Category: Walt Disney World

Disneyland radio codes, pre world-wide-web.

In the days before the World Wide Web, finding information about Disney theme parks was nearly impossible. There were some books and TV specials, but beyond that, unless you knew somebody with inside information (i.e. someone who worked or had worked for the Mouse), you probably didn’t know much.

Today, of course, every nook and cranny of the parks is fully documented. You can find photos and videos of backstage areas, scans of ride maintenance manuals, attraction audio files and more just by typing a few words in a search engine. You can even find endless videos from inside the “secret” Club 33 which, before the World Wide Web, most of us didn’t even know existed. Heck, even *I* have photos I took inside Club 33.

But before the modern Internet, things were different. If you didn’t live in California or Florida, you probably did not encounter many (or even any) people who worked for Disney. Everything I knew about Disneyland and Magic Kingdom was from my family taking me to both several times as a kid in the 1970s.

Finding Disney information in the early 1980s…

But that started to change when home computers and telephone modems became a thing. In the early 1980s, I learned about computer Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes). I could dial in to some other kid’s computer and read messages from other users that called in at other times. Unlike a real bulletin board on the wall at a local book shop, this computer bulletin board could be accessed by anyone in the local area code! (Or around the world if they wanted to pay long distance phone charge to call some random kid’s computer in Houston, I guess.)

It was through one of these BBSes I met my first former Disney employee. He had worked at Magic Kingdom in the maintenance department. The stories he shared were my first glimpse “behind the magic” of Disney theme parks.

For example, he explained the projectors that made the singing busts and the Madam Leota’s face on the table in the Haunted Mansion. He described how the face surface was mostly flat with a bit of shape for where the nose and eyes and such would be. He mentioned they used a fan to blow air to keep dust from being in the projection beam. He said they used special lenses that refocused it around the shape. He also mentioned “angel hair” (though I still have no idea what this meant) for Leota’s crystal ball.

Was any of this true? A decade later, thanks to the World Wide Web, it sure seemed like most of it was.

But, not all of his stories checked out. He said that the Disney designers had been wanting to do a similar Leota type projection effect for 20,000 Leagues under the sea involving an octopus. Have you ever heard of such a rumor or experiment?

Even before the internet, there were rumors, and Disney cast members heard plenty of of them — some true, but most were not (just like today).

Finding Disney information in the late 1980s/early 1990s…

The 1980s also brought us national text-based services like CompuServe, The Source, Delphi and GEnie. Instead of just being able to interact with folks who were calling in to some random kid’s computer in same town, now you could dial a local number and be connected to a series of mainframe computers connected across the country (or even around the world).

I was a member of a few of these services in the later 1980s and early 1990s. It was on one of these services in the early 1990s that someone sent me a list of Disneyland radio codes. Thanks to my dad, I had already become familiar with some of these. His van was loaded with radio equipment and police scanners. When we’d drive to Walt Disney World, we’d sit in the parking lot listening to Disney radio chatter. (Have I told the story about carrying around scanners in the park, listening in? If not, I will have to sometime…)

He had written down a list of codes and what they meant. He had also gotten some more codes and information from Disney security staff. I am pretty sure I must have asked my Disneyland contact about these codes to see if I could get a complete list for my dad.

So below, I present to you a slightly redacted (just in case he still works for Disney in some capacity) of these codes. I wonder if any of these are still in use? I certainly recognize a few of the more famous ones… But back then, I don’t think any of us know what a ride going “101” meant.

Enjoy this trip back to the early 1990s…


Sub: Disneyland's radio codes...

Allen,

I'll bet you thought I forgot you!  Well, do be honest, I did, but I ran
across the printout I made, so now I remember! :-)

Here are all of the codes I have...

Common Radio Codes Used At Disneyland

10-1      Receiving poorly
10-2      Receiving well
10-4      OK or Acknowledge
10-6      Busy
10-7      Out of service (usually used when going to lunch)
10-8      In service (when back from lunch)
10-9      Repeat last transmission
10-14     Escort or convoy (I've never heard this one used)
10-19     Return to office
10-20     What is your location?
10-21     Call x (where x is the telephone # given following the code)
10-22     Cancel last message/assignment
10-23     Stand-by
10-28     Registration request (never heard this one, either)
10-87     Meet __________ at __________
10-96     Request test of select call
10-97     Arrive at scene
10-98     Finished last assignment
10-99     Undesirable person (add to 10-99 the following codes)
     Code C = Caucasion
     Code B = Black
     Code L = Latino
     Code O = Oriental

11350     Possession of Dangerous drugs
11357     Possession of Marijuana
5150      Mentally disturbed
211       Robbery
240       Assualt
242       Battery
314       Indecent exposure
390       Drunk
408       Counterfeit bill
415       Disturbing the peace
417       Person with weapon (add following codes)
     Code G = Gun
     Code K = Knife
459       Burglary
486       Petty theft
502       Drunk driver
503       Stolen vehicle
594       Malicious mischief
901       Traffic Accident, unknown if injury
901-T     Injury traffic accident
902       Accident, non-injury
904       Fire
921       Prowler
925       Suspicious person
982       Bomb threat
999       Officer needs help, any unit respond

Code 1    Routine
Code 2    Urgent
Code 3    Emergency
Code 4    No further assistance needed
Code 5    Stake out
Code 7    Lunch
Code H    Call home
Code 100  Attraction delayed opening
Code 101  Attraction down - routine
Code 102  Attraction down - urgent
Code 103  Attraction down - emergency
Code 104  Attraction up - Normal operation
Code 105  Attraction up - reduced operations
Code 106  Attraction up - Full capacity

GC        Guest Complaint

There are many more that I can't think of off the top of my head, but this
will give you alot to listen for.  Please don't indiscrimanantly reveal
these codes, i.e. 'in the RT'.  This is _not_ for public knowledge,
although with a little investigation by anyone, they could find most of
these out. ;-)


[Redacted]

Until next time…

Walt Disney World gallery updated – over 43,000 images.

New photos added to the WDW gallery (no theme parks, just some resorts and Disney Springs stuff):

http://wdw.disneyfans.com

This brings the total to over 43,000 images, going back to 1996.

“No. Never faster. Painfully slow.”

Years ago, I had a brief online exchange with someone about the use of Walt Disney World busses. At the time, they had spent a decade collecting statistics, riding bus routes, and researching. They knew the average times between buses at different times of day, and during different times of year.

My question was simple… Are busses ever a faster option?

The title of this post is what their response was.

No. Never Faster. Painfully slow.

Now, when it comes to staying offsite with a car versus staying onsite and using buses, I can personally say that my “research” agrees. I was able to leave my offsite hotel (the cheap kind, where you open a door and walk ten feet to your car, not the expensive kind where you might have a ten minute walk to the parking lot) and be at the front gate of all the parks except Magic Kingdom before my onsite friends could make it using the busses. Magic Kingdom is a special exception since you can drive to the parking lot quickly, but then there is still that lengthy journey to the park itself via monorail or ferryboat… while onsite buses can drop off near the park entrance.

Because of this, I had never stayed “on site” during any Walt Disney World trips. Amusingly, even Disneyland Resort has a longer walk for guests staying at the official Disneyland Hotel west of the park compared to off-site guests who stay at off-site hotels east of the park on S. Harbor Blvd. There are a number of hotels on that side that have a much shorter walk to the Esplanade between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

When it comes to official Disney hotels, you may “get what you pay for” in hotel amenities, but one of them isn’t “time to get to the park.” 😉

That was then…

That is how things were nearly twenty years ago when I was visiting Orlando for Epcot’s 25th Anniversary. Since then, a few things have changed… Back then, I would have recommended renting a car even if staying on-site to get the benefit of being “closer” to the parks (depending on where your hotel was) and bypassing the slowness of the bus system. But, these days, Disney charges for parking at the hotels and, if you didn’t have an annual pass that includes park parking, you’d be paying two parking fee each day you drove to the parks.

Disney must really want you to ride their busses.

This is now…

Since then, some things have changed for the better. Today, the Skyliner connects several hotels to Disney Hollywood Studios and Epcot. This gives those hotels an unbeatable advantage to anyone staying offsite and driving in.

Art of Animation/Pop Century Skyliner station, 2024.

With today’s annual pass price (that includes theme park parking) being so high, it is no longer a better value to buy an annual pass to take one week-long trip (when you first activate the pass) then a second one a year later just before the pass expires. Those “no brainer, buy a pass” days seem long gone. Thus, driving in by car now requires paying $30 to park at a theme park! That adds an extra $210 to a weeklong visit.

But today we have Lyft and Uber and other ride sharing services. And you can buy a lot of short rides for $210.

I’ll put together a part 2, discussing visiting Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort and Disneyland without a car, and without riding buses.

Until then…

“Look at all those people coming out of the unisex bathroom”

To this day, this is one of the funniest quotes I remember from Disney World.

There was a time when Disney was seen as safe and squeaky clean, but as times change, we have seen more and more once-wholesome things be removed from the parks (or edited from movies or songs).

I decided to post this quote here in case anyone else ends up searching for it. We’ll see if someone comments, either asking about it, or naming what it is from.

Begin.

9/11 and Disney Parks

9/11 ribbon.

NOTE: This post was originally written a few years ago.

I was working for a startup tech company in Silicon Valley when 9/11 happened. I remember going to the lobby of the hotel I was staying at and the front desk clerk saying “I hope you weren’t flying out today.” I was not, and I had no idea why she said that.

After the hotel shuttle dropped me off at work, I learned of what was going on. I spent my work day distracted as I kept an eye on news websites. Many must have been doing the same, as “big” news sites were reverting to very sparse, simple web pages to keep up with the traffic.

And even though Disneyland and Walt Disney World were far away from the attacks, the parks closed — something they rarely did. If you tried to go to the official websites, you saw the following:

Disneyland website on 9/11/2001.
Walt Disney World website on 9/11/2001.

It took years for tourism to recover. Hotels closed. Disney projects were canceled. But recover it did, and here we are, almost twenty years later, with some of the busiest parks and largest expansions those parks have ever seen.

Today, as we “Never Forget,” I hope all continue to move forward.

Until next time…

Universal Mardi Gras and Disney World photos coming soon…

Over 4200 new photos will be added to the gallery in coming weeks. They include photos along the Disney World Skyliner route (the resorts and area with stations), a half day visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and a trip to Universal Orlando for this year’s Mardi Gras event.

We also visited the Universal Great Escape Back to the Future experience, which was a cool technical achievement. Actually, the higher end bar there is worth a look if you partake in adult beverages.

Blog posts coming, as soon as things are caught up…

So that casino at Walt Disney World is finally happening?

Click-bait headlines are exclaiming that a casino is coming to Walt Disney World. Whether this is accurate or not isn’t important, but it did bring back memories of something my father told me long ago.

My dad was taken to Disneyland shortly after it first opened in 1955. In the 1970s, he took me to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. Because of that, I can say there was a time when I had visited every Disney park in the entire world!

But I digress.

In the days before the Internet, Disney rumors were far more sparse. You really didn’t know anything unless you read it in a book, or you knew someone who knew anything. And, somewhere, my dad had “learned” that the space-age Contemporary Resort had been built to have a casino. Disney, doing a casino? That will never happen.

I grew up in Houston, and after I got my first computer modem (kids, ask your parents), I started frequenting the bulletin board systems (BBS) in town. One of the users was a guy who had worked at Magic Kingdom for a number of years doing behind the scenes stuff.

I exchanged many messages with him, asking him all kinds of questions. “What do the Presidents look like up close?” “How does xxxx work?” He explained things to me that I wouldn’t be able to confirm until a decade later after I got access to Internet (news groups like alt.disney.disneyland and rec.arts.disneyparks and, later, personal home pages on the World Wide Web).

One story he told me had to do with Madam Leota in the Haunted Mansion. I expect I knew it was a projection, but he told me something about air being blown to keep dust out from in front of the projection (true?), and that the lens was special with edges to keep the sides in better focus or something. A decade later, I think it was the Persistence of Vision magazine that contained some of this same information. I bet if I did some web searches right now I could find out if either of those sources were correct.

But not everything he told me was correct. Or, if it was, it never amounted to anything. He mentioned they had been wanting to do a similar Madame Leota effect for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, except it would be to project a giant octopus or something. I don’t remember anything else, except the term “angel hair” was part of it — to this day, I still don’t really know what that meant. I envisioned it as some kind of substance you could fill a glass sphere with and project on.

None of this is important, of course, but he, too, had heard about a casino at the Contemporary.

Over the years, Disney has made steps to fight against casinos coming to the area. There’s really no reason to believe Disney would ever do anything like a casino.

But then Pleasure Island happened, and none of us ever expected Disney to compete against Church Street Station by opening up a whole bunch of night clubs!

All of this to say that … if it does come to pass, at least we can change this crazy unsubstantiated and unlikely rumor from CLEARLY FALSE to OH I GUESS ITS TRUE. Even if one has nothing to do with the other.

Until next time…

Disneyland’s last Annual Passholder Party in 1997.

I returned to visiting Disneyland in December 1995. I was then an annual pass holder every year except for the dark times (after the great tech layoffs following 9/11) through the late 2000s.

Disneyland used to do a yearly Annual Passholder Party. It was a hard ticket event that gave pass holders special access in the evening to presentations, entertainment and food. The last one was 23 years ago today on March 14, 1997. I thought it might be fun to look back on the event through my ancient digital photos.

Getting there is half the fun

I travelled for work, and just happened to be in Irvine, California the week this event was held. I had no ticket, but my local friend Steve roamed the lines asked if anyone had an extra ticket. Thanks to Steve and some random nice guy I was able to experience the event. (I used to have a picture of him, but it seems to have been lost to time.)

New Tomorrowland

The new New Tomorrowland was under construction, so there were many displays set up showing things to come.

Innoventions

This one shows the paint job that Innoventions would soon have.

Innoventions model. Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997

It was on this night that the made the building rotate (to great applause) for the first time since it America Sings was inside. I highly suspect they practiced this before they tried to power it up in front of annual pass holders.

Rocket Rods

The PeopleMover had been shut down for a few years, but its high speed replacement, Rocket Rods, would soon be operating. This was a map of the track layout.

Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997

The next resort…

And of course, with Disneyland soon to be the Disneyland Resort featuring a new theme park, Disney’s California Adventure, there was concept art on hand about changes coming to the resort area.

Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997

And check out this “now” and “later” image showing the yucky run down strip mall look that surrounded Disneyland … and the lush tourist district it would soon be transformed into:

Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997

Won’t you let me take you on a Disney cruise?

The Disney Cruise lines was also represented, showing off a model of an upcoming cruise ship.

Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997

Animal Kingdom: coming soon!

There was also a new Florida Disney theme park opening — the first new U.S. park since Disney/MGM Studios opened nine years earlier. Animal Kingdom was represented with a display of concept art.

Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997
Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997

Test Track!

The transformation of Epcot’s World of Motion into Test Track also got some concept art.

Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997

Imagineers standing by…

This is where I got to meet some imagineers for the first time. I had my photo taken with Bruce Gordon and Tony Baxter, though I don’t believe I had any idea who either of them were at the time.

  • Me with Imagineer Bruce Gordon (and ???) at Disneyland on May 14, 1997.
  • Me with Imagineer Tony Baxter at Disneyland on May 14, 1997.

Hungry yet?

Outside of Tomorrowland, the walkway between New Orleans Square and the Rivers of America was taken over by food booths. You could buy samples of all kinds of food items from the different lands of the parks. Back then, the prices were very reasonable!

Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997
Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997
Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997
Disneyland Annual Passholder Part on May 14, 1997

Light Magic

This was also the first night we got to see a sneak preview of the upcoming Light Magic parade… but I will save that for a second part.

I thought I had many more photos from this night, but it appears they may have been lost with some hard drive failures I have had over the years. Stay in school kids, and backup often.

Until next time…

P.S. The photos in this article were all 640×480 low resolution images from my Epson PhotoPC camera. They have been upscaled using software as an experiment. What do you think? I think they look like Instagram filters. . .

Entering Disney in 1996.

Here is a real quick one… It recently dawned on me that someone could probably dedicate a whole series of articles to how admission to the Disney theme parks has changed over the years. Up until the 1990s, this would have only been a discussion about coupon books versus single and multi-day general admission tickets. Since then, however, there have been a number of changes to how admission is handled.

I will just contribute two photos taken in 1996 of how you used to get in to the Magic Kingdom in Florida.

First, notice the orange area in the following photo:

Magic Kingdom turnstile on August 26, 1996.

At that time, admission was a paper-plastic type ticket with a magnetic strip on it. At the turnstile you would insert that ticket into the orange slot and it would scan and allow (or deny) you access to the park.

Here is what my ticket, an annual pass, looked like in 1996:

1996 WDW Annual Pass (back).

And here is the front artwork:

1996 WDW Annual Pass (front).

Yes, my Walt Disney World annual pass was just a piece of plastic-paper with my name on it.

At the time, I thought this was quite cheesy compared to how Disneyland did theirs. They had an actual plastic ID card with a photo on it, and no magnetic strip that could become demagnetized. Here is the Disneyland pass from the same year:

1996 Disneyland AP (back).

And here is the back, promoting the recently opened Indiana Jones Adventure attraction:

1996 Disneyland AP (front).

Quite a difference in quality! In those years, it was said that Disneyland visitors were 70% locals from Southern California, while Walt Disney World was about 70% out-of-state tourists. I guess Disney just had more “regulars” to make feel special when they spent so much money on an annual pass. (After all, a one day pass to Disneyland in 1996 has just seen its price jacked up to $34!)

I never had a day pass to Disneyland, so I don’t know what they used for single day tickets at the time.

I recently found all of my Disneyland and Walt Disney World passes I’ve had since 1995. In a future post, I’ll do a photo essay showing the changes over the years.

One more thing before I go… The backside of the Magic Kingdom turnstile in 1996:

Magic Kingdom turnstile on August 26, 1996.

Ah, the things I took pictures of with my first digital camera.

Until next time…

Disney/MGM Studios Backlot Tour in 1996

When Disney/MGM Studios opened in 1989 (I wouldn’t get to see it until 1994), it was a pre-emptive strike against Universal Studios’ plans to open their own theme park just down the road. The park was quickly constructed and opened in order to beat Universal’s 1990 opening date.

One of the main features of the park were tours where you could see Disney Animators working on upcoming features, and a behind-the-scenes tram tour through actual movie and TV locations. Since Orlando was far, far from Hollywood, neither Disney’s or Universal’s studio parks were going to come close to the “real” studio tour that Universal Studios had in California, but hey, it was at least a different concept for a theme park out East.

The Backlot Tour was part walking tour, through exhibits and presentations, then tram tour. For some reason, I have no photos from the tram tour portion, but I did take some during the walking part.

There were actual movie props on display. I forget what movie this Trojan Horse was from, but it was on display next to vehicles that were, I think, from the movie The Rock.

D/MGM Studios Backlot Tour Trojan Horse on August 26, 1996.

For the opening of D/MGM, a short film was produced starring Bette Midler called “The Lottery“. It was filmed in sound stages and on the streets at the theme park. Here are some of the props and set pieces used in the film:

D/MGM Backlot Tour props and set pieces from The Lottery on August 26, 1996.

And, hey! Here’s a recording of the movie on YouTube! Look at “original” Disney/MGM Studios!

But I digress.

There were lots of other props to see along the way, and eventually you got to look at the water tank. It wasn’t a real filming location — it was just a tourist thing and part of the show. But, it had what looked like one of the old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea subs in it!

D/MGM Backlot Tour water tank on August 26, 1996.

Two guests were selected before the show to act out a nautical battle scene. One was in a ship wheelhouse set, and the other was at the battle station where they would “fire” on the ship.

D/MGM Backlot Tour water tank on August 26, 1996.

I even got to do this twice. Here’s me in 1998:

Me on the D/MGM Backlot Tour on January 24, 1998.

There were many other interesting things to see along the tour. Of course, I was focused on theme park stuff, and excited to see a Jungle Cruise (assumption) elephant:

D/MGM Backlot Tour Jungle Cruise (?) elephant on August 26, 1996.

You’d pass through a “prop warehouse” and see things from TV shows as well as defunct Disney theme park attractions.

D/MGM Backlot Tour prop warehouse on August 26, 1996.

This Mickey refrigerator prop caught my attention, though I don’t know what it was from.

D/MGM Studios Backlot Tour Mickey refrigerator on August 26, 1996.

But this prehistoric TV I did recognize! It was from the ABC series Dinosaurs. See the in-universe corporation logo on the front? “WeSaySo”.

D/MGM Studios Backlot Tour TV set from ABC’s Dinosaurs on August 26, 1996.

And this “famous” prop… A Binford Tools lawn mower from the ABC TV series Home Improvement:

D/MGM Backlot Tour Binford Tools lawnmower on August 26, 1996.

Some items were clearly marked as originating from the other Disney parks. Look at the logo here – EPCOT Center, before “Epcot ’94″…

D/MGM Backlot Tour Epcot assets tag on August 26, 1996.

And look at all the decommissioned animatronics from World of Motion (I think)! I’ll just stick them into a small gallery here, since this article is already getting way too long. Click them to see full-size versions.

  • D/MGM Backlot Tour World of Motion animatronics on August 26, 1996.
  • D/MGM Backlot Tour World of Motion animatronics on August 26, 1996.
  • D/MGM Backlot Tour World of Motion animatronics on August 26, 1996.
  • D/MGM Studios Backlot Tour defunct animatronic on August 26, 1996.
  • D/MGM Studios Backlot Tour animatronic face masks on August 26, 1996.

It was such a neat experience, and this is only a fraction of what it was. There were plenty of other exhibits and “show” elements before getting to the tram tour.

I’ll have much more of this tour to show in future installments as the years progress and I started taking more and more photos in the parks.

Until next them…