Disneyland's Toontown - 30th Anniversary

Today we have yet another "anniversary" post.  My other anniversary posts from earlier this year include, the 45th anniversary of The New Matterhorn, the 45th anniversary of Knott's Montezooma's Revenge, and the 40th anniversary of Knott's Camp Snoopy.

This year, Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland is celebrating it's 30th anniversary.  I have to admit that Toontown is my absolute least favorite "land."  With the exception of Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin (which didn't open until one year later), I have always considered the area a waste of very valuable real estate.  However, I had saved this Los Angeles Times article from when the land first opened, so I thought I would share it here, along with a few other souvenirs.

The article is dated January 21, 1993.  It mentions that the "Roger Rabbit ride" will be opening "this summer," but it didn't actually open until January of 1994.  Pictured below is the "Jolly Trolley" attraction, which closed after only 10 years of operation.

The article also mentions some of the other new "attractions," such as Goofy's Bounce House (which closed after 15 years), and Chip 'n Dale's Acorn Crawl (which closed after only 5 short years).  And the author talks about how Disney wasn't exactly breaking new ground here, since Knott's had built their children's area (Camp Snoopy), 10 years earlier.  It isn't mentioned, but Magic Mountain had a children's area (The Wizard's Village/Bugs Bunny World), even before that.  And Sea World had also opened their children's area (Cap'n Kids World), many years earlier.

The Motor Boat Cruise, Mission to Mars, and the Fantasyland Autopia, all received shout-outs in the article, but unfortunately it was because they were all being closed for good.  The reason given was, to relocate the employees on those attractions to Toontown, in order to "minimize additional operating costs" for the park.  Sad!

I think I have only ever bought one "Toontown" related souvenir, at the park itself, and that was the pinback button at the top of this post.  However, I did buy a can of Coke at my local grocery store, which commemorated the opening of the new land.

I made a huge mistake by not opening the can and draining the contents, prior to storing it away on a top kitchen shelf for years.  I had forgotten the urban legend, about how if you drop a nail into a glass of Coke, it will eventually dissolve it. Well, the contents of this can eventually ate a hole through the side of it, and leaked all over that top shelf.  I did not realize this had happened, until many years later, so there was a thick sticky mess to clean up, once it was discovered.  Coke actually contains "phosphoric acid," which etches the enamel on our teeth, and makes them more porous, so I'm assuming that was the specific ingredient responsible for eating through the can.

I did a search on ebay, and was surprised to see these other Toontown-themed cans were also available.  I don't remember seeing these in the grocery store, back in the day.  This first one is a Diet Coke can, which featured Roger Rabbit.

This can of Sprite, featured Donald and his boat.

And this last design, featuring Goofy and his "Bounce House," was on cans of Diet Sprite.

This final item is not from Disneyland in Anaheim, but from Tokyo Disneyland.  I bought this during a visit to the Disney parks in Japan.  They sell a series of miniature attraction vehicles, which are just about the size of a Match Box® vehicle.  I should have put a coin next to the vehicle, to show just how small it is!

The box lists the scale as 1/77.

The manufacturer of the "Disney Vehicle Collection," is Tomy®.  The sticker on the box shows a price of 750 yen, which at today's rate of exchange, would be about $5.00 in U.S. currency.  I'm guessing if they sold these in the U.S. parks, they would charge more than that.  I never found the price of food, souvenirs, or even admission at the Tokyo Disney parks, to be as inflated as they are in the U.S. Disney parks.  But then Disney does not own those two parks.  They are owned by a Japanese company, the Oriental Land Company.

I'm not completely sure, but I think the little "universal symbol" on the far left means, "Do Not Feed This To Pac-Man, Or He Will Cry."

And speaking of Tokyo's Toontown, if anyone is interested in seeing how the Japanese decorate Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown for Halloween and Christmas, you can click below, for some of my older posts.

Halloween in Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown

More Halloween in Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown

Christmas in Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown 

Happy anniversary, to Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland.  While I have never cared for the land very much, at least Disney finally decided to add another attraction (Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway) to the area, just this year.  It's too bad it took them 30 years to do it!  Oh, and when I finally saw Toontown for the very first time (one year later, in January of 1994), I took quite a few photos.  I will be including those in a 30-year "Vintage Disneyland Trip Report," this January.  So stay tuned......or "toon-ed," if you will.

****Post Update - 10-27-23****

I just found a few more Toontown-related items, in my personal collection!

This first one is a "game piece" from a contest.  These were given out when you had your film developed at Thrifty drugstores.  They were included inside the film processing envelopes, when you returned to pick up your photos.  The contest was also sponsored by Kodak.

These were "sealed," so you had to "tear open" that center square, to reveal the game piece inside.  Then, you had to match the character and the color of the Castle, with the image that was displayed on the counter of the Thrifty photo processing department.

The rules were printed on the back, along with a list of the prizes.  The top prize was a trip for four to Disneyland.

Another one of the prizes, was this Craig 'N Co. Rock 'N Toontown CD.  I had to look up this performer, since I had never heard of Craig 'N Co.  His name is Craig Taubman, and it looks like he made multiple appearances on The Disney Channel, back in the nineties.

This is not my CD, but I found a few of them listed on ebay.  You can own a copy for as low as $5.95!  There was also an ebay listing for two "intact" Thrifty game pieces, for $24.99.

The other items I recently found, are these Toontown postcards.

Both postcards were stamped on the back, with a special postmark commemorating Disneyland's 40th anniversary.  On July 17, 1995, the U.S. Postal System set up a temporary station in the old Disneyland parking lot, and were stamping the special postmark onto any item with U.S. postage affixed to it.

I remember the postal workers were trying very hard to place the "N" in the word "Station" just barely onto the stamp, so that way most of the postmark would be on the actual item.  It looks like they completely missed with that first postcard, and just barely touched the stamp on this second one.

*****Post Update (April 2024)*****

I recently came across this color newspaper advertisement for Toontown, so I am adding it to this post.  It's from The Los Angeles Times, and while I don't have a specific date for the ad, I'm pretty sure it had to be from the earliest days or weeks following Toontown's opening, in January of 1993.

Tragic Kingdom - A Death On Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain

Today, we have another post that can be filed under the heading of, "Tragic Kingdom."

Twenty years ago today, a fatal accident occurred on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction.  It was the tenth death in the park's history, and the second in only five years, following an accident in 1998, involving the Columbia Sailing Ship.

Ten other passengers aboard Big Thunder were injured, with nine of them being transferred to local hospitals.

The timeline given below has to be wrong, because if the passengers boarded the ride "about 11 a.m.", it wouldn't have taken 20 minutes for them to reach the second lift, where the passenger cars detached from the engine.

The section labeled, "Accidents Since 1997" (above), reveals just how many incidents had occurred at the park, within only a six-year period.  However, it fails to mention the 6-year old girl who lost two-thirds of her index finger, after getting it caught on a rifle on Tom Sawyer Island (in January of 2001).  It also does not mention the 4-year old boy, who fell off of King Arthur's Carousel, and ended up in the hospital with a concussion.  That accident occurred on the same day as the Columbia incident.  And that last accident listed, mentioning a "double-deck boat" tipping over, is referring to the Mike Fink Keel Boats.  Unfortunately, that attraction never reopened after that incident.

Following this accident, and the one involving the Columbia, there was a lot of finger-pointing at park management, accusing them of making cutbacks to proper employee training and attraction maintenance.  According to Wikipedia, "The cause of the (Big Thunder) accident was determined to be improper maintenance.  Investigation reports and discovery by the victim's attorney, confirmed the fatal injuries occurred when the first passenger car collided with the underside of the locomotive.  The derailment was the result of a mechanical failure, which occurred due to omissions during a maintenance procedure."

For further information on the accident, and the legal settlements that followed, here is an article which also mentions how park management admitted to incorrectly performing maintenance on the attraction.

Incidentally, Cynthia Harriss resigned from her role as President of the Disneyland Resort, just one month after the Big Thunder accident.  The next year, she followed in the footsteps of former chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Paul Pressler, and took a job working for The Gap.  I wonder if she ever gave couch-painting lessons to The Gap employees (as she had done once, during a Disney cast member party).

 

Montezooma's Revenge at Knott's Berry Farm - 45th Anniversary!

Hey everyone, it's time for another anniversary post!  Knott's Berry Farm's Camp Snoopy celebrated it's "40th" anniversary, just last month, and Disneyland's "New Matterhorn"  had it's "45th" anniversary, in May.  Well, Knott's "Montezooma's Revenge" also happens to be celebrating it's "45th" anniversary, this year.

Montezooma's Revenge had it's grand opening in May of 1978.  Prior to it's opening, a "coming soon" sign at the park announced the name of the new coaster as, "¡Loco Motion!"

Earlier in the year, I had written to the Knott's public relations department, asking about possible "future attractions" coming to the park.  They sent me a packet with various maps and brochures, including this then-current one.

On the back of the brochure, someone had taken a yellow highlighter pen, and outlined this image.  Apparently, they had not yet decided on a definite name for the future coaster.

Inside, a map showed the location of the new attraction.  It was being built on a portion of an existing parking lot.

A similar coaster had opened just one year earlier, at Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara, California.  In fact, when Knott's filmed it's television commercial for Montezooma's Revenge, it was still under construction, so they used footage of it's "sister" coaster, up north.  Great America's version (seen below) was called "Tidal Wave," and it closed in 2002, after 25 years of operation.

Montezooma's Revenge officially opened over Memorial Day Weekend.  This image was from the opening day press kit.

The text below these publicity shots, gave a detailed description of what riders would experience on the new coaster.

This advertisement is from the May 28, 1978 edition of The Los Angeles Times.  I have saved this ever since childhood.  The ad on the reverse side just happened to be for Disneyland's "New Matterhorn," which was also opening over Memorial Day Weekend.  I posted that advertisement in May of this year (see the link at the top of this post).

As mentioned in the ad, Debbie Reynold's was appearing at the park over the holiday weekend.  Eddie Rabbit was also appearing.  (He loves a rainy night!)  However, it was Debbie Reynolds (right) who took the official inaugural ride on Montezooma's Revenge, along with Marion Knott (left).

Shortly after the ride opened, an updated version of the Knott's "pictorial souvenir booklet," featured a more colorful version of the same concept art, from that March 1978 brochure.  "El Cinema Grande" (inset) was also opening in Fiesta Village, that summer.

That same concept art was used once again, for this souvenir decal. I remember buying this in a little shop located across from the Knott's "Volcano," and next door to "Marion and Toni's Sportswear" shop.  The shop was called "Virginia's Souvenirs," and was a separate store from the much larger "Virginia's Gift Shop."

I purchased this pennant during the same visit......

.......and these postcards:

The original signage (seen below) was changed, some years later.

For Knott's "60th" anniversary in 1980, Bob Bates created posters for many of the park's attractions.  Even though he did create an individual one for Montezooma's Revenge, it was never reproduced as a souvenir for guests.  However, the coaster was included on this "composite" poster.

This next photo was included in a later edition of the Knott's "pictorial souvenir booklet."  At this time, a guest parking lot still existed on the other side of those trees, to the right.  Camp Snoopy would be built on the remaining portion of this lot, in 1983.

This postcard featuring Montezooma's Revenge doesn't have a date, but it would have to be from sometime between 1980 and 1987.  (1980 is the year that the Dragon Swing (lower right) opened, and 1987 is the year that the Tijuana Taxi (upper right) was removed.)

And this one would have to be from sometime between 1987 and 2003, because those are the opening and closing dates for the "Tampico Tumbler" (bottom, center).

Souvenirs featuring Montezooma's Revenge aren't very common.  I found these next two on ebay, but I don't have an exact year for either one of them.

The font on the keychain, is the same as the one used on the original sign.

This embroidered patch can't be "original" to when the coaster opened, because it depicts the ride's newer signage.

Here's that "newer" sign, for comparison:

And this collector's pin is a much more recent item.  In 2020, Knott's released a series of 100 pins for their 100th anniversary.  This pin was #78 in the series.

Montezooma's Revenge finally received it's very own attraction poster, when Cedar Fair commissioned artist, Josh Reichlin, to design official attraction posters for each of Knott's roller coasters (with the exceptions being, Timberline Twister and Pony Express).  This poster is currently available for purchase, at the Knott's "online" Marketplace.

Another current item for sale, is this "NanoCoaster" model of Montezooma's track layout.

In 2019, the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) recognized Montezooma's Revenge as a "roller coaster landmark," and presented Knott's with a special plaque.  The plaque, which is mounted to a wall near the ride's entrance, provides some info about the coaster's manufacturer (Anton Schwarzkopf) and it's designer (Werner Stengel).

To experience a "virtual" ride on the original Montezooma's Revenge, here's a front row "POV" video from Knott's own YouTube channel:

For summer of 2023, the "Fiesta Village" area at Knott's received a major refurbishment, which was also supposed to include a "re-imagined" Montezooma's Revenge.  The grand re-opening has been delayed, and from online reports, construction was even halted for a while.  When the ride does reopen, it will have a new "random" launch pattern, meaning riders won't know if the coaster train is going to launch forwards, or backwards.  The ride will also be renamed, "MonteZOOMa:  The Forbidden Fortress."  The concept art below shows a new entrance arch and signage.

This short promotional clip reveals what the redesigned coaster train will look like.

I will wrap up this anniversary post, with a series of photos that I've taken of Montezooma, over the years.

The entrance with it's original wooden gates:

The "newer" signage featured a three dimensional serpent, with a forked tongue that moved up and down....

.....and eyes that glowed:

The station, located just to the right of the entrance:

Inside the station, preparing to launch:

The launch, going from 0 to 55mph in just 5 seconds:

 Heading towards the loop:

The 76-foot tall vertical loop:

In 1995, Knott's designed their newest coaster, "Jaguar," to go right through the center of Montezooma's loop.  A "cage" was built around the new coaster's track.  I'm assuming this was to prevent anything from potentially dropping out of Jaguar's trains, and onto Montezooma's track?

Going up the first tower, which stands 140 feet tall (this image is from Wikipedia, since I did not have my own daytime photo of this section of the track):

And here is the view at night, while standing directly below the tower:

Going backwards through the station:

Coming out of the backside of the station:

Going up the second tower, and experiencing "weightlessness":

And coming back down, into the station:

****Bonus Items****

For anyone who's interested, here is that March 1978 brochure, in it's entirety:

Years before Knott's was ever having a "Boysenberry Festival," their big springtime event was, "Knott's Country Fair."  This event began just one year earlier, in the spring of 1977.

The cover mentions the filming of a "Guinness Book of World Records TV special," taking place in the park.  I did a search, and nothing came up for that year, or with those two stars, Richard Dawson and Michelle Lee.  If it exists somewhere out there, I sure would like to find a copy!

A note below the map's "Legend" states, "Colorful and decorative souvenir maps of Knott's Berry Farm are available at many locations throughout the Farm."  They didn't mention that they were actually selling them.  The map they were referring to was a large "wall" map, designed by Bob Bates.  There were two versions available for sale, one without Montezooma's Revenge, and an updated version, after the coaster was added to the map.

I wonder if this "freebie" map, was purposely made plain and printed only in one color, to try and promote the sales of their more "colorful and decorative" souvenir maps?  I know that I bought one, back in the day.  A blown-up version of the Bob Bates map can currently be seen on a wall, inside Virginia's Gift Shop.  A scan of that map is also available HERE, from the blog, "Vintage Disneyland Tickets."

Interesting......there was a band by the name of "Montezuma's Revenge," performing at the Wagon Camp!  I did a search for them, and it looks like they released at least one record.  They also performed at Disneyland, for Grad Nite '81.  And it looks like Fiddlin' Charlie & Mamie were still performing on the porch of the Gold Trails Hotel.  Personally, I want to go "shake my booty" to the sounds of "The Disco Machine," at the Airfield Eatery.  I'm a little surprised that the disco dancing wasn't taking place over at the Cloud Nine Ballroom.

And check out those contests.....Pie Eating, Yodeling, Hog Calling, Cow Milking, and Greased Pig Catching.  These contests were all still taking place years later, when I was working at Knott's.  The pie-eating contest was also held during the Knott's annual "Employee's-Only Night."

And just "because"......here is my Knott's Country Fair employee button, from 1986 (eight years later).  The annual Country Fair event was still going strong at this time.  I'm not sure when they discontinued the event, but it looks like it was still taking place as late as 2011.  By 2013, it was replaced with the Knott's "Berry Bloom" spring event.  Who remembers that one?  I don't think that event was very popular, because by the next year (2014), it was replaced by Knott's very first "Boysenberry Festival," which has continued every spring, since then.

Here's one more "bonus" item.  After appearing at Knott's over that Memorial Day weekend in 1978, Debbie Reynolds returned to the Farm exactly one year later.  This advertisement is from a May 1979 issue of TV Guide: