New Year's Eve At Disneyland - 1996

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 in a pretty safe situation....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 Millennium 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 previous photo 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 the 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.)

 

New Year's Eve At Disneyland - 1980 & 1981

I remember reading an article in Disney News Magazine when I was a kid, about a New Year's Eve party at Disneyland. It made me really want to go to the park for New Year's, but I never got that chance until I was actually old enough to drive myself there. The newspaper advertisement below happens to be from 1980 and even though I had my driver's license and had already driven myself to the park for the first time just one month earlier, I did not go to the New Year's Party that year. I would still have to wait one more year.


So one more year passed and finally I was able to go to DL for New Year's Eve. It was 1981 and back then, the park would close at 7:00 p.m. and then reopen at 8:30 for a separately ticketed New Year's Eve event. Again, this is the year that I was working at the park, so I had to perform in a 2:00 parade during the day (there was only one parade performance on the 31st), then I went home and got ready to go out for the evening, then I went back to the park that night for the party, then went home and slept, and then went back to the park the next day for a 2:00 and 9:00 parade performance. I can't imagine doing that now.....29 years later. I will be going out to a party tonight, but fortunately I am off both today and tomorrow!

Here's the entertainment guide from that night:

Gee, Skiles and Henderson sure did appear at the park a lot back then. I wonder if The Manhattan Transfer sang their "Twilight Zone" song? I don't remember seeing any entertainment that night.....except of course, for the "Midnight Spectacular"!

Tickets for this event were "advanced sale" and could be purchased either at Disneyland or at Ticketron locations. Remember Ticketron? This ticket was purchased at a Ticketron that happened to be located in the basement of a Sears Department Store!


My only clear memory from that night is of riding the original version of Snow White's Adventure's and seeing that the Wicked Witch's apple was laying on the ground right next to the path of the ride vehicles. Someone must have attempted to grab it and it had fallen. It was right there on the ground within reach! I wanted to go back and try to get it, but my friends thought I was crazy and I caved to the peer pressure. Or is that "reverse peer pressure"? Maybe they did me a favor. I could have lost a finger, or ended up in the Disneyland jail.....or both! I wonder where that apple is today?

I ended up going to the park for New Year's Eve two more times after this, but I will never do it again. To read about the reasons why, click here for my post from last year.

A VERY Happy New Year to everyone out there! Be safe!

New Year's Eve At Disneyland 1999-2000

Well, it's almost 2010. Can you believe it? Weren't we just worrying about the whole Y2K thing and what would happen when the clock struck midnight ten years ago? Ten years ago! WOW! It's all gone by so fast! And I was just reading the cover story in the current issue of TIME magazine about "The Decade From Hell." It's a very interesting article....oh, but I digress. Let's take a look at the Disneyland guide for December 31st, 1999....ten years ago today!

This is back in the day when the park guide, park map, and entertainment schedule were all combined into one flyer. I never saw Animazement or Woody's Roundup, which I now regret. I'm glad to see that they had several New Year's Eve "Countdown Locations." 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!

It's interesting that the Haunted Mansion listing doesn't mention it's special holiday overlay, but the listing for It's A Small World does.

And speaking of It's A Small World, notice how Fastpass was available for it during the holiday season (see below.) Anyone out there have a Fastpass for IASW's holiday overlay? Those must be rare since they haven't issued them for years now! Tokyo Disneyland still sets up temporary Fastpass machines for their holiday version of It's A Small World.

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Eeeeeew, there's the BROWN Tomorrowland that I dislike so much! How could they have turned my absolute favorite land into my very least favorite? And remember when Cosmic Waves was actually listed as an attraction? Ha!

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Notice at the bottom of the map that the California Adventure Preview Center is mentioned. I'll just hold my tongue about that park!

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I want to wish everyone a very safe and happy New Year!!!