DHI Remembers Tomorrowland's Flying Saucers Ride

Cars Land's Luigi's Flying Tires is getting punished around the internet world. There are some who like the ride, but most find it slow and boring (those that can actually get the tires to move a bit that is). The other complaint is that the queue line moves extremely slow because of low ride capacity.

With that in mind, the Disney History Institute has just posted an excellent video giving us a look at the original Flying Saucers attraction in Tomorrowland that had a brief lifespan back in the early 60's. The ride was eventually shut down because of low capacity, constant breakdowns and a large staff to support its operation and maintenance. Luigi? Take a look in the mirror.

Revisiting the Haunted Mansion & the Hatbox Ghost Mystery

While I was looking at YouTube videos produced by The Disneyland History Institute (disneyhistoryinstitute.com) yesterday, I had forgotten about one of their more famous videos that was extremely popular awhile back with Disneyland fan websites. In this video, DHI explores the mystery of the legendary Hatbox Ghost, perhaps the most memorable Haunted Mansion character that doesn't appear in the ride at all. The mystery of the Hatbox Ghost is one of those behind the scenes things that makes Disneyland so amazing. The Hatbox Ghost appeared in Haunted Mansion publicity images, in books, and on HM cover art, but he never existed in the attraction itself. Or did he?

Here is where the Disneyland History Institute steps in and gives their take on the mystery of the Hatbox Ghost and provides visual evidence that yes, for a very brief time, the legendary ghost was present in the attraction. For fans of Disneyland history, this is a great video.

Jogging Disneyland Memories

While working on this blog this morning (and avoiding chores around the house and yard) I came across this very lovely video of the early days of Disneyland (1957 to be exact). It was uploaded to YouTube from a web site called The Disney History Institute. For those whose memories only go back a decade or two, this is a look at Disneyland that is both familiar and distant at the same time. As for me, I remember many of these rides and attractions that have long since disappeared and every once in awhile it's just nice to revisit what once was and in many ways, still is.

Windows On Main St. & Remembering Robert Sherman

A week or so ago I was railing in a MousePlanet discussion board against Disneyland Annual Passholders mostly to be something of a contrarian and to push some buttons. Its all in good fun. What do I care that Disney has almost a million APers?  Good for them.  Anyway, one of my points about APers is a lot of them are good time Charlies heading to the park for the rides & attractions while ignoring the history, legacy, and detail of the park.  I made the statement that many of these APers probably probably don't even realize that the decorated windows on Main St (and a few other places) honor the men and women who played a significant role in the creating of the park and contributors to the magic of Disney.  Many of the people honored with windows were closely linked personally to Walt Disney himself.

Take two.  It may be sacrilege but I hated the movie Mary Poppins and I am old enough to remember seeing it in a theater as a child.  The lady flying around with an umbrella kind of gave me the creeps.  I loved the Dick Van Dyke Show growing up but couldn't stand Dick in Mary Poppins with maybe the worst cockney accent ever to grace a motion picture.  But you can't say the music of Mary Poppins wasn't memorable.  A week or so ago I wrote an entry in this blog about it's a small world (link).  I wrote about THAT SONG.  Love it or hate it, you can't say its something that isn't easily recognizable and will stay filed somewhere in your memory banks for your entire life.

Two men wrote the music for Mary Poppins, it's a small world, along with Disney music for countless rides, attractions, and movies.  They were Walt's favorite songwriters - Robert Sherman and his brother Richard Sherman.  Last week, Robert Sherman died in London after a long illness.  He was well in his 80's.  Richard on the other hand still shows up for major Disney events and continuous to be an ambassador for the history and legacy of Disney. Richard was present when Disney honored the songwriting brothers with a window on the facade of the little music store on Main St. and even sung one of his classic songs.  Today the Disneyland Traveler honors the contributions of the Sherman Brothers and tips his hat to the passing of Richard.  God bless.

Richard (left) and Robert Sherman - A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Richard performs Feed the Birds at the Disneyland dedication ceremony for their window March 2010.

The Worst Disneyland 50th Anniversary Souvenir

Disneyland celebrated its 50th anniversary back in July 2005. The official park opening date was July 17, 1955.  We didn't make it down for the official anniversary day but my family and I were fortunate enough to spend a week down at the Disneyland Resort in late July of 2005 getting the opportunity celebrate Disneyland's "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" an event which went on to last for almost 2 years.  There was a large group of us on this particular trip so we booked a 3 bedroom suite (plus an extra room) at the Disneyland Hotel. We had a great time all the way around.

A few days ago, I was going through a box of old DVD's we had stored in a box in the garage, preparing to get rid of a great many of them as we have now moved on to the blu-ray disc generation.  And there it was - Disneyland's "official commemorative edition" DVD celebrating the aforementioned "Happiest Homecoming on Earth".  I hadn't seen this "souvenir" since I played it when we returned from our 2005 trip.  Yes, the must have souvenir from a great trip had only one showing in the Disneyland Traveler household and for good reason.  The commemorative video is awful.  I would sell this thing on eBay but I wouldn't want to rip someone else off the way Disney ripped me (and countless others) off by buying this wretched production.

You see, underneath it all, the "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" commemorative DVD is nothing more that a Disneyland Resort vacation planning video no better than the DVD's Disney Travel will send you free of charge.  In fact, it is worse than many of the free promotional DVD's that we have received from Disney Travel over the years.  

Back in 2005, Disney was showing a fine film in the Opera House starring Steve Martin (and Donald Duck) that lovingly traced some of the 50 year history of Walt's park.  That film still plays today on a small video screen in the lobby of the Opera House in a continual loop as part of the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln pre-show.  That's the kind of film I was hoping to get with my $25 or $30 DVD purchase back in 2005.  In fact, if they sold a copy of the Steve Martin film, I would bought that one.  Instead, I bought a travel video, a promotional video, really just a half hour infomercial selling the Disneyland Resort.  Nothing about Walt, nothing about the 50 year history (other than some pop-up park facts), in the end, dreadful.

Yes, we had a great time back in 2005 but this DVD kind of left a bad taste in my mouth when thinking about all the great things about that trip.  Just to make sure it was as bad as I remembered, I played again this morning.  Yes, it is very bad.

The Tiki Room Is Not An Excuse To Eat Ice Cream

So, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I are at Disneyland.  It's getting mid-afternoon, lunch was a few hours ago, the temperature is warming up, the feet are getting tired and then one of us will say 'Do you want to go to the Tiki Room?".  "Sure!" the other one of us that didn't ask the question will say.  There seems to be a lot of code words that float around Disneyland. Say "Tiki Room" first thing in the morning might not mean anything at all.  It probably doesn't even get said.  Say "Tiki Room" in late afternoon and it can mean only one thing for me and Mrs. DLT:  let's go get some pineapple ice cream - a whip for Mrs. DLT and a float for me.  

I don't believe Mrs. DLT and I have ever gone to the Dole pineapple stand without going in to see the show in the Enchanted Tiki Room.  I don't believe we have ever gone to the Tiki Room show without getting ice cream.  The two seem to go together so well.  It's tradition. On our trips, we usually end up seeing the animatronic bird show two, sometimes three times.  "Don't you ever get tired of seeing that show?" one might ask.  "Nope, doesn't matter, I got my float and I'll finish it off while seeing the birds perform and all will be right with my Disney world".  This is what Disneyland is all about.

But there's another reason for my love for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and it has nothing to do with ice cream at all.  My parents passed away long ago as did an older sister and brother.  The places we lived and shared our lives together are a distant past.  But there is a room a little over 400 hundred miles away from where I write this where we went in together to see birds that could talk and sing.  It is the same now as it was many, many years ago.  Sitting in the Enchanted Tiki Room now connects me with a place I sat with my parents and my brother well over 40 years ago and with my sister 10 years ago.  They are no longer around, but my Disneyland memories with them have not faded.  It's so special, magical, and powerful.  We all have Walt Disney to thank for that.  He knew these things.

Walt Disney and Jose at the Tiki Room - A Disney Parks Blog Photo