New Stuff! - Little Mermaid Sneak Preview

Sorry, this post might seem a little "thrown together", but it's late and I'm tired....and it's my second post in one day! I don't think I've ever done THAT before! To see my post from earlier today about the opening of Space Mountain, the New Matterhorn and Montezooma's Revenge, keep scrolling down at the end of this post or click on "Older Post" at the bottom of the page.

After several attempts this past week to get on The Little Mermaid attraction and the new Star Tours, I was finally able to experience both of them today! (Both were having Sneak Previews/Soft Openings for the general public today.) This first photo was taken in the morning, before The Little Mermaid opened. It did not open until early afternoon.



This tile is located on the ground just inside the entrance. Note the pieces of shell embedded into the concrete just below the tile.



The clam shell-shaped vehicles enter the attraction through the hull of a wrecked ship.




Panning from left to right, here are sections of the attraction mural located behind the loading area.







***Spoiler Alert!*** Since the wait time was never more than 30 minutes, I was able to ride the attraction several times. I filmed it twice and I've posted both complete ride-thru videos below. To view each video in full widescreen format, click on the word "YouTube" in the bottom right corner of the frame.








I'll post a few Star Tours pics within the next day or two, plus some other surprise pics!

Space Mountain, The Matterhorn & Montezooma!

Well, it's the 27th of May....and exactly 34 years ago today, Space Mountain officially opened at Disneyland. Last year I posted a couple newspaper articles about the opening, as well as my story about the very first time that I rode Space Mountain. To see that post, click here. Below, are a couple more vintage newspaper clippings. Once again, I have saved these since childhood.



Also on the 27th of May, but one year later (1978), The New Matterhorn opened at Disneyland. Here's an ad from the L.A. Times dated just one day after the official opening. This particular version of the New Matterhorn advertisement used red ink for the Abominable Snowman's eye's. It was much rarer to see colored ink used in newspapers back then....the exception of course, would have been the Sunday Comics section. I wonder how much more Disney had to pay to have the red added?



On the reverse side of this ad, there happens to be an advertisement for Knott's Berry Farm's Montezooma's Revenge, which opened that same year.



Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone! Be safe!

Star Wars Days At Disneyland!

Well, it's almost time for the opening of the revamped Star Tours at Disneyland and all I have to say is....IT'S ABOUT TIME! Personally, I think this redo of the attraction should have happened much sooner instead of waiting 24 years! Even the Matterhorn got a complete revamp before it was that old!

Anyhoo...for today's post we're going back to 1997, when Star Tours was only 10 years old and the park was celebrating the milestone anniversary with "Star Wars Days At Disneyland"!



Today, guests can meet with Darth Vader, his Stormtroopers and even Darth Maul over at Tomorrowland Terrace, but for a short time back in 1997, park guests could meet with Chewbacca and a real-life Ewok.



This special banner hanging above the entrance to the attraction reads, "Celebrating! 10 Years Of Star Tours, Now The Adventure Is Real."



A banner facing the other direction reads, "Star Wars Days At Disneyland." Note the tarps and fencing up along the old PeopleMover beam. Work had already begun on the destruction of Tomorrowland.



Here is the entertainment guide/park map from that weekend.








Below, is a clip of some home video that I shot of the meet and greet area. Chewbacca was getting ready to take a break, so we get to see both him and an Ewok posing together briefly.





***As a last minute addition here to this post, I'm going to include some pics that I took at the park just last night. Star Tours was open yesterday for special guest previews only, but it ended up "soft opening" to the general public at some point during the day. Unfortunately, I got there 15 minutes after they had closed the line, which was around 7 p.m. Oh well!

Here's the new attraction poster that hangs under the train tunnel at the park entrance.



The Star Tours mural in Tomorrowland has been repainted to reflect the new color scheme of the Starspeeders.




The new marquee over the entrance.....



Now here's something that I was really glad to see...new plants around the Star Tours entrance. The plants remind me of the succulents that used to be at the entrance to Tomorrowland prior to 1998. I think these look much more futuristic or Tomorrowland-ish than the edible landscape that's there today, but that's just my opinion.





As this sign indicates, the Star Tours Fastpass machines are located over by Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters. Actually, they have replaced the Buzz Fastpass Machines.....no more Fastpasses for Buzz! :-(





As guests leave the Esplanade area, this sign is encouraging them to make a return visit.



I hope everyone enjoyed this little peek at "Star Wars Days" from fourteen years ago. May The Force....and Jar Jar Binks, be with you!

Fowl Stuff At Disneyland! - The Walt Disney Story

Well, it's time for Part Three of my "Fowl Stuff At Disneyland!" series. To see Part One on the Enchanted Tiki Room Barker Bird, click here. (I just updated that post with some home video footage that I recently found). To see Part Two of this series, which featured the live birds that were located at the base of the Swiss Family Treehouse in the late nineties, click here.

On with today's post! Today, we're taking a look at the Audio-Animatronic owl that was a part of The Walt Disney Story for many years, starting back in 1973 when the attraction first opened in the Main Street Opera House.



He sat in an alcove just inside the entrance to the exhibit and was the host for a short film about the "animal actors" in Walt Disney's "True-Life Adventure" films. Notice the gold lettering above the stage reads, "Walt Disney, Naturalist".

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this owl was based on the Wise Old Owl from the 1948 Disney movie, "So Dear To My Heart."



Today, this alcove has been enclosed and houses the large model of Disneyland as it was in 1955.



I wonder what happened to that little Audio-Animatronic critter? Hopefully, he is being stored in a safe place somewhere, perhaps awaiting a return to the park for some future use. I know, I know....and Max, Buff and Melvin are just hangning around in the Pooh attraction awaiting some future use too, right? Hey, I can hope, can't I? By the way, the upholstered bench seats from this area were moved just across the room and are now available for guests that want to sit and watch the film "Disneyland, The First 50 Magical Years."



For those that were never able to see this presentation or don't remember it that well, here it is in it's entirety. I shot this footage myself back in 1997. I don't know who the actor was that supplied the voice for the owl, but it sure sounds like it could be Hans Conreid. Enjoy!

Return Of The Omnibus Ride To Destruction!

In my last post, we saw some video footage of the New Tomorrowland construction that was shot from the upper deck of the Disneyland Omnibus. Today I have some photos that were taken from the very same vantage point. This first one was taken of course, from The Plaza. You can see just a bit of the Omnibus parked over to the far left behind the tree.

I should mention that these first three pics were taken in May of 1997, prior to the video that we saw in the last post. Notice the large amoeboid bowl planters are still in place in front of the shiny silver Tomorrowland entrance panels. I wonder what they did with those planters? They were much nicer to look at than the perpetually dead-looking Persimmons trees that are there today.

These next two pics were taken in June of 1997, after the video footage was shot. The amoeboid planters are now gone and you can see that a "pit" is starting to be dug where that piece of....uh, well.....oh, let's just call it revolving space garbage....ended up going. I say, bring back the Palm trees and colorful flowers that graced the Tomorrowland entrance for 30 years!

Omnibus Ride To Destruction! - Part 1

I recently uncovered quite a bit of Disneyland home video footage that I shot back in the nineties and I've decided to start posting some of it. My first Disneyland video posting was of the live Macaws in front of The Swiss Family Treehouse in a post from last month.

First up for today, we have video that was shot in June of 1997 while riding the Omnibus up Main Street towards The Plaza. As it passes Tomorrowland, we get a pretty good view of the demolition that was taking place in preparation for the New Tomorrowland of 1998....or as I like to call it, "Brown Tomorrowland." Note the two Omnibuses passing one another. Do they even run two Omnibuses at the same time anymore? Too bad E.J. Peaker and the Osmonds weren't riding along with us and singing "Down On The Corner"!





This second video begins with the Tomorrowland construction and ends with a ride down Main Street towards Town Square. Note the large Olive trees in The Plaza that have since been removed and also the teepees set up in front of the entrance to Frontierland.....I had forgotten all about those!

Easter 1972 - "A Vintage Disneyland Trip Report" or "Disneyland Through The Eyes Of A Child"

Today, we're going to be taking a little trip back in time.......back to Easter Vacation of 1972 to be exact (it wasn't called Spring Break back then.) In my previous "Vintage Trip Reports", I've been able to recall quite a bit of information from past trips to the park because I was in my teens or twenties, but since this is the furthest back I've ever gone with one of these, I won't be able to recall too many of the specifics from the trip. However, I do remember this visit to the park.....and here are some of the souvenirs I've saved from that special day, 39 years ago!

First up is the entertainment guide.



The Sound Castle was performing that week. I wonder if they sang Sugar Sugar? I'm assuming Kurt Russell wasn't performing with them. This would have been two years after they appeared on the "Disneyland Showtime" episode of the "Wonderful World of Color."



Here's a little extra information from 1972......Easter Sunday was on April 2nd that year. I'm not sure when during that week that we went to the park, but Country Bear Jamboree opened on March 4, 1972, so it had been open for only about a month. The Main St. Electrical Parade had not started yet...it's Disneyland premiere was just two months away (June 17, 1972).



This is the Guide Book from the visit. It's in mint condition....unlike the entertainment guide above.



Now we will take a look at the park through the eyes (and the lens) of a 10- year-old child. These photos were all taken by my older brother who had recently received his very first camera.

The obligatory Castle shot.......



Incidentally, the borders of these photos show that this roll of film was not developed until June of that year!







A bit of the Small World clock.....and a whole lot of sky!



Facing into the sun.......



The PeopleMover was only five years old here....bring it back, I say!



Enjoy this photo of the Monorail track (sans Monorail) over a Sub-less Submarine lagoon, because this is the clearest picture of the bunch.....but hey, my brother was 10 years old, so let's cut him some slack! I got my first camera when I was 10 and Disneyland was also one of my first photographic subjects. I will post those photos in the future.



Taken from the Swiss Family Treehouse.....



I believe this one was taken from the Hungry Bear Restaurant.



So, Country Bear Jamboree was brand-spanking new. I do remember seeing it for the very first time on that trip. I also remember that we did eat at the Hungry Bear Restaurant and that we went into Teddi Barra's Swingin' Arcade. The arcade used to have some unique games themed to Country Bear Jamboree and it's cast of characters. Among those machines in the arcade, there was one that dispensed postcards featuring Marc Davis' concept art for the show. The arcade at the exit to Pirates of the Caribbean had a similar machine with Marc Davis concept art for POTC, but it dispensed bundles of postcards and there were two sets total. The CBJ postcards were dispensed separately. Later, when I was in my teens, I was able to collect the whole set of postcards. I will post all of them in the future if anyone is interested. These are the two cards that my brother and I received from the machine that very day back in 1972.





Today, the old arcade space is occupied by the Pooh's Corner souvenir shop, but if you look up at the exterior of the building, you can still see a reminder of what used to be there.



And over at the Hungry Bear Restaurant, there is another reminder today of the gang that used to inhabit this corner of the park. If you ask me, I say EVICT POOH and bring back Country Bear Jamboree!





Last up for today, we have one final souvenir from that 1972 trip. It's a Disneyland Dial Guide. They sold these up until the 80's and I have several other versions of them, but this one is my favorite because it is the oldest one that I have AND because it includes my all-time favorite Disneyland attraction, the Carousel of Progress. (I also remember seeing that during this visit. We always went in the Carousel of Progress and Adventure Thru Inner Space since they were both super cool attractions and did not require a ticket for admission!)



The numbered dial that sticks out of the bottom of the map is cut off in these scans and once again, I have to blame my scanner for being too small! The directions are printed on the map, but basically you find an attraction on the back that you want to visit and turn the dial until that attraction's number is visible below the arrow at the bottom of the map. It will then show you where on the map that attraction is located as well as giving you a brief description of the attraction in the small window on the back. The Dial Guide measures approximately 9" x 11" and could be mailed.



Well, that's it for today. I hope everyone enjoyed this 1972 trip to Disneyland. Happy Easter!