Yesterday at Disney California Adventure, a unique opportunity arose. As I made my way over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, I noticed it was down. I walked up to the front and I noticed they were letting a few people inside. As I approached the bellhop, she said “Come in”. Inside they let us explore the lobby and library. We could really get close to these wonderful details that you would never notice on a normal day. Besides the up close experience, the bellhops did a great job conducting their tours describing facts and secrets. For instance, did you know that the couch and two chairs represent the ghostly inhabitants of that fallen elevator? The following are some photos I took. Unfortunately, I only had my phone, so the quality of the photos aren’t as nice as I would have hoped. Enjoy!
The Hollywood Tower Hotel
Registration
An antique case of cigars left behind from that fateful night.
The Registry (Signed by Imagineers who created the Attraction)
1939 Newspaper Details
A unique point of view of the lobby’s centerpiece.
Items to represent the ghostly Mother.
An antique lamp on the dinner table.
The guests left in a rush after the incident occurred.
This person was enjoying a cup of tea that night.
This person had a feeling something bad was going to happen. The occurrence happened right in the middle of her sentence.
This cup of tea belongs to the setting representing the ghostly maid who looks after the young starlet.
The maid’s setting.
A Shirley Temple doll left behind by the ghostly child. She didn’t forget her Mickey Mouse doll however!
This represents the ghostly Father from that night in 1939.
I have been using the app Dubsmash a lot lately with some other Disneyland fans. For those that don’t know, Dubsmash is an app full of movie and song quotes and you can lip sync to them and send them to your friends.
We noticed there were NO Walt Disney or Disneyland quotes so we started uploading them — a LOT of them. Maybe I’ll share them here one day, but while looking for famous Walt Disney quotes to add to the site, I came across this gem:
Not sure if this is well-known in the Disney community, but this is Walt’s last interview and it was in September of 1966 just as he was preparing production of “The Happiest Millionaire.” He sounds great here! It’s from a South African radio program and Walt’s interview starts after the musical introduction at 6:25.
They talk about Mary Poppins, The Sherman Brothers, and even a little about Disneyland in this short but fun interview. It’s terrible that this was his last interview and he would pass away not 3 months later. He was a legend of not only his day but into today and beyond.
Take a listen to this interview sometime and imagine a world where radio programs sounded like this, Walt Disney was still a living legend, and the Disney company, while a mega-giant in its time, was relatively new and still finding its place in the world.
What a guy!
For fun, here’s one of our Dubsmash clips:
Pardon the audio quality, it’s the best version of the clip I could find.
In addition to Matterhorn and Mansion Monday pics, I love seeing the Monorail Monday pics on Instagram! Just like last week’s post, I created a “one stop shop” for you to see these right on your desktop in a rotating gallery that self-updates!
Now, when you search for Monorail Mondays on our site, Google, or just by bookmarking this page, you’ll have this nifty gallery below!
Happy posting!
Gallery provided by the good people at http://www.instush.com. Gallery refreshes ever 10-30 minutes. Some photos may not be of Disney’s Alweg Monorail or any other Disney park rides.
I only went to WDW for the first time in 2012 so my knowledge about most things there is very limited — especially when it comes to classic and now legacy attractions like EPCOT’s “Cranium Command.” Today I was randomly scouring blogs and Reddit and found out about this attraction which occupied the Wonders of Life pavilion in Future World.
If you don’t know what “Cranium Command” was or want a simple refresher, according to Wikipedia, “It premiered on October 19, 1989; as of January 4, 2004 it began to operate seasonally, closing permanently on January 1, 2007.” You can take a look at WDW News Today‘s terrific video of one of the last showings of this attraction in 2005.
What a FUN attraction! It’s everything I loved about EPCOT when I saw it in 2012 and full of things many fans feel EPCOT is moving away from.
Sadly, here’s a recent look at what the pavilion is like during most of the year thanks to a brave YouTube-er that snuck in during the off-season:
When we went to Epcot, the pavilion was full of life as it was during Food & Wine. During the festival, it houses the Chase Card Lounge (closest I have come to being inside one of those fancy corporate lounges) as well as serving as the Festival Center for Food & Wine demonstrations, classes, shops, and more. It’s really a beautiful pavilion.
The strange thing is that while “Body Wars” has been dismantled and “Making of Me” has been removed, the theatre which houses Buzzy and “Cranium Command” remains intact!
And Buzzy still has a loyal fan base and is a sought-after commodity! Just check out the recent merchandise that has come out with this cranium commander:
With all this popularity, it makes one think about what the future of this attraction might be. Why keep the attraction intact? If it closed what’s now 8 years ago – why keep him around?
Here’s a theory I saw onafewblogs: does this look familiar to any Cranium Command fans?
I bring this up because if you look at the trailer and premise, it’s pretty much the same idea as Cranium Command: your emotions are personified by characters driven by those very emotions.
It’s a timeless and relatable premise that Disney believes in. Is it possible that this attraction closed while this film was in development and refreshing this closed attraction was not outside the realm of possibility? If this film is successful (as most Pixar films are), there’s no reason not to keep this attraction around while the rest of Future World awaits a refresh.
What do you think? Is this an example of a film property layover you might enjoy? Maelstrom’s closure at EPCOT cause a bit of an uproar from the Disney Parks fans. However, the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland was initially met with praise from fans of the old attraction because it was being resurrected.
It’s all speculation for now, but if you know any better than we do, let us know in the comments below!
In addition to Matterhorn Monday pics, I love seeing the Mansion Monday pics on Instagram! Just like last week’s post, I created a “one stop shop” for you to see these right on your desktop in a rotating gallery that self-updates!
Now, when you search for Mansion Mondays on our site, Google, or just by bookmarking this page, you’ll have this nifty gallery below!
Happy posting!
Gallery provided by the good people at http://www.instush.com. Gallery refreshes ever 10-30 minutes. Some photos may not be of the Haunted Mansion or any other Disney park rides.
For “Throwback Thursday” this week, we decided to go WAY back to 2010!
In 2010, we got to visit Club 33 — FINALLY! We are so glad we did, looking back, because we were able to see the game room and the original entry way from when it opened. Both are now gone with last year’s refurbishment.
Take a look at our photos from that trip here. Do you have some favorite photos? Let’s seem them below!
This is a re-blog written by our friend Inthia over at This Little Disney Life about the recent (and, unfortunately, now closed) “Story of Disneyland” exhibition and sale at the Van Eaton gallery in Sherman Oaks, CA. Here’s a slide show of the photos we took when we went to visit the gallery last week:
Today is the last day to set your eyes on one of the most amazing Disneyland memorabilia collections that is completely up for auction at Van Eaton Gallery in Sherman Oaks, Ca. If you’re out of the area, they have a wonderful online catalog for your viewing pleasure.
We made the short drive over to check out the exhibit last week and it did not disappoint. Well, only in that I can’t afford a thing there. Well, I could but then I wouldn’t be able to pay rent or eat or anything trivial like that.
The galley is held in two room but it packed wall to wall with all sorts of artifacts. Costumes, signs, furniture, concession containers, souvenirs, models and more! All of them amazingly displayed for my up-close and personal viewing.
I picked out a few awesome favorites to share here but there is soooo much. I know I’ll be hitting up some flea markets and eBay this summer.
I love seeing Matterhorn Monday pics on Instagram and thought to myself, “How can I see this easier and on my computer?” With a minute of Google searching, I found that I certainly COULD create a gallery based on Instagram hashtags — so I did precisely that!
Now, when you search for Matterhorn Mondays on our site, Google, or just by bookmarking this page, you’ll have this nifty gallery below!
Happy posting!
Gallery provided by the good people at http://www.instush.com. Gallery refreshes ever 10-30 minutes.
I love “A Goofy Movie.” As unpopular as it may seem, I honestly think it may be my favorite Disney film. It gives me all of the feels. Like, if Powerline ever toured, I would go to MULTIPLE shows.
In case you have forgotten it, it’s about Goofy and his son Max. Max is a high school misfit that’s into rock and roll and girls. One particular girl, Roxanne, whom he’d love to impress — so much so that he dresses up as his favorite musician, Powerline, on the last day of school before summer vacation and performs his hit single “Stand Out” in front of the entire school! Max gets into a lot of trouble for the stunt and Goofy decides to take Max on a father/son road trip/bonding experience. Max, still wanting to impress, tells Roxanne that he’s going to the Powerline concert in LA. He re-routes him and his pop to LA where, lo and behold, they not only make it into the show but perform on stage with Powerline — and Roxanne saw it all on Pay-per-view!
Well, after seeing that in the film, it was something I always wanted to do. It may have even been what got me interested in being in a band, performing on stage, writing, EVERYTHING! I’m telling you, this film meant a LOT to me as a kid! Well, these kids did exactly that! With 5 minutes during a school assembly to do whatever they wanted, they did this awesome bit:
Compare that awesome performance to the original!
Not to diminish the originators of “A Goofy Movie” reenactments, check out what these guys imagineered back in 2009!
What a rush! I think they really nailed it. What about you?
