Fantasy On Parade & Christmas at Disneyland - 1981

Today, I have ten photos from Disneyland's 1981 Christmas parade, "Fantasy On Parade."  These are all from the same year that I was in the parade.  I have to thank Sue B. of "Lou and Sue" fame, for giving me the heads up about these photos being listed on ebay.  She knew that I was a "Christmas Tree" in the parade, so she was initially letting me know about the listing for the photo of the "trees."  But I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the ebay seller also had nine more shots from the parade!

These first four photos are of the parade's Cinderella unit.  I have posted similar pics of this unit in the past, but I think the quality on all of these is very nice.  Plus, I feel like I could never have enough photos from the actual parade that I was a part of.

The "Knights On Horseback" led the parade.

 They were followed by the "Fanfare Musicians."

The "Court Dancers" followed Cinderella's pumpkin coach (not pictured in this post).

And last up in the Cinderella unit was, the "Castle" float.

"Geppetto's Workbench" was just one of the many floats from the Pinocchio unit.

Here are the main characters from The Jungle Book unit.  Notice Mowgli, who's pretty much hidden by Baloo's shadow.

This "Fireman Clown" from the Dumbo unit, was played by Richard Ferrin.  He also designed the parade's cast T-shirt that year, and for many summer seasons, was the calliope-playing "King Lion" in the Main Street Electrical Parade.

Prince John's coach from the Robin Hood unit, was led by four "Royal Elephants."

The Toy Soldiers from the film, Babes in Toyland, have been a staple of Disneyland's Christmas parades for many decades now.

And last up, we have the photo which Sue originally contacted me about, asking if this was the same year that I was in the parade.  Unfortunately, I was always a green Christmas tree, so I know that I am not inside one of these gold trees.  However, I am VERY glad to have the photo, either way.....and all of the other photos, as well!  Thanks again, Sue!

To see more photos from this parade, as well as some cast member paraphernalia, you can click below for some of my past "Fantasy On Parade" posts:

I Was A Teenage Christmas Tree

Fantasy On Parade 1981 - Part 1 (The Disney Classics Units) 

Fantasy On Parade 1981 - Part 2 (The Christmas Finale Units)

I want to wish all of my readers out there, a very happy holiday season! 

*****BONUS ITEMS!*****

I've decided to include three Disneyland cast member publications, from December of 1981.  I picked these up at various backstage locations, and have held onto them all these years.

This first one is the Disneyland Line, which is still in publication today (now called the Disneyland Resort Line), and will be celebrating it's 55th year, in 2024.  The image on the cover of this issue, is a reproduction of the very first Walt Disney Studios Christmas card.

Does the park still hold blood drives?  I'll give blood, but please send me to the bloodmobile at Tokyo Disneyland!  Although at that point in time, Tokyo Disneyland would have still been just a construction site, since that park did not open for another 16 months.

I wonder if the Disneyland Custodial Department still produces a "Yearbook"?

 

Wow....only $180 for half of the rent on a condo, just one mile from the park!

Next, we have somewhat of a rarity.  It's the very first issue of CastleView magazine.  Charles Boyer, the famed Disney artist, painted the image on the magazine's cover.

Dick Nunis wrote an introduction for this premier issue of the magazine.  What I don't know is, how long this magazine lasted.  I have never seen another issue of it anywhere out there.  It was stated in this first issue, that it would be published eight times annually by "Cast Communications, the Disneyland University, Disneyland."

This three-page article about getting the park ready for Christmastime, begins with a photo of the "Fanfare Musicians" from the Cinderella unit of Fantasy On Parade.

This is back in the day, when a real tree was acquired for the park.  I used to drive by the park's backstage area everyday on my way to work, and I would watch the progress being made on the tree during those weeks of prepping and decorating.

I'm guessing that all of the preparation that went into the tree (painting it?), before they even started decorating it, might be the reason why they switched to an artificial tree?  Of course it could have been because they wanted to stop killing real trees.  Nah, it was probably just to save some money by using the same tree every year.  The article also mentions the two white trees, which used to be placed in the Castle's moat every year.

There is much more to this magazine, including articles on the construction progress of EPCOT Center and Tokyo Disneyland.  Other articles include a history of Fantasyland, and the replacement of some original 25+ year-old structures at Disneyland, such as the stockade at the entrance to Frontierland, and the miniature buildings within Storybook Land.  The original elm trees along Main Street were also being replaced at this time, because they had "grown out of scale for Main Street," according to the article.  I will try to get the rest of the magazine scanned and posted in the future.

And here is something that I believe just might be as much of a rarity as that issue of CastleView magazine, if not more so.  This is a December 1981 issue of the Rainbow Ridge Clarion, which was published monthly, by and for cast members who worked on the "west side" of the park.  Again, I'm not sure how long this publication was around, but the very first issue was published in September of 1981.  As stated in that first issue, it's name was taken from the fictional newspaper office, formerly located in the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge, overlooking the loading area for the Nature's Wonderland Mine Train.

The first page begins with cast members' "wish lists" for Santa, and they continue on to page three.

The article on the next two pages, covers the history of the Christmas season at Disneyland, including such things as the park's original "Christmas Bowl" and the annual Candlelight Procession.  The Matterhorn's "Christmas star" also gets a mention.

Next, we have the listing of cast member birthdays (west side only), for the month of December.

"The Center," which is mentioned below as the place to buy tickets for various cast member activities, was located backstage, between Main Street and Space Mountain.  The mobile home-type of structure is still standing, but I don't know if it has been given a different name and/or usage for today.

A rehab schedule was included for "west side" shops, restaurants, and attractions:

And cast members shared some of their personal recipes:

 

Alice In Wonderland's Grand Reopening - 1984

In 1984, a newly remodeled "Alice In Wonderland" attraction opened at Disneyland. The rest of Fantasyland had already been remodeled, and had opened just eleven months earlier as, "The New Fantasyland."

At that time, a sign was posted out in front of the closed attraction, letting guests know that a "New Alice" was coming soon.

The Spring 1984 issue of Disney News Magazine had an article, about the anticipated reopening of "Alice."

The attraction opened on April 13, 1984, after a special grand reopening ceremony. I was at the park that day, and took the following pictures.

The festivities began with the White Rabbit approaching the attraction with a giant pair of ribbon-cutting scissors.

Next, the doors on the second level of the attraction opened and dancing flowers came out and made their way down the "giant leaf" track. These flower costumes were the same ones used in the Alice In Wonderland unit, of "Fantasy On Parade."

The dancing flowers were followed by the Queen of Hearts' marching cards. The large marching cards costumes were used the previous summer in the "Flights of Fantasy Parade", which celebrated the grand opening of The New Fantasyland.

The Mad Hatter made an appearance on the second level, holding a large bucket of red paint. I wish I could remember more about the ceremony or what the Mad Hatter was saying here. I do remember that this was the time, when Disney made the switch from the Mad Hatter character being a person inside of a "rubber head" costume, to a "face character" (where the face of the person portraying the character is visible, and they are allowed to speak to guests).

After the ribbon was cut, red and white balloons were released into the sky, along with some larger heart-shaped balloons.

This video features partial footage (the second-half) of the opening ceremonies for the new Alice In Wonderland attraction, as well as other new additions to Disneyland in 1984 (like Donald Duck's 50th Birthday Parade and the 3-D film, Magic Journeys).





****BONUS****

In 1982, the Disneyland guidebooks featured artwork, showing what the new Alice-themed section of Fantasyland would look like.

The "teapot" ride operator's booth for the Mad Tea Party attraction, never found it's way into the finished product. And notice on the far right, the Chesire Cat can be seen sitting on top of a mushroom. I wonder if this was intended to be an animatronic figure, a static figure, or if the artist was just "taking liberties." A static Chesire Cat figure was eventually added to the east side of the Alice attraction (the side facing the Matterhorn), but that came along many years later, and was not a 1984 addition.

And here is a pic from 1982, showing the "Alice Unit" of Disneyland's Fantasy On Parade. The "Dancing Flower" costumes seen here, were the same ones used in the reopening ceremonies of the new "Alice In Wonderland," and also on the cover of that Spring 1984 issue of Disney News Magazine.

Fantasy On Parade 1981 - Part 2 (The Christmas Finale Units)

This is Part 2 of a follow up to my "I Was A Teenage Christmas Tree" post from December of 2010. To see Part 1 (from last month), which included the first half of Disneyland's "Fantasy On Parade" from 1981, click here.

The second half of the parade was made up of the "Christmas Finale" units and began with the Toy Soldier Band and Drill Team (from the Disney film, Babes In Toyland).

Next came the horse drawn Landeau Coach carrying Mickey and Minnie.

Mickey and Minnie were followed by Donald Duck standing on the Post Office float. It's barely visible, but there is a bag of "U.S. Mail" slung over his back.

Here's a shot of the Post Office float backstage, with the Seven Dwarfs posing next to it.

The second part of the Post Office float included stacks of over-sized letters to Santa, with Snow White sitting at a table adding names to "Santa's List". The Seven Dwarfs and the Wicked Witch walked alongside this float.

This shot shows several floats parked backstage behind Main St. with Space Mt. towering in the background. The floats visible are, the front part of the Post Office float (on the right) with Dumbo's Firehouse behind it, and the rear part of the Post Office float (on the left), with the Mary Poppins Rooftop float behind it. A "headless" Winnie the Pooh can be seen between those two floats and in the foreground, a couple Reindeer heads are visible (in the shadows) on special stands that are designed to hold the character heads when they are not in use.

Incidentally, the brown building in front of Space Mt. was called The Center and was an employee break area and activity facility. I believe the portable building is still there today, but I'm not sure if it serves the same purpose.

Following the Post Office float, was the Candy Shop float. Mrs. Claus rode on this float. She can be seen here along with Chip and Dale ("Bea," who played "Dale" on the far left) and Winnie the Pooh (Hi Alan!).

Chip and Dale wore aprons and chefs hats and rode on the back of the Candy Shop float. They would get in a fight and throw flour at each other during the parade. Needless to say, their costumes had to be cleaned after every parade! And speaking of cleaning, the Snowman posing in this picture ("Barry" or "Rene," is that you?) has a big dirt spot on the front of his costume! The Snow People would occasionally fall down during the parade because their vision was pretty restricted (they would see out through the ribbon around their hats). I believe the building behind Chip and Dale would have been the Adventure Thru Inner Space show building.

Here's a "headless" Minnie Mouse ("Bernie"), posing backstage next to the Candy Shop Float. The Disneyland train and monorail roundhouse can be seen in the distance and the building on the far right is the backside of the It's A Small World show building. Several headless Dwarfs are also in the background.

This shot shows a headless Minnie Mouse again, as well as a headless AND "bottomless" Donald Duck ("Mary").

Here's a better shot of the back of the Post Office float. Dopey and one of the other Dwarfs are on the far right, sans their heads. Winnie the Pooh is hanging out with Mrs. Claus (his head can be seen sitting on the Candy Shop float. In the distance is Santa's float.

Christmas Finale Unit schematic (Page 1):

Finally, we get to my section of the Christmas Finale unit, the Christmas Trees and Snow People! Here, the Snow People are posing in front of Santa's float. Santa had already climbed up a ladder to his sleigh. I usually do a better job of composing a picture, so it's really a shame that I cut him off here. It had just rained and the ground is still wet, so this might actually be how that Snowman got the stain on the front of his costume!

There were eight Christmas Trees altogether. My tree was the green one on the right.

This is how we got inside the trees. The top halves were on springs which enabled us to make the trees "sway" back and forth during the parade.

In my post from December of 2010, I included some daytime and nighttime shots of the Christmas Trees and Snow People out on the parade route. This is a shot I took the following year during the 1982 version of Fantasy On Parade.

Santa and his Reindeer followed behind the Christmas Trees and Snow People. I'm counting eight reindeer here, so I think that ear that we can see cut off on the far right belongs to "Rudolph".

And here is another shot from the 1982 parade. The "Glock Girls" can be seen walking alongside Santa's float, playing their glockenspiels. I'll say it again, they just don't do parades like this anymore!

For the last photo in today's post, I'm including this shot of Santa in his sleigh from the "Very Merry Christmas Parade" in 1979. By the way, Santa's Sleigh, the Post Office float and the Candy Shop float were all originally created for The Very Merry Christmas Parade, which debuted at Disneyland in 1977.

Christmas Finale Units schematic (Page 2):

Included with the bundle of parade schematics, was some orientation information:

A map of the parade route:

General Guidelines and Procedures:

Here again, is that home movie footage of the parade from 1981:





I hope everyone enjoyed this two-part trip back to Christmas '81 at Disneyland!