In the midst of this year’s holidays at Disneyland, it is easy to forget that, in addition to Halloween Time and Holidaytime, they are still celebrating their 70th anniversary year. Thirty years ago, this was not as much of an issue for the 40th anniversary. Halloween was celebrated at the end of October (with just four dates for Mickey’s Halloween Treat), and the holidays kicked off on Thanksgiving Day with the first-ever appearance of the Christmas Fantasy Parade.
And lest they forget that Forty Years of Adventures was still going strong, guests in 1995 were invited to a Special Birthday Celebration, daily at noon in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
That year’s Guide Maps exhorted guests to “Join the Party!” In the daily schedule, the event was further described: “Mickey and the gang celebrate Disneyland’s 40th Anniversary with song and dance. After the show, Characters are available for autographs and photos.”
Although brief, it is a pretty accurate description. The show featured an eclectic mix of characters pouring out of the castle. Mickey and Minnie were there, of course, along with Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. The rest of the cast was filled out by a disparate group of rotating characters. This particular performance featured Chip and Dale, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Pinocchio, Gepetto, Perla, Suzy, and the ubiquitous Roger Rabbit, who showed up a lot in the 1990s.
There were also a couple of human performers on hand to help with the singing and dancing. Hosting was a real, live Disneyland Ambassador. 1995 marked the first year there was an Ambassador team, as well as a male Ambassador. Gerard Aquino, Julia Onder Bannon, and Michelle Tryon took turns with the hosting duties. (That’s Julia in these photos.)
As the Ambassador led the assembled guests in spelling out Disneyland (“Give me a D!”), the characters would reveal the letters printed on the back of their birthday presents. Mickey would then pull a child out of the crowd to help lead the singing of Happy Birthday. For their efforts, the child was gifted with a pair of mouse ears and a pennant.
For the grand finale, banners rose out of the packages on each side of the stage. More characters appeared on the upper level of the castle. For this performance, they were Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee and Don Karnage, and Kit Cloudkicker from TaleSpin. The music came to an end, and the Ambassador thanked everyone for attending. Guests were then invited to meet the characters and get an autograph or photo.
It was a little show, performed just once a day in the castle forecourt. But it ran for months, even into the holiday season, thirty years ago at Disneyland.
