Rocket To The Moon Articles
10 Disneyland Attractions That Do Not Exist Anymore But We Wish Did
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It's not easy being Disneyland. To keep people coming back and visiting year after year, the Anaheim amusement park has to constantly reinvent itself while not changing in ways that'll alienate diehard fans whose nostalgia runs deep. A few months ago, the park permanently closed the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to turn it into Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!, which opens May 27. While Disney ...
23 Rides That Have Shut Down And The Surprising Reasons Why
Rocket to the Moon closed and inspired several futuristic flight rides were equally unsuccessful. Rocket to the Moon was a Disneyland opening day attraction in 1955 that placed guests in a giant rocket ship, or moonliner, standing in Tomorrowland. The futuristic simulation ride was sponsored by the now defunct airline TWA (Trans World Airline). Guests sat in a circle with screens ...
9 Extinct Disneyland Attractions You Probably Never Knew Existed
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Over 60 years ago, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California. In the decades since, Walt Disney's original theme park vision has undergone changes both big and small. Rides, attractions, and entire swaths of land have sometimes been overhauled or torn down to make way for modern amusements. But thanks to documentaries and numerous Disney bloggers, we can still look back at some of the most iconic rides ...
A Fantasy That Paid Off
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The place is surrounded by a berm, a high barrow of earth, that insulates it from the external world. There is a single gateway where admission is charged. This, the land of Disney, is more secure than ancient Troy. No Trojan horse will get into Disneyland. Guards at the main gate closely scrutinize all who enter. Not even an unseemly teenager will get past them, much less a Trojan horse. Disneyland is ...
A Park With A Powerful Spell
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Disneyland opened on this day in 1955. For five decades, the Anaheim attraction has worked its magic on our culture and transformed the entertainment industry. To build his dream theme park in Anaheim a half-century ago, Walt Disney borrowed against his life insurance policy and cashed in property, including a vacation home in Palm Springs, to pay the $17-million construction bill. When the ...
All 13 Movies Based On Attractions Ranked
On July 17, 1955, Walt Disney invited guests to ''leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy'' as he welcomed them to Disneyland for the first time. 70 years later, droves of ecstatic Disney fans are still making their way to the magical theme park in Anaheim, California that has served as a source of joy and inspiration for generations around the globe.
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All Aboard For Disneyland
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Byways, streets and rail lines of yesteryear, rivers of today, super freeways and sky-trails of the future, paths and celestial seas in the ageless realm of make-believe are ready for travel-and all can be traversed in a single day at Disneyland. Tours into four centuries in horse-drawn streetcars, stagecoaches. Mississippi stern-wheelers, old-time trains, cars-of-tomorrow. "flying" pirate galleons ...
All Our Yesterdays
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The future isn't what it used to be. Take Tomorrowland. When it opened in 1955 as one of the five original sections of Disneyland, Walt Disney himself appeared on the live opening-day telecast and promised "a step into the future with constructive predictions about things to come." He may have been a dull public speaker, but in envisioning "the world of 1987," as it was at one point conceived, he did ...
Areas Of Disneyland Provide Visitors Wide Entertainment Choice
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Adventure, fantasy, the future, the past, the modern the old and the outdated-all are present in quality and quantity at the Disneyland world of entertainment, enchantment and variety. Starting with their entrance into the Park leading onto Main Street; U.S.A., visitors can project themselves into any one of four worlds which await them during their 1 1/4-mile walk through Disneyland's ...
Autopia's New Wheels
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If the new Autopia at Disneyland needs a slogan, it could be "Cars are people, too." At Tomorrowland beginning June 29, guests will have the choice of three personality-filled vehicles to "drive": Suzie, a cute, curvy compact; Dusty, a rugged and roomy SUV; and Sparky, a Ferrari-like sports car. "Today, being on the open road is a common experience, but the thrill of trying on a new car is still there," ...
Black Sunday Remembering Disneylands Disastrous Opening Day On Its 65th Anniversary
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Disneyland's opening day started off very inauspiciously for Walt Disney. Exhausted by last-minute preparations, he'd gone up to his private apartment above the firehouse on Main Street to get a little sleep before festivities began on the morning of July 17, 1955. When he awoke, he realized he'd somehow locked himself inside the room. So Walt Disney began yelling for help. ...
Can You Name All 15 Eticket Rides Still At Disneyland It Is Not As Easy As You Think
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As Disneyland celebrates the 60th anniversary of the E-ticket, it seems like a good time to look back at the rides that earned that distinction at the Anaheim theme park. But what are the E-ticket rides of Disneyland? Naming them all is not as simple as you might think. There were 23 E-ticket attractions during the ticket book era that stretched from 1955 to 1982, according to ...
Celebrities Officials Join Walt Disney To Dedicate New Era In Entertainment
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More than 50,000 visitors were attracted to Disneyland on Monday, July 18, when the Park officially opened its gates to the general public. Reactions were mixed but highly enthusiastic, ranging from exclamations of "fantastic" to "unbelievable" and "too terrific for words to describe. Governor Goodwin J.. Knight of the State of California assisted Walt Disney and some 25,000 invited guests at the official ...
Dazzled In Disneyland
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In the third decade of this century America produced a young man of genius. He drew pictures with pen and ink and wash. Like other geniuses, such as Michelangelo, Leonardo and Bernini, he had a mechanical turn of mind; and, by means of all sorts of devices, he made his drawings into motion pictures which were works of art. He drew animals to perfection. With care and his knowledge of mechanics he made ...
Disastrous Debut The Inside Story Of The 1955 Opening Day Fiasco
Disneyland 's opening day on July 17, 1955, was intended to be a major media event, televised nationally with Hollywood stars and dignitaries in attendance. However, problems, mishaps, and disasters turned it into a day forever known as “Black Sunday.” Background and Lead Up The concept for Disneyland began when Walt Disney was spending time with his daughters at parks and ...
Disneyland A New Wonder Of The Amusement World Nears Completion
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A wonderland of delights such as the World may never have seen before is rising out of the orange groves in this sunny suburb of Los Angeles. It is Disneyland, a 17 million dollar paradise for children. When the gates are opened on July 19, customers will see an amusement built on the scale of a World's Fair. The fantastic world of Disney films will be transformed into three dimensional reality. ...
Disneyland And Imagineering Part 12
Although Disney had a dislike for the typical carnivals of the time, it wasn't so much the content, but the environment and the lack of attention to detail. Long before the park was built, after one of his frequent visits to Griffith Park with his daughters, he stated, "Things could be done better than this. A park should be designed for total family enjoyment. Besides a merry-go-round, there could be ...
Disneyland And Imagineering Part 13
Disneyland, the idea, came from the mind of Walt Disney, but Disneyland, the theme park, was a collaborative effort. It took a great many men and women to create it. Since all men are created equal, everyone who contributed should be credited. I've known about C.V. Wood for many years, and although he was not an Imagineer, he was a land developer who made significant contributions in terms of sales and ...
Disneyland And Imagineering Part 9
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The birth of space exploration in the middle of the 1950s affected both sides of the globe, but before the Space Race there was the Cold War. There was a fair share of unilateral fear from several previous wars. As a result, it pitted the United States against Russia in a "race" for strategic military superiority. Although the Cold War came first, the Space Race wasn't far behind and for a long period ...
Disneyland And Las Vegas
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This is written in Mexico, my home in recent years. I've just returned from a visit to the United States, and am now once more enjoying the taste of unfrozen orange juice and fresh fish, conversations lasting four or five hours in which all sorts of cabbages and kings are discussed, meetings with friends where no one asks if I watched TV last night to see Mickey Rooney do Oedipus Rex on the Benign ...
Disneyland First Day Was Such A Disaster It Is Still Called Black Sunday 70 Years Later
Disneyland, Anaheim CA
July 17, 1955 is still known as ''Black Sunday'' at Disney. By day's end, he and his team faced melting asphalt, food shortages, gas leaks, and 28,000 guests instead of the expected 15,000.
Here's what happened on opening day, when the Happiest Place on Earth felt anything but.
Walt Disney's Morning Mishap
Walt ...
Disneyland Gates Open Celebrity Throng At Premier
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Disneyland, a $17,000,000 fairyland dedicated to the pleasure of children, opened Sunday in a special preview of 35,000 invited guests whose enthusiasm indicated that Walt Disney's dream had lived up to expectations. The spectacular park will be opened officially to the public at 10 a. m. today and upward of 50,000 persons are expected for the event. Sunday the adults - members of the press from ...
Disneyland Gets Its Last Touches
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The final fantastic touches are being put on Disneyland. The $16,500,000 amusement park created by Walt Disney, the film producer, is scheduled to open July 18. It covers sixty acres and is calculated to draw about 5,000,000 visitors a year. Disneyland is situated in this citrus-ranching suburb twenty-two miles from Los Angeles. For it the appellation "amusement park" is inadequate; for it has ...
Disneyland Got Off To A Nightmare Start In 1955 But Walts Folly Quickly Won Over Fans
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Disneyland's opening day, July 17, 1955, was a nightmare. ides broke down. Restaurants ran out of food and drink, and a plumbers' strike meant drinking fountains were in short supply. Long lines formed at bathrooms. Bunting hid unfinished attractions. Women's high-heeled shoes sank into the fresh asphalt. All in front of a national audience of 90 million, then the largest live broadcast in ...
Disneyland Marks 50 Years Of Magic
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To build his dream theme park a half-century ago, Walt Disney borrowed against his life-insurance policy and cashed in property, including a vacation home in Palm Springs, to pay the $17 million construction bill.When the theme park opened July 17, 1955, on a sweltering day, toilets clogged, the food ran out and women's high heels sank into wet asphalt. Disney officials still call it Black Sunday. ...
Disneyland Opened To Public
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Walt Disney's $17,000,000 Disneyland was formally opened to the public yesterday at 10 a.m. The 60-acre wonderland at 1313 Harbor Blvd., Anaheim was previewed for the press civic officials and entertainment industry Sunday. Disneyland was formally dedicated by Disney "to the people of the world young and old with a dream in their hearts." Gov. Goodwin J Knight added: "All America can take ...
Disneyland Then And Now
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1955 Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week in summer; closed Mondays the rest of the year. Size: 60 acres, plus 100 acres for parking. Zones: Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Main Street USA 18 attarctions Admission: $1 (including tax) for adults. 50 cents for children. Ride tickets, sold separately, priced from 10 to 35 cents. Employees: About 1,000 ...
Disneyland Turning 50
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Here's the deal with Disneyland. The two women ahead of me in line were Elizabeth and Lexi, twins fromWinnetka, Ill. Elizabeth is a communications and political science major at the University of Southern California. Lexi is a philosophy major atYale. They knew the words to ''We Can Fly,'' a song from Walt Disney's ''PeterPan.'' It's the song the chorus sings when Wendy, John and Michael,powered by ...
Disney's Fantasy Empire
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This article was conceived as a critique of a man, his works and organization. The recent death of Walt Disney necessitated not only changes in tense but a look at the Fantasy Empire's future. No other revisions of fact, opinion or judgment are deemed imperative. -The Author Walt Disney, grand vizer of fantasy, possessed the world's largest collection of personal honoraria-praise emblazoned on plaques, ...
Do All Theme Park Rides Have To Be Battles With An Evil Empire
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The key to a great theme park attraction is the same as with any other form of entertainment -great attractions tell great stories. But what makes a story great? Obviously, some tales endure for generations and passing that test of time is as good a sign as any that a story has reached greatness. But Disneyland fans with long memories might have noticed how storytelling in the parks has changed over ...
Eustace Lycett, 91; Oscar-Winning Special Effects Expert For Disney
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When Eustace Lycett was studying mechanical engineering at Caltech in Pasadena in the 1930s, he figured he'd wind up in the oil or aircraft industries when he graduated. He never considered a career in the movies. But three days after graduating in 1937, he went to work in the engineering department at the Walt Disney studio on Los Angeles' Hyperion Avenue, where he worked on the studio's new ...
