Author: Allen

Indiana Jones Adventure in 1996.

According to the always accurate Wikipedia, the Indiana Jones Adventure opened in Disneyland on March 4, 1995. This ride is the reason I wanted to return to Disneyland after not visiting there since the 1970s. I had been reading about its construction in the Disneyland section of the Destination Florida RoundTable on GEnie. (That was the General Electric text-based dial-up service I was on, years before there was such a thing as the “world wide web.”)

When my new job scheduled me to be in Irvine, California in December 1995, the first thing I did was call my hotel and ask how far they were from Disneyland. (Remember, this was before online maps — even before the things that were before Google Maps, like MapQuest.) They told me it was about 15 miles away. I was ecstatic, though I would soon learn that 15 minutes could mean an hour or more in Southern California traffic.

May 26, 1996. Indy line starting on Main Street U.S.A.

In the early days of this attraction, the line would often start on Main Street U.S.A. and wind through Adventureland. They’d have cast members hold the line to let traffic cross from time to time. In 2017,  the same thing was being done for Disney California Adventure’s Guardians of the Galaxy when the line would extend into A Bug’s Land.

After going in to Adventureland, the line would use the second level of the Jungle Cruise building and then finally enter the actual Indiana Jones queue. At the time, the GEnie rumors were that the queue was built to hold a three hour line. Today, that massive indoor queue is just a walkway since they hold everyone outside and merge in FastPass/MaxPass visitors at the entrance. It dawns on me that, since FastPass, there are folks who have never really experience this amazing queue the way it was intended.

AT&T sponsor sign on May 22, 1996.

Do you remember the original ride sponsor? Here’s a photo of the sign at the exit, taken during my first trip with a digital camera. Ah, the glory of low resolution 320×240 digital pictures!

Yep, it was AT&T. They also sponsored Spaceship Earth at EPCOT Center. The EPCOT sponsorship made sense to me since their logo already looked like Spaceship Earth. But Indy? The only link was this sign at the end. 

According to the story of the ride, tourists were going in to choose one of those three doors to give them either youth, riches, or visions of the future. The ride used to have an elaborate mechanism that made it appear like each car was “randomly” going through one of three entrance doors. A wall of haphazardly arranged mirrors would tilt so you could watch the car in front of you as it turned the corner and went through a door. Then, the mirror would move back, and your car would go and you would see that you got a different door. Very cool!

Choose wisely!

And what is the connection to the sponsor? At the time, AT&T was running a similar “choose wisely” ad campaign about selecting them for your long distance* service.

  • Old Guy Note: In olden days, “long distance” was a term used to mean calling someone who wasn’t in your local town. You paid extra for each minute of the long distance call. During the 1980s, a large telephone monopoly was disrupted and a bunch of competing phone services started up. You could then choose another company to provide you long distance service at lower rates.

You also got a bit of AT&T ad material every time you rode. Throughout the temple, there  were writings that you could decode with an AT&T-sponsored translation card they gave you. I suppose the idea was that you would have something to kill the time during your three hour+ wait 😉 I have a bunch of these cards. The writing was just a special font. I had a friend who could just read them (it’s easy once you realize that the symbols look quite a bit like the letters they represent). Years later, a special font was used in Guardians of the Galaxy with similar things for you to translate. It seems we have another connection to Guardians! (And, maybe as an indication of the changing times, many of the Guardians signs also have English translations already on them — no need to make you think while on vacation, I guess.)

In the early years, everything in the temple queue was shiny and new, yet it looked like it had been there for hundreds of years. The only thing that looked fresh was the bat guano in the bat cave. The in-queue effects (the first time Disney had ever done that, I believe?) all worked. In the last several trips I made, none seemed to be working. Do they ever work?

In case you haven’t even seen them, in the “spike room” you could push on the bamboo pole to trigger an effect that would make the ceiling (slowly… very slowly…) move down with a thunderous rumble.

There was also the rope you could pull on to annoy the archeologist that was hanging on to it below. Keep pulling and he’d drop something. Pull more, and he’d plummet to his … nap. (I mean, no one would die in a Disney queue, would they?) Good times.

  • Spike room on May 21, 1996.
  • The rope on May 22, 1996.

A few years later, a similar rope was added at Disney/MGM Studios near the Indiana Jones Stunt show, though their sign makes it much more obvious you can pull the rope. Here’s their version from 1999:

Disney/MGM Studios Indiana Jones “rope” on November 13, 1999.

But I digress. Back to Disneyland’s Indy…

The ride itself was amazing, and still is, but today’s version pales compared to the original 1995-1996 version. Here’s a few highlights:

  • The ride used to be so “rough” there was no way to ride it without holding on for dear life. Someone managed to shoot video of it in 1995 (you can see how bumpy it is) and I commend them on that accomplishment. I guess I can see why they tamed it down, but it was far more of a thrill ride in the early years.
  • There was also a windy cavern that was REALLY windy. It, supposedly, blew off too many caps and caused issues from having to stop the ride to clear the track that they toned that down.
  • There was also the debris that would fall from the ceiling. Just as you’d turn a corner and be facing the main ride chamber, the music would swell, and a green light blast would shine and there’d be a fire burst nearby. Debris would fall from the ceiling. It was ice that would drop, where it could just melt away at the bottom. (Someone finally posted a clip of this effect happening ,so even if you’ve never seen it yourself, now you have “proof” it existed.)
  • But my all-time favorite part was the different “random” profiles for the vehicles. They would stall in different places, speed through a scene or drive slowly through it, and do so differently each time you rode them. I’m sure there was a finite set of “random” variations, but it was so nicely done it never felt repetitive. My favorite was the one where the car kept grinding the shift gears, and you could feel the gears grind under the floor board! Impressive!

Here’s a YouTube video summarizing some of the missing effects from the original Indy ride (though it is incorrect about one, and doesn’t comment on the random ride profiles that were bragged about during the early promotional material):

There were also a few secrets that users of GEnie and the newsgroups (there were no fan websites yet, really) had discovered.

  • There was a LIFE magazine with Mickey on the cover.
  • There was a reference to Star Wars’ Obi Wan Kenobe (which was also in the Indiana Jones movie).
  • And Disney had told us about the ID numbers of the vehicles being Imagineer birthdates.
  • Obi Wan reference. May 24, 1996.
  • Imagineer birthdays on the jeeps. August 16, 1996.
  • LIFE magazine with Mickey on the cover. May 24, 1996.

Another detail that changed was the sign just before going up the stairs. The original version looked much more authentic, but it was replaced with a warning-heavy version that looked far more modern and out-of-place.

Speaking of signs, have you ever noticed the “nails” used throughout? They are historically-correct representations of what was used before we had modern nails. Nice details.

And speaking of details, in the original days, all the light bulbs were unlabeled and looked like old bulbs. Today, you will find modern bulbs scattered around (with modern writing on them showing the wattage, etc.). 

Also, the “generator” in the outdoor queue is supposed to be powering all the lights in the temple. You can trace the wiring running from it all the way into the load area. As the generator spits and sputters, the lights will flicker and dim. It was a very cool effect that I don’t know if many notice these days.

Indiana Jones Adventure was one of the greatest things Imagineering has ever done.  What we have today is still a great ride, but it’s just a shadow of the ride as originally intended back in 1995. I’m glad I got to see it during those early years.

Until next time…

Tomorrowland in 1996.

Updates:

  • 2018-02-25: Added “new” Tomorrowland history notes from Werner Weiss of Yesterland.com.

The Tomorrowland of 1996 was probably the “new” Tomorrowland, not to be confused with the new “new” Tomorrowland that would open two years later. After speaking with Werner of Yesterland.com,  I found that there were several other “new” new Tomorrowlands along the way. (See his notes at the end of this article.)

I’ll just call this one Tomorrowland ’96, in tribute to the recently renamed Epcot ’94.

First, the Rocket Jets were still in their original spot:

Rocket Jets on August 18, 1996.

By having them up on the second story (you took an elevator to get to them), it make them seem much more frightening. To prove that, here’s a non-public photo I vowed I would never share publicly:

I’m not traumatized by my two-story Rocket Jet ride. I’m smiling. That’s a smile. See the teeth?

Today a new version sits on the ground at the front of Tomorrowland, and the skeleton of the old Rocket Jets is a kinetic sculpture that may or more not kinet any more.

In 1996, you could also catch the original run of Captain EO, which I did, because I don’t think I ever caught it when it was at Epcot. (Recall, I visited Disneyland a few times in the 1970s, then my 1980s and early 1990s were only trips to Walt Disney World):

Caption EO playing at the Magic Eye Theater on August 18, 1996.

A short time later and that theater would be redone for Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Then, years later, it would be repurposed to become Captain EO Tribute after the passing of the film’s star, Michael Jackson. I wonder what will happen if Rick Moranis or Eric Idle passes away?

There was also this long-closed Carousel of Progress / America Sings Building that was being worked on for Tomorrowland ’98:

Carousel of Progress building on August 18, 1996.

The PeopleMover had been closed since shortly before I got back to visit in 1995, darnit. “Missed it by that much!”

People Mover-less on August 18, 1996.

Hey! That’s Esmarelda (bottom left, above) walking out of Tomorrowland! This, my friends, was one of the reasons why Walt Disney wanted so much land for his Florida Project. He said he didn’t want to see a cowboy walking through Tomorrowland on his way to Frontierland, and I’m guessing seeing Esmeralda do the same also counts.

And taking a peek at the People Mover tracks showed work being done for the upcoming Rocket Rods ride:

People Move track without the People Mover track in 1996.
Disney VR on May 20, 1996.

Speaking of Walt Disney World… Did you ever see the Disney virtual reality demonstration at Epcot ’95? (Yes, Virginia. There was virtual reality in the early 1990s.)  It was in one of the buildings near Spaceship Earth, and I saw it with my dad during the summer of 1995. They selected a few guests to demonstrate the system on a stage while we all watched overhead monitors showing what they were seeing. It was an Aladdin magic carpet ride game. During my 1996 Disneyland trip, I got to play it at the Starcade. It was very cool.

V.R. is the future, I tell you!

I guess I should also point out the Circle-Vision was still showing movies:

Circle-Vision presents America the Beautiful on August 12, 1996.

That movie was interesting because Walt Disney was involved in it, and he could be seen over and over in various scenes. It’s hard to hide from a 360 camera. (Yes, Virginia, Disney was doing 360 movies back in the 1960s.)

This location later became the queue for Rocket Rods (the theater still intact and showing a new Rocket Rod film sequence), then later Buzz Lightyear.

Space Mountain was presented by FedEx and had the “speed ramp” up to the top:

Space Mountain speed ramp on August 18, 1996.

And the ride itself had recently gotten onboard sound via add-on speakers they put on the existing cars:

Space Mountain cars modified with add-on speakers.

During a later redo, they would get all-new cars with the speakers integrated into them.

The Submarine Voyage was still running:

Submarine Voyage on August 16, 1996.

Besides the subs being yellow instead of grey, it was very close to the original version that opened in 1959. A few years later, it would close and the lagoon would sit, abandoned, for what seemed like “forever” until Nemo saved it. Florida’s version, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, was not so fortunate. It just sat there for what seemed like “forever” and then got replaced with a Winnie the Pooh playground for toddlers.

And, who can forget the Toy Story Funhouse, showing that Disney began putting things in the Tomorrowlands long before Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor. If I recall correctly, this was an exhibit that was used at a movie theater during the promotion of Toy Story, then moved to this area in Tomorrowland as an attraction.

I only took a few photos, so this one must have really stood out. It was the first time I ever saw a human Green Army Man.

It’s worth noting that the original versions had their feet connected on a platform just like the toys. They would wobble around just like the toy versions did in the movie. Cute.

It’s also worth notice that orange floor. Back in the 1970s, Radio Shack stores were also orange and brown. I guess those were good colors for the future, in the past.

I guess that about covers Tomorrowland. I took a few photos of Star Tours, but that remained mostly unchanged until the updates for the new movies so nothing interesting to share there.

Notes from Yesterland.com:

Werner Weiss contributed some more details about the various “new” Tomorrowlands:

  • 1959 – Significant additions to Tomorrowland at Disneyland, but not called “New Tomorrowland.” Included Disneyland Alweg Monorail, Submarine Voyage, and Matterhorn Bobsleds (Matterhorn is now classified as part of Fantasyland).
  • 1967 – “New Tomorrowland” at Disneyland. Included G.E. Carousel of Progress, Goodyear PeopleMover, Monsanto Adventure Thru Inner Space, AT&T Bell System Circle-Vision 360 (replacing the 11-screen 16mm version), Flight to the Moon (replacing Rocket to the Moon), Coca-Cola Tomorrowland Terrace, Space Stage, and the tile murals by Mary Blair.
  • 1994 – “New Tomorrowland” at Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World.
  • 1998 – “New Tomorrowland” at Disneyland. Included Rocket Rods, “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,” Innoventions, and Redd Rocket’s Pizza Port. 

Thanks, Werner!

Until next time…

Over 32,000 photos from Walt Disney World.

I am in the process of generating a new version of my Walt Disney World photo gallery. It will contain over 32,000 photos when this is complete.

An update to my Universal Studios Orlando resort photos will follow. Because of the Harry Potter expansion, I’ve now spent more time in those parks my last visit than I have since the parks opened. Good stuff over there.

I’ll post another update here when the new gallery is online. In the meantime, you can explore the one from September 2018:

wdw.disneyfans.com

Until next time…

New Orleans Square in 1996.

I’ve already touched on Disneyland’s New Orleans Square a bit when I discussed entertainment offerings in 1996, but let’s look a bit closer at some other things in the area.

Club 33 door on May 20, 1996.

Learning about Club 33 on the early Internet (long, long before Facebook, in the early stone ages of dial-up and text-based newsgroups) felt like being let in on a big secret. So of course I took a picture of the door!

As Club 33 became less of a secret, you’d see more and more people doing the same, or posing by it. I still kick myself for not going in when I had a chance. And kicking myself again for turning down the second and third chance, too. I think I was just too focused on rides back then.

And before the Year of a Million Dreams turned it into an apartment, upstairs above Pirates of the Caribbean was the Disney Gallery where you could see great things like this K7 spaceman outfit from the early years of Disneyland:

K-7 spaceman outfit on August 16, 1996.

And, if you knew the right people (sigh, like those who invited you to Club 33 and you turned them down), they might even show you some other secrets, like this “hidden” cast member elevator:

Behind some doors are … elevators. 1996.
The “hidden elevator” in 1996.

I also got to visit a cast member store (which I think was located in a trailer backstage somewhere). I bought a strange black ball with Mickey ears on it that you could stick on a car antenna. Who would have known that, in a few years, those antenna balls would be a massive craze with hundreds of styles! (The one I bought was before this, and doesn’t even say “Disneyland” on it — just a discreet black ball with mouse ears. I’m not even sure if it had (C)Disney anywhere. I wonder if I still have it.)

But I digress…

Path to the hidden pet cemetery on May 21, 1996.

I’ll share a few more. Somehow I learned about a “hidden pet cemetery,” and a cast member gave me a little tour. Today, it’s well documented (it was the original cemetery, and then a clone was made and moved out front when they expanded the Haunted Mansion queue), but back then, it seemed really special to get to see it. Funny how giving everyone a digital camera (on their phone) at all times makes having photos of things far less rare.

Barrel pirate in 1996.

And over at Pirate’s of the Caribbean, I snapped a photo of one of the pirates unique to the Disneyland version. I believe he sat at the left of the “waterfall” up ramp at the end of the ride, just before where Jack Sparrow is today.

He disappeared a few years later during an update, and has been gone ever since. I think. I really need to check my later photos. I could be completely wrong (and I’m sure you’ll let me know if I am).

There was also some kind of big deal about turnstiles being moved to the exit of Pirates.  I don’t recall why, but I took a photo:

Exit turnstiles at Pirates on August 12, 1996.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, back then this pirate was still looking for the woman that the clothing he was holding belonged to 😉

“I be willing to share, I be!” he would say, as an (apparently) nude woman popped up slightly out of the barrel behind him.

Ah, fun times.

I guess that’s all for now. In writing this article, I did learn that the problem with strollers isn’t really a new one. It just seems today there are more of them, and more people bring their own, and they are larger. But even in 1996, I thought the mess of “parked” strollers was awful enough that I wasted one of my dozen or so photos on it.

Actually, maybe “parked” is too strong a word for that photo. How about “left in a clump, seemingly at random” instead?

Until next time…

Frontierland in 1996.

Howdy, folks! In a previous article I mentioned thinking the photos of Fantasyland I took in 1996 looked pretty much like ones I would take in 2018. Now that I get to my Frontierland photos, I think the same can be said about them, too. For instance, new teepees had been recently added to the entrance:

Teepees at the Frontierland entrance on August 14, 1996.

And over on the shore of Tom Sawyer Island, Cascade Peak was pouring water down beside the long-abandoned tracks of Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland. (Be sure to visit that link above for a great article about this on Yesterland.)

Cascade Peak on August 18, 1996.
More fall fun on August 18, 1996.

And the Keel Boats (look in the top left of this next photo) were still taking guests around the River’s of America:

Keel Boat, Mark Twain (in refurb) and Canoe on August 18, 1996.
Keel Boat on August 18, 1996. One of the photos I took of them was used (without permission, for what it’s worth) for an e-Bay auction when they sold the vehicle off… Though my photo was of a different keel boat than the one they were selling. Still counts. I’ve been “published” by Disney! 🙂
Inside a keel boat on August 18, 1996.

Remember how they’d tell everyone to not stand at the same time, else the boat would “keel over”? That was a joke, wasn’t it?

And over on Tom Sawyer Island, you could still climb up some very high rock formations to look around. I took this photo from up top of one, and I recall being stunned they let guests climb that high. There weren’t any guard rails or anything, yet I didn’t see guests falling down left and right and hurting themselves. They still had the “playground” equipment (like teeter totter rock and such) still in operation back then, too…

As you can see, things in the old west really don’t change that much.

Until next time…

Before Disney’s California Adventure, part 4.

See also: part 1, part 2 and part 3.

I think I will make this the final part (at least for now) since it has become clear I could spend a month just writing about what was going on during the construction years of Disney’s California Adventure. And I get bored easily.

There is one other significant preview item from 2000 – the other DCA preview center that was open inside Disneyland at the Opera House exit:

August 6, 2000.

Unlike the original preview center in the esplanade, this one allowed photos. It also had far, far less on display than the other one.

Unfortunately, the low resolution of my digital photos makes this sign hard to read, but I found it interesting that it says “Beginning early in 2001” rather than a specific opening date. And look! There’s that Walt Disney quote about “Disneyland will never be completed” too.

August 6, 2000.

Inside were some concept photos around a large map of the new resort area. Disneyland (blue/purple blob) was at the top, and the “districts” of Disney’s California Adventure were shown below it. Instead of “lands” like other Disney parks, DCA was going to have areas that groups together sub-areas in a way that certainly made sense to someone.

In this map, I think the red was the Grand Californian hotel, and yellow/orange represents Downtown Disney.

August 6, 2000.

I have the very first press package for Disney’s California Adventure, and what was eventually built was a bit different. These concept drawings, however, were much closer to reality since this was just a year from opening.

August 6, 2000.

There is so much “Yester-DCA” in this photo. You can see the original Paradise Pier with the Mickey ears on the roller coaster loop. The Orange Stinger is shown, as well as the Maliboomer space shot ride. The Sun Wheel has its original face.

Basically, nothing in that drawing still exists, at least not in that form.

August 6, 2000.

Do you remember this preview center?

At some point, I need to dig out my original press packet and go through it and do a series on “what was planned” versus “what we got.” If you know of a site that already did this work, please let me know and I’ll just link to that instead.

Unless I come up with a part 5, this concludes this series. For now.

Until next time…

Before Disney’s California Adventure, part 3.

See also: part 1 and part 2.

As the year 2000 rolled around, and we all survived the “Y2K Bug,” things were really happening. Disney’s California Adventure was less than a year away from opening.

Grizzly Peak had appeared…

Grizzly Peak construction on May 3, 2000.

California Screamin’ had appeared…

California Screamin’ on May 3, 2000.

A beautiful new tram area for the Pinnochio lot was in use, with the Grand Californian Hotel across from it…

New tram loading area and Grand Californian Hotel on May 5, 2000.

The old ticket booths in front of Disneyland were gone, and new ones had been built on each side…

New ticket booths on May 3, 2000.
New ticket booths on November 2, 2000.
Ticket prices on May 4, 2000.

It was $41 per day to get in, or $199 for a Premium Annual Pass? Geez, Disney. Who has that kind of money for an amusement park? At least the Southern California pass was “only” $79. Man, ridiculous pricing.

The construction wall had been moved up closer, and now had large windows in it so you could see the new park’s entrance.

Construction wall with windows on August 5, 2000.

Let’s take a peek through those windows.

Peeking through the windows on May 5, 2000.

Oh. In May it wasn’t very interesting. I’ll keep jumping around 2000 until I find something that is.

Peeking through the windows on August 5, 2000.

By August, we had a much better look at the new post card entrance, the Golden Gate bridge, and the huge letters that would spell “CALIFORNIA.” The park is supposed to open just five months after this photo was taken. Can they possibly make it? Let’s see how they were doing a few months later…

DCA entrance progress on November 2, 2000.

By November, the mural painting was going up and things were looking much more like a theme park entrance. Disney might just pull this off after all (take that, highly inaccurate and wildly speculating Disfan rumor sites of the day).

I also remember how excited folks where to see the Hollywood backdrop lit up for the first time:

Hollywood area backdrop at night on October 9, 2000.

And, of course, Disney had already began selling merchandise earlier in the year. They had a little cart set up outside of Disneyland in the esplanade area.

DCA merchandise cart on May 3, 2000.
DCA pre-opening merchandise on May 3, 2000.

Look at all the stuff! Shirts, buttons, pens, mouse pads, and more! I wonder how much these things would go for on eBay these days?

This is also when the fancy new outdoor picnic area first appeared, with its special lockers.

Fancy new outdoor picnic area on August 5, 2000.

And, of course, Downtown Disney construction was in full swing.

Downtown Disney construction on August 6, 2000.

Also, this was the year the parking structure would open. In May, it was still blocked off:

Parking structure construction on May 7, 2000.

But in August, it was open for business!

Parking structure now open on August 5, 2000.

Though there was still work going on. The escalators had opened without any roof, so temporary coverings were added.

Temporary escalator coverings on August 5, 2000.

I could probably do a few more pages about what was going on with the parking structure. The original traffic routing and layout was quite different than what it is today. Instead, I’ll put in one more photo showing the new parking structure tram loading area, along with construction on one of the other escalators.

Parking structure tram loading area on August 5, 2000.

There was so much going on. One of the hardest things to remember is that the area surrounding Disneyland used to be quite … rough. Liquor stores, run down convenience stores, crappy motels… These things were what drove Walt Disney to buy so much land in Florida so he could control what was built next to his projects.

But during the Disneyland Resort project, the entire surrounding area got a facelift. I wish I had photos of “before” to share, but I never thought to take pictures of run down motels and scary looking liquor stores.

There’s still more previewing yet to be had.

Until next time…

Before Disney’s California Adventure, part 2.

Previously, I showed you a bit about the state of parking in 1998 as construction on the upcoming Disney’s California Adventure began. Let’s jump ahead to the next year now.

My visit in 1999 began with me parking at the Lion King lot.

Lion King parking lot on March 23, 1999.

A tram would take guests to the “Christmas tree lot” at the front of the park. Notice the copper color scheme on Space Mountain back then, from the “new” New Tomorrowland that had recently opened.

“Christmas tree lot” tram area on March 23, 1999.

The same lots (Lion King and Pinnochio) were still being used, but this directional sign was new. Notice something added?

Parking lot sign on March 23, 1999.

A Disneyland Resort Preview Center had been opened to give guests a glimpse of things to come — specifically, Disney’s California Adventure, the Grand Californian hotel, and Downtown Disney.

The Preview Center was set up along the construction wall across from the Disneyland entrance.

Disneyland Resort Preview Center on March 23, 1999.

It was basically just a tent with some potted plants (er, potted trees?) around it, and lots of scaffolding. Because scaffolding is magic.

Disneyland Resort Preview Center tent on March 23, 1999.
Disneyland Resort Preview Center entrance on May 23, 1999.

I’d love to show you what was inside (such as all the concept art that was on the walls), but there was a strict “no photography allowed” policy — and a cast member enforcing it! (Somewhere I have a picture of the sign that says I can’t take pictures there, but I couldn’t find it at the time of this writing.)

You could, however, climb up to the top of the observation deck and take pictures of the construction progress.

Preview Center observation deck on March 23, 1999.

There wasn’t much going on at this point.

DCA construction on May 23, 1999.

They did have a panoramic photo of the view with an artist rendering overplayed on it so you could better picture what they were working on.

View of the view on March 23, 1999.

Here’s four close ups of the entire thing in stunning 640×480 resolution:

  • Layout 1 of 4.
  • Layout 2 of 4.
  • Layout 3 of 4.
  • Layout 4 of 4.

Hey, look! This hole is going to become Soarin’ Over California!

Soarin’ Over California construction on March 23, 1999.

This was also when they were building the new cast member costuming building.

Cast member costuming building construction on March 23, 1999.

And it went up much faster than DCA! Two months later and…

Cast member costuming building construction on May 12, 1999.

If you parked in the Pinnochio lot, you could see the parking structure construction:

Parking structure construction on May 11, 1999.

Although the construction made getting in and out of the park a bit inconvenient, it was a very exciting time to be visiting. In just three years the resort would more than double in size with a new theme park, high end resort hotel, and shopping complex.

But, there was still more previewing yet to be done.

Until next time…

Before Disney’s California Adventure, part 1.

Happy Anniversary to Disney’s/Disney California Adventure (February 8, 2001).

Yes, Virginia, there used to be a time when you could park in front of Disneyland and walk to the entrance. The construction of Disney’s California Adventure (today known as Disney California Adventure) changed all that. Let’s take a peek back to the pre-DCA days. We’ll begin in the year 1997.

The Disneyland parking lot was still in use in 1997.

Disneyland parking lot on May 17, 1997.

By my visit in May of 1998, it was not. They were using the Pinnochio lot near the Disneyland Hotel, and the Lion King lot (Simba and Timon) at the corner of the old parking lot.

Parking sign on May 23, 1998.

I am not sure which lot this is (Pinnochio, I think?), but the entrance area was far less dramatic than the old Disneyland entrance:

New parking entrance on May 24, 1998.

$7 to park? Are you kidding me? Geez, Disney.

This was also the time when the tram would have to wait for traffic and cross a public road!

Why did the tram cross the road on May 23, 1998?
To get to the other side on May 26, 1998.

Of course, this required Disney to staff the “open” tram entrance with a guard.

Disneyland guard guarding the tram entrance on May 23, 1998.

This was also when the new tram drop-off spot for the Lion King lot opened up. Disfans were calling it the “Christmas tree lot.” It had color-coded light posts (red, blue and yellow) and those odd oversized concrete traffic cones. If you look in the right of this photo, you can barely make out the old Disneyland sign, too:

The “Christmas tree lot” tram area on May 24, 1998.

There was quite a bit of a barren walk from the tram drop-off to the park entrance back then. (It’s just as far today, but you pass ticket booths and such now.)

Walking to the entrance on May 23, 1998.

Construction walls were up across from the entrance to Disneyland. In this photo, you can see the transition between the older, smaller yellow and blue trams, and the new mega trams (called “Tramzilla” by Disfans back then).

Construction walls on May 22, 1998.

But in the “public” area where guests could walk, much nicer construction walls were used, and they had concept art. The tree lined walkway in the left of this next photo is the one I showed in an earlier post.

And that’s what 1998 was like. The former Disneyland parking lot (which I believe was larger than all of Disneyland itself) was turned into a construction zone with only a corner left for parking. The rest of parking was across the way (the side where Downtown Disney extends to the Disneyland Hotel today).

The parking structure was under construction, but it was still two years away from completion.

To be continued.

Until next time…

Fantasyland in 1996.

King Triton statue on May 23, 1996.

I was hoping to find some interesting photos from Fantasyland in 1996, but it seems most of the photos I took there during my first visits with a digital camera look about the same as the area does today.

Sure, the King Triton statue is now gone and replaced by a Tinkerbell meet-and-greet. And sure, the statue of Ariel the mermaid is also in Yesterland, but beyond that, the photos I took that visit could just as easily have been taken this year. (Except I’d expect modern photos to be larger than 320×240!)

Ariel statue on August 16, 1996.

I suppose it might be of interest to know that Sleeping Beauty Castle‘s walk-through attraction was open in 1996…

“But Allen, it’s open today, too. What’s the big deal?” I hear none of you asking.

Well, there was the original version of the castle walk-through, then there was the 1970s update of the castle walkthrough, and then there was … no castle walkthrough. For many years.

After 9/11, the castle was sealed off and remained hidden away until it got fully refreshed and updated in 2008. The version of the walk-through that is beyond the entrance in that photo no longer exists in that form.

So that counts. I think.

About the only other thing that caught my eye was a photo I took of this:

Ground on August 16, 1996.

This was a “unique” discovery in 1996. As its internet fame grew, you’d see people stopping and pointing at it, or taking pictures of it, or even asking a cast member to take one of them with their digital camera that they had to call a “computer camera” so the CM would even know what that meant…

But I digress.

If only selfies had existed back then, we might have had our first (more awkward?) “purple wall”:

The Purple Wall

Yep. That’s the official Disney blog posting about a purple wall. That should make all my odd pictures and comments here seem even better 😉

But back to that ground photo …  I’m not even sure if it’s still there today, though I expect it is. Maybe no one cares any more because the original information was either completely bogus, or correct but no longer relevant. Either way, I took a picture of it in 1996. Take that, purple wall!

You know what that is, don’t you?

Until next time…