Category: 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
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No Longer Banking on Main Street – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
Last month’s article was all about an auspicious early July opening (Aladdin’s Oasis, if you missed it). This month’s is all about a quiet closure that took place near the end of July. One of Main Street’s older tenants, in continuous operation since 1955 in fact, closed its doors for the last time on July…
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You Ain’t Never Had a Feast Like This! – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
It will surprise most readers that this month’s column is not about July 17, 1993. Yes, Disneyland did turn 38 years old that day (or on July 18, depending on how contentious you are). But July of 1993 had another auspicious opening, though not for a venue that would have the lasting impact of the…
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A Very Special Episode of Blossom – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
With all the hoopla surrounding the opening of Mickey’s Toontown thirty years ago earlier this year, I managed to get past another memorable event that took place at Disneyland in January of 1993. Fortunately I have photos to share, and some rather fuzzy screen shots from an episode of a quintessential 90s sitcom, Blossom. Blossom…
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Bring the Whole Family! – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
After spending so much time on Toontown this year, this month’s entry will get us back into and around the rest of Disneyland. In May of 1993 (May eighth, to be precise) I again renewed my Annual Passport. This time it cost $119, but I felt the expense was worth it, considering the use I…
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Aladdin’s Royal Caravan – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
Parades have been a part of Disneyland from the very beginning. The live TV special on the park’s inaugural day included a unique one. It would be followed through the years by 60 or so different parades that have since strutted down Main Street. Aladdin’s Royal Caravan made its debut on April 2, 1993, running…
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Mickey’s Toontown (Part 2) – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
This month— the suburbs. But first, a short diversion. How should we get there? We could walk (it’s a pleasant walk). Or, we could take the Jolly Trolley. Despite what anyone may have told you, thirty years ago at Disneyland the Jolly Trolley was a real thing. It really traveled along the tracks in Toontown,…
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Mickey’s Toontown (Part 1) – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
Last month we looked at the grand opening of Mickey’s Toontown, January 25th, 1993. Or the 24th. Or 26th. This month I anticipated writing up a complete tour of the new land, but after going through the many, many photos that I took that day, I decided to present Toontown over two months. This month…
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Opening Mickey’s Toontown – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
Serendipity is a word I have always enjoyed. It sounds as joyful as its meaning: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. This month’s column, all about the opening of Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland 30 years ago, falls on the same week that there will be a dedication…
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Happy Holidays! – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
Today, Disneyland has a staggering array of holiday-themed promotions, one blending into another through several months of the year. It may seem hard to believe, but just thirty years ago fans of the Happiest Place on Earth had to be content with a few one-day events, and then the “big” Christmas season after Thanksgiving. Here…
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A New Train Station and Toy Shop – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
1992 may not have been the most “original” year in Disneyland history (even the “original” promotion had been carried over from 1991), but the end of the year saw two new venues open in the northernmost part of the happiest place on earth. On November 25, the new Toontown Railroad Station opened, and on December…
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A Daytime Parade to Remember – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
This month’s column was supposed to be about a very memorable 1992 daytime parade that ran from June 19 to November 15. “The World According to Goofy” may have seemed a somewhat random choice, unless one remembers that Goofy made his Disney debut in 1932. For his 60th birthday, Disneyland created a zany parade tracing…
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Mickey’s Toontown Under Construction – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
You may recall that a year ago I was writing about Afternoon Avenue Live! at Disneyland, and specifically about the closure of Baloo’s Dressing Room. That meet ’n greet, located immediately beyond that new railroad trestle to the west of it’s a small world, had been replaced by a construction wall. In case there was…
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Souvenir Guide 1992 – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
One of the tangible things I miss from 30 years ago at Disneyland is their over-the-top souvenir guide. Starting in 1955, with a modest flyer printed in two colors (black and turquoise), guests were always provided with basic information to make their visit “more enjoyable.” By 1992, that single sheet had grown into a 32-page…
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A Stroll Around the Park – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
Disneyland in the Summer of 1992 had matured and grown in many ways, but for guests who had been visiting since the 1960s, it was still a pretty familiar place. Thirty years later, on the other hand, it seems like change has come to every corner of Walt’s original Magic Kingdom. But don’t take my…
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So, That’s a Fantasmic! – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
Last month, I described the events leading up to the May 15 public debut of Fantasmic!, the new nighttime spectacle that had everyone guessing about what, exactly, it would be. This month I will be describing my reaction, the public reaction, and the long-term impact it had on Disneyland. On Friday, May 15, I made…
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What’s a Fantasmic? – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
1992 turned out to be a banner year for Disney theme park entertainment. As you read in last month’s column, April saw the debut of the Disneyland production of Beauty and the Beast, live on stage, which led directly to the creation of Disney Theatrical Productions. Incredibly enough, while that production was being prepared and…
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Beauty and the Beast— Live – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
It is both hard to express as well as to underestimate the importance of this month’s subject to Disneyland, Disney theme parks, and the Walt Disney Company. The Videopolis/Fantasyland Theater production of Beauty and the Beast— Live is largely forgotten today. But its impact still reverberates. Part of the problem in recalling this delightful production…
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Update on Fantasmic! – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
As if Daylight Saving’s Time wasn’t bad enough, last month we leaped a year ahead (or 29 years behind) our usual thirty years ago. This month we are back on track but will be starting out on the wrong side of the park. Yes, this is an update on the construction of Fantasmic!, but first…
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Mickey’s Toontown Then… and Now! – 29 Years Ago at Disneyland
I hope you did a double-take at the title of this month’s blog. 29 years ago at Disneyland? 30 years was an odd enough choice. But why change it now? This is not really a change, just an acknowledgment of an item that is better presented a year in advance. You see, Toontown, which opened…
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1992: Another Original Year – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
You remember a year ago that in this blog I kind of complained about the 1991 promotional “theme” for Disneyland? That after the incredible 35th anniversary year of 1990, with the alluring (and admittedly kind of baffling) Party Gras theme, the best they could come up with was “The Original?” Really. That was the theme…
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Mickey’s Nutcracker – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
In 1991, the former Videopolis stage in Fantasyland offered a holiday entertainment that could have easily become a long-running seasonal tradition at Disneyland. Mickey’s Nutcracker promised to be a contemporary version of the well-known Christmas entertainment but proved to be a quirky retelling of the beloved ballet with some dancing, some singing, and some other…
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Imagining… Fantasmic! – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
In planning, this blog entry was to be the first of two parts, spanning October to November. In execution, it is one bog entry, appearing at the end of November. In my defense, it is a pretty big subject. While that Afternoon Avenue promotion was dominating the east side of Disneyland, over on the west…
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Saying Goodbye to The Disney Afternoon Live! – Thirty Years Ago at Disneyland
Nine months into 1991, Disneyland (the Original) was starting to look ahead to the holidays, as well as at the now seven month old Disney Afternoon Live! promotion that still occupied Afternoon Avenue in front of it’s a small world. On September 8 Baloo’s Dressing Room closed, and on November 10 everything else followed, with…
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The Celebration USA! Parade – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland
Have I mentioned that back in the old days, say, thirty years ago, Disneyland used to put on a new daytime parade every single year, without giving a thought to the idea of keeping it around for three, five, or ten years more? Of course, everyone knew what to expect when night fell and catchy…