Sadness shall not walk in the Kingdoms, but this man fought for the persistence of their standards and much more, twice. One good life.
Archive for the 'Miscelaneous' Category
Mr Toad has been a prominent Disney character since its introducion…
Early on it has been incoprorated in the magical Disneyland mix. Early visitors were able to ride crazy automobile in what quiclky became one of the most famous Disneyland attraction : Mr Toad’s Wild Ride !
Even though Walt Disney World lost its unique dual tracked Mr Toad’s Wild Ride in 1998, Anaheim kept it, and cherished it with a brand new facade along with the New Fantasyland of 1983.
courtesy of Flickr user VLoB
So Today only one coast still proudly celebrate the honourable Mr Toad and on two location. The guest streaming along Canal Boats will also see a tiny representation of Toad Hall.
courtesy of Flickr user Anna1227
The only other Kingdom where Mr Toad lives is Disneyland Paris but in a very different way. There, the wealthy frog Toad Hall is none other than counter service restaurants using its many rooms as dining area. It is the biggest recreation of Toad Hall, complete with veranda and gardens, and serves fish and chips all through the year !
Toad Hall Restaurant in Disneyland Paris
That’s it, the long promised Google Earth modelization of Disneyland Paris is up and running. You can check it by opening your Google Earth software and go straight to Disneyland Paris after having checked the 3D Building box !
For all of you never having visited the french resort, rush to that marvel of communication !
Expect the same attention to details Walt Disney World already bares.
Hopefully the californian resort should get its 3D soon !
Have not grabbed your Homepark badge yet ? Do it now !
It all comes from a misplaced Bandstand.
As everyone knows, on the blueprints of Disneyland, the bandstand was supposed to sit in the middle of Town Square for everyone to see it. But once the workers had put it down, Walt Disney realised it blocked the view to its Castle. 2 days before opening, Walt had it moved to a less fancy location. North west to the hub. But musicians would still play there and entertain guest for hours every friday-saturday night making the location so popular it went clustered.
In 1956 the Bandstand was moved again to Frontierland, and in its place was raised a big pavillion under which a stage and dancing ring was set.
- Its red and gold marquee by Flickr user RetroGlider -
And since then, Only In Disneyland can patrons and seldom visitors keep their sneakers on to dance on the best music played by some of the greatest musicians of Orange County. This kind of attraction makes Disneyland rather unique. An animation more than an attraction, Plaza Gardens Stage reminds us that Disney parks are not only about guided entertainement. There anyone can express themselves on some of the most populare tunes of all decades.
- Under the Big Top -
Those Plaza Gardens are not to be confused with Disneyland Paris’ own Plaza Gardens Restaurant. Even though Disneyland’s Plaza Gardens also have a counter serving food since opening.
Plaza Gardens Stage and its present Jump, Jive, Boogie, Dance Party should not be missed by anyone visiting the original Kingdom. You can spend hours just sitting outstide the ring watching those Disneyland oldtimers along with younger patrons perfectionning their steps for everyone to see.
- Backdrop for the stage -
Have not grabbed your Homepark badge yet ? Do it now !
CREDITS & RESSOURCES
Fickr user RetroGlider for its fantastic shot of the pavillion
The Disneyland Encyclopedia by Chris Strodder
Dave for one great piece about the original Disneyland Bandstand.
Today, the European Kingdom turns 17.
It all started with a very different image which now that we think of it was a bit too 90’s anyway. That could be litteraly translated as DollarDisney couldn’t it ?
Happy birthday Homepark ! Happy birthday Disneyland Paris !
What is your homepark, what is your Kingdom ?
It is not necessarily the Disney park you enjoy the most or the park you rate the highest. It is the Kingdom nearest to your home, the one your parents took you to the most willingly. It is the Disney park with the most memories. It is the Kingdom you grew up with.
Thing with our Homepark is we build on it our expectations for what a Disney venue should be.
Any other Kingdom is gonna be better or worse based on how it competes with the standards of our Homepark. That is why most Disney fans will almost systematically pick their Homepark as their favorite Disney park.
Because we always want people to know which park we feel to closer to, 5 Kingdoms designed those modest badges so that you can share it with everybody visiting your website, blog, social networking profiles anything.
All you need to do is add an HTML code and answer that simple question :
What is your Homepark?
Took you half a sec to answer, then Add your badge now !
What is it with this guy and Google Earth ?
I just love watching my favorite theme parks from the sky. Helps me build my articles when checking for attractions placing and layout. But little did I suspect that it would help the historical side of my pieces !
That’s right ! starting today with Google Earth 5 you can browse satellite imagery by places… and dates.
Go above Disneyland for instance, click the history button (yeah the little clock as usual) and scroll back the years as far as 1995 to see how Disneyland was layed out back then !
Scrolling through the years...
That is another new enormous tool for the whole international community, certainly not only Disney !
But that is for sure where will start my time travel satellite exploration !
Boy are we gonna have fun above the Walt Disney World Resort…
Go check it out !
Sorry for another Google Earth news…
