Olympic Spirit At Disneyland - 1980's (Mega Post!)

In August of 1984, Los Angeles played host to the Summer Olympic Games. Five months earlier, Disneyland was preparing for this major event, by celebrating "Olympic Spirit Weekends."

The "American Gazette" Parade was making it's return to the park. Featured on a special float in the parade, were the Olympic greats listed below in the park entertainment guide. Those same Olympians were available at a "meet and greet" in front of the Opera House for photos and autographs.

The back of the entertainment guide had a spot for autographs. Greg Louganis' signature can be seen in the middle of the page. He had won a silver medal in diving at the 1976 Olympics and went on to win 4 gold medals during his Olympic career, two of which were earned that summer at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Bob Seagren signed the page below (middle, left). He was the one Olympian pictured on the inside of the entertainment guide. He had already won gold and silver medals in pole vaulting and went on to have a career as an actor and TV spokesperson. He played a gay football player (and Billy Crystal's boyfriend) in the 1970's sitcom, Soap. He was also a co-host for six years on the news and entertainment show, P.M. Magazine.

The guide included an order form for a special "Olympic Spirit Passport."

The Disneyland passport was actually a small ticket that was attached to the back of a solid bronze medal.

The ticket was good for entry into the park after 5 p.m. for six weeks in the summertime. I had a Disneyland Annual Passport at this time, so I knew I wouldn't use the ticket. I did want the medal however, so I ended up ordering a "Child's Passport" and saved $3.00 off of the adult price!

There was also an ad for the Olympic Spirit Passports in the Spring 1984 issue of Disney News Magazine.

Going back to the entertainment listings, the band that was appearing on the Tomorrowland Terrace Stage that day was "Airplay." And here they are, in all of their 1980's splendor! I hope they were playing Flock of Seagulls' "Space Age Love Song" or Peter Schilling's "Major Tom." That would be like, really tubular, you know?

This wasn't the first time that Disney ran a promotion saluting the Olympics and the U.S. Teams. One year earlier, in February of 1983, Disneyland had "Celebrate America Days."

Several Olympian athletes (including Bob Mathias and Edwin Moses) made guest appearances in 1983, but I did not get any autographs that year.

The "American Gazette" Parade was debuting that year and as mentioned earlier, returned one year later for the 1984 Olympic promotion.

The bands listed on the Tomorrowland Terrace Stage were "Pizzazz" during the day, and "Krash" in the evening. I guess "Airplay" had the weekend off, but what happened to "Sunshine Balloon", "Sound Castle" and "The Establishment"?

"Show Biz Is" was playing on the Space Stage. Let's not even get started with how much they ruined the beautifully designed Space Mountain complex by turning the open-air Space Stage amphitheater into an enclosed theater! Note the Bongo and Lulubelle characters on stage (from the Bongo segment of the 1947 film, Fun and Fancy Free).

During "Celebrate America Days," Disneyland held a "Discover America" contest. Guests received a game card upon entering the park. If you scratched off four "like" attractions in a row (America Sings, America The Beautiful, or Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln), you were a winner.

There was no purchase necessary to receive a game card. The rules stated that you could go to the Information window next to Disneyland's Main Entrance and request a game card. Game cards were also available by mail. There was one Grand Prize of a trip to the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. And there were three First Prizes of a trip to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

The most common prizes were a Disneyland Passport or a USA Olympic Pin. The odds of winning either of those prizes were 20 to 1.

Here's what the Disneyland Passport looked like:

And here is the pin:

This button was also available during the special event, but now I can't remember if they were handed out to guests as they entered the park, or if they were for sale in the shops. It was 35 years ago, after all!

Now let's take a look at the "American Gazette Parade," which ran during both years of Disneyland's Olympic promotions. These pics were all taken during it's 1984 return to the park. I really liked this parade! Unfortunately, Disney doesn't use this many dancers OR musicians in their parades anymore.

The first float was a nod to Disneyland's "America On Parade" logo from 1976, with Mickey, Donald and Goofy dressed as revolutionary soldiers.

That logo was actually taken from a July 1939 cover of Mickey Mouse Magazine. And the magazine cover itself, was a parody of Archibald Willard's "The Spirit of '76" painting from 1875.

If you look behind the "Disneyland Olympic Spirit" sign on the first float, you can see some people standing and holding signs. These were the former and current Olympic athletes that were appearing at the park that day. The signs included their names and the Olympic events that they won their medals in.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the first "era" represented in the parade, which was the early 1900's.

Here we have the 1920's, with some rolled down hose-wearing, fringe-shaking flappers, dancing the Charleston. This parade featured quite a few live bands. Riding on this float are musicians wearing long racoon fur coats, which was a fad in the '20's.

Next we have some "gangsters and their molls" dancing to the 1922 song, "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)" by Fred Fisher. Note the trumpet player sitting in a bathtub on the float.

Then came the "1940's" with couples jitterbugging to Louie Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing."

A Betty Grable "look-alike" was riding on the float with the band.

I didn't get a picture of him, but on the back of the 1940's float, was a young "Frank Sinatra" look-alike, singing into a microphone. Chasing after him was this group of "fans" carrying autograph books. The "fan" just out of frame on the far right was older than the others and wore a large button on her chest that read, "Fan Club President." That lady had actually played Mrs. Claus the year that I was in "Fantasy On Parade." I wish I had taken a better photo of her in this parade!

For some reason, this salute to American sports was wedged in between the 1940's and the 1950's units of the parade.

The 1950's unit included a prom theme, with performers dancing to Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes." The couple pictured below, were supposed to be the high school "nerds" with the taller girl towering over the shorter guy.

The last unit was the 1980's. The current exercise and aerobics crazes were represented by dancers and roller skaters performing to Wham's, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." Headband and leg warmers alert!

"The American Gazette" Parade was brought back for a third time in 1985. By then all references to the Olympics had been removed, new opening and closing units had been added, and some tweaks had been made to the other units. There are three different videos of the parade posted on YouTube and they are all from 1985. Here is a link to one of those videos:

A Visit to Captain EO-Land

It's back! Almost 13 years after it's last showing, Captain EO has made a return to Disneyland. Personally, I'm very happy about this. It's not because it was my all-time favorite Disneyland attraction, although I did enjoy it a thousand times more than what replaced it. It's just the fact that ANY retired attraction that gets to make a return to Disneyland gives me hope for more of this happening in the future.

I was practically shocked out of my wits to see the 1967 version of "America The Beautiful" make a return to the CircleVision Theater in 1996. Until then, I don't think anything like that had happened before. Then the Canoes made a return to the Rivers of America after being closed for a year in the late 1990's. The Submarine Voyage also made a return, even if it does have a new theme now. We've also gotten to see the reopening of the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-thru. Now if we could just see the PeopleMover come back.....oh, and Adventure Thru Inner Space......and the return of the Carousel Theater as an ACTUAL theater....oh, and Nature's Wonderland. Am I being too greedy? Okay, just the PeopleMover would be a nice start!

So Captain EO is back, but how long will it stay? Well, Wikipedia already has the closing date listed for it as January 2, 2011, but knowing Disney, that date isn't necessarily set in stone. Whether it stays one year or ten years, will probably depend on how popular it is and whether or not Disney wants to spend the money to put something else into that space. In the meantime, I thought that it might be fun to go back through the history of this particular attraction "space" at Disneyland and look at all the different things that have sat on that spot over the years. Ready for another time traveling post? The time machine is engaged........here we go!

In the beginning, there were the Flying Saucers. Speaking of returns, they're coming back too, but this time to DCA. They are going to be redesigned as "hovering tires." Will they be as visually attractive as the 1960's Tomorrowland version? I guess, we will just have to wait and see.


Next, there was the Tomorrowland Stage which played host to The Kids of the Kingdom, The All American College Marching Band, The Osmonds, E. J. Peaker , the broadcast of the 1969 moon landing, and a whole lot more during it's nine year run.

In the 1970's, when Space Mountain was planned for this spot, a stage was worked into the design so that outdoor stage shows could continue in Tomorrowland.

After EPCOT CENTER opened in 1982, the 3-D movie "Magic Journeys" premiered at Disneyland on the Space Mt./Space Stage. Of course, since it was an outdoor theater, performances couldn't begin until "Nightfall."

Then in 1986, this pleasant open air space was walled up, changing the appearance of the original Space Mountain Complex forever. The newly enclosed area was renamed The Magic Eye Theater and hosted Captain EO for the next ten and a half years. Personally, I would have rather seen a temporary ceiling and walls go up around this space, so as the film's attendance declined over the years (which it did), it could have been shown only at night, allowing for the Space Stage to be utilized again during the day.

The photo above was taken in 1997 after Captain EO had already closed permanently. Note the empty case that once held the attraction poster. Below is a photo of the poster and the display case from two years earlier.

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These next two photos were also taken in 1997 after the attraction closed. Notice the construction reflected in the sign in the first pic. The construction that was taking place was the conversion of The Carousel Theater into Innoventions.....UGH!

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Below.....original sign or "Tribute" sign?

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Next, this space hosted another EPCOT film, "Honey I Shrunk The Audience"....a film that fit in perfectly with the new depressing "Brown Tomorrowland" of 1998. I was never a fan of this film and actually found it almost painful to sit through. This is one attraction that I hope never returns to Disneyland! Bye-bye H.I.S.T.A.!

WELCOME BACK, CAPTAIN EO!!!

POST UPDATE: Check out my newer post: Captain EO-Land At Tokyo Disneyland!

A Vintage Disneyland Trip Report From 1982 - Part 1

Well it's November and you know what that means....Mickey turns another year older on the 18th! He's a Scorpio! Let's go back to the early 80's when his birthday used to be the cause for a month-long celebration at the park. That's right, it's Mickey's Month at Disneyland!

You met my friend "Alvin" (or at least his reflection in the window of the Candy Palace) during my vintage trip report from November, 1980 (link). Now it's November of 1982 and my friend "Tonya" is going with me on this trip. My friend Alvin and I were still going to the park together...I was lucky enough to have two fellow Disneyland-obsessed friends to go to the park with. In fact, I'm still good friends to this day with both Alvin and Tonya!

So anyway, it's November 1982 and when we first arrive at the park, we find that they are handing something out to all guests at the entrance. Hey, it's Mickey's birthday, but WE get the gifts...lucky us! The gift is a spongy bath mitt in the shape of Mickey. It has now been stored in a box in the dark for 27 years, but somehow the color faded around the edges anyway. How does that happen?


While we're at the main gate, we better pick up the entertainment brochure for the day. Hmmm, I don't want to miss the birthday parade. And how about that Mickey's Birthday Lunch at the Space Place? Maybe we should eat over there since someday that will be turned into the entrance and Fast Pass area for Space Mountain.

Now we're in the Plaza and there's a huge birthday cake sitting in the center planter (Mickey, Walt...are you under there?) Hey, where are all the people?

That cake is making me hungry. Let's head on over to the Space Place in Tomorrowland for that birthday lunch. Looks like the Mousketeers are going to be back on the Space Stage once again. We've seen their reunion show before (see the link above for my 1980 trip report), so maybe we'll just skip the show this time. I love the openness of the Space Stage area though. Too bad they had to wall it all in and put a ceiling over it. It ruined the whole feel of the original Space Mountain complex.

Well, the meal has been served, along with a piece of birthday cake and here comes our free birthday balloon....free with the price of the lunch, that is. Suzy (or is it Perla?) from Cinderella is helping the cast member hand out the balloons.

Here comes the guest of honor, Mickey himself! Let's all sing happy birthday to him!

Oh, and here's the birthday hat that was included with the meal. I think I'll save mine for a few years. Well, at least 27 years. Okay, maybe longer!

Now let's go check out the birthday parade.

By the way, I wish Disneyland would sell the parade soundtracks for ALL of their parades like Tokyo Disneyland does!

Hey Mickey, you turned around....and Minnie, you're blocking your face! Don't you hate it when that happens? Oh well!

Look, the American Egg House is still open with outdoor patio dining! Why isn't this space still a restaurant today?

Well, that's it for today, but how about a "part two" to this vintage trip report? A "part two" where Tonya and I board the Skyway in Tomorrowland for a ROUND TRIP ride over Fantasyland to view the demolition and construction for the all "new" Fantasyland. Stay tuned!

POST UPDATE: For part two of this trip report, click here.