Yeah, I've Been to Disneyland a Few Times

For example, during September 1997-June 1998 I went 130 times. In going through storage yesterday, I recovered my high school agenda for that time, which helpfully recorded each visit. (I trust you can figure out my system.)

September 4 was the first day of school. I recall going to see the final performance of The Spirit of Pocahontas (I still have a bag of confetti from it--maybe I'll shoot it out of a cannon when The Disneyland Compendium is finished); that night we had a power outage and I had to finish my algebra homework by candlelight. The first full week of September the Astro Orbitor started to appear at the Tomorrowland entrance. September 28 marked the first of 26 consecutive Sundays that I visited Disneyland (during which I frequently attended the alt.disney.disneyland meetups at the Goofy statue in the Hub). October 2 was the first day I regularly started taking a video camera to Disneyland. On one of those October Thursdays Dave Smith came down to the Park to talk to Guest Relations and Walt Disney Story Cast Members about Walt's offices and I recall walking around the Park with him.

November 25 I attended (as a regular Guest) the "it's a small world" holiday lighting ceremony; November 27 my sister and I made a quick trip to Disneyland on Thanksgiving morning to ride the attraction for the first time. This was probably the first Christmas Day I visited Disneyland. Note my excitement on December 30 in having driven to Disneyland for the first time.

January 18 I went to Club 33; in my driver license photo taken on January 20 I wore a Club 33 pin on the neck line of my t-shirt (a photo just replaced this year, where I am now sporting a Kevin and Jody Adventureland shirt). Immediately following my passing my driving test, Disneyland closed the Parking Lot.

March 12 was the day I met Bruce Gordon. I made good use of Spring Break in April to document New Tomorrowland construction. The minimum day on April 30 allowed me to get to Disneyland earlier than usual, where I ran into Tony Baxter (leading to a chain of events that got me into the Moonliner media event).

Some of those May days I skipped school(!). The absence of school on May 1 was fortuitous. My dad was on the Orange County Business Council with Paul Pressler; the Council had a meeting at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel, so I was able to get my New Tomorrowland press kit signed by Paul and then head over to watch the Moonliner be placed upright for the first time (I have a ton of photos of this event). May 4 was the Moonliner media event. May 18 I was home studying for my AP US History test when I learned that all the construction walls were down, so I had to head to the Park. May 21 was the New Tomorrowland media day (see yesterday's post). May 22 was the opening of the New Tomorrowland. I assume I visited on both May 24 and 31 (possibly realizing, after coloring it in for the 24th that I would also need to visit on the 31st!).

I also apparently, for the first month or two, kept track of what I got with each visit to Redd Rockett's Pizza Port. (I have many, so many, receipts from Pizza Port.) You can see that my first time eating there was March 15 (during Cast previews, through helpful friends at the Walt Disney Story). March 21 I was the first paying customer at the restaurant with a Celestial Caesar Salad and a Coke. Most times I got pizza, though, until one of my Cast Member friends there turned me on to the Chicken Fusili, which I have been getting almost exclusively since the summer of 1998.

I hope you've enjoyed your trip back through my sophomore year of high school. You're now morally obligated to post your own high school planners!

A Selection of Images from New Tomorrowland Media Day

I have previously blogged about some of my experiences with the New Tomorrowland. Today is the thirteenth anniversary of the Media Day. I actually went to school that day and didn't acquire my credential with help from Bruce Gordon until late in the day, after the events were through. The following are most of my images from that day. I probably also shot some Hi-8 video that day, but that will have to wait for another time.

The first is the newly repainted Starcade (they were still finishing this and The Star Trader up in the previous week):

I do not believe there were any children at Media Day:

This might be the nicest of the bunch; Tomorrowland almost seems welcoming and exciting!:

Various broadcasting tables were set up around the land:

Mickey on the Astro Orbitor:

Fresh and new:

This was only the second day I had ever been on the second level of the Carousel Theater (the first being May 1, 1998, when Bruce escorted me up there). I took a few shots:

The Premiere Shop interior (oddly, I did not take any photos of the Disneyland Forever kiosks):

Tomorrowland Rapid Transit logo from Rocket Rods exit into Premiere Shop:

Why so cartoony?:

This photo is noteworthy for including a Rocket Rod on the track above the Autopia:

I couldn't stay away from snapping other second level photos in the fading sunlight:

At this time the Innoventions interior was still a mystery:

Since the media had largely gone home, it was just me going through the Rocket Rods queue again and again:

Finally, a few taken while waiting to "blast off":

I've been busy lately with a number of activities, some of which will hopefully be useful long-term to my Disneyland research. I finished scanning my APS film photos from 1996-1998 (and discovered two rolls that need to be finished so they can finally be developed!). Once I match up dates with the photos I'll be in a better position to use them here and at Drop In Again Sometime. I've begun the task of organizing my 10,000 Disneyland photos from the past year. I also, of course, continue to visit Disneyland so that 2011 can be the best documented year in the thesaurus!

Is This the Future or 1998?

(Hint: If you're not traveling around Southern California in a Rocket Rod, it's probably 1998.)

A (Small) Bit More of Carousel Theater Destruction

So apparently I lied when I last informed you that I only had one image of the Carousel Theater interior when it was gutted in 1996. I discovered a few more images. No, don't adjust your monitors; they really are that size.

These have not been scaled down--they were the full resolution shot at the time! It was pretty cool to have a camera that would allow me to upload photos to my web site (in 1996, "Wicket's Disneyland Home Page" with somewhere around 10 or 25MB of storage space) the same day! Photos could also be taken at 640x480, but the image quality suffered (yes, even compared to these!). I used a Casio QV-10, which I'm sure we still have somewhere around the house. You can read a period review of the camera here. It talks about a bunch of design flaws, but the only thing I remember about the camera is how small the photos are!

Check back tomorrow for a fun internal document from the 1970s. The promised Thesaurus Thursday post might wait until Thursday.

It's Been Ten Years!

Yes, you're in the right place! Read on...

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the opening of the New Tomorrowland. I was there, of course, just as I had been over a hundred other days during its construction. I estimate I probably have about a thousand photographs of New Tomorrowland construction and another 10-20 hours of Hi-8 video. This was the first big construction project after I started visiting the Park frequently. Sure, Big Thunder Ranch became the Festival Arena, and the Fantasyland Theatre became the Fantasyland Theatre under a tent, but the New Tomorrowland always attracted my interest and was certainly much larger than any project at the time (until they closed the Parking Lot, of course).

It was kind of fun to watch the demolition take place. There was always uncertainty about what area would now be fenced off (or unfenced) on a visit to the Park. I remember I was home the Monday of that opening week, studying for my AP US History test. (New Tomorrowland previewed to WDI on Tuesday, had a media day on Thursday, and a public opening on Friday). That morning, I read on alt.disney.disneyland that the construction walls had come down, so I made a trip. I ran into an Imagineer I knew and ended up having lunch with him and Jason Hulst, Rocket Rods designer! I seem to recall them carrying a mirror to the Rocket Rods queue, to make it look like the two PeopleMover cars were actually four PeopleMover cars.

After school on Thursday I headed down to Disneyland, as usual. All of Tomorrowland was roped off, with the Plaza Inn serving as media headquarters. I don't remember the exact sequence of events. I know I saw a few online friends who had somehow gotten media credentials. They were telling me all about the Disneyland Forever kiosks and specifically how a bunch of Space Mountain Concourse tracks available in the morning were unavailable by the afternoon. Shoot, I needed to get in there myself to burn some CDs before more material disappeared! I hung around forlornly by the Plaza Inn, hoping to see somebody I knew. And hey, there was Bruce Gordon! I had met him by being around the construction site so much. I think he gave me a hard time for a few minutes (as any of you who knew Bruce could easily imagine), but he then very graciously motioned me under the rope and took me over to get a guest credential.

This is a nice companion piece to Jed's 1967 Tomorrowland press pass. Thirty-one years later and they're still putting rockets on them! This cartoon style was used in several advertisements. I recall seeing it on Coca-Cola products and in Disneyland Today guide maps. This pass did not entitle me to the freebies that the real media got. One of the giveaways was a forest green New Tomorrowland hat, a design I absolutely loved. Several years later, thanks to the kindness of a fellow Cast Member, Dave Marquez, I ended up with one!

I did burn a CD that first day and still have it in California. More likely than not, I purchased some Tomorrowland sounds, like the Monorail Song and the Space Mountain Concourse tracks still available. I went on the Rocket Rods seven or eight times--there was absolutely no line and most of those times I had the vehicle all to myself. (This was quite a change from the 180 minute line some family members waited in the following day.) I think I waved to Tony Baxter down below before one take-off. I don't remember much else from that evening. I undoubtedly walked around to experience the entirety of the changes. So many parts of it had been fenced off for so long that it was difficult to get an overall sense of the place.

From my destruction series, you may recall that I had a fondness for sticking the camera lens through holes in the construction fences. Sometimes, I'd see familiar people through the fence, as when I saw Bruce when the Moonliner arrived. As definitive proof that I spent too much time documenting the New Tomorrowland transformation (and frequently peeked through the fences), I hereby present the Vanity Fair article that features me and Tony Baxter. Well, maybe it doesn't feature me--I'm just the capstone to the article. Go ahead and read through the article (at least the last page, beginning with "Oh well"); below I explain what happened!

You can download a PDF of the cover and article or look through the page images below:

One day in April, 1998, I spied Tony and another Imagineer I recognized through the construction fence. "Tony!" I yelled. I waited a minute. Nothing. "Hmm," I thought. Perhaps it's not the best idea to shout out to Imagineers while they might be trying to actually manage a construction project? I was about to run away with my tail between my legs when Tony and his party came out the door with somebody I didn't recognize. He was introduced to me as Bruce Handy (a reporter from TIME magazine), doing a story on the New Tomorrowland. He wanted to ask me a few questions, which worked out fine because I wanted to have Tony sign my New Tomorrowland press kit (from 1996 or 1997). So I answer some questions and get my press kit signed and we go our separate ways.

I kept my eye on the TIME magazines flowing into our house. The May 25, 1998 edition featured a story called "All Our Yesterdays," which described how difficult it was to keep Tomorrowland relevant. But there was no mention of me anywhere! That didn't greatly surprise me, because I didn't think I had said anything too important. I figured that was the end of it. That is, until the Fabulous Disney Babe IM'd me in February 2000 something to the effect of "YOU MADE VANITY FAIR." Given how much time had elapsed since I talked to this reporter, I had no idea what she was talking about. I did manage to get some more details from her and then rushed off to get the magazine. I don't know if the author had intended to write this long piece for Newsweek or not, but I certainly was surprised to find myself in the article. (There was a small thread on alt.disney.disneyland about this when it came out.)

At the time my dad asked me if the author had quoted me correctly, and I said that he had. (OK, I don't know why I would have said that there was twice as much stuff going on in New Tomorrowland 1998! Maybe the old Tomorrowland had been dead for too long...?) The author had asked me if I thought much about the future, and I had replied "no." That wasn't true, though. By that time, I had already decided to become an archivist and did have a sort of career path laid out. When he asked me, "Do you think much about the future?" I interpreted it as "Will you be taking a Rocket Rod to work, or will you stick with a jet pack?" I wonder how his story would have ended if I replied that I did think about the future!

This is surely not the last time you'll hear about the 1998 New Tomorrowland on this site (remember all those photos and video?). I think we're all strongly influenced by the Disneyland in which we grew up. Since the renovated land came into being at the same time I grew interested in the Park's history, I'll always have a special affinity for it--even if its staying power has been considerably less than other major land renovations.

Moonliner Raising

Yesterday I shared that ten years ago the Moonliner finally came back to Disneyland. I know because I happened (as much as I "happened" to be there 120 times that school year!) to be there that day. I took photos of the Moonliner lying on its side from several different vantage points. I had friends working at the Information Board in the Central Plaza who told me the following Monday there was to be a dedication ceremony before Park opening, with a limited number of tickets available to Disneyland Cast Members (and a Guest). As I indicated my interest, one of them went to check, only to find that they were all out of tickets.

Slightly bummed, I headed back over to Tomorrowland. Since work was still being done on the rocket, I went up to the Space Mountain Concourse, which always provided an excellent vantage from which to watch New Tomorrowland construction. And I spied some Imagineers!

Yes, that's Tony Baxter and Kim Irvine standing there by a testing Cosmic Waves. When I saw them start to move, I hustled down to Tomorrowland, hoping perhaps to finagle my way into the dedication ceremony. I "happened" to run into Tony and informed him they were all sold out of tickets. "They're selling them?" Oh, no, that's not what I meant. I told him they had just run out of tickets. I don't remember anything more of the conversation, because he certainly didn't offer to get me in! But it was worth a shot, anyway.

The next day, I "happened" to be at Disneyland, too. (I don't know if this was an actual day off from school, or a day off that I made up for myself.) Actually, that morning I was at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel having my New Tomorrowland Press Kit signed by Paul Pressler. I think we talked about Redd Rockett's Pizza Port for a minute. Then I went into the Park to play around and, of course, check in on the Moonliner. This photo was taken by a Redd Rockett's Pizza Port Cast Member, I believe that morning:

It was maybe around 10 AM that I spotted Bruce Gordon through the construction fence. To my delight, he motioned for me to come around the side, and he brought me behind the fence! After a few minutes he said to me, "So Tony tells me you got screwed out of your tickets." He then offered to get me into the ceremony, provided I show up at the Harbor House Cast Member entrance at 6 AM (or 6:30--whatever the time, he was about twenty minutes late!). He then proceeded to let me stay behind the construction fence for the entire afternoon as they prepped the Moonliner and finally lifted it upright for the first time via crane, and then placed it on its pedestal.

The following three images are from a music video Bruce produced on the Moonliner's construction (set to Yello's "Oh Yeah"). In the first image, you can spot me near the construction fence, doing some of my own taping! I think Bruce was going to kick me out of the construction site when he went up to the second level of Innoventions, but I convinced him that I wouldn't go anywhere. The last image is from a Cast Member.

I'm sure many of my readers will agree that the Moonliner is one part of the New Tomorrowland they got mostly right!

10 Years Ago Today

The Moonliner arrived at Disneyland (early in the morning), trucked down Main Street...

...to arrive in Tomorrowland and have finishing touches put on it before the big lift-off.