and finally; an end

Today, we come to the end of our series from the 50th Anniversary look at the park.

I was lucky enough to actually be in the park on the evening of July 4th 1976. The bicentennial parade and fireworks were amazing. I was also in the park for the 25th park anniversary in 1980 which produced a fairly good fantasy in the sky. I can only image what the 50th firework display (the biggest in park history) was like.

Again, we see goal-leaf in yet another park opening commemoration. This time, it’s the tea cups. OK, I will be honest. The two rides I no longer get on are the tea cups and Dumbo. Sorry, makes for too long a day.

One last look at the parade. Her we have monsters; from Monsters Inc.

That’s it for the ‘Home Coming’ and 50 years of Disneyland. I hope you enjoyed the up to date look. Back into the history past of the park soon.

yet more 50th

it’s Woody and Jessie:

another look at Sleeping Beauty Castle, this time at night:

Its Tinker Bell:

A celebration of 50 years!

On opening day; and, today; there was a parade at Disneyland. There always has been and I hope there always will be. Most of my collection and post here at the hovel involve older items. I wanted to show some contemporary cards to just have some balance and besides, I just enjoy looking at my post card collection and commenting on the park.

Disneyland and I were been the same year. Hummmm

2005 marked the 50th Anniversary and of course the park was spiffy and smacked out in finery. Here is a look at some of the special  memories of that special year.

The Walt Disney Parade of Dreams kicked off on May 5, 2005 and celebrated all aspects of Disney during its run through the Holiday Season (November 11th) of 2008. There were 7 floats (referred to as units) and each had a ‘Hidden Mickey’ on it.

This parade featured one of the largest collection of characters and here are  Mickey and Minnie in their ‘Regal’ outfits.

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is truly an icon of the park. Here she is decked out in dazzling jewels, golden accents and regal banners. She sure is pretty and has the top of the Matterhorn adoring over the tree tops.

During the ‘Homecoming’ celebration, there ware displayed all over the park the 50th icon or logo. Here is a close up of the ‘ears’ as displayed on the castle.

OK, that is part one (1) of our look at the ‘Homecoming’. Look for part tow of this series popping up soon.

into fantasyland

finally, we come to every kids favorite part off the park. probably the most ‘disney’ part of the park and one which enthralls kids of all ages to this day.

first up is THE ICON of the park. sleeping beauty castle as seen from the hub.

one of the myths which was started by the disney company and one that is just not true is that the draw bridge has only been lowered once. (a long standing story till the new fantasyland re-opening in 1983) so now, they say twice. the truth is it has been lowered 3 times. seems they forgot about the dry-run of the park opening ceremony just a day or two prior to the actual opening day. that’s 3!

here is the castle at dusk. disneyland at night is a special time indeed.

here is a part of fantasy from the early days of the park. this is the heart of the castle so to speak. the carousel and mad hatter’s tea party anchor this shot but you can make out the entrance queues for several of the dark rides. i have loads of memories of my mother and oldest daughter riding the horses of king arthur’s carousel. walt  had the horses especially designed and made to show them in ‘action’ as opposed to being stationary. they have been painted in various colors from mixed, to all black to the current all white.

an yes, the ‘tea cups’ were moved for the 83’ redesign.

an interesting fact is that the tea cups are one of the few attractions if not the only one that “must” stop operation in the rain!

one of the hardest of the original opening day attractions to get settled in walt’s mind and for a few months, operated as a very dull little boat ride with not a lot to see, grew into the lovable story book land canal boats. it was originally called canal boats of the world, however that incarnation was closed on september 16, of 1955 and then re-opened on june 16th the following year as the storybook land canal boats.

here we see the cast of pinocchio pondering the fate of guest being swallowed by monstro. this attraction has been added to, ‘plus-ed’ and changed over the years but still is an enjoyable trip through the disney cannon of make believe.

for a long time, the boats were ‘skippered’ by both male and female staff members in non-tied in apparel. not sure when it changed, but today, the boats are piloted by female only cast wearing an ‘alice in wonderland’ motif. also, for some reason, this attraction seems to open latter in the morning for some reason. also, of interest, monstro’s teeth have been filled flat.

 

we will continue in fantasyland soon and i hope you are enjoying our little tour of the park.