Every now and then I try to offer a stroll around the park, usually with an eye to seeing how much the Disneyland “landscape” has changed over thirty years. This month though… I’m not so sure.
For example, this is what Main Street Station looked like in the fall of 1994. Is that a big green tarp? Could there be… refurbishment going on?
And here we are now in the fall of 2024. Nothing to see here, folks. Just a giant building block version of Main Street Station.
Continuing down Main Street, there is more “under wraps,” so to speak. While “Craftsman are busy at work” in the “Disney Tradition of maintaining Quality,” the Show must go on! The “restoration” was part of the preparations for the 40th anniversary that was just around the corner.
Despite the massive green tarps, the castle still beckons. For this trip, let’s travel counterclockwise once we reach the hub.
The entrance to Tomorrowland. Yesterday’s Tomorrowland, anyway. How long has it been since they announced those 1994 planters flanking the walkway would be returning?
“High above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky.” The view from the Skyway trip headed to Fantasyland includes an unobstructed look at it’s a small world, before all the construction along the parade route, and while that pastel facade was still in place.
This is a view guests can no longer enjoy. Stepping out of the Skyway station in Fantasyland, it was possible to see the lower slopes of the Matterhorn rising above the Mad Hatter shop and Mr. Toad’s palatial estate. (The planter bed where that white supporting pylon is placed can still be found in the queue line beside Toad Hall.)
It is also possible to still sit and rest in “Fantasia Gardens,” as the former launching dock for the defunct Motorboat Cruise had been christened. The whimsical signage, however, has long since been removed. If you look closely past that awesome themed railing, you can get a glimpse of the “Ice Cream Train,” a string of themed outdoor vending carts.
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey was the newest of the Disneyland dark rides. When the entire land was refurbished in 1983, it replaced the venerable Fantasyland Theatre. That small movie theater offered air conditioning and, for a time during its early years, a “3D Jamboree” starring the Mouseketeers.
Moving briskly along. We find ourselves at the entrance to Adventureland. Thirty years ago Uti, the fishing goddess, still held her lantern aloft in the flower-bedecked longboat jutting out of the roof over the Tiki Juice Bar. The wall that once barred non-ticket holders from enjoying the pre-show on the lanai has been replaced with an open fence.
The eastern end of that new boathouse holding the two-story queue line for the Jungle Cruise can be seen just ahead. The rollicking tunes of a Jamaican steel band can be heard… but where are they?
Here they are, up on the second level, entertaining guests browsing among the clothing racks sitting out in front of the Adventureland Bazaar. And yes, look closely and you will see racks sitting under umbrellas right out in the walkway.
The view from the other side of the second level is pretty nifty, too. Here is an Indy-style boat, about to depart for a leisurely trip through the Tropical Rivers of the World.
I could not resist getting a photo up in that newly opened second level. Good thing I had a sweater for that brisk fall day.
And who could resist one last look at that big green tarp before heading home for the day?
