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5 Disney Railroad

They’re as defining in a Kingdom as the Castle or Main Street Station, they’re the lazy river of any Disney Parks and those very famous narrow gauge railways have been present in every 5 of them since their respective openings! This article is about the 5 Disney Railroads of the 5 Magic Kingdoms.
First, they all bare a different name but two, which are in order of chronogical appearance ;)
Disneyland Railroad
Walt Disney World Railroad
Western River Railroad
Disneyland Railroad (previsouly EuroDisneyland Railroad, monogram still present)
Hong Kong Disneyland Raiload

Disneyland Railroad opened with Disneyland in 1955, it can be considered as the center of the project, for Disney only thought up Disneyland in the pursue of sharing his train loving with the world. Earliest concepts of the park, when he though about developping it in Burbank already showed the Railroads plans.

The tracks for 4 of them simply follow the berm of the park, making a nice heart shape trip around the Magic Kingdom. Only Tokyo doesn’t encircle the park. As you can see below, it only runs around the Frontierland/Adventureland area.  Probably because of some railway Japanese regulations that impose timetable for any railroad deserving more than one stop. Therefore in Tokyo, it is only an attraction,  whereas in every other parks it is considerably used as transportation also.

Transportation that was regularly developped. On opening day, Disneyland Raiload only had two stops : Main Street and Frontierland, similarly to its younger cousin in Hong Kong which presently only loads and unloads at Main Street and Fantasyland. 
But today the original Disneyland Railroad stops on Main Street Station, New Orleans Square Sation (Frontierland Station until 1966), Mickey’s ToonTown Station (fomerly Fantasyland Station) and Tomorrowland Station. Making it 4 stops whereas in Florida’s Magic Kingdom, only 3 stops are available : Main Street, Frontierland and Mickey’s Toon Town Fair. French Railroad has 4 stations on Main Street, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Discoveryland which was added 7 months after opening along with a new engine.
All those stations prove themselves very useful for an observation trip around the park as well as a resting way to get from one point to another, especially during Parade hours. But Walt had to plus it and so he did. First, adding in 1958 Grand Canyon Diorama in what used to be a long boring tunnel. This huge gallery allowed guest to enjoy this American natural wonder thanks to Delmer J. Yoakum 306 feet panorama trompe-l’oeil and a bit of taxidermy. Then in 1966 the diorama was extended with Primeval World: another trompe-l’oeil but this time with dinausor Animatronics. Grand Canyon is also present in Disneyland Paris, whereas Tokyo can enjoy the Primeval World scenery on its short track. No diorama for Hong Kong and Orlando though.

Park attractions also come as handy Railroad attracions. Disneyland Railroad and Walt Disney World Railroad pass both through Splash Mountain. Whereas former EuroDisneyland Railroad gives you an inside peek of Pirates of the Carribean.  
We can note as well that Tokyo, though being solely an attraction show a lot of detailed scenery along the tracks and stands since its opening as among the most popular attactions of the park !
Because of all those attractions, starting with the arrival of the first diorama, Disney had to improve rider experience and give more credit to the scenery factor. To do so cars with rows all facing the right side of the train have been added. This makes the Disneyland Railroad train car pool very heterogeneous, having cabooze cars as well as passenger cars or even cattle cars on wich in the 50’s you had to stand ! In fact, most car designs we’re gonna discuss below can be found running on the motherpark’s mothertracks.
In Hong Kong Disneyland, you only find cars with rows facing the side, pretty much like Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Wildlife Express. Though all are very similar in design and only different in colors and window shapes, they show some great detail apperciation, from the woodwork to the beautiful stained glass windows. 
Disneyland Paris’ cars follow this same detail attention but with a unique seat arrangement pattern. To ease loading and unloading, one side is open, and each cars is segemented into three booths, all filled with a plain U shape bench facing the exit. 
Tokyo and Orlando though share a very similar design. All cars are  front oriented and opened on both size looking like a succession of wooden bench under XIXth century oil lamps. Those car design, not offering enough decorating material, look pale in comparison with the 3 other Disney Railroad carriages. But to their discharge, they’re very similar to the kind of train cars you could really ride during summer months in early century america.
Maybe we should have started with the engine, but I’m not a train buff at all. Much more information can be found on the internet about the many Disney engines, I’ll try and give you some facts and figures though.
Disneyland Railroad has 5 locomotives whose names are :
N°1 C. K. Holliday
N°2 E. P. Ripley
N°3 Fred Gurley
N°4 Ernest S. Marsh
Those 4 were all past presidents of the Santa Fe Railroad which happened to sponsor the Disneyland Railroad. My guess is Disney let them chose the name of the trains until they terminated the sponsorship in 1974.
N°5 Ward Kimball. 
Famous animator from the 9 Old Men with whom Disney shared his miniature train passion. This engine joined the fleet in 2005, 3 years after Ward’s death.
Walt Disney World Railroad has 4 locomotives and 4 sets of passenger cars.
N°1 Walter E. Disney
N°2 Lilly Belle. 
Those two are husband and wife.
N°3 Roger E. Bro
ggie.
He helped aquire the trains for the Magic Kingdom.
N°4 Roy O. Disney.
Walt Disney’s brother and associate.

Disneyland Paris has 4 Engines and 4 sets of carriages. Note that each engine matches its own carriage. Locomotives are named as follow :
N°1 W.F. Cody
The real name of Buffalo Bill !
N°2 C.K. Holliday
N°3 George Washington
N°4 Eureka
This one has been added later on, along with the Discoveryland Station.
Western River Railroad disposes of 4 locomotives and 2 sets of carriage (only 3 or 4 cars are attached at the same time). They’re all named after famous american rivers to follow the line of the attraction :
Rio Grande
Missouri
Colorado
Mississipi
The later was added in 1991
Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad with its three engines carries 2 sets of carriage.
N°1 Walter E. Disney
N°2 Roy O. Disney
N°3 Frank G. Wells
The later is a very prominent Disney executive of 90’s corporate climax. Frank Wells saddly passed away in 1994 and is the object of many Disney homage since then.

In every park the Place-your-park-name-here Railroad is a very popular attraction, even though only in Tokyo is it so successful that it regularly hits the 3 digits waiting time. For the 4 others it’s never so busy, but is the one thing to do when party members feel a bit lazy. You can stay on as long as you want, and the spiel and scenery of the trip, even without on track attractions, is sure to make your rest appeasing as though very entertaining.
I know I couldn’t spend a day in a Disney Park without riding its Railroad. 
On this note, I’ll let you catch the sweeper train. (I’m may not a be train buff, but I did my research ;) )
Credits : 
  • Gurgi from MiceChat was of great help especially to find the names of Tokyo’s engines.
  • The picture of the Orlando & Tokyo train car is from ShutterFlare.com
Published
by
CheriBibi
on June 2, 2008
in Attractions
. 4 Comments

2 Plaza Inn and 1 Plaza Gardens


In 1955, leaving Main Street, on your right side you could see an eatery called Red Wagon. It was a restaurant that shared its kitchen with the employee cafeteria. When Walt Disney undertook to launch the expension of Disneyland, the one that would include Pirates and New Orleans Square, he had this little restaurant renamed and enlarged. It would again be lavishly refurbished in 1999 to become the Plaza Inn we know today.
Since then, Disneyland Paris got its Plaza Gardens, largely inspired by the Disneyland’s Plaza Inn. Then, way later Hong Kong Disneyland, faithfully duplicating Main Street, had to host their replica of Plaza Inn, but instead replicated Disneyland’s Plaza Pavillion and named it after its more famous cousin. 

This article is about the 3 Plaza Inn versions of the 5 Magic Kingdoms.
What we first notice is that only one bares a different name. 
When Disneyland Paris open pompously in 1992, it had its own unique Main Street, different from Disneyland’s and Walt Disney World (and Tokyo Disneyland for obvious reasons). So as the Plaza designed for Paris was to be somehow similar to his then Disneyland counterpart, Imagineers felt to name it differently. And Plaza Gardens came a natural choice not only because of the beautiful garden which would surround it but also for cultural reason. Gardens evoques more than the restaurant, but also the feel that Disney wanted attached to it. It evoques the great victorian pleasure parks, such as Tivoli Gardens in Denmark, Vauxhall Gardens or Renelagh Gardens from Great Britain. They were the ancesters of amusement parks, and in european countries, their Gardens title mark them as early place of entertainment. Beside, it is plausible that the Inn word, only known in non-anglophone countries as a place to sleep, like in “Holiday Inn” woudn’t fit right for a place to eat. It also reminds the Disneyland unique Carnation Plaza Gardens. An outdoor dance floor where hundreds of Disneyland patrons gather every week-end to practice their steps. A Disneyland exclusive that should soon be featured in my “Only In…” series.
Plaza Gardens Restaurant

Speaking of gardens, only Disneyland and Disneyland Paris have a garden surrounding their Plaza. In Disneyland there is a bigger seating areas to accomodate guests and a canopy to reach the door. There it’s a very popular dining area especially at night to watch the night time spectacular. Paris, minimizing outdoor seating, could add a beautiful fountain right in front of the entrance. Unfortunately, surrounding areas of Hong Kong’s Plaza offer no or very few outdoor seatings and only display some trimmed bushes. There, it sits on the left side of Main Street  just like its Plaza Pavillion model.

But understand, it’s only a replica in facade, it’s with the inside that Hong Kong Disneyland stands out. The history in this eastern location is that an American family traveling to China loved it so much, that back in their American city, they openned a restaurant on Main Street to serve chinese food in a chinese decor. 

And what a decor ! An Art Nouveau direction with some wood carved details of Mulan characters, lots of numerous paper lantern style hangings and fine asian furnishing make it an oriental delight for eyes as well as for the tongue. The cuisine is well praised by the locals and employ first class service. Therefore, Hong Kong Disneyland’s Plaza Inn is the only table service chinese restaurant in his Kingdom. Paris’ and Anaheim’s are respectively buffet and table service.
Which is it ? Clue is on the floor...
Those two by the way share a very similar interior. Let’s walk though them both.
You walk up the outside tent marquee at the Plaza Inn or around a fountain at the Plaza Gardens. Once inside you’re welcomed and amazed by a large hallway, opening on an even larger self service area with marble on the floor. Statues have been added in Gardens while at the Inn lays a salad bar isle in the middle. Then you have two seating rooms on each side. At the Gardens, each of those rooms has its own paded round bench topped by plants and bronze statues. The backs of the two version’s side room open on solariums bathing in the sun light of a rose window ceiling. The richely draped high windows are present in both locations, but only in Paris can you seat by one of the three Dan Goozee frescos. Add some woodwork and lightglobe incisions differences, as well as sets of furniture supplied by two different continents, and you’ve got your Inn and Gardens.

Just a note on the food served even though it’s really not my area. Plaza Gardens is a trendy buffet for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Courses vary accodring the seasons. Anaheim’s Inn is a table service three meal restaurant that serves typical American cuisine and is very famous for its fried chicken. For China, as mentioned earlier, it’s table service with chinese cuisine sponsored by Maxim’s

Those are very important restaurants even if not the most popular. Both Plaza Inn and the Plaza Gardens are the real image Walt Disney wanted to give of Main street. They complete it and are fancied by many family to finish their day in any Magic Kingdom. I realise they carry the same image and purpose as the 2 Crystal Palace of Walt Disney World and Tokyo, but those two have their own unique outdoors, interiors and themes and deserve their own article.

Remember that if you can’t experience any of the Inns and Gardens, for geographical reason, you can contemplate this fresco ornementing Plaza Gardens ; only Dan Goozee could put in painting this well what Walt thought of his Main Street.

Published
by
CheriBibi
on May 23, 2008
in Restaurants
. 2 Comments

Only In… Disneyland – Trash Can Trio !

Now this post is not gonna learn anything new to the Californian Disney fans but for all the others…

Only perfoming in Disneyland is the Disneyland’s Trash Can Trio ! Those three janitors pop up from nowhere in Tomorrowland and buff together using their cleaning tools. It’s really fun discovering them, especially when you have no clue of their existence.
They mostly perform during the week-ends and summer.
Here is a video of them I recorded last year.

For longer and better videos of them google Trash Can Trio

Published
by
CheriBibi
on May 21, 2008
in Only In..., Only in Disneyland and Parades and Animations
. 1 Comment

27 Lands

Here are the names and numbers of the 27 lands that fill every Magic Kingdoms on earth. Some lands are the same but are named differently to better match the park’s location cultural references. Hence the color scheme.
Disneyland Park (8 Lands)

Main Street USA
Adventureland
Frontierland
Fantasyland
Tomorrowland
Critter Country

New Orleans Square
Mickey’s Toontown

Magic Kingdom Park (7 Lands)
Main Street USA
Adventureland
Frontierland
Fantasyland
Tomorrowland
Liberty Square
Mickey’s Tootown Fair

Tokyo Disneyland Park (7 Lands)

World Bazaar
Adventureland
Westernland
Fantasyland
Tomorrowland
Critter Country
Toontown

Disneyland Park/Parc Disneyland (5 Lands)

Main Street, USA
Adventureland
Frontierland
Fantasyland
Discoveryland

Hong Kong Disneyland Park (4 Lands ? Yes…)

Main Street, USA
Adventureland
Fantasyland 
Tomorrowland

Published
by
CheriBibi
on May 15, 2008
in Lands
. 0 Comments

5 Main Street Perspectives.

When you enter a Magic Kingdom, the most important factor is the Wow. This Wow hits you many times in a Disney park but its most famous encounter is when you start walking up Main Street and get hit by its magical perspective :
Main Street in its center, with its colofrul sidewalks and gay traffic, sided by two rows of early XXth century buildings. The two symetrical parts of this canvas, clearly seperated by the cable car tracks, are bound and topped by one construction not matching the Main Street theme at all, a renaissance castle. Watch this view, spot this kid buying a baloon away from its overing flock, or this smiling driver honking is co-Cast Member with a melody. Hear the mighty voice calling for the Santa Fe which is already whistling in the distance : in my sense you are being hit by a Magic Kingdom’s perspective Wow ! 

Here are the 5 Kingdoms’s 5 Perspective Wows :

In Disneyland, the Castle, to Walt’s own deception has always been regarded as too small. And even though in the early days it was quiet visible at the end of Main Street, now the trees are all grown up and fluffy and for most of them as high as the Centerpiece of the park. So looking down Main Street U.S.A. you hardly see Sleeping Beauty’s Castle behind the full grown plantation of the hub. This seriously diminishes the effect of the Wow. This and the grey cemented pavement makes it not the greatest Perspective Wow.

The best Perspective Wow is Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. There, even though every Main Streets are the same lengh, and so are the distances between the gate and the castle, the perspective look at its best.
First because the constructions of its Main Street are slightly higher than in Disneyland to match the height of the castle. It makes the building confortably topping every trees, even full grown. And because the castle is so high and thick it really fills the gap between the two last Main Street buildings and perfectly bound the two sides of the perspective.

In Disneyland Paris the castle is as many agree certainly the most magical Disney Castle. But it’s not as wide as Florida’s Cinderella’s and not as tall either which makes the perspective Wow a little bit less powerful. Nonetheless, it’s still one of the greatest perspective Wow because of the red tiles paving the ground and the height of the buildings which is equivalent to Walt Disney World’s Main Street.
Yet for 2 years now, management has been decking this wonderful view with some bad taste decorations to celebrate the marketing campaign of the moment (presently the two years 15th anniversary ceremonies) which really ruins the perspective. Maybe next year, should we re-discover Disneyland Paris’ original Main Street perspective. (crossing fingers)

In Tokyo Disneyland, as many have guessed, the perspective wow can be very disapointing. When they build this park back in the 70’s, they had to consider the high precipitation of the Tokyo area. They therefor decided to cover Main Street by putting a giant marquee above it like in XIXth century train stations. Beside in a purpose of giving the park some larger spaces, Imagineers created vast landscaping and set the castle 630 feet away from the end of Main Street instead of the regular 500 feet. The result is quiet unique, and not ugly at all. It’s part of the charm of the oriental Magic Kingdom. But it really kills the Perspective Wow right when you enter. I repeat, it’s not ugly, but it’s certainly not magical either. I agree pictures don’t do it justice but the castle is very tiny below the canopy and its top is cut off during most of your walking up. Bad perspective, bad !

Hong Kong Disneyland… Although it is a faithful replica of Disneyland’s Main Street it’s a bit different, and some ways better.
First the trees are still young and not covering every buildings. The trees circling the Hub in Disneyland have not been planted in Honk Kong, therefore the castle view is not blocked in any way. Second the pavement is not plain grey cement but garden tiles. And last but not least, the mountains surrounding Hong Kong are delicately dressing the back of the perspective which adds up one more thing to the beautiful combination of early century street and renaissance castle : timeless mountains.

A high castle, trees well tamed, colorful pavement are the elements which differentiate Pespective Wows around the world. But for the sounds, the cheer, the animation moving up and down this beautiful manshaped living painting, every single Magic Kindom has it ! That’s why no matter which Magic Kindom you’re stepping into, you are always gonna get hit by the Perspective Wow.
Published
by
CheriBibi
on May 5, 2008
in Lands and Sights
. 1 Comment