Will the Real "Voice of Disneyland" Please Stand?

In April 2007 a tempest in a teapot was formed over an obituary in the LA Daily news. The problem was that most people were under the impression that the "Voice of Disneyland", Jack Wagner, had died back in 1995. So more than a few people were perplexed as to how Earl Raymond Jackson was also the Voice of Disneyland:

A memorial service will be Sunday for Earl Raymond Jackson, dubbed "the voice of Disneyland," who died April 30. He was 72. He moved with family to California in 1967, working in the Entertainment Division at Disneyland. After producing and announcing many live shows, including the premier of Disneyland on Parade, Jackson was dubbed "the voice of Disneyland" by Walt Disney.

Survivors include Patricia Jackson, his wife of 49 years; daughters Beverly and Catherine; son David; and four grandchildren. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Pickwick Gardens, 1001 Riverside Drive Burbank. Memorial contributions may be sent to the HealthCare Foundation at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Well it turns out that Jack Wagner was not the voice of Disneyland after all according to an issue of the Disneyland Line announcing Jack Wagner's retirement in 1992! Don't believe me?

So it turns out that Jack Wagner was the Voice of Disney and Earl
Jackson was the Voice of Disneyland.

Neverland

Today's post comes to you from lovely Willowick Golf Course in Santa Ana. What does Willowick have to do with Disneyland? It almost was Disneyland!

Buzz Price narrowed potential locations down to four sites, including Willowick. The Santa Ana location lost out to Anaheim for several reasons, but the closeness of the freeway to Anaheim no doubt helped.

The Santa Ana line of the Pacific Electric Railway ran right next Willowick until about 1950. Willowick is at the Santa Ana Gun Club station.

The right-of-way for the railroad is still clearly visible from the air. The Santa Ana River forms another border.

The city of Garden Grove has proposed building a Hard Rock Theme Park on the site; Santa Ana has proposed a soccer stadium. My guess is the neighbors want neither!

Disneyland State Fair Part 2

More stickers for you to enjoy. Some of the character line art that was used for these stickers was pretty good. I am particularly fond of Mount Disney for South Dakota (the only state that had more than one character). I wonder if Washington DC had a sticker?

State Fair Sunday Part One

Where's Bonnie Appetite?

State Fair at Disneyland was one of three seasonal park-wide special events that were held in the late 1980's. The other events were Blast to the Past and Circus Fantasy.

State Fair was first held in the Fall of 1987. Here are some scans of the Disneyland Line Employee Newletter from 9/24/08 (click the scan to read).

Selected merchandise locations distributed bumper stickers to guests of their home state for State Fair '88 (or was it '87?). Here are some scans of five of them:

Purists were most offended by the carnival atmosphere exuded by the midway games on the Plaza and Small World Mall, the Ferris Wheel on the Hub planter, and another Ferris Wheel at the Disneyland Railroad Main Street Station (the Railroad was closed for Splash Mountain construction). My confession is that I sort of liked State Fair. Please don't shoot me.

Next time the Phantom Blot is going to take Sleeping Beauty Castle. No really. It's going to disappear completely. Before your very eyes.

The Spirit of Controversy Among Children

Anybody that would be reading this blog probably recalls the Mary Blair Tomorrowland tile murals at Disneyland with fondness. The two murals were installed as a part of New Tomorrowland in 1967. The larger south mural was covered up as part of the construction for Star Tours in 1985/1986; the north mural survived until 1997.

Lesser known facts about the murals:

Their title was "The Spirit of Creative Energies Among Children".

The north mural was themed to communication.

The south mural was themed to energy.

According to Yesterland the murals were not damaged when they were covered, but I have memories of steel beams being planted in the south mural when it was being covered and several openings were cut in the lower right-hand corner for doors.



The lower left hand corner of the south mural was the controversy referred to in the title of this post! The circle on the left is signed by Mary Blair; the triangle contained the first names of other artists.

So what was the controversy? Allow Marty Sklar to explain it in his own words:

(click on the picture to read)



The scans are from the February 19, 1976 Disneyland Line Employee Newsletter.

Does anybody know the current status of Free Enterprise?

Mr. Lincoln has a Heart Attack

From the October 29, 1975 Disneyland Line employee newsletter:

Mr. Lincoln is recuperating at Anaheim Memorial Hospital. He has respectfully request that no flowers be sent due to his allergies, but plants are welcome as are get well wishes.

The Original Utilidor

Well, since nobody cared about going through the looking glass or visit the Darby O'Gill ride, I guess we'll just go down the rabbit hole!

The Utilidors under the Magic Kingdom at WDW are well known, but fewer people know about the original Utilidor, the Tomorrowland Tunnel at Disneyland.

The tunnel runs from the back of Alpine Gardens to a backstage area next to Innvoventions and provides access to the central core of Innoventions, the Terrace Stage, the Terrace trash compactor, the Tomorrowland Terrace basement, storage and, of course, Alpine Gardens.

For a number of years plans to build a branch to the Lunching Pad were considered but, ironically, a tunnel wasn't built until after the Lunching Pad was closed. And the tunnel that was built (for the Rocket Rods Queue) didn't even connect to the Tomorrowland Tunnel. I wonder what the Rocket Rods tunnel is used for now?

Various conduits run the length of the tunnel to provide water, electricity and telephone service to Tomorrowland. Oh yeah, and Coke Syrup! There are two huge stainless steel tanks behind Innoventions that are used to store Coke Syrup for Coke Terrace via a tube that runs through the tunnel.





Edit: Jason requested a picture of the Tomorrowland Tunnel, so here it is:

I slay me. Stolen without permission from another website:

This view would be looking towards Fantasyland and I think this was taken near the freight elevator behind Innoventions. It was pretty common for water to pool on the floor of the tunnel at various points. Tomorrowland Terrace had a golf cart that the receiving crew would use to carry stuff. I believe rolling pallet jacks were also used. If you look closely you can see guard rails to protect the piping from bad golf cart drivers!

It's hard to identify anything because of the small size of the picture, but I think the stairs to Innoventions are on the left just in front of the puddle.

The tunnel has at least one bend and maybe two.

The tunnel was also used by Custodial to haul trash from the Tomorrowland Terrace trash compactor.

The original intention may have been to extend the tunnel at some point in the future since after the Tomorrowland Terrace the tunnel has no real purpose (I only recall some fenced off rooms containing machines of some sort).