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.)

 

Costume Pic of the Day - Maleficent & Walt

It's HUGE!

Did I mention in my last post, how BIG the Plaza area is at Tokyo Disneyland? Today, I'm posting additional photos to try and give a true sense of it's size.

In the photo above, the "center" of the Plaza is actually still behind us. By the way, these photos contain a good view of Tokyo's World Bazaar (their version of Main St.) As you can see, it has a glass roof overhead. This comes in handy on those wet days that Tokyo occasionally has. Okay....not so occasionally.

I am guessing, but I'd have to say that at least two...and possibly even three, of the original Disneyland's Plaza would fit into Tokyo Disneyland's Plaza area.

For my next post, we will be moving away from the Plaza. But we'll be back at a future date to show some of the wonderful displays they erect here for holidays and special events.

The Plaza

Tokyo Disneyland has a HUGE Plaza area. It is kind of made up of three sections. There's the first section that guests encounter when they reach the end of "Main St." (actually called World Bazaar in Tokyo...a subject for future posts). This area is where the "Partners" statue of Walt and Mickey is found. The second section is beyond that and contains a huge central plaza area with a large round floral planter that is also used for holiday and special event displays (the Anaheim equivalent of this planter is where the Partners statue is located).

The third section is a huge paved area that is used to set up seating for stage shows that are held in front of the castle (again...holidays and special events).

The Plaza is SO big, that it contains FOUR of these large stand-alone castle turrets. Two of these turrets contain production booths with spotlights, projectors, etc. for the stage shows. The other two contain equipment for pyrotechnic and fire effects.

The banners and decorations on the castle are in honor of the park's 25th birthday which is being celebrated all year long.

Happy 25th Birthday, Tokyo Disneyland!!!