Disneyland Trip Report

Hey everyone, I just got back from Disneyland! Here's a quick trip report on a few of the changes that had taken place since my last visit.

I was surprised to find out that Star Tours had closed....for good. At first I thought it was just for the installation of the long rumored new film and special effects, but it turns out that a decision was made to just close it permanently and convert the queue into a clothing store. An cast member also informed me, that "brown" is going to become the primary color of Tomorrowland once again.

Over in Critter Country, I noticed they were using redesigned ride vehicles for Splash Mt. The new logs now hold only three people at a time. Unfortunately, this change has cut down ride capacity quite a bit.

In Fantasyland, the characters from the soon to be released animated film, "The Princess and the Pickle" were greeting guests. That's Susie Sandwich there on the right. She's the princess' sidekick in the film, at least until.....SPOILER ALERT!.....she gets eaten by the evil Pickle King.

"Lost" Lincoln / I See Dead People....

Well, I saw the new Lincoln show for the first time last week. Fellow bloggers have posted plenty of photos of the pre-show, so I'll include just a few of my own shots here. I think this part of the attraction was very well done. I really liked the pre-show film and all of the displays.

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This bust of Lincoln was created by Blaine Gibson back in 1965. Blaine Gibson sculpted most (all?) of the pirates for Pirates of the Caribbean, the Abominable Snowman for the Matterhorn, and the Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse "Partners" statue in the Plaza....just to name a few pieces of his work.

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This painting is displayed on a small screen before the pre-show film starts.

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Here's a scene from the pre-show film that features Walt and Blaine Gibson. Walt is holding a copy of an actual Lincoln "life mask."

As for the actual theater show....it was wonderful hearing Paul Frees' original narration, as well as the return of Royal Dano as the voice of Lincoln. I was also glad to see that the gimmicky "surround sound" headphones had been abandoned. I thought the Lincoln figure itself was pretty incredible. All of the Audio-Animatronic figures in all of the Disney parks should be that advanced! Since photography is not allowed inside the theater, we only have this vintage pic for today.

Unfortunately, I do have to say that I found two things about the new show very disappointing. First of all, Lincoln's speech had been shortened back in the eighties and I was very surprised to see that it had not been restored this time around. This shortening of his speech occurred at the same time that the "Two Brothers" segment had been added to the show.

This leads me to my second complaint.....that addition has ALWAYS bothered me. It doesn't fit with the rest of the show. That song and those photos were borrowed from the American Adventure at EPCOT. There are even Audio-Animatronics of that family, that appear in the EPCOT show. Okay, so EPCOT was fairly new back then and they wanted to bring parts of it to Anaheim....Wonders of China was shown in the Circle Vision Theater.....Magic Journeys was even shown at night, on the Space Stage in Tomorrowland, but why did they feel the need to shoehorn this segment into the Lincoln attraction in the first place? And even more important, why has it been left in twenty five years later, when every other part of the show appears to be a return to the original version? The song is just horrible. Am I the only one that thinks this sticks out like a sore thumb? The real corker for me is the photo of the dead body at the end of the "Two Brothers" segment. I realize that this was the cold harsh reality of the Civil War, but I don't go to Disneyland to see the corpses of people that have been killed in war. If this part of the show had been left out, then perhaps Lincoln's speech could have been restored to it's original length. I would have much rather spent more time watching and listening to the Lincoln Animatronic.

As for the missing portion of Lincoln's speech, I am guessing that most people don't even notice it (just like one of the Enchanted Tiki Room songs, which was cut from that attraction years ago), but I will include the missing lines here to see if they jog anyone's memory:
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"Let reverence for the law be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in the schools, in the seminaries and in the colleges. Let it be written in primers, in spelling books and almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls and enforced in courts of justice. And in short, let it become the political religion of the nation. And let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly at it's alters. And let us strive to deserve, as far as mortals may, the continued care of divine providence trusting that in future national emergencies, He will not fail to provide us the instruments of safety and security."

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The scan below shows the front and back cover of a brochure that was available in the Opera House in the nineties.

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Here is the inside of that brochure. The text on the left side shows the shortened version of Lincoln's speech. The missing portion was originally included between parts "3" and "4."

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Maybe on this attraction's next redo, Lincoln's speech can be returned to it's full and original glory. Oh, and the new song at the very end of the show is called "Golden Dream" and it is also from EPCOT's American Adventure, but since the show is over at that point, it doesn't seem to stand out quite as much as:

♪ ♫ "Two brothers on their way (repeat two more times)...one wore blue and one wore gray (repeat)....the fife and drum began to play as they marched along their way.....one was gentle one was kind (repeat)....one came home one stayed behind....a cannon ball don't pay no mind (repeat)....if your gentle or if your kind....it don't think of the folks behind.....all on a beautiful morning (repeat)." ♫ ♪

UGH! SO PAINFUL!!!!