Halloween Screams Fireworks 2012

 
Halloween Screams Fireworks

  Halloween Screams Fireworks presented during Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland. There is a separate charge to see these fireworks at Disneyland. But for you our loyal DLDHistory members you can enjoy them at no extra charge. Video was taken in 2012 and is 12 minutes long. 

  Halloween Screams Fireworks Video

*Video Clips are available to our Silver, Diamond and Gold Members.*

This month I shall conclude my comparisons of California’s Tomorrowland with Paris’s Discoveryland, by looking at their versions of Autopia and Captain EO.

Captain EO, the $30million 3-d musical starring Michael Jackson and Anjelica Huston, was an opening day attraction at Disneyland Paris, by which time the film had already been showing for five and a half years in the California Park and EPCOT Center, and slightly less in Tokyo Disneyland.

All four EO’s closed in the late 1990s and were replaced by Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, which was known as MicroAdventure! in Japan, and occasionally abbreviated to HISTA by Cast Members working on the other three. These attractions were switched back to housing EO’s, albeit in “tribute” form, shortly after Michael Jackson’s death in 2010.

Incidentally, I was toying with the idea of listing the differences between the versions of HISTA (such as languages, the pre-show videos, the timing and location of the post-show audio, the spiel, and the images on the photos), but I felt this may be off-topic. However, apart from the film itself, the 3-d glasses and the flying bulb logo, there are very few similarities.

Some of the differences between the two HISTAs are the same as the differences between the two EOs, such as how California’s theatre has fewer seats and how the guests travel to their right in Anaheim, and to their left in Europe. (Also, in Paris, the podium is Stage Right, as opposed to Stage Left in California).

The California and Paris EO’s are pretty similar to each other, with their KODAK pre-show videos (which get worse with every version), their use of the HISTA effects (such as the water-sprays and the moving auditorium) and their subtle mid-scene lighting changes. Neither have reinstated the star fields from the initial run of the show (or the fog effects) and some of the re-theming seems quite lazy or incomplete; for example, outside the entrance to the Paris version stands an as-yet-unremoved HISTA topiary. 

Cast Members working both versions of Captain EO are sometimes given earphones to wear to protect their ears from the noise. This is also the case for both versions of Autopia, the car ride where the guests provide the steering and the power.

California’s version of Autopia is the longer of the two, with almost double the ride time, but this is in part because it was combined in 2000 with the then extinct Fantasyland Autopia.

Both were opening day attractions, but Paris’ hasn’t changed much over the years, whereas Anaheim’s is practically unrecognizable from what it once was, with the more obvious changes including the name (with two of the previous incarnations being “Tomorrowland Autopia” and “Super Autopia Freeway”), the scenery and the bodies of the cars.

The current Disneyland Autopia bodies, designed by Imagineer Jason Hulst, have been in service since 2000 and come in three different styles: SUV (Dusty), sports car (Sparky) and convertible (Suzy). According to Bob Gurr who designed the original vehicles and later became Disney’s self-proclaimed Director of Special Vehicle Development, some “classic” bodies were to have been used also, but that ended up not going ahead. All the cars in Disneyland Paris’ Autopia have the same body as each other; they are soft and rounded in what Gurr refers to as a “French female type of shape”. The same chassis is used at both resorts.

France’s Autopia is currently sponsored by Ford, whereas Anaheim’s is currently sponsor-less, but had Chevron at their helm until earlier this year. France’s has never given out driver’s licenses either, nor had Cast Members running spontaneous quizzes for the waiting guests or had a tie-in gift shop.


Click Here To Read Complete Article

Hugh is a former Cast Member, who now lives in London where he works as a director. He is in the process of writing a "Mouse Tales" style book about Disneyland Resort Paris, for Bonaventure Press.

 Hugh can be contacted at :

I never thought I would get a chance to work at Disneyland. This was my life's' goal - to be a Cast Member.

Growing up in the Southern California desert, we were close enough to get to visit Disneyland at least once a year. The 2-hour drive seemed to never end until I or my siblings could finally see the tip of Space Mountain from the freeway - we were there! I held onto the magic between visits, the dream of working for Disney, especially when, as a 10-year-old little desert rat, I sent in my drawings of a mermaid and a centaur to the Disney Studios in Burbank and they sent back a packet of information on how to be a Disney Animator - on official Disney letterhead no less! Unfortunately, my artistic talent fizzled out by the ripe age of 12. And then visits ended entirely in the late 80's when my dad lost his job.

I wouldn't go to Disneyland again until 1992 when my grandmother gave me a ticket as a high school graduation gift. During that visit, my cousin accompanied me and he later recalled how I kept asking Cast Members what it's like to work there, and how could I do the same? It felt so unattainable, I lived so far away, so I once again shelved my dream of working there - especially when, later that year, we moved to the East Coast. Disneyland was even further away now.

But in December 2010, something changed. I was now living back in the California desert, a mere 2-hour drive from Disneyland again, and I suddenly realized that it was now or never - I had to at least try. So, I applied online for the open positions available. I laughed to myself at such silliness - and some friends and family thought I was crazy for trying. A 2-hour commute? For a part-time job? Absolutely.

Two weeks later, instead of the flat-out "No" that I was expecting, I got an email invitation from Disney to proceed with the online questionnaire, the personality test that would determine whether or not I was to get an in-person interview. Immediately following submission of the timed questions is when you find out if an in-person interview was the next step. I was over the moon excited just to get this far. I called my grandma, my mom, and my friends before I logged in to take the "test". I was still thinking this would be it, this was far as I'd get – and if it was I was happy!

Then, I got the in-person interview. I was to be at the Team Disney Anaheim building by 9 in the morning a week later.

This was really happening!

I bought a new outfit, new shoes. I told everyone within ear shot, everyone that would listen, to the crazy adventure that was unfolding itself before me, I was in the middle of a dream come true and I wanted to let everyone know!

And then I got hired.

I was going to work at Disneyland for an entire summer season - and I did! In Tomorrowland at Redd Rockett's Pizza Port right next to Space Mountain and Captain EO. I got my costume and accessories, shoes, and an official name tag. I went into secret underground tunnels. I worked with intelligent and talented people and spoke with tourists from around the world.

Every night when the restaurant was getting ready to close, I would walk across Main Street up to the right of the Fire Station, then through a small green door with an old worn brass knob and past the stairway entrance to Walt’s private apartment. Still holding a plastic bag, I would stop quickly, in this darkened area of Back Stage and for this quiet moment the park was entirely my own. For this reason, depositing the days gathered Lost and Found items into the bins behind City Hall became my favorite part of the job.

Click Here To Read Complete Article

Lyndsay is a former Disneyland Cast Member and lives in Southern California with a bearded husband, two tall teens, and a mute cat. She owns over one hundred copies of Alice In Wonderland and is always happy to loan one out (the books - not the husband, teens, or cat).

 Lyndsay can be contacted at :  

MickeyOne Is Back

MickeyOne has posted a new article on MickeyOne.com called Connection Between Walt Disney and Robert Moses.
Robert Moses was the architect of the 1964-1965 New York Worlds Fair and made sure there were lots of Walt Disney exhibits. But there is more...

The way Walt Disney saw it, America’s cities were in deep trouble in the early 1960s. And “master builder” Robert Moses had a big hand in that. 

Moses — the iron-fisted autocrat who in effect ran New York City for decades even though he was never elected to public office — and Disney — the man who created an entertainment empire on the scrawny shoulders of a cartoon mouse — were very much on opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum on most issues. 

Connection Between Walt Disney and Robert Moses

MickeyOne's previous article about the similarities between the 1939-1940 New York Worlds Fair and EPCOT is an interesting read also: 

World Of Tomorrow Land

Mikhail C. a wonderful DLDHistory member has located an article that ran in the Los Angeles Times in 1974 about the death of Deborah Stone. We have reproduced the article here and on the site:

Woman Killed on Bobsled Ride at Disneyland
January 4, 1984
Los Angeles Times

A 48-year old woman was killed on the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland on Tuesday when apparently fell out of her bobsled as it raced down the man-made mountain and she was run over by the next bobsled, police and amusement park authorities said.

A coroner's spokesman identified the victim as Dolly Regina Young of Fremont, Calif.

The roller coaster-type ride shut down automatically about 30 seconds after the accident, which occurred halfway down the mountain shortly before 3:30 p.m., said Al Flores, Disneyland publicity supervisor.

Young had been visiting the park with give friends from Tempe, Ariz., who shared the bobsled with her, police said.

The woman, sitting alone in the rear seat of the sled, was wearing a seat belt when the ride was dispatched, Flores said, but Anaheim Police Detective David Tuttle said the belt was open when he saw the bobsled at the accident scene.

Flores said maintenance workers determined that there was no malfunction of the ride and that the seat belt moorings had not pulled loose.

The Matterhorn is a main Disneyland attraction in which a maximum of eight people, strapped one in front of another in two attached cars, ride along one of two sets of tracks that swerve and dive around the sides of the snow-capped mountain and into narrow simulated caverns. During the 90-second ride, the sleds reach speeds of 28 m.p.h., but Tuesday’s accident occurred at a slower point, Flores said.

None of the other people in the woman’s sled saw what happened they were seated in front of her, Flores said. The riders of the following bobsled were 30 seconds behind and consequently did not see the woman fall out of the sled, he said.

The second sled came to a stop, trapping young underneath, Flores said. None of the riders in the sled that her was injured, he said.

Flores said it is “routine standard operating procedure to check (passengers in) each sled twice” to make sure seat belts are securely fastened.

Disneyland officials said that previously there have been several accidental death in the park.

Article is also available HERE * 

*Archive Articles are available to our Deluxe, Premium, Silver, Bronze, Diamond and Gold Members.* 

Thank you Mikhail C.!

Disneyland Opens

Fifty Seven years ago Disneyland opened to the public. In celebration we present the complete Disneyland Opening Day Telecast. This video is 1 hour and 13 minutes long and was shot in 1955.  Disneyland Opens 

 Enjoy!


Click on the image below to take you directly to video clip.

Disneyland Opens