Ted Does Disneyland (part 4)

Ted rounds off his Disneyland trip with another fireworks show and the Jungle Cruise! Read on:

Ted's friend Justin likes to think that Ted is a bunny rabbit in front of Tarzan's Treehouse.

Tarzan's Treehouse

•  Tarzan's Treehouse opened 23 June 1999 and is located on the former site of the Swiss Family Treehouse, an attraction that opened in November 18, 1962 and was based on the Disney film "Swiss Family Robinson." For its reintroduction as Tarzan's home, 10 feet were added to the tree. The 450 branches were redressed with nearly 6,000 lacy leaves, then draped with moss and covered with jungle vines to make it feel like the rightful home to the "Lord of the Apes."
•  There is ONE original branch with the old leaves remaining on the tree, they replaced all the leaves except for that one branch, just to leave behind a little bit of history.
•  Tarzan's Tree House has many different rooms, but has no bedrooms. When I asked a cast member, she said, "Tarzan doesn't need a bed." I then said, "What about Jane?" and she was speechless.
•  The tree is a 150-ton structure anchored by massive roots reaching 42 feet into the ground. 
•  The tree is nicknamed Disneyodentron SemperFlorens Grandis (meaning a large, ever-blooming Disney tree.)

Ted's cousin Denise shoots off the fireworks for Disneyland's Fantasmic! Ted wanted a picture with his famous cousin.

At the end of the night Ted took a spin on the Jungle Cruise, just as I anticipated.

Jungle Cruise

•  Each of the scenes in the Jungle Cruise attraction is taken from the True-Life Adventure Film Series that Walt Disney produced in the early 1960's.
•  The Jungle Cruise and River of America used to be connected by an open waterway
•  There is a live Macaw in a cage in one of the second floor windows above the entrance.
• When you reach the Lost Expedition, a crate behind the gorillas says "WED Expedition." WED stands for Walter Elias Disney. These famous initials pop up everywhere in the parks, and are almost as common as Hidden Mickeys.

Ted got to enjoy one last fireworks show. This time he waited to see the Magical! show

• Eden Espinosa, who is the main vocalist during the show, got her start at Disneyland by performing in shows such as the Spirit of Pocahontas and Animazement!.
• The Dumbo that flies above the castle during the “Baby Mine” segment is actually a puppet. A person is inside it controlling the ear flapping, trunk waving, and feet kicking. 
•  The technology used to propel Tinker Bell through the air actually first made its inaugural appearance in Remember... Dreams Come True. Before this, Tinker Bell would make her nightly single pass over the castle thanks to gravity and a push from the Matterhorn mountain. 
•  This show is the first time that 6 high-powered spotlights, 3 on either side of the castle, have been utilized. 

Today, Ted moves on towards Kansas in his cross-country adventure!


(interesting facts via: hiddenmickeys.org and mouseinfo.com)

Ted Does Disneyland (part 3)

 Ted is back again for more Disneyland madness! Its almost dinner time now, so Ted is eating out, and getting ready for his favorite fireworks show: Fantasmic!

The Blue Bayou Restaurant (one of Ted's family's favorite big Disneyland splurges)

• Blue Bayou is themed to be a backyard party. The tables, lawn chairs and the lamps and the trees all form a backyard
•  The Blue Bayou is the only place in Disneyand that serves yellow lemonade. If you buy it anywhere else, it will be pink.
•  There is a really long conveyor system that moved dirty dishes from the Blue Bayoo and other New Orleans restaurants. This is to help combat a roach problem caused by the humidity from the Pirates ride.
• The oft rumored and now confirmed Club 33 is located above the Blue Bayou. You can find the small unassuming green door to the club just down the alley from the entrance to the Blue Bayou.
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This is Ted's favorite spot to watch his cousin blow up fireworks for Fantasmic!, our favorite Disney fireworks show.

Fantasmic!

•  Fantasmic! was originally called "Imagination" in 1992
•  Before the show Fantasmic, at about 8:50, you could see the flower pedals from the jungle scene being ready. Also if you go toward Critter Country you could see the cast members preparing the ship for the Peter Pan scene.
•  The door over the dragon pit (as it is actually known rather than the stage well) weighs 10,000 pounds.
•  On Fantasmic the snake is held by the pirates. If you look under it you can see their pants. This is used to get them from one side of the island to the other where the pirate ship is

Ted went on Pirates of the Carribean. The ride was so exciting, the photos of Ted inside the ride were quite blurry! He enjoyed it very much, however.

Pirates of the Carribean

•   Walt Disney worked extensively on this attraction, but passed away before it opened in 1967. It features one of the most elaborate uses of Audio Animatronics figures ever attempted by Disney.
• The portrait of a young woman (the one that changes into the Medusa) that hangs in the entrance hall of the Haunted Mansion pictures the same girl that is dressed as a pirate in the painting in the skeleton's tavern in Pirates of the Carribean.
• Some of the skeletons on the ride are real! When the ride was built, life-like plastics had not been invented yet. The real skeletons were bought as ex-research skeletons.
•  Known for their inside jokes, the artists for this attraction modeled some of the pirate faces (particularly the mischievous ones) after themselves.

Space Mountain

•   Space Mountain cost $20M to build - it cost more than the original park in 1955 dollars.
•  Just after you are loaded in the cars on Space Mountain, they move forward a few feet and stop: this is for two reasons:
• To weigh the whole car and occupants (as the weight is crucial to ride spacing - previously mentioned)
• to "charge" the phosphorescent gowing panels on the side of the car using the black lites in the walls.

•  You used to be able to stick pennies to the walls in the queue line for Space Mountain. Since the past two remodels, the paint has been replaced with a demagnetized type.
• If you are ever on the ride when it breaks down, the lights will come on and you can view the entire ride. A cast member will then release the safety brake on your car and you and your party will have to exit the ride.

Ted also likes to get dinner and a show at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon! Can you spot the Hidden Mickey that Ted found?

The Golden Horseshoe Saloon

•  If you sit in one of the stage boxes that are at the stage level in the Golden Horseshoe Revue, the performers will often look over at you and give you some silly looks and even talk to you while the show is going on.
• While walking past The Golden Horseshoe Saloon, listen to the theme songs of Blazing Saddles, Bonanza, The Wild Wild West, and Roy Rogers theme to Pecos Bill.

The last Disneyland post will be up tomorrow, as Ted's family has a tendency to stay as long as possible in the park, sometimes more than an hour after closing! They are quite skilled at convincing cast members to run a ride "just one more time!"
Hint: The best ride to go on very very late at night is the Jungle Cruise. After closing, the tour guides give up being family friendly and just goof off. I (Julie) LOVE hearing their non PC jokes!

Stay tuned!

Ted Does Disneyland (part 2)

Ted is back with more from the Happiest Place on Earth! Lets take a look!

The Haunted Mansion

• The tall Italian cypresses located between the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain had previously lined the entrance of Tomorrowland. They were moved in 1967, when the old New Tommorrowland was unveiled. Bill Evans, Disneyland's head landscape architect for many years, thought that they would suit the Mansion 'scaping. His notion was perfect, for cypresses often symbolize death.
•  The Haunted Mansion is the only place in all of Disney where the cast members do not smile.
•  When approaching the porch of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, check out the wrought-iron railing.... while most of the decoration is composed of leafy curlicues, the bottom-most curlicue is actually a dragon
•  The Haunted Mansion was originally thought up to be a walkthrough ride
• The dust used in the Haunted Mansion is actually Fullers Earth, which can be purchased form any Stage Equipment store
•  In the waiting area under the hearse are written two names: Rick Godin and Jay Gayton 1995. These are the curators of the museum from which the hearse was purchased

I am told that Jamie got a new necklace, and that Ted likes it very much.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

•   Big Thunder Mountain, built in 1979, is covered with 9.5 acres of painted concrete.
•  When Big Thunder Mountain was being designed, one of the ideas was sort of like the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Guests would board their train car and soon would slowly go up a large hill, then the train would make a sound like the brakes giving away and the train would go plummeting down the hill backwards.
•  To add atmosphere, the imagineers scoured ghost towns of western states and came up with actual ore carts, cogwheels, buckets, and other authentic mining equipment.
• The first drop after the second hill is called Monument Valley. During one of the first test on the attraction, the train derailed with a Imagineer on it, causing him to break his toe. So as to a memorial to him, they built one of the mesas into a big foot, with a missing big toe.
• The names of the trains on Big Thunder Mountain are: U.R. Courageous I.M. Brave I.M. Bold U.R. Fearless I.B. Hearty U.R. Daring
•  The train used for the Rainbow Caverns tour still exists. It can be seen, crashed into a large pile of rocks, from Tom Sawyers Island on the backside of Big Thunder Mountain. There also are numerous other elements used from the site's former attraction.

After hearing the fact about being able to personally wake up the Tiki Room, Ted just had to try it!

The Matterhorn is closed for refurbishment, but Ted decided it was a perfect photo op anyway!

Matterhorn

• When Matterhorn goes down for rehab they repaint the mountain, lay down new track, the engineers update the ride control, and a team of engineers and cast members readjust the brakes.
•  The 1/100 scale 147 foot tall Matterhorn at Disneyland is set in exact geographical alignment with the real Matterhorn in Switzerland.
•  Before Matterhorn opened, Walt took it for a spin. Since the ride was not yet completed workers piled some hay at the end to stop the ride. Walt liked the the feeling of way he collided with the hay so much he made the ride end to the same effect as the hay.
• If you enter the Matterhorn from the Fantasyland side, you will experience a milder, more child friendly ride, but if you enter from the Autopia/Tomorrowland side, the ride is rougher and faster
• The abominable snowman on the Matterhorn is named Harold. When they turn on the computers every day to run the ride, following the startup sequence, the screen reads, "Harold isn't going to like this."
•  Matterhorn has actually sunk 6 inches since it was built

Stay tuned for at least one more Disneyland post!

(Interesting facts via: hiddenmickeys.org)

Ted Does Disneyland (part 1)

Ted the Traveling Turtle visits Disneyland for the very first time! You will be seeing a lot of Jamie, one of Teds chaperons in these shots. She was very excited to be taking Ted on this trip.

Disneyland Main Street USA

• The entrance to Disneyland is designed to look like a red carpet and the tunnels to give the effect of walking into a different world.
• The pavement on Main Street is black, unlike any other area of the park. This is because black pavement gets hot and keeps people moving, shuffling them to the larger areas of the park.
• The gas lamps are 150 years old and were purchased as scrap from the city of Baltimore,Maryland
•  There is a whole crew just to dust the window sills on Main Street

Star Tours

• When Star Tours opened in 1987, Disneyland handed out digital watches to the first so-many people who entered the park. See one here: Star Tours Watch
• The StarSpeeder 3000 is the same type of flight simulator used by the military in training pilots
• If you look through the cockpit of the StarSpeeder (pictured with Ted) you will see that there are no seats for passengers to sit in
• The C3PO in Star Tours is plated in 24k gold, but as per the movie, the lower section of his left leg was painted silver
• The G2 droids are two stripped animatronic geese from the old "America Sings" show

Ted and Jamie grab some tea and muffins. Ted calls this "refueling"

 Indiana Jones

•  In the line for Indiana Jones there is a gas generator generating power for the lights, which flicker all the time except when the ride breaks down, at which time they burn so strong. When they start flickering again, you know the ride is back up and the line will begin to move in roughly five minutes.
• You can decode the symbols on the walls using this decoder or you can go to a cast member in the store directly to the right of the entrance/exit for the ride to get a copy of it.
• The ride cost about $100 mil to make and 7 years to build. It is inside a three story building, most of which is underground
• There are over 220,000 mechanical or sculpted snakes on the ride, and 1,995 skeletons (to honor the year the ride was built)
• The Queue passes the actual truck used in the film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" where Indy is dragged underneth the fast-moving vehicle

  
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

• The three MCs from the Bear Country Jamboree are still hanging around: on the wall past the Heffalumps and Woozles their heads are hanging above you

 The Enchanted Tiki Room

• The film "The Flavor of Hawaii" is playing right behind the juice bar
• The Tiki Room was sponsored by United Air Lines from 1964-1973 and later by Dole Pineapple from 1976-present
• The Tiki's sing "Hawaiian War Chant" inside the attraction
• The upside down masks in the Tiki Room are supposed to be that way. It is Negendei, the Earth Balancer, who stands on his head
• José the Macaw used to sit at the entrance. People would stand and watch him talk and block the entrance. It got so bad that they had to move José to keep the entrance clear
•  Originally the Tiki Room was going to be the Bird Cafe, where the tables would have speakers and microphones for guests to interact with the birds on their table. The one interactive prototype was moved to the Trophy Room in Club 33
• (edit) After realizing that I referenced a fact that I never included here in the next post, I wanted to add that fact: If you ask a cast member just before the show begins, they will let you wake up the Tiki Room

Stay tuned for more Ted in the Happiest Place On Earth!

(interesting facts via:  hiddenmickeys.org)