A Preview of a Conceptual Disneyland Resort Thesaurus Output: Matterhorn Mountain

Prompted by Major Pepperidge's question about when the hell this will benefit anyone (paraphrased, to be sure), I threw together a sample of what a print output of the Disneyland Resort Thesaurus could look like. I did manual tweaking to output from the database, but did only minimal review to determine if the quality of the information could be improved.

First, a word about what the output would look like. When most people think of a thesaurus, they think of an alphabetically arranged list of words listing synonyms and, possibly antonyms. But it actually is much richer at capturing not only this kind of relation, but also hierarchy (broader and narrower terms) and other kinds of relations. A thesaurus can also have text fields to, for example, give a thesaurus user an understanding of how the use of a term has changed over time. My thesaurus is very rich in all of these areas.

The most famous thesaurus, Roget's Thesaurus, had its primary organization by subject hierarchy. Go look at an early version of the book over at the Internet Archive to see for yourself. Since I'm not trying to capture the relations between all of human knowledge as represented by words in the English language, I already have a much more manageable field of knowledge to tackle than Roget. The alphabetical index was more of an afterthought to facilitate use of the hierarchy, but in practice this list became the primary way that the thesaurus was referenced.

I would envision both a hierarchical output and an alphabetical. For this little project, I focused on Matterhorn Mountain, since it is old enough and important enough to have a fair number of connections. Here is what a hierarchical page which includes the mountain could look like:

(Note: As this is modeled after an actual reference work, you will need to expand the image.)

As I implied, there is still work to be done in refining the classification. The Fantasyland Break Area, for example, could be part of one of the buildings (such as Fantasyland East Building), and I just haven't yet come across that information. I try to only go as far as the facts of sources yet referenced will take me. And if you look closely you'll see that I'm also behind at keeping up with the latest tenant of what I collectively call the Fantasyland East Castle stores.

You would find much more information in the alphabetical output, as seen in two fanciful pages below:

You'll immediately notice that there are a number of different types of things here, from people (Mattey, Bob, Sr.) to ride vehicles (Matterhorn Bobsleds bobsleds) to attractions (Matterhorn Bobsleds) to companies (Mattel) to generic roles (matte painters).

What do all the codes mean? Well, BT (broader term) and NT (narrower term) are somewhat self-explanatory. UF (use for) is the inverse of USE, and indicates that that is the preferred term, which may be based on official Disney nomenclature, literary warrant, or my own determination of the most widely used term to define a concept. The SRC note field is to capture the precise way that something has been written. This accounts for not only different terminology (Matterhorn Bobsled Ride versus Matterhorn Bobsleds), but also spelling variations and misspellinngs (Matte, Bob versus Mattey, Bob, Sr.). Some of the terms have brief descriptions of what they are, which are drawn from categories within the thesaurus. The decades are drawn from a "Disneyland Resort Era" category, to help me assign terms to their relative periods of significance.

RT stands for related term, and RTI for related term instance. SPOF (which here you'll only find under Mattel) stands for sponsored, formerly. CTBF stands for contributions from, and is a broad relationship to capture any type of contribution to the creation or execution of something, without going into more detail (the inverse is CTBT, contributed to). For example, Mattey, Bob, Sr. contributed to Haunted Mansion, The, but I don't specify what that was. (In this case, it's because I don't know—I got it from his D23 profile.)

DN stands for date note and usually captures either the dates of a person's birth and death or of the operational dates of an attraction.

I hope you've enjoyed this peak behind the curtain. If I just focus on prettying up one page per day, I should be nearing completion as Disney adds a fourth gate in Anaheim and I have to start all over again!

On Nomenclature of the New Attractions

Summer is almost here and June 3 will see the first simultaneous opening of new attractions at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. As my blog's name would suggest, I have a keen interest in the nomenclature used in the new attraction names--not for any grand purpose, but just because I like details.

First up for review is the new Star Tours. It has colloquially been referred to as "Star Tours 2.0," but I doubt that was ever given much consideration as a serious attraction title (unless each seat were to be equipped with tools to interact with the social media elements of Web 2.0). I always place greatest weight on what the attraction marquee says, because I figure that with the costs involved and the intended longevity that those signs will have had the greatest vetting. This is the marquee as it appeared on May 12:

That is:

STAR
TOURS

THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE

You can also see this in the attraction poster artwork posted on the Disney Parks Blog:


In regular usage, however, the line break will not work, so the attraction's official nomenclature renders it as "Star Tours—The Adventures Continue" (that is, with an em dash in place of the line break). That's how it appears in the latest guide map:

Notice that "Adventures" is plural. This presumably refers to the multiple destinations involved in the new attractions. If you're not paying attention, however, it can easily become "The Adventure Continues," as happened on all the temporary pre-opening signs, like this one:

But, I think most of us know that for all practical purposes it will just be known as "Star Tours," and "The Adventures Continue" will only be a useful tagline to differentiate it from the original for, say, a thesaurus. The new signage at the Disney's FASTPASS distribution area doesn't even include the tagline:

Bottom line: If you include the tagline, make sure "Adventures" is plural, rather than "Continue." Incidentally, these are the other Disneyland entities that have used the em dash through the years (almost exclusively in the past decade):

• Club Buzz—Lightyear's Above the Rest
• Minnie & Friends—Breakfast in the Park
• Playhouse Disney—Live on Stage
• Snow White—An Enchanting New Musical
• Walt Disney—A Legacy for the Future
  

Meanwhile, over at Disney California Adventure, the stylistic choice for The Little Mermaid is unique in Disneyland Resort history. The official nomenclature renders the attraction's full title as "The Little Mermaid~Ariel's Undersea Adventure." Yes, that's a tilde separating the title from the tagline, as seen below in the latest guide map:

The attraction's marquee was finally unveiled this past week:

Again, the attraction's signage makes use of vertical space, so the tilde is not present:

I was initially put off by the use of a tilde in the attraction name. I assume it was used in place of the em dash to suggest a wave. However, I warmed to the idea after I realized that a tilde has been in place for all of Disneyland's history right there in Town Square:

This is the only entity in the Disneyland Resort's history to use a tilde in its title. (The above example being just a separator on the signage and not part of the official nomenclature.) It will be interesting to see whether "Ariel's Undersea Adventure" fares any better than "The Adventures Continue." I expect it will last longer, but for practical reasons the attraction will just be referred to as "The Little Mermaid."

My interest in this matter, however, will end up with the opening of Trader Sam's...

On Disneyland Employees

Today, I have a reading comprehension exercise for you. The above excerpt is from the January 15, 1976 Disneyland Line. The text is rendered below:

Disneyland is one show that Ride Operator TOM PLETTS has been a Permanent Part-time cast member of for over 15 years. Currently in Fantasyland, Tom has been performing on stage since his preschool years and has continued his semi-professional career here in the Park with our Drama Workshop.

"Chicken Ranching for Fun and Profit," was a comic melodrama that Tom performed in one summer for our guests through the Entertainment Division. He has been an active member of our Drama Workshop since its inception in 1970.

Attending the Film Industry Workshop in Studio City takes up most of Tom's spare time. His main interests are in the motion picture business, however, he does enjoy photography, art and jazz.

"Walt Disney made the most lasting impression on me since I've been working in the Park," said Tom. "He was a childhood idol anyway and seeing him and talking with him were great experiences."

I'm sure it jumped out for you as it did for me. No, not the somewhat awkward grammatical construction ("of for"). No, not even that, according to this, "Chicken Ranching for Fun and Profit" was performed for Guests. No, what jumped out at me was there in the first line, where the Line refers to Tom Pletts as a cast member. This is the earliest such reference I have found.

Any regular reader of this blog is well aware that those employed by the Disneyland Resort are Cast Members. For all you can read about Cast Members, you might expect that this is how it has always been. Disneyland has always been a Show and therefore its employees have always been called Cast Members. (Even Van France's book Window on Main Street doesn't mention this 1970s shift. As Disneyland's founding trainer and a man intimately involved with the Disney University for many years, Van would have come up with this language.) But it took twenty-one years for the term to enter the Disney lexicon and several more years, at least, for it to displace the existing "Disneylander" and "Disneyland employees" references. This conscious shift to a show language occurred in the mid-1970s, as the Disney University professionalized its offerings and communication style, including improving the Disneyland Line.

Disneylander is the original term referring to 'those who work at Disneyland' (and the title of the monthly publication for such workers in the 1950s). It was used not just for internal communications, but also in the pre-opening newspaper insert, Vacationland, and the guidebooks handed out to Park Guests. Its vagueness meant it could and did apply to those employed by Disneyland, by WED (working on the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad or the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail System before Retlaw), or by the lessees. Today, when the number of lessee personnel is so small, this may seem like an unimportant matter, but in the 1950s the number of lessee personnel may have outnumbered the Disneyland, Inc. employees. Most of the shops, many restaurants, and some of the exhibits (i.e., most of Tomorrowland) had such outside personnel. The divide between those employed by Disneyland and those employed by others just wasn't there, and needed unity was doubtless aided by calling everybody Disneylanders.

The term Disneyland employee also has a long history. It wasn't as preferred as Disneylander early on, but Disneylander publications in the 1950s did use it, and it appears in the 1965 Park guidebook. When the Disneyland Line began publication in 1969, the term appeared in practically every issue. By the time of the Line, a much greater proportion of those working at Disneyland were directly employed by Disney, and thus the distinction between such individuals, Retlaw, and lessee personnel became a little more important. Disneyland had long ago assumed control of most food and merchandise operations, and there were far fewer exhibits in the Park employing outside personnel. Aside from the weekly references to Disneyland employees in the Line, The D.E.C. (Disneyland Employee Cafeteria) Backstage under New Orleans Square and the Disneyland Employees Federal Credit Union (today's Partners Federal Credit Union) incorporated this nomenclature.

The term Cast Member took several years to establish itself and resulted from the Disney University's communications professionalization. Under the editorship of former Attractions Hosts Joel Halberstadt and Ron Kollen, the Line itself became more standardized in appearance and more formulaic in approach. (The use of formulaic isn't meant to denigate the Line's content, as there were some great articles in the 1970s. It is merely to represent that previously the Line's content from week to week was unpredictable.) It makes sense that the text would also reflect greater Disney sophistication. The word Show itself in the Disneyland Line dates back to at least November 27, 1974, when the publication began an introduction to a Cycling Shop article thusly:

One of the qualities of the Park that consistently impresses our guests is the fresh, new look about most everything. Although every craft in the Maintenance Dept. is concerned with the "Show" aspect of Disneyland, this week we'd like to take a good look at the area that might be more intimately involved than most...

Backstage had been in the Disney lexicon at least as early as 1962, when the employee publication of the same name began publication. But, as I mentioned above, Cast Member (or, more accurately, cast member) didn't appear until January 1976. It's debatable whether the author intended that use of cast member in the sense that we now know (since Tom Pletts also performed in "regular" shows). The term did not appear again (this time familiarly capitalized) in the Line until April 22, 1976, in an article about the Inn Between. The first hint is on the front page:

the Inn Between serves the year-round needs of the Disneyland Cast with the major emphasis on appetites. This Backstage Buffeteria serves a complete assortment of meals prepared by an expert staff.

The first familiar, capitalized reference is on the second page. Fittingly enough, the paragraph uses both Disneyland employees and Cast Members, seemingly interchangeably:

One of the unique aspects of the Inn Between is serving Disneyland employees, many of whom spend their day serving guests. Lead Karen Johnson commented that because Cast Members who use the Inn Between are there for such a limited time, "there is extra pressure to move them through quickly and still treat them with the kindness that they extend to guests."

There you have it. What appears to be the first official use of Cast Member comes not in a stirring tribute to the men and women of the Park, but in a buried comment about how it's important for the Cast to be served quickly at its cafeteria. It did, however, take several years before Disneyland employees became taboo. It still showed up in Disneyland Lines of 1977 and is in the Fall/Winter 1978-1979 guidebook. As I continue to closely examine each and every Line, I expect I'll be able to document this transition more fully--one of the most important language transitions in Disneyland's history. (Other important linguistic curiosities in Disneyland's history include the shift to Disneyland Park, the replacement of attractions for rides, and the origin of the theme park appellation.)

I'll leave you with this essay from the May 1957 Disneylander (periodical), entitled, "What is a Disneylander?":

A Disneylander is both male & female, comes in assorted sizes, shapes and colors. Never seems to have a last name, answers to Jo, Louie, Hutch, Chuck, Judy, Joan, Alice, Mary, Walt and Hey you!

He's a river boat captain; top-hatted gambler of the lawless West; rocket pilot with plexiglass helmet; angel of mercy in white; or an indian on the war path. He's an executive in an old Buick or a teen-age ice cream vendor with a 1957 Chevy; likes his steaks rare and Pepsi-Cola strong. His diet is unique and consists of large quantities of malts, coffee, hot dogs, banana splits, coffee, tuna sandwiches, coffee, Yankee bean soup, hamburgers, more coffee, french fries and fritos.

Now, it's a scientific fact that mice cannot live on this diet which seems to provide a real snappy comeback to the old "are you a man or a mouse" question.

He's a walking source of information; knows where to eat; most direct route to the comfort stations; drinking fountains and lost parent department, but never knows the best road to Knott's Berry Farm.

Disneylanders represent every profession; teacher, mother, artist, cowboy, Indian, carpenter, secretary, clerk, cook, painter, mechanic and photographer.

With a sticker on the windshield, I.D. card in hand, he's top-drawer with the local small fry who regard him with that special "gee, he works at Disneyland every day" look.

Naturally every red-blooded Disneylander is loaded with ride passes and is considered by the in-laws as a very soft touch. (We know this is just an ugly rumor)

By golly, this Disneyland character is pretty great, in fact, the most!

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom.

What a swell job!

A Nomenclature Narrative History of Circle-Vision

Every so often in this thesaurus business, I take a breather and survey all the terms I've assembled about a various topic to see if I've been blurring definitions, need to create new terms, and/or need to do some additional research. This is one such evaluation, of all the terms I've collected so far for Circle-Vision. Hopefully we can get this straight. The following encompasses terms related to physical locations, processes, films, lessees/participants, and the nomenclature of the attraction itself. I believe the whole Circle-Vision ball of wax to be one of the most confusing in Disneyland's history because of the attraction's very complicated story.

What follows is a glimpse into what I go through. The usual caveat applies that I still have a veritable mountain of sources to examine, so this is very much a work-in-progress. Below is a behind-the-scenes look at piecing together a history; in the next few days I'll have a more definite, easier to digest history--made possible by laying all of this out today and hopefully getting some knowledgeable comments!

We'll start at the broadest level--the process. I began this post by talking about "Circle-Vision"--that is, a generic term to group all of this together. Eliding all but the grossest technical details, we could actually speak of two processes: the Circarama process and the Circle-Vision process. (Somewhat confusingly, Disney A-Z says the process was "later renamed Circle-Vision 360 in 1967 and in 1984 World Premiere Circle-Vision," when it actually means the attraction was renamed.) The Circarama process, using eleven 16mm projectors, immersed the Guest by presenting the action in-the-round. It was inspired by, and its name a play off of, the Cinerama process which used three 35mm projectors. Disneyland: The Nickel Tour relates that Walt saw this process at work in the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and then inquired of his technical staff if they could put the full circle together. For filming, the Circarama cameras were mounted on the roof of an American Motors (more on them shortly) car and were dashboard controlled. To further cement the car connection, the "car" letters within Circarama were red-lettered on the attraction's marquee, as seen on this June 1956 photo from Gorillas Don't Blog:

In the 1960s, Disney improved its process and subsequently needed nine 35mm cameras. It is not clear to me at this point if that change coincided precisely with the change to Circle-Vision 360. From the listing of Circle-Vision films in Disney A-Z, it would seem that it did not. Italia '61 (1961) is listed as the first film requiring nine cameras, while Magic of the Rails (1965) indicates the name was changed to Circle-Vision 360. For the Disneyland films (more on them below), the date change makes no practical difference, and for my own sanity's sake I will be using the Circarama process to refer to producing eleven-screen films, and the Circle-Vision process to refer to producing nine-screen films. The Nickel Tour renders Circle-Vision as CircleVision, something I haven't come across elsewhere.

It's probably easiest to next go to the films. The Opening Day film was A Tour of the West, which showed scenes from around Southern California, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Monument Valley. It was an eleven-screen film (Circarama process) and ran from July 17, 1955 until ca. 1960. (It probably stopped playing in the early part of 1960.) The next film to be shown at Disneyland was the first of three instances of America the Beautiful. This Circarama process film debuted at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958 and opened at Disneyland in June 1960. This version of the film ran until September, 1966, when the attraction closed to make way for the New Tomorrowland. A nine-screen (Circle-Vision process), re-shot version of America the Beautiful opened June 25,1967. It ran until approximately 1975, when Disney revised the film to include scenes of Philadelphia for the Bicentennial. This revised version of America the Beautiful closed on January 3, 1984. Beginning July 4, 1984, the attraction alternated two Circle-Vision process films: Wonders of China (in the morning) and American Journeys (in the afternoon and evening). July 7, 1996, marked the end of the line for these two films. In preparation for the attraction's permanent closing for the New Tomorrowland of 1998, the 1975 version of America the Beautiful returned, running from July 11, 1996 through September 7, 1997.

The attraction's name has changed several times, and is one of those attractions surrounded by a cloud of nomenclatural uncertainty. It opened in 1955 as Circarama, U.S.A. At least, according to Disney A-Z. Plain ol' Circarama seems a more likely name, however, given its use in some 1955 newspaper articles, the November 1957 Disneylander, and the 1958 souvenir wall map (A), and the attraction marquee (as seen above). If you want to bring the sponsors into this, the 1955-1960 attraction was also called American Motors Circarama Exhibit and American Motors Exhibit in a couple Disneylanders, and the signage could be interpreted as American Motors presents Circarama. 1960 brought a new film, a new sponsor, and a new name for the attraction--but I'm still up in the air over what that name is! The first signage might indicate that it should be America the Beautiful, as can be seen in this December 1960 photo courtesy of Stuff from the Park:

By May 1964, the signage had changed and now seems to indicate the name as Bell System Presents "America the Beautiful" (at the Circarama Theatre), as seen in this photo courtesy of Daveland:

In print, I have also seen Bell System "America the Beautiful," Bell Telephone's "America the Beautiful," Bell Telephone System America the Beautiful, and Bell Telephone System Exhibit.

In 1967, the attraction reopened as part of New Tomorrowland as Circle-Vision 360--perhaps. Disneyland Guide Summer 1972 and Disneyland Guide Fall 1973 provide this name, as does Disney A-Z. Signage indicates that it might be called America the Beautiful Presented by AT&T, as seen in this August 1976 photo from Daveland:

I have also seen America the Beautiful Circle-Vision 360 (Disneyland Guide Spring 1976), Bell System's America the Beautiful (Disneyland Guide Fall/Winter 1970-1971, Disneyland Line (6/19/1980)), Bell Telephone Circle-Vision 360 (Disneyland Guide Summer 1970, Disneyland Guide Fall/Winter 1970-1971), Bell Telephone Exhibit (Disneyland Line (6/26/1974)) The Bell Telephone Exhibit (Disneyland Line (2/17/1977)), and Bell System exhibit (in the October 1967 p.t.m. magazine for Bell employees). These terms refer to the attraction between June 25, 1967 and January 3, 1984.

On July 4, 1984, the attraction re-opened as World Premiere Circle-Vision. This is the name given by Disney A-Z and Disneyland: Your Souvenir Guide for 1984 (4/1984), and shown on the signage, as on this photo courtesy of Bearride at Videblog:

Finally, some certainty! This name persisted through April 1989, with the attraction shown below in another photo from Bearride:

In 2001, I found WORLD PREMIERE CIRCLEVISION on the Cast Member podium in the theater:

Disney A-Z says the attraction at some point changed to simply Circle-Vision. The Disneyland 1993 Souvenir Guidebook (1/1993) uses this designation. This perhaps happened when the attraction got a new marquee. By the time America the Beautiful returned for its final engagement, the attraction's name was assuredly simply Circle-Vision:

The lessees and sponsors of Circle-Vision through the years only add another layer of complexity. We could possibly say that these were American Motors, Bell Telephone, PSA and Delta Air Lines--and leave it at that. Of course, that would be a gross simplification.

We'll start with American Motors. According to Wikipedia, "American Motors Corporation (AMC) was an American automobile company formed on January 14, 1954 by the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company." I make note of this merger because the exhibit area within Circarama, below the screens, displayed Kelvinator refrigerators and American Motors automobiles. The attraction's marquee indicates that American Motors "presented" Circarama. In today's Disney parlance, this would mean that American Motors was a participant, paying to have its name in lights. I believe, but have not confirmed, that American Motors was actually a lessee, additionally providing its own personnel to staff the attraction.

This supposition is drawn from two Disneylander snippets that imply the employees mentioned worked for American Motors. The first is from September 1957:

LOU CURRAN and RAY KOMARA, both of our Disneyland Security Force, are now working part-time at the American Motors Circarama Exhibit.

And from December 1957:

Cliff Grundy and Mel Phillips (formerly with the American Motors Exhibit) are now with the Monsanto Chemical Co. in Disneyland, and are working at the Monsanto "House of the Future."

The American Motors association with the attraction lasted as long as A Tour of the West. When the attraction reopened in 1960, now playing the eleven-screen America the Beautiful, it was presented by the Bell System (which I've also seen as The Bell System). This association continued with the New Tomorrowland of 1967, though now signage indicated the attraction's sponsor (still a lessee) was AT&T, with the "host company" being Pacific Telephone. (I'll readily admit to not understanding how the telephone monopoly has manifested itself throughout the years! It's all basically the same entity, however.) Bell System Hostesses from Southern California staffed the attraction exclusively until some male hosts began in March 1973. (In 1973 the "Bell Girls" also won the canoe races!) I assume that the Bell sponsorship and staffing continued until the run of America the Beautiful ended January 3, 1984.

When the attraction re-opened as World Premiere Circle-Vision, playing Wonders of China and American Journeys, PSA [Pacific Southwest Airlines] was the sponsor. Although PSA had its last flight in 1988, its sponsorship apparently continued until 1989, at which point Delta Air Lines stepped in. I do not know when Delta ended its sponsorship; it was still the sponsor in March 1995. The attraction had no sponsor when it closed.

We're down to the last piece of the puzzle: the physical make-up of the attraction through the years. From 1955 to 1966, the attraction was crammed into the westernmost part of Tomorrowland's north exhibit pavilion. There seems to have been some sort of a pre-show area, as the Summer 1960 Vacationland says:

Entering visitors are given a demonstration of cross-country Direct Distance Dialing by Bell System representatives, then invited to view the wide-ranging story of communications, told through a dimensional, curving mural that carries out the theme "...from sea to shining sea."

It goes on to say that America the Beautiful is shown in the "adjacent" Circarama Theater. In 1964, the attraction also featured a demonstration of Bell's Picturephone, linked to the company's pavilion at the New York World's Fair. At any rate, the 1955-1966 incarnation of the attraction was small compared to its later version.

From 1967 to 1997, the attraction had three-parts: a pre-show, the Circle-Vision Theater, and a post-show (although much of the post show disappeared sometime in the 1980s). Aside from showing different films, I do not believe the central Circle-Vision Theater (replacing what had originally been Space Station X-1 and then The Art of Animation) experienced much change over the years. The pre- and post-show areas, did, however. I am not an expert on those, but I know they're fondly remembered by some of you out there, so chime in (if you're still reading!).

Let's first address the pre-show area. The 1967 pre-show featured the Bell Hostesses telling the story of the Bell System. It's not clear if this was still the case in 1974, as this June 26, 1974 Disneyland Line article is awfully vague about what's going on in there!:

The pre-show area at the Bell Exhibit has proven extremely popular with our guests as it gives them a chance to participate while waiting for the next show. Asked about how the banners were created for the pre-show area, Mary [Hanson, Exhibit Manager] explained, "Our company engaged a couple in the New York area to do the abstract banners. The intent was to get something that would welcome guests to the area and would give them something entertaining while waiting the 18 minutes for the next show."

When PSA took over in 1984, the pre-show was changed to a show called All Because Man Wanted to Fly, which Disney A-Z describes as "a lighthearted look at early human efforts to fly." Was this a film shown in the pre-show area? It lasted as long as PSA's sponsorship, until 1989. At that time Delta Air Lines became the sponsor, and the Circle-Vision SOP describes Delta's "Magic Wall":

The Preshow area of the attraction offers guests an opportunity to learn more about Delta with a 4½-minute film hosted by “Dusty,” the Delta Air Lion, Delta’s “Magic Wall,” and a 28-foot route map depicting the many Delta destinations. The film not only introduces “Dusty,” but explains what a Circle-Vision theatre is and how 360° filming is done. At the conclusion of the film, Dusty presents Delta’s “Magic Wall.” This wall graphically displays Delta destinations with the aid of over 30 animated cut-outs on the walls surrounding the Preshow area.

When Delta ended its sponsorship (1995 or 1996), I believe this pre-show was just covered up. In its final year state flags hung upon the walls, and that was the gateway for Cast Members to engage the audience. And, we can't leave the pre-show without emphasizing the magnificence of its air conditioning and cushioned seats!

In 1967, the post-show offered Guests the opportunity to use some "advanced communications equipment." The October 1967 p.m.t. article referenced earlier lists the following devices:

• "voice mirrors" to see and hear your voice
• Picturephone, linked to EXPO '67, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, or "booth-to-booth"
• "Weather Station" to phone for the weather in eight major cities
• "Family Booths" to utilize speakerphone functionality
• "Kiddie Phones" (also known as Character Phones), to talk with Disney characters who relay phone etiquette tips

I don't have information immediately available about how the post-show changed, but I do rememeber the "Family Booths" being there much later. Were those available until the very end? I know that voting for the Epcot Center Poll Person of the Century also occurred at the Circle-Vision exit.

The post-show area shrank considerably after Bell's sponsorship ended. That happened in early 1984, while The Premiere Shop opened December 18, 1985. The timing is too coincidental for me to believe that the store wasn't designed to fill that space, but I don't know if it was vacant or had something else temporarily there. At least some elements of the post-show remained, such as the "Family Booths."

And with that, we wave goodbye to Circle-Vision... at least for a day or two! Thanks again to the following blogs for allowing use of their images: Gorillas Don't Blog, Stuff from the Park, Davelandblog, and Videblog.

New Orleans Square: A Land or...?

While recently looking through one of the Sunday bonuses posted at Vintage Disneyland Tickets, I took note of the way the publication talked about New Orleans Square. It's unquestionably regarded as one of the "lands" today, but its status seemed a little more uncertain at first.

The Summer 1966 Disney News says, "Together, New Orleans Square and Pirates of the Caribbean are virtually a new 'land'--the largest attraction in Disneyland." Well, which is it? One big attraction or a land? Was it heresy to have a new land that didn't have land in its name? (For that matter, was Holidayland a land proper?) The issue sometimes also refers to it as "the New Orleans Square," which sounds a little funny to our ears because we've accepted New Orleans Square as its own proper noun.

I looked to newspaper coverage to see what it was called on opening. The following advertisement should put to rest any doubt what Disney considered the area in July 1966:

The July 25 Long Beach Press-Telegram called it a "2.7-acre parcel of Americana." The Pasadena Star-News of the same date said it was part of Walt's plan "to develop the theme of Americana." The article concludes by noting, "Disney said his next 'land' to be developed will be the Territory of the Gadsden Purchase." Of course! The Territory of the Gadsden Purchase...

Disneyland Park Update

The Wall Street Journal frequently uses the "Disneyland Park" appellation in the 1960s when reporting financial results of Walt Disney Productions. I wonder whether the Journal came up with this themselves or if it came from the press releases?

Disneyland Park

Despite the blog's title, I haven't discussed too much nomenclature (yet!). Partly this is because I'd like to use a lot of sources to talk about name changes through time, inconsistencies in naming, or what have you. The source base I've gotten through so far is broad, but not yet terribly deep. Nevertheless, I'll still try to address nomenclature from time to time. Today, we'll start at the top!

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Disneyland is not an approved term in my thesaurus. One function of a thesaurus is disambiguation, and since Disneyland can refer to several things, Disneyland exists as a lead-in to more descriptive terms: Disneyland (television), Disneyland Park, and Disneyland Resort.

I remember when I first heard sustained use of Disneyland Park in the late 1990s. It certainly left a bad taste in my mouth! I remember a February 1999 thread from alt.disney.disneyland about this very topic. I didn't recall seeing Disneyland Park used much in earlier times, but for several reasons I now accept its utility (though Disney's California Adventure Park has never warmed my heart).

For starters, being able to distinguish Disneyland Park from the Disneyland Resort proved immensely helpful to me as a Guest Relations Cast Member. Especially in 2001, Guests would arrive and have no idea what was what. They might think "Disneyland" had just expanded and everything new was all part of "Disneyland." I don't know what they did after I explained that they were at the Disneyland Resort, and there were now two theme parks, including Disneyland Park. They might have gone off as confused as ever, but at least I knew I was as specific as possible. Perhaps a detail-oriented person in their group would recall that the nice man at the Information Booth had kept repeating "Disneyland Park." (I think I was also one of the few Cast Members that would never shorten "Disney's California Adventure," no matter how much of a mouthful that was to say.) So, it served as a useful point of distinction.

As I've been doing this thesaurus research, I've also found that it has historical precedent (though not terrifically strong) and was used even before Opening Day. But as Werner Weiss notes in that Usenet thread, and as I have found so far, Disneyland Park is used to differentiate the park from the Disneyland Hotel. The earliest source I've yet seen for this is a March 19, 1955 Los Angeles Times article about construction of the Disneyland Hotel, which is described as "adjoining the new Disneyland Park." The other early mentions I have in that vein are in the big souvenir newspaper insert a couple of days before Disneyland opened (when it's clear which Disneyland we're talking about, there's no reason to be verbose!) and the 1960 edition of "Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland."

It then seems to go into hibernation for a time; the next mention I've found (thanks to VintageDisneylandTickets) is the January 1993 guidebook. There are many mentions of just Disneyland, and the logo certainly has no "Park" attached to it, but some text has begun to refer to it as Disneyland Park. The references to it since then have increased in intensity. It now has a very specific legal usage (Disneyland is an adjective modifying Park) and always has the registration symbol. If the 1990s is indeed when this usage took off, I might have a source who can shed further light on this. I will, of course, pass along whatever I find.

One thing I can say conclusively is that it has always been known colloquially as "the Park." Newspapers, guidebooks, Disneylanders (both people and the publication) and other sources refer to it that way. It is still used in conversation today. Sometimes I'll say "I'm going to the Park" when I'll be visiting Downtown Disney or Disney's California Adventure as well, but I'd never use "the Park" to refer to that other park! The use of "the Park" is certainly strong amongst Cast Members and Annual Passholders; heck, I even had a co-worker here in Maryland ask me something about the Park (well, maybe "the park"), and he's never even been there!

Does anybody out there have feelings one way or the other on the use of Disneyland Park? Do you talk about "the Park" with your friends? Is there anything like this in Walt Disney World, or do people refer to the parks by some variant of their proper names?