Nope, both the entrance and the giant candy cane are still standing!

It looks like the portion of the building on the far left has been added to the original structure....maybe that was part of the refurbishment that took place before the plans to reopen the park fell through? And what's that green apparatus standing behind the entrance? Could that be a remnant of the old Bumblebee Monorail track? And what about those other buildings that are visible?

Well, for those that want to see what else may still exist from the park, including items that made their way to other Southern California tourist spots, stay tuned! I plan to do a Santa's Village post every day between now and Christmas Day! For now, I will leave you with another vintage image of the entrance.

Oh yeah, and it appears that the Easter Bunny lived at Santa's Village too. Who knew?

Holiday Fun With That Darn Cat! - 1965

2011-12-10T02:42:00.000-08:00

Let's take a break from Walt Disney World for just a little while with some holiday fun! From 1965, we have the "Holiday Fun Book"...a gift for you from Canada Dry and your very good friends at Penneys, Luden's Candies, Purina Cat Chow, Scripto Pens and Yamaha Sportcycles!

"That Darn Cat!" which was released in 1965, happens to be one of my favorite Disney movies....along with two others that also star Hayley Mills, "The Parent Trap" and "The Moon-Spinners."

I've seen all of these Disney movies except for "Thomasina"....does anyone out there recommend it? I've heard that it's a tear-jerker, so I've avoided it.

I was going to cut this autographed picture out and carry it in my wallet like it suggests, but I decided to keep the book intact. Cologne and nail polish as Christmas gifts for your pets? Were the makers of Purina Cat Chow really recommending that?

My grandparents used to buy Wink from Canada Dry. I think they also bought Squirt which was another grapefruit-flavored soft drink.

An original Walt Disney Christmas story!

Scripto pens? Actually, I prefer writing with a Bic Banana. Of course, a Bic Banana Ink Crayon will do in a pinch....especially when it's endorsed by Charles Nelson Reilly wearing a banana costume!

Many of my childhood toys came from Penneys......and Sears! Are there any department stores that still have a toy department?

I believe this book was an insert from Look Magazine, but it's possible that it was available from another source. Perhaps it was a free gift from the Canada Dry display at your local super market?

The Magic Kingdom - The Liberty Belle Riverboat

2011-12-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

My last post was about everything on Tom Sawyer Island....let's now take a ride around the island aboard the Magic Kingdom's steamboat, the Liberty Belle.

Get ready for some more ugly gray skies! At this point in the day, it even started to drizzle a little.

I took the picture of the Liberty Belle above, for a photo comparison to the vintage shot below of the Admiral Joe Fowler. I had posted the vintage pic previously in my Steamboats of the Magic Kingdom post from last year. (That post also included information about when the two different steamboats were in service and the different names that have been assigned to them over the years.) You can see in the photo below how WDW loads their guests onto the second level of the boat, but has them disembark on the lower level.

Before we begin our ride, here's one more photo comparison using a vintage shot that I have not previously posted. Unfortunately, I didn't stand back as far as I should have for the current shot.

Here's the vintage "yesterday" shot from 1975. The whitewashed fence that we saw in my last post can be seen across the river in both of the pictures. And that's Aunt Polly's restaurant on the right. As a reader commented in the last post, Aunt Polly's is now closed and abandoned with just some vending machines placed in front of it. Sad!

Okay, now we're ready for the ride. We have grabbed a spot on the second level and at the rear of the boat. From here we can see the Haunted Mansion and part of the old Keelboat landing on the far right.

Here's the view looking down at the paddle wheel.

And the view looking back at the two-level boat dock and Liberty Square.

Most of the guests went upstairs to the top level!

Now were passing Frontierland and two empty Tom Sawyer Island rafts.

.....plus one loaded with happy WDW guests.

I believe this next area is what's left of WDW's old Canoe dock, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I wish I knew more when it comes to WDW history! By the time I made it to the Magic Kingdom for the first time, the Canoes had already been removed from the park. :-(

Big Thunder is up ahead!

WDW's Rivers of America has these river markers in the water every so many yards. Each one has a sign with the name of that portion of the river. This sign reads, "Twin River Bend."

We're looking back here, so we have just passed Potter's Mill on Tom Sawyer Island and that structure in front of it is Huck's Landing.

There's the suspension bridge that we saw in my last post and off in the distance is another view of the old Keel Boat dock.

BIG THUNDER STRIKES! (Anyone else remember that television commercial from 1979 when Big Thunder opened at Disneyland?)

A side view of Fort Langhorn....

Some flora and fauna....there's one of those birds that I like so much!

The structure formerly known as "The Burning Cabin."

Here's a closer look. I believe Tokyo Disneyland is the only park with an actively "burning" cabin now. At least it was still burning when I visited last year.

The "backside" of Big Thunder.

The Magic Kingdom's train passes over this trestle. I have been wondering where this tributary of the river goes, so I checked out a satellite view of the park and it showed it leading around the west side of the park and opening up into the Seven Seas Lagoon out in front of the park. I think it's interesting that the two bodies of water are connected. I'm guessing that the bridge can pivot on that large support on the right in order to allow watercraft to get by. Does anyone know for sure if that's the case?

Here's Beacon Joe and his dog Rufus just hanging out at "Alligator Swamp." We saw Beacon Joe (or his identical cousin) in a Tokyo Disneyland post of mine from last year.

If you check out that earlier post (here), you can then click on a link to a post by Dave of Daveland showing how this same guy shows up in both Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion! He really gets around!

According to the river marker, this is "Deer Crossing Shallows."

A native dwelling....

....and some moose.

Now we're coming upon a friendly Native American village.

Attention Major Pepperidge: Look there by that tree! A papoose has been left all by itself out in the sun. Where's a Ronco food dehydrator when you need one? Of course, you'd also need an electric outlet to plug it in.

Here's something that used to be visible along Disneyland's Rivers of America. A body all wrapped up and prepared for burial.....or would it be for cremation?

This keel boat sits just outside of a cave on the island. It looks too small however to have been one of the actual boats used for the Keel Boat attraction.

Now we're on the other side of Fort Langhorn. The exit from the fort's secret escape tunnel can be seen just to the right of that guy leaning against the rocks.

Here's one more look at the island's suspension bridge.

And now we are approaching the dock.

I hope everyone enjoyed this ride aboard the Liberty Belle!

The Magic Kingdom - Tom Sawyer Island

2011-11-26T19:05:00.000-08:00

It's Tom Sawyer Island time! When I did my 1974 Tom Sawyer Island post last year, I had not actually been over to the island....I just used some vintage slides and a couple current pics that I had taken from the "mainland." Unfortunately, the island was always something that I would put off for later in the day and then it would end up closing (Closes At Dusk!) before I could get over there. Well on my recent visit to The Magic Kingdom, I made sure I saw it!

Just a warning....at this point in the day, the sky got very gray and ugly, so the lighting in these pictures really isn't the best.

Here we are waiting on the dock for the next raft.

While we waited, the Liberty Belle Steamboat passed us. Notice the single smokestack.

We're almost there. This is the view from the raft, looking back at the dock.

We made it! Let's go explore!

I wonder if they ever gave out maps of the island at WDW like they used to at Disneyland? Tokyo Disneyland still gives out maps of their island!

Tom and Huck welcome us.

This vintage photo is from my 1974 Tom Sawyer Island post.

The sign really hasn't changed much in 37 years.

Here's something that neither Anaheim's or Tokyo's islands have....it's Old Scratch's Mystery Mine. Hey, that trash can is blocking my view! It's like placing a stroller in front of artwork that's hanging on a construction wall!

It was pretty dark in the mine, but my camera flash was lighting the way.

This part of the mine turns into something like a "Mystery Spot" or the former "Haunted Shack" at Knott's Berry Farm. I loved it....except it was a little difficult to walk through it in the dark.

In this "peek-in", we can see water flowing uphill.

It looked better without the bright flash!

Glowing jewels can also be found in this area.

Now this section of the mine had an interesting effect. The crossbeams gradually got lower here, so as you continued forward it appeared that you were growing larger and larger!

This is Potter's Mill. You can enter the structure and view it's inner workings from two levels.

And this is Scavenger's Fort, which is located on the highest point of the island....pretty much in the same location as the treehouse on Disneyland's Tom Sawyer Island. Did WDW's island ever have a treehouse?

The pipe laying on the ground appears to be the smokestack from a steamboat.

I love these birds. They can be found all over The Magic Kingdom, especially in the areas where there is water. I am guessing that they are some type of crane? I saw more of these birds than I did ducks.

In addition to the Mystery Mine, WDW has it's own version of Injun Joe's Cave.

At Walt Disney World, Tom Sawyer Island is actually divided into two separate islands. Guests have to cross this suspension bridge to get over to the second island, but it isn't as high as the suspension bridge at Disneyland....this one is only a few feet above the water.

Fort Langhorn can be found on the other side.

Wow....this brings back memories. (Hey Disney, BRING BACK DISNEYLAND's FORT WILDERNESS!!!)

I took this next photo because I wanted to compare it with the following two pics.

I took this one a couple years ago at Tokyo Disneyland.

And this next one was taken at Disneyland by my dad in 1965. Even though I was standing in a slightly different spot for the WDW photo, you can see what I was trying for. All three photos show the bathroom, the southeast "rife roost" and part of the water well. The DL and TDL photos were posted previously in my "Then and Now/Here and There" post from a couple years ago.

The Blacksmith is a "peek-in" with some animated figures.

The guy on the right is holding onto a rope and as he raises and lowers his arm, it operates the bellows for the fire. Notice the glowing horseshoe being held by the guy on the left.

These horses can also be found in the Blacksmith's space. The one on the right swishes his tail back and forth.

And next to the horses are these chickens that cluck and move their heads. Nice touches, Disney!

A view of the well from above.....

And a view of the path leading to one of the "rifle roosts."

WDW has not removed their rifles like Disneyland did years ago after a child lost a finger. I did notice that there isn't a loop of metal in front of the trigger, so I guess that would prevent a careless child from getting their finger stuck, and then falling and losing the finger.....gee, what are the chances of that anyway? How many decades did those rifles exist before that happened?

This is the view looking out from one of the rifle roosts.

The fort is also equipped with cannons!

Standing just outside the fort, we can look up and see the tips of the rifles and cannons protruding from the fort.

The Guard House is another "peek-in", but no animation on this one.

The Magic Kingdom's fort still has it's "escape tunnel." Disneyland sealed up their passageway back in the mid-seventies and I've always wondered why.

Once again, very dark....and kind of creepy! Mrs Bates, are you down there?

Now we've exited the escape tunnel which led us down to the banks of the river. We'll take one last look up at this cool little structure and make a wish...."BRING BACK DISNEYLAND'S FORT WILDERNESS!"

As we continue along the east side of the island, we pass the Haunted Mansion.

And the Liberty Belle.....

And the two-level dock for the Liberty Belle.

Looking back we can see the two-level queue and loading dock for the old Keel Boat attraction. Yep, WDW lost their Keel Boats just like Disneyland did. HEY DISNEY,.....oh nevermind!

Hmm, somebody had help whitewashing that fence.

And finally, as we continue around the front of the island, we find Harper's Mill.

Compare the shot above to the one from my older post.

Again, the sign hasn't changed much.

Inside the mill, you can hear the recorded sounds of birds chirping. I took this picture of the gears turning and it wasn't until the flash went off that I could see this bird hiding in the space left by a broken cog.

Well, it was a long post, but I hope everyone enjoyed this visit to Walt Disney World's Tom Sawyer Island!

The Magic Kingdom - Liberty Square

2011-11-19T05:02:00.000-08:00

Hey kids, let's visit Liberty Square! This is where you will find Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion. The exterior is almost an exact copy of Tokyo Disneyland's Mansion....or I guess I should say that Tokyo's is a copy of Florida's!

After seeing online photos and video of the new interactive queue for Florida's Mansion, we felt like we could just skip it since walking through it is optional for guests. Actually, there was only an hour left until park closing and we still needed to ride Snow White's Scary Adventure's a couple more times....okay, eight more times! This headstone is located just outside the entrance to the Mansion, but it isn't part of the new interactive queue, it was added in 2002. The inscription reads, "DEAR SWEET LEOTA, BELOVED BY ALL. IN REGIONS BEYOND NOW, BUT HAVING A BALL."

The neat thing about this headstone is that every so often, it's eyes will open for just a couple seconds and then close again. I remember the very first time I saw this, it reminded me of the "I Love Lucy" episode when Lucy turns her head into a clay bust and is trying to hold still, but opens her eyes briefly to look at Ethel. Here's an animated pic using two photos that I took on a previous visit. (Editor's note: The animated photo doesn't seem to be working the way I had hoped. Doesn't Blogger support GIF files anymore?)

The Haunted Mansions in Orlando and Tokyo have a few extra scenes that are missing from Anaheim's version. One of those scenes included a hallway with portraits of people whose eyes would "follow" you as you rode past them in your Doombuggy. Orlando replaced these not too long ago with Anaheim's "changing portraits" and put a window on the opposite side of the hallway with lightning flashing outside. The portraits that used to hang on that wall have now been moved to the loading area. Below are two of those paintings. I know the painting of the fisherman is based on original concept art by Marc Davis, but I'm not sure about the other one. If someone out there knows for sure, please chime in!

Another scene missing from Anaheim's Mansion is the music room with a piano that plays all by itself.

Just outside the gates of the Haunted Mansion is a shop called The Yankee Trader, which carries "Jams, Jellies and Kitchen Needs".

The shop was formerly known as The Yankee Pedlar (Gourmet and Culinary Aids). Here's a photo from 1975.

This next shop is called Heritage House. I did not go inside and unfortunately the maps for the Orlando parks, just like the maps for the Anaheim parks, no longer give a description of any of the shops or their wares. Whatever happened to the guidebooks that were given out at the ticket booths that had a description of the attractions, restaurants AND shops for each land? Even the official WDW site didn't care to tell me what was sold inside the shop, but according to an unofficial website I found, this shop sells "everything from the revolution era....flags, T-shirts and lots of historic replicas....here you can also find metal plates that were made by real modern day blacksmiths." I hope that's true and that they don't just sell the same souvenirs that every other shop in the park sells.

The Liberty Belle Riverboat is also located in Liberty Square. I'm planning on doing a separate post on that attraction so for now, we'll just take a look at "the stocks" that are located in front of the riverboat landing.

Here are three vintage pics from the 1970's. This guy seems to me making his own imaginary guillotine with his hand as a blade. I bet that was his wife!

Now it's his turn in the stocks.

I believe this is him once again, but taken during a different visit. Hey....that guy on the left......is that.....no it couldn't be.....but it kind of looks like.......SQUIGGY!

Liberty Square contains a replica of the Liberty Bell that was cast from the same mold as the original. According to Wikipedia, it's the only other bell to ever be cast from those molds. Who knew?

The Liberty Bell is surrounded by flags from the original thirteen colonies. In the background is The Hall of Presidents building.

The original attraction poster hangs outside the entrance.

The United States Seal can be found on the carpet in the lobby.

Funny, in this closeup it looks more like an eagle (ha, ha!)

Now in the past, I think the cast members have stated "no photography of any kind" during the show, but this time they only stated "no flash photography" (and maybe no videotaping), so I took the opportunity to snap a few pics. Of course without a flash they came out a little blurry, but here they are. The first one shows Abraham Lincoln delivering his Gettysburg Address. The interesting thing here is that he speaks in the middle of the pre-show. This is something new just since Barack Obama's addition to the show. One of the projection screens raises to reveal Lincoln with curtains strategically placed behind him to block out the rest of the Hall of Presidents stage sets and audio-animatronics.

And now, the Presidents of the United States....

....including the Barack Obama animatronic (in the foreground and on the far left.....of the photo that is.) Another new addition to the attraction is George Washington standing up to deliver a speech. He does this before Obama speaks. In the past, Lincoln was the only figure in the show that spoke, but beginning with the addition of Bill Clinton in 1994, the current president now delivers a speech that is recorded by the actual Commander-In-Chiefs.

Here's high definition video of the current version of The Hall of Presidents show.

Part One:

Part Two:

And just for fun, here's a short video showing the Lincoln Audio-animatronic experiencing some minor technical difficulties back in 1992.

The Magic Kingdom - New Fantasyland Construction

2011-11-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time in Florida's Magic Kingdom, there was a "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" attraction. It was located in Fantasyland and opened just two weeks after the park's grand opening on October 1, 1971. The attraction existed for almost 23 years before closing in September of 1994 and even though it had closed, the abandoned lagoon remained in place for almost another 10 years. Unfortunately, there was not to be a "happy ending" like there would eventually be with Disneyland's Submarine lagoon. The decision was finally made to drain the water and demolish all remnants of the attraction. This photo was taken in 1975 during the attraction's glory days.

Flash forward to present day and this same area is the location of the Magic Kingdom's current Fantasyland expansion.

There is a very long construction wall that runs through Fantasyland and contains artwork and descriptions of the coming attractions. This first panel describes the "Be Our Guest Restaurant."

The Beast's castle can be seen above the top of the construction wall.

This angle shows construction of the new "Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid" attraction in the background.

A close-up showing Eric's castle.....

Here's the artwork along with a description of that attraction. I wonder if the interior will be a carbon copy of the attraction that opened earlier this year in Anaheim?

Over near the Dumbo attraction was artwork depicting the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train rollercoaster. There was an area specifically designated for stroller parking near Dumbo, but of course there are going to be rebels that have to park elsewhere and block my perfect shot of the Snow White artwork. Don't they know there are people out there that want an uncluttered view of this stuff?

I was tempted to move the strollers over to the nearby parking area before taking my photo, but I decided instead to use them to climb on for a better look at the construction. With one foot on each of the strollers, I almost had a perfect view of the construction.....

....that is, until the strollers began to roll out from under me. Hey, don't those things come with brakes?

Let's take a closer look at the description and artwork for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride.

Further down, near Pinocchio's Village Haus Restaurant was a description of the "Enchanted Tales With Belle" attraction.

Here's an overview of the New Fantasyland. In the upper right corner, we can see the Storybook Circus section of the area. This was the previous location of Mickey's Toontown Fair, formerly Mickey's Starland....and formerly Mickey's Birthdayland which opened in 1988 to celebrate Mickey's 60th birthday and was intended to be "temporary," but remained for over 20 years. Originally this area was going to be used for a "Pixie Hollow" section in the New Fantasyland, but the plans were eventually revised and will now include a "double" Dumbo's Flying Elephants attraction with an interactive queue.

This construction wall and artwork can be viewed while riding the train around the park. A child's hand can be seen pointing at the artwork. I believe I overheard the child saying, "Well, a Storybook Circus section wouldn't be my first choice for the New Fantasyland but at least it's better than something totally lame like Pixie Hollow."

And last up we have a couple shots of the Storybook Circus construction. The first one shows what I believe was part of Goofy's Barnstormer junior coaster, which is going to be re-purposed into the "Great Goofini" coaster.

Oh, and no strollers were harmed in the taking of these photographs. I never even touched the two strollers that were parked in front of that construction wall. And don't get me wrong, I don't dislike children.....I just think they should be forced to walk around the park and when they get tired of walking, then it's time to go home. (Please don't leave me hate mail in the comment section! Thank you!)

Happy Veteran's Day, everyone....and happy 11-11-11!

The Magic Kingdom - Arriving & Halloween Stuff

2011-11-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is that it doesn't sit in the middle of a "city." When driving to the park, you enter the Disney property and then drive for quite a while past undeveloped stretches of land before you ever get to the park. Along the way, there are a few billboards advertising attractions at the various parks. The first one that you pass promotes the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at the Disney Hollywood Studios Park. The elevator car is actually animated and wobbles around continuously.

This advertisement is for Mission Space at Epcot. I'll have more to say about that attraction when I post pics from Epcot, but for now I'll just hold my tongue. The Monorail beam behind the sign is the route that connects the Magic Kingdom with Epcot.

This last billboard is for the movie "It's Tough To Be A Bug" which is an attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It reads, "Enjoy a 3-D Flick" (my seventh grade history teacher always referred to movies as "flicks"!) This sign actually faces the traffic that is leaving the Magic Kingdom.

Now we're at the entrance to the parking lot.

After parking, you can catch a tram that will take you to the Transportation and Ticket Center where you buy your park tickets and then take either a monorail or ferry to the main entrance of the park. This was my park ticket.

And this is the cover of the park map and guide that was being handed out.

The park was having special Halloween event nights, just like Disneyland.

If you look closely in this next pic, there is a rope across the front of the Monorail queue. They had just closed it off and were making everyone go to the Ferry dock. It seems like most people want to take the Monorail, so I'm guessing they do this to keep the line from getting too long.

So it's off to the Ferry dock we go....it's sort of like cattle being herded.

Here as part of the "herd", we wait for the Richard F. Irvine ferry boat to dock.

The Polynesian Resort Hotel sits just across from the dock. This hotel opened on October 1, 1971, the same day that the Magic Kingdom officially opened it's gates to the world.

The park can be seen off in the distance on the other side of the Seven Seas Lagoon. That black crane to the right of the photo is a part of the New Fantasyland construction.

Here's the view looking back at The Polynesian.

The ferries also pass the Grand Floridian Hotel, which opened in 1988.

We're getting closer......

....and even closer. The Admiral Joe Fowler ferry boat is approaching after dropping off guests at the park entrance.

Before reaching the dock, we pass The Contemporary Resort Hotel which also opened on October 1, 1971. I do not like the new Disney Vacation Club tower that was built next to The Contemporary. It does not match architecturally and I think it makes The Contemporary look less significant.

For those that aren't familiar with The Contemporary, here's a better pic showing it's unique shape. I took this back in 2007 and I just now realized that construction on the new tower must have already begun. Note the dirt just to the left of the hotel.

Okay, we are finally at the park! The train station is decked out in special bunting for Halloween

Let's look at that 1975 slide again that I posted before my trip.

I tried to stand in the same spot to take my pic. After a little bit of cropping, we have a "before and after" comparison.

Here's the Magic Kingdom's City Hall......

.....and the Fire Station.

These cast members were "Walking right down the middle of Main St. U.S.A."....at least that's the song that they were singing. It reminded me of Marie Osmond's performance on the 1985 Disneyland 30th Anniversary Special.

There were quite a few themed scarecrows positioned around Town Square. I took this first pic during the day, but snapped photos of all of them before leaving the park that night.

I like the extra touch on this one with the sugar leaking out of the sack and into the planter.

Speaking of sacks of sugar.....these jack o' lanterns sit in the same general area of Town Square as Disneyland's giant "Mickey" pumpkin.

Halloween trim adorns all of the lampposts on Main St.

This part of Main St. used to be West Center St. and contained an outdoor flower market. A few years back, they actually built another building in what was the open portion of the street and extended the Emporium over to the shops on the other side of the street. Geez, how badly did they need that additional space? And for what.....just to sell more plush toys? How sad is that? I hope they never do that at Disneyland!

Here's the interior of that new addition....

....along with some turn of the century Halloween displays.

Further up Main St, the Horse-Drawn Trolley had stopped in the Plaza.

That gave me the perfect opportunity to recreate another shot from my 1975 Walt Disney World Post. Note how the large trees in the Plaza have all been replaced with smaller ones.....just like Disneyland's Plaza.

And while we're in the area, let's get a "today" shot of Cinderella's Castle to compare to the vintage slide from that same post.

We will just crop it a bit and VOILA!

The last slide in that post included a shot of some topiaries near the Castle.

The only topiary I could find that close to the Castle today is this sea serpent, but it appears there used to be more at one time.

And last up for today, we have a couple of statues from the Plaza. Both Donald and Pluto are dressed up as "Musketeers."

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Walt Disney World At The Airport

2011-10-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back from Disney World....and I'm tired! Who said that vacations were supposed to be relaxing, huh?

I will be doing some posts on the various parks and attractions but for this first post I am going to start at the beginning.....the VERY beginning.....the airport to be exact. I always make a point to stop at the "Magic of Disney" store at the Orlando airport. During past visits, I've wanted to snap some pictures of the interior and exterior, but my camera is usually buried too deep in my luggage and I'm usually being hurried along by the people I'm with. Well this time, I wasn't going to be rushed! These first two shots show a couple large relief panels of Mickey outside the store.

Mickey can also be found inside.

Not too far from the "Magic of Disney" is another Disney store, "Disney's Earport."

Goofy is located outside one of the entrances (Please No Climbing!)

And Snow White is sitting just outside of a second entrance.

Next to Snow White is a Magic Mirror. The images within the mirror are lenticular (the images change as they are viewed from different angles). Ariel, Cinderella and Aurora can all be seen in the mirror depending on where you are standing at the moment.

Inside the store is a rear-lit photo of Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom. The pixie dust swirling around the castle and up into the air is fiber optic and "twinkles."

Now I must say that I am not really into the whole "Hidden Mickey" thing, but an employee saw me taking the picture and came over to point one out, so here it is.

Spider-Man can also be found in the Disney Store, right next to the Disney Princess merchandise. Just kidding! This was actually taken at the Universal store across the way. But it has been two years now since Disney purchased Marvel and I am wondering what their plans are for those characters. If Disney wanted to build a separate Marvel park somewhere, I think that would be fine, but I hope the characters don't start turning up in any of the existing parks. That would be like adding Kermit the Frog, Indiana Jones, or R2-D2 to Disneyland. Oh wait....

One of the main reasons for wanting to stop at the airport Disney stores is that I almost always find merchandise there that I do not come across again at the parks. And since I always seem to be flying home early in the morning before the airport stores open, there are no second chances for purchasing those items. Over the years I've learned that if there is something that I really want, I have to buy it when I see it. This was the case again during this trip. I almost passed on buying this magnetic 1971 map of Disney World thinking they would definitely be available at the Magic Kingdom. Well, I only saw them at the airport and nowhere else during the entire trip. In fact, the Magic Kingdom celebrated it's 40th anniversary just three weeks earlier and the airport store had more commemorative merchandise than what I actually saw at the Magic Kingdom. What's up with that?

The characters are separate magnets and can be moved around on the map or removed altogether. I love this kind of "retro" souvenir. I just wish there had been more items like this for sale.

I only saw these A thru E ticket magnets at the airport store and Downtown Disney and again, NOT in the Magic Kingdom. Weird! Maybe they were just sold out?

These attraction poster magnets were also from the airport and could not be found at the Magic Kingdom.

Disneyland is selling a similar set. I bought these about a month ago and meant to post them, but never got around to it.

Something else that I have always wanted to take pictures of at the Orlando airport was their "PeopleMover." After arriving at the airport, passengers have to take this transportation system from the satellite terminals over to the main terminal. The stations have always reminded me a little bit of Walt Disney World's 1975 Tomorrowland or early EPCOT Center.....or even like something out of the movie, "Logan's Run." They have a very 1970's or early 1980's sci-fi look to me. I tried to look up how old the system was, but the only thing I could find out was that construction began on some new terminals in 1978 and was completed in 1980, so it's possible that these go back that far. I hope they never try to update them!

Stay tuned for more Orlando trip reports as we visit all four Disney Parks and both of the Universal Parks!

Walt Disney World Or Bust!

2011-10-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

I do realize that six of my last seven posts have been about Knott's Berry Farm. I hope nobody minded! For those that did not grow up with Knott's or are not big fans of that park, it's time for some more Disney stuff! Here's are some slides that were taken at Walt Disney World in March of 1975.

By this time tomorrow, I should actually be in Orlando. I usually plan a trip to the Tokyo Disney Parks this time of year, but due to the current situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, I've decided to put off going....for now, anyway. I haven't been to Orlando since 2007, so I am looking forward to seeing some of the things that have been added to the parks since then. On the top of my list are: The revamped Spaceship Earth at Epcot, the Obama animatronic in The Hall of Presidents at the Magic Kingdom, and the new Harry Potter attraction at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Oh, and I am hoping to experience Snow White's Adventures one last time at the Magic Kingdom before it is gutted and turned into a Princess "Meet 'N Greet" (PUT THE PRINCESSES SOMEWHERE ELSE, DISNEY!)

Anyway, I should be coming back with plenty of new pics to post!

Knott's Scary Farm: Part 4 - Camp Spooky & Other Haunt Stuff

2011-10-12T02:22:00.000-07:00

More Knott's! More Halloween! And more Haunt stuff! This is my fourth and final Knott's Scary Farm post....unless I actually end up going to a Haunt night this month. I just haven't decided yet if I really want to go and deal with hoards of screaming teens and tweens.

So far, we've taken a look at Ghost Town, the Calico Mine Train, and the "Sleepy Hollow Mountain" Log Ride. Today's post falls into the "everything else" category. First up, we have a prop from the Boardwalk section of the park. This giant Jack In The Box is roped off during the day, but it doesn't appear to be anything more than a photo op.....oh, and it's also guarding the Aquafina machine. Dont' EVEN try to get a bottle of water from that machine....you'll be sorry!

Here's one of the many mazes that are set up for the Haunt nights. This one appears to be a scary trip through the town of "Pleasanton."

Hey, that's a real overturned car! I bet it was overturned by an angry mob of protestors......or ZOMBIES!

And speaking of zombies, I'm kind of hungry. Maybe we can find something to eat at Mama's Diner.

There's food on the counter.....sandwiches, a muffin, and is that a waffle? But where is everyone? Seeing this does make me wonder what takes place in this set at night. There was also a convenience store set-up next to the diner with some convincing props and I could also see the "Pleasanton School"....which probably has a flesh-eating student body.....I'm just guessing here.

This is the entrance to another maze that is set up in Camp Snoopy, or "Camp Spooky", as they call it this time of year. This is all that can be seen of this maze from the outside. I'm not sure of the significance of the books or that address, but those birds and that particular shade of green make me think of a screaming, tweed suit-wearing, Tippi Hedren ("I think you're the cause of all this....I think you're evil....EEEEEEEVIL!!!")

Here's some "Camp Spooky" signage.

Next we have the Camp Snoopy clock. I've posted a photo of this previously and mentioned that it has a very loud "tick-tock" sound effect similar to Disneyland's Small World Clock. Here's the sad part....it also used to "perform" every fifteen minutes like the Small World Clock, but for about a year now, when the clock strikes on the quarter hour, you can HEAR the gears turning, and you can HEAR Snoopy blowing his bugle and you can also HEAR the little Woodstock birds striking the bells, but NOTHING moves! The gears used to actually turn, then Snoopy would rotate towards the crowd and lift his bugle up to his mouth, then the birds would make a striking motion against the bells.

Come on, Cedar Fair.....would it cost that much to repair this great little feature? If you aren't going to fix it, then turn off the sound! Everyone stops and looks up to see what's going on when they hear the noise coming from it, but NOTHING moves! (I know, I said that already). Maybe management just figures, "Hey, Disney doesn't fix the Animatronic Yeti at their Animal Kingdom park, so why should we fix our Snoopy clock? We didn't install it....that was a Knott Family "thing". Peanuts doesn't even run in the Sunday comics anymore.....and heck, the clock still keeps accurate time.....what more do these people want for the price of admission?" No, I really believe that is what management thinks!

Moving right along, here are the storefront windows below the clock. This window features Pig Pen and Charlie Brown ("I got a rock!")

This next window has a mystery ghost (Sally or Linus?) and Lucy wearing her witch costume from "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"

This window display is from Virginia's Gift shop. I'm actually cheating here because this was from last year...I just never got around to posting these pics. This same window has a very minimal and very boring display this year....In fact, it's so boring I can't even remember what exactly is in it. I wonder why they didn't just bring out these same figures again this year?

Going back inside the park, here's a little more cheating. These antique hearses are always on display at Knott's, but I thought they were very appropriate for a Halloween-themed post. For years these were located across from the Stagecoach boarding area, but they were relocated about a year ago. They now sit along the Stagecoach route, between the Log Ride and the loading station for Silver Bullet....pretty much in the same spot where the miniatures of the California missions used to sit.

The body in the casket still attempts to sit up very few seconds.

This hearse was designed for a baby or small child.

These banners line the walkway behind the Log Ride and in front of Xcelerator. I vaguely remember in the very early years of Knott's Halloween Haunts that a "Freak Show" was one of attractions. I wonder if they brought this back? Aren't freak shows considered un-PC these days?

The Devil Child. I've seen a few of those at Knott's and at Disneyland. Heck, I saw a kid attempting to kick a duck at Disneyland once and the parents weren't even trying to stop him.

KITTY IS HERE! I love this artwork, but which one is "Kitty"?

Just for fun, I'll end this post with an image that is used here courtesy of The Orange County Archives. It's an ad for the very first Knott's Halloween Haunt back in 1973. Check out that price of $4.00 per ticket! And just three nights were available! Last year, I posted a Knott's Halloween Haunt advertisement from 1980 that showed ticket prices to be $8.75 and there were six nights to choose from.

Over the years, Knott's has added more and more nights and this year, there is a total of twenty eight Haunt nights which began in September. The prices now vary depending on the night and the method of purchase. "Print at home" pre-sale prices range from $34-$51. Pre-sale "walk-up" prices at Knott's are $51, and "Day of Event" prices are $57. For an additional $60 (on top of the Haunt ticket price) you can get a "Fright Lane" pass that allows you to have "front of the line" access to all of the mazes and select rides. And for $2,000....yes, that's two thousand, you can have "front of the line" access, PLUS a personal escort to lead you around the park for the night. That price does happen to include admission to the park. For that price, it better! What a change from 1973, or even 1980!

Knott's Scary Farm: Part 3 - Calico Mine Train

2011-10-10T01:34:00.000-07:00

In my last post we saw how the Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm gets decorated for Halloween. Today, we'll be taking a look at the Calico Mine Train. Since it doesn't get as many Halloween decorations, we'll also be looking at some of the non-decorated scenes, in addition to some vintage postcard images.

The photos in today's post were taken over the course of two visits to the park and three different ride-throughs of the attraction. All of the trains appeared to be out of storage, even though they weren't all running. I believe that they had them out and ready to go for the Halloween Haunt nights. I hope if they are running all of the trains, that means the wait time is much shorter. I remember the lines during the Halloween Haunts being crazy-crowded in the past.

More skeletons! The Mine Train has it's own pair out in front of the mountain.

Maybe you've heard of the Hatbox Ghost from Disneyland's Haunted Mansion? This is Knott's Berry Farm's Hatbox Skeleton....but her head doesn't disappear and then reappear in the hatbox....but it should!

A mine car from the queue.....

More of the queue......

Check out that nugget!

Now we're boarding the train.

This sign can be seen just before the entrance tunnel. Look.....it's Whittles! Whittles is the prospector pictured on the sign and was Knott's mascot back in the 60's and early 70's. I've never noticed this sign before. Was I just missing it or is this a vintage sign that has been dug out of storage and is being used once again?

This vintage ticket shows Whittles driving the Calico Mine Train. This is from a ticket book that was given to me by my aunt, but I somehow forgot to ask her how she got these "complementary" attraction tickets! To read more about Whittles, check out this great post, "Knott's Berry Farm's Whittles" from Chris Jepsen's O.C. History Roundup blog.

Here's a vintage postcard showing a scene near the beginning of the ride.

The photos below show some of the figures that can be found in the first half of the attraction.

Here's a vintage postcard showing the famous "glory hole" from ground level.

And here's another view of it taken from above.

For the Halloween overlay, there is a giant "drill" that goes from the ground floor of the glory hole all the way up to the ceiling. There is also a lighting effect projected onto it that makes it appear to be spinning. On one of the trips through the mine, this was pointed out by the driver to be a giant drill. On another trip, it was described as a giant alien spaceship. Maybe it's supposed to be a spaceship that's drilling? Unlike the Log Ride, the Mine Train didn't appear to be renamed for Halloween. I'm sure there is more of a scary backstory that is told during the Haunt events. The drivers did point out that things had been modified for Halloween and they also seemed to make an effort to explain that this daytime trip wouldn't be scary for the children on the train.

Next we enter into the caverns filled with stalactites and stalagmites.

Speaking of "scary", these aliens were hiding in the caverns, but they were completely in the dark and basically looked like rocks. The flash on my camera revealed what they look like when lit. I'm sure these are lit up at a strategic moment during the nighttime ride-throughs. I'm also pretty sure they have real people wearing the same outfits that "come to life" after the train stops on the tracks....I'm just remembering this part of the ride from past Halloween Haunts.

Now we're crossing the tressel on the upper level of the mountain.

The view looking down below.....

After reentering the mine, the train goes past the "blasting" scene. Here's another vintage postcard showing one of the miners preparing the dynamite.

Here's the same scene today. I have to say that this figure's movement looks pretty good.....for Knott's, that is! It isn't "Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln" movement, but he does move quite a bit more than the other figures in the attraction. Even his lips move as he warns everyone that there's blasting going on and to "get out!"

This shot of the train sitting in the unloading area shows a temporary wooden structure in the background. Again, I'm guessing here, but I'm pretty sure this is used during the Haunt nights to give riders one last scare at the end of the ride. Maybe I'll have to go check out the park one night this month so I can give a more complete report!

Knott's Scary Farm: Part 2 - Sleepy Hollow Mountain Log Ride

2011-10-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

We're still at Knott's Berry Farm, but now we will take a look at the Halloween Haunt overlay for the Calico Log Ride. Hey, when did they change the name from Calico Log Ride to Timber Mountain Log Ride, anyway? I know it's been called the Timber Mountain Log Ride for a long time now, but I just realized that the vintage postcard book I posted recently refers to it as the Calico Log Ride. Well, for the Halloween overlay, the name is temporarily changed to Sleepy Hollow Mountain (as opposed to the Christmas overlay, which is called Elf Mountain.

Here we go up into the saw mill.....

That little bell tower has been added to the roof and will remain in place through Christmas when the saw mill is turned into the Elves' Workshop.

Just before we get to the top of the lift, if we look over to the right we can see a headless horseman vignette on an upcoming portion of the ride. Note the giant red clamp holding him and his horse down! Hopefully they are secured and won't fall over on top of one of the logs if there's a strong gust of wind.

The fireplace in this next scene is also used in the Elf Mountain overlay. Hey, they should just put Christmas hats on the skeletons and leave them up through Christmas....or would that be a little too "Nightmare Before Christmas-y"?

This next photo didn't turn out too great...it's difficult taking pictures of things when you are sailing quickly past them. This was a dining table with skeletons seated around it.

Here's a giant witch's cauldron. Remember, at night during the special event "Halloween Haunts", hundreds of actors are hired and placed into these scenes.

I took this next pic a couple weeks ago before they were finished decorating.

Compare it to this pic taken just two days ago of the same scene. A creepy little guy has been added....but why is he playing with bowling pins that have skulls on the top of them?

Here are some of his friends sitting on top of the logging train across the way. Are their heads supposed to be detached from their bodies? I think they should just use these guys as the elves for the Christmas overlay.....I know, I'm sick.

Now we're approaching the area that we saw from the "lift" hill at the beginning of the ride.

This was taken while turning around in the log and looking back at the scene.....still blurry!

And here's the headless horseman again, just before the final lift hill.

You know, I have a theory about that horse. I think that it's the same horse that stood for years next to Doc Walker's cabin (way back when the cabin sat across from the Bird Cage Theater). I have nothing concrete to back it up, but take a look at this vintage pic. The horse's head is turned just slightly in both pics. I've been told that they have tons of old props from the park stored in warehouses in the back. It makes sense that they would have kept something like that around. Anyway, it's just a theory.

Hanging over the final lift hill is a thick cluster of Jack O' Lanterns.

And now the scariest part of the ride (for some people, anyway), THE DROP!

Next we'll take a look at the Calico Mine Train's Halloween decorations as well as other sections of the park.

Knott's Scary Farm: Part 1 - Ghost Town

2011-10-07T01:40:00.000-07:00

Let's take a peek at some of Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween decorations. These pics were all taken during the day since I haven't yet decided if I'm going to go to one of their Halloween Haunt nights. I'm considering it, but I just don't know if I want to deal with the crowds. I worked many of the Haunts back in the eighties, but the last time that I actually paid to go to a Haunt was in 1982. I remember Elvira singing a parody of Toni Basil's "Mickey" and a cover band in Fiesta Village singing Human League's "Don't You Want Me Baby?" Ah, but I digress.....here we go with the photos.

Thar be skeletons in Ghost Town......lots of 'em! Here are a few that can be found on the balcony of the Gold Trails Hotel.

These next two can be found near the entrance to the Wagon Camp.

This vignette is located along the pathway that leads to Silver Bullet.

The Calico Train Depot has it's own pair of skeletons.

This one climbed up onto the roof of Judge Roy Bean's. Maybe it's supposed to be Lily Langtry?

The stage in Calico Square is decorated as well. You can see a gallows on the far right of the stage. I wonder if they still do the traditional "Hanging of the Witch" show?

Looks like they might also use the stage for some musical numbers.....I smell a Lady Gaga parody of some sort. I just wish it was Elvira that was coming out of that egg.....then I would definitely buy a ticket!

Check back for more Knott's Scary Farm coverage!

Walt Disney World 40th Anniversary!

2011-10-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

Today, in honor of Walt Disney World's 40th Anniversary, we have another toy from my childhood. It's a Walt Disney World jigsaw puzzle from the good people over at Whitman. There isn't a date on the box, but we can tell by the "Fifty Happy Years" logo that it is from 1973...just two years after The Magic Kingdom opened in Florida.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Walt Disney World!

Knott's Update: Part 2 - The Sky Cabin

2011-09-28T02:31:00.000-07:00

Today we will be revisiting Knott's Berry Farm's Sky Cabin attraction. For more than a year now, it has spent most of it's time "parked" at the top of the old Sky Jump tower in the Boardwalk section of the park (formerly the Roaring Twenties Airfield). For a while, there were plans to tear down the old tower and build Windseeker in it's place, but that plan changed last year when Windseeker's location was moved to Fiesta Village and it was announced that the old tower would be staying and the Sky Cabin would be refurbished. Here's a shot that was taken last year of the tower with "Boomerang" in the foreground. (Incidentally, Boomerang is the rollercoaster that replaced Knott's historic Corkscrew Rollercoaster.)

This next shot was also taken last year. I'm not sure why the Sky Cabin car was left at the top of the tower. One employee told me that it had to do with weights....or was it counterweights? I don't know the difference, but it sounds good! Another employee told me that they thought it was "stuck" in that position, because in it's last days of operation, it kept getting stuck at the top of the tower with people inside the cabin!

Even though the attraction remained closed, this sign continued to hang on the side of a nearby snack stand....and it's still there today. Note how the tower is depicted with it's old paint job (after the red and white checkerboard pattern, but before the current red and white stripes).

The safety/information sign can also still be found at the entrance to the attraction.

But Sally and Peppermint Patty are there to keep us from entering the attraction's queue. (They should also be apologizing for their scratched and dirty sign.)

Well, last Thursday when I stopped by Knott's to ride Windseeker, I noticed the cabin actually going up the tower! I went over to get a closer look and to see if it would come back down. When I got closer to the tower, I noticed something odd about the observation car. Can you see what's missing in this photo?

How about if we zoom in a bit?

Okay, let's get even closer. Hey that man is leaning OUT of the window! The glass is gone! That's a good thing considering the last time I rode in the cabin, the view was very "cloudy" from all the scratches on the glass.

Now the cabin is coming back down......

....however, it was not rotating like it used to.

I spoke with a couple ride operators and they said that Knott's is trying to get the cabin in working condition again so that it can be reopened. I really hope this happens! Knott's needs more variety. I would enjoy getting to ride this attraction again just as much as I enjoy riding Windseeker. And I'm sure there are people out there that would ride the Sky Cabin that would NEVER go on Windseeker. Everything doesn't have to be a thrill ride! Bring back Bear-y Tales and the Haunted Shack! (I know, I know....I work that plea into a lot of my Knott's posts, but it will likely never happen!)

The railings in the foreground of these next two pics are located in what used to be the loading area for the old Parachute Sky Jump attraction.

Compare the entrance sign above with the sign in the vintage photo below. Was everything better in the past? Maybe not everything, but that sign certainly was. It looks like they are using the same sign posts after all these years, but today there is a bit of rust coming through the paint.

This was actually the entrance for just the Sky Jump. If we zoom in, we can see a special sign pointing us in the direction of the Sky Cabin entrance which was located on the other side of the tower. (By the way, this photo was from a "Knott's Employees" group on Facebook. The page stated that all content is public, so I hope that means it's okay to repost this photo on my blog!)

Just for fun, here's a vintage postcard of the Sky Jump and Sky Cabin and it also shows another version of the Sky Jump sign.

If the Sky Cabin does reopen, I've got my "C" ticket ready!

Or maybe they would still accept this old "Rides Aplenty" unlimited-use ticket!

Knott's Update: Part 1 - Windseeker

2011-09-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

Windseeker has finally opened at Knott's Berry Farm! I rode it last month just shortly after it had it's official opening. It was actually nighttime when I rode it for the first time and I really felt like I needed to go back and ride it again during the day. Well, last Thursday was that day. You can see by the sky that it was a weird overcast day. It was also warm and humid.

Once again, Windseeker is located in Fiesta Village between Jaguar, Montezooma's Revenge, Silver Bullet and the Carousel. Below, you can see the tracks of Jaguar and Silver Bullet.

Here's one of Jaguar's cars gliding over the entrance to Windseeker.

The entrance and queue is covered with a metal roof. I'm sure this is to protect the people below from potential flying debris from the riders above.

The ride spins around 30 stories up in the air. Here it is on it's way back down to the ground.

This next shot was taken while riding Jaguar. I used this same method to take many construction photos earlier this year. Those can be seen here: Windseeker Construction.

There is no camera or cell phone usage allowed during the ride, although I have seen footage on YouTube that was taken while riding. I think it would be quite dangerous to do this since if the device was dropped, it could potentially kill someone below. The viewing area next to Windseeker is not covered.

I shot this nighttime footage back in August, a few days after Windseeker opened. You can hear the music from the Carousel in the background and then a little bit later, you can hear LeAnn Rimes singing, "God Bless America." The park was closing and this is the music that they play at closing time. The odd thing is, that while riding Windseeker, they play the music from the movies, "Superman" and "E.T." I wonder how much Cedar Fair had to pay for the rights to that music?

I did enjoy riding Windseeker, but it was definitely more enjoyable during the day since obviously the view is better and you can get a better feeling of how high up you truly are.

Dapper Day at Disneyland - An Evening Affair!

2011-09-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

The second biannual "Dapper Day" was held at Disneyland last Friday. The basic idea for this "unofficial" park event was just to get dressed up, go to the park, and have fun. I missed the very first event back in February, but I made it to this one and I have only two complaints. The night went by too quickly and I wish I had taken more photos!

There were two scheduled "meets" during the evening. The first was for the "Dapper Derby" in Fantasyland. Everyone met at 8:00 and then "flash mobbed" the Carousel.

The turn out for this event was so great, it took four rounds on the Carousel to accommodate everyone in the group. Here are some photos of the first group of riders.

It's the Disney wave.

Notice the vintage Disneyland paper bag from the late seventies and early eighties.

These next photos are of the second group to ride. Below, is "Progressland" of Disneyland Nomenclature, and artists Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily.

No texting until the Carousel comes to a full and complete stop, please!

This is Justin Jorgensen, the event's creator and organizer.

After the Carousel ride, many people stayed in the area and posed for pics.

Here's a very dapper Dave of Daveland posing with a dapper duo!

This shot was requested by one of the ladies attending the event. She asked for a group photo of some of the hat-wearing men.

Zooming in, we see another vintage Disneyland bag. This one is circa the late sixties and early seventies.

Then the crowd broke up since the next meeting time wasn't until 11:30 over at Trader Sam's. Some of us stayed together to watch the "Magic, Memories and You" show, the "Magical" fireworks show and also to ride.....It's a Dapper World After All!

After the park closed, people met up again over at the Disneyland Hotel for cocktails in the newly opened Trader Sam's.

If you haven't seen Trader Sam's yet, it is definitely worth checking out!. If you order a specialty drink (or just wait for someone else to order one), "enchanted" things happen.

A "family tree" can be found mounted on the wall inside. If the colors look strange in this shot, it's because I converted the photo to "retro colors." I was going to do this to all of the photos (along with adding the white borders) to give them a vintage look, but I didn't like the way they turned out so we just have this one that managed to make it's way into the post.

This is the view from the patio of the new hotel water slides, framed on either side by tiki torches.

Here are a couple videos from that night. This first one is from YouTube user "drwrose" and shows the first group to ride on the Carousel.

This second video is from YouTube user "pizzaplanettruck" and starts out with one of the attendees choosing an outfit for the evening and also shows dancing at the soon-to-be-demolished Plaza Gardens Pavilion. I love the Glenn Miller version of "When You Wish Upon A Star"....excellent soundtrack choice!!!

For more information about Dapper Day and to see some pics from the very first event that was held in February of this year, click here: Dapper Day

Tokyo Disney Sea - 10th Anniversary!

2011-09-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today is Tokyo DisneySea's 10th anniversary. In honor of that milestone, we'll be taking a look today at the different lands or "ports" that make up the park.

We will begin with Mediterranean Harbor which is located at the entrance to the park. In this first pic we are standing under a pergola, looking across the harbor at Mt. Prometheus and Fortress Explorations. Down below we can see one of the Venetian Gondolas leaving the canals and entering the open harbor.

If we back up just a bit, we get a better view of the pergola.

The park's dedication plaque is actually located underneath this structure.

Here is a view of Mediterranean Harbor from one of the entrance/exit tunnels to the Mysterious Island section of the park. The buildings in the distance are all a part of Tokyo DisneySea's Mira Costa Hotel.

Next, we'll visit the American Waterfront. Below, is a shot of the Broadway Music Theater. (Think DCA's Hyperion Theater, but this one is actually "finished" on both the outside and the inside!)

I've mentioned before that the American Waterfrom is divided into two themed areas. Below, is a shot taken from the Cape Cod section, looking across the water at the New York section.

McDuck's Department Store can be seen on the far left of the photo above. In the past, we've taken a look at the front of the store as well as it's interior (click here). Below, is a shot of the store's rear entrance which is designed to look like a pawn shop.

Just around the corner from the rear entrance of the store is sort of a "back alley."

Now we're entering the Arabian Coast. This structure houses the Casbah Food Court. Notice the elaborate lampposts in the foreground.

These next three pics show more of the streets that wind through this section of the park.

This shot was taken while standing in another one of the tunnels in the Mysterious Island section of the park. The domed structure is a shop called Nautilus Gifts. The metal bridge behind it, is one of just two small outdoor portions of the Journey To The Center Of The Earth attraction....the rest of that ride is located entirely inside Mt. Prometheus and it's surrounding rock work.

Located underneath Nautilus Gifts is Nautilus Galley, a restaurant with seating alongside the DisneySea waterway.

This shot shows a stairway that leads down to the Nautilus Galley, as well as the Nautilus Submarine which is docked next to the restaurant's seating area.

Here's another shot of the Nautilus, taken from the exit to the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction. A tunneling contraption can also be seen hanging from a crane on the side of Mt. Prometheus.

This is the Lost River Delta, which is located in the back of the park. The yellow boat is part of the DisneySea Transit Steamer Line that takes guests for a ride along the waterway that runs throughout the park.

Now we're standing on one of the bridges that cross over that waterway. In the distance is the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull attraction.

Here's a look at some of the buildings in the Lost River Delta......

.....and the entrance to Miguel's El Dorado Cantina.

This is Port Discovery. The structure in the center of the photo is the two-sided loading station for the Aquatopia attraction.

Each of the Aquatopia vehicles follow a slightly different path than the boat in front of them. The DisneySea Electric Railway can be seen passing by in the distance.

Herer's a Port Discovery-themed bench......and Horizon Bay restaurant is visible in the background.

This is just part of Horizon Bay's exterior.

And finally, we enter into Mermaid Lagoon. Most of this area is located indoors, but today we will just look at some of it's outdoor vending carts. The photo below shows a themed beverage stand.

This stand is called Grotto Goodies and sells dessert items.

Even the popcorn wagons are heavily themed. (To see a previous post on the themed popcorn wagons of Tokyo Disneyland, click here.)

Just for good measure, I'm throwing in two more shots that show detailing from this area of the park. This is an exit door to the indoor section of Mermaid Lagoon.

And here is a themed mail box. It's all in the details!

I've mentioned before that Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland have specially designed merchandise for every anniversary....every year! This is the logo from last year for Tokyo DisneySea's 9th Anniversary.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Tokyo DisneySea!!!

August 1973 - Disneyland 's New Sights & Bright Lights!

2011-08-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

This isn't really a full-fledged "Vintage Disneyland Trip Report" due to the fact that I don't have any photos from this particular visit, but this Disneyland entertainment guide is from a family trip to the park in August of 1973.....38 years ago this week.

"New" Mousketeers in 1973, huh? I've never heard of this group of kids. I wonder if this stage show is what sparked the idea for "The New Mickey Mouse Club" television series four years later? And this was also the year that The Walt Disney Story debuted in the Opera House, replacing (temporarily) Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln.

This separate insert was included with the entertainment guide.

It's strange....I do remember at least two photos being taken during this trip, but I haven't seen them in over 30 years. I've asked my dad to look through his photos just in case he has them, but he has given me most of the family photographs and slides, so it's possible that they may be lost forever. What are the photos that I'm remembering being taken during this Disneyland trip from 38 years ago? Well, I know one was of my grandmother and me in a Matterhorn bobsled splashing down at the end of the ride. This was the very first time I ever rode the Matterhorn, so I would really like to see that photo again! The other was a photo of my grandmother and me in a caterpillar vehicle that was winding it's way down the leaf of the Alice in Wonderland attraction.....and I want to see that one again too! Oh well, I think I have every other picture that my dad ever took at Disneyland, so I will just be thankful for that!

Here are some things that I remember about this trip: I remember eating spaghetti on the patio of the Plaza Pavilion while watching the Electrical Parade pass by. This was the first time that I had seen the parade and it was also my first time seeing Tinkerbell and the Fantasy In The Sky Fireworks show. This was also the latest that I had ever stayed at the park.....I remember riding the Submarines around midnight thinking, "Gee, I'm tired and I just want to go home." Can you imagine?

Other memories include my grandmother buying my brother a raccoon skin hat at the Indian Trading Post in Bear Country (now the Briar Patch Store) and buying me this incredible souvenir book at The Character Shop in Tomorrowland (now Mickey's Star Trader).

Here are just some of the contents of this book.

In this next picture, notice the Spaceman and Spacewoman (wearing a mini-skirt!) posing for pictures in front of the coolest Tomorrowland of them all! There is also a hidden Mickey in the photo. It's the Mickey Mouse costumed character and he's riding on the PeopleMover. Hint: He's riding in one of the blue cars.

Some of these photos were a little outdated for the time. Can you find three things in the photo below, that would have been out of place for 1973? Answer: If you look closely, you can see the tip of the old Moonliner Rocket in Tomorrowland and the steel framework being erected for the Matterhorn. Also, the canoes and their cast members still have an "Indian War Canoes" theme going on.

Here's something interesting! As I mentioned before, the Walt Disney Story was new and had replaced Lincoln. This particular page has an insert that was pasted into the book with info about The Walt Disney Story as well as an announcement about a future attraction.....The Hall of Presidents! I do remember seeing the Hall of Presidents listed as a future attraction in the Preview House on Main Street and if I'm recalling correctly, I believe there was a map showing it in a "Liberty Square" area off of Main St. I just can't remember if it showed the new area being located off of Center St. or if it showed it being located off of Town Square as it was originally planned back in the 50's (then called Liberty Street). Maybe someone out there can tell us more about the 1970's plan for The Hall of Presidents at Disneyland?

Five years later, when I went to Disneyland during an eighth grade graduation trip, I bought an updated version of this book. Most of the photos remained the same, but there were a few updates at that time. To see some more photos that I've already posted from the updated version of this book, click here: Eighth Grade Graduation Trip.

Knott's Berry Farm - Windseeker Update & Video

2011-08-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

It's time for another Windseeker update! I stopped by Knott's Berry Farm today after work. As I approached the park, I could see Windseeker spinning around up in the air. Unfortunately, it turned out that they were just testing the attraction with employees as riders. I shot some video of one of the test runs and I've posted it below, but before we take a look at that video, here are two photos that were taken just last week. You can compare these pics to my construction photos that were taken from the exact same angles by clicking here: Windseeker Up The Wazoo!

This next photo gives us a little closer view.

And here's a closer look at the fountain that I mentioned in my earlier post. I'm glad Cedar Fair saved this piece of Knott's history!

I'm reposting the vintage postcard of the fountain for comparison.

And now, here is that video. Try not to get dizzy!

Haunted Mansion - 42nd Anniversary!

2011-08-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today, in honor of the Haunted Mansion's 42nd anniversary, we have yet another item from my childhood. It's the Disneyland Record and Book, "Walt Disney Presents The Haunted Mansion" from 1970. This is a "little" long playing record and has a different story and different artwork than the larger LP that was sold around the same time (the one with Ron Howard voicing one of the characters).

I've tried my best to record the audio. Sorry if the sound is a little "tinny" and also for any "pops" or scratches on the vinyl. If you click on the YouTube logo in the frame below, the audio will open in a separate window....that way, you will be able to follow along in the book while you listen. You will know when it is time to turn the page when Tinker Bell rings her little bells like this, "Brrrrrrrrring"!

Let's begin now. Have you ever been in a Haunted Mansion? I have, and I'd like to tell you about it.....

Here's Part 2. After the story ends, there are two tracks from the 1964 Disneyland record, "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" that were used as "filler" on Side B of the record.

Happy anniversary to one of my favorite Disneyland attractions!

To see my Haunted Mansion anniversary posts from the past two years, click here:
Haunted Mansion 41st Anniversary - 2010

And here:
Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary - 2009

The Mad Tea Party Game - It's Kid Tested!

2011-07-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

Today we have another item from my childhood.....The Mad Tea Party Game, made by Whitman (It's Kid Tested!) in 1972.

Here's a pic of just the game board pieces.

And here's a pic taken after assembly with some of the playing pieces displayed on it.

The instructions are printed on the inside of the box.

I don't remember playing the game according to these instructions. Did you ever alter the rules to a game when you were a kid? I don't think that we did it on purpose, I think we just read the object of the game on the cover of the box and then assumed that we knew how to play. From what I remember, we piled ALL of the game pieces onto the turntable, spun it, then grabbed at whatever flew off and whoever collected a complete set first, was the winner. KIDS!!!

To view another 1970's vintage Disney toy from Whitman, click here: America On Parade Puzzle