I was sitting trying to figure out how I could broaden the appeal [of Disneyland,] so I was thinking of the teenagers and things.
We were out here sitting around the pool. I had my plans out. This was Diane. I turned to her and said, “Diane, what can I put in this park that will interest girls of your age?”
She said, “That’s simple, Dad—boys!”
(via 
Mickey Mania - Upside Down Mickey
A dancer costume from the Mickey Mania parade at the Magic Kingdom from 1996
This needs to be banished back to Silent Hill, post-haste.
Wow, that’s…um…something.
Source: flickr.com
In honor of California Adventure’s re-opening, here’s a newsreel from its original opening day!
I wasn’t expecting that.
A Disney Photo Study: Mr. Toad at Disneyland
My most significant memory of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Walt Disney World comes from when I was around 8 years old. My parents and I got in the car, and I ended up in the seat with the steering wheel. This concerned me, and suddenly the car was speeding off and I legitimately thought I was actually driving the car. I screamed my head off the entire time, thinking I was going to crash us into everything and that we were going 100 MPH. My parents thought this was absolutely hilarious, but I was not amused. If I willingly went back on the ride before it was closed and turned into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, I can’t remember.
So, during my first trip to Disneyland, it was a must to ride Mr. Toad as an homage to the loss of it at WDW. (I remember people protesting the closure and even staging a sit-in with the hope Disney would reconsider; nope). I was amused that not only is the ride a lot slower than I remember, but of how different the perception of a child is compared to an adult.
May Mr. Toad forever have his wild ride in California.
Photo by ADisneyMuse, 2011
The Warehouse of Unwanted & Forgotten Things
I’ve been loving the WDW Parks & Rumors forum on the WDWMagic boards lately. There’s a lot of interesting discussion on past attractions and where pieces of them are today. The link above is to someone’s personal Flikr account with some shots of a warehouse in Kissimmee that Disney uses to store props and materials from old attractions, etc. I had heard a rumor that Disney actually still has all the animatronics and sets from the original Journey Into Imagination, and they simply just need to put them all back. While in reality, a lot of the animatronics/props were sent to be used for other purposes at the other parks, there still seems to be some validity to the rumors! Check out the photo of the collection of original Figment AA’s, supposedly gathering dust in a local warehouse. The thread I found these on is kinda old, but it resurfaced again with some somewhat up-to-date reports that everything is still there.
Want to know something even crazier? The stage for Kitchen Kaberet/Food Rocks! is actually still there in The Land. When they built Soar’n, they just put up walls in front of the stage and built around it. The AA’s are gone, but the set is still there in some sort of half-demolished state. Crazy! I can’t understand why they have left it in there. Word also says that Cranium Command and Body Wars are still relatively intact and rotting behind-the-scenes. Just blows my mind.
Could you imagine how much I’d lose my mind if I could somehow come to own any of these relics? Hey Disney, if you don’t want them, let the geeks feast upon their discarded childhood!
I guess you never know when you may need these things for spare parts.
Windseeker POV Knott’s Berry Farm 300 Foot Tower Swing Ride Rider Cam On-Ride (by themeparkreviewTPR)
How much does Rob (the narrator) like Windseeker? Watch to find out. I think it’s safe to say that Joey (the guy next to Rob) isn’t QUITE as into this as Rob is.
OK, not quite Disney, but it is just down the road.
