[Disneywife]

DLR's Cast Blast 2005 was yesterday and today, and my dh went today, bringing home a huge bag of goodies, incl. original autopia car models, pins and other commemoratives, and one of them is a book shaped and looking like a huge ticket book from 1955. Really neat. In that book is lots of 50th info I thought I'd share here in a little "brief."

Sleeping Beauty's castle premiere - May 5th, 2005. It will be transformed with royal banners, jeweled stones, gold trim, and 5 regal turret crowns representing each of the 5 Disneyland decades. At night it will transform into a color-changing light display.

Buzz Lightyear - premieres March 17th with the grand opening on May 5th. This will be one step up from WDW's in that it will have the very first real-time online component where guests board the attraction along with players at home on the internet. (!!!!)

Space Mountain - no date is given in this book except summer 2005. New from the old attraction will include all new-special effects, new rocket vehicles, new queue and launch port, with a feeling of being inside a space station as it rotates around earth. Upon launch there is a new tunnel and a longer tunnel from the old one upon "re-entry."

The following all premiere on May 5th:

Disneyland - The First 50 Magical Years - this new attraction will be located in the Main Street Opera House with an interactive historical exhibit and a film journeying through the 5 decades of Disneyland Park. There will also be a scale model of Disneyland as it appeared on opening day.

Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams - this is a brand new part parade, part show with eye-dazzling floats and more than 50 Disney characters, classical Disney music, acrobatic feats and puppetry.

Remember...Dreams Come True - brand new fireworks show narrarated by Julie Andrews! Tinkerbell will also return to the sky. Created especially for the 50th anniversary.

Block Party Bash at DCA - California Adventure will also be getting a new parade featuring the Disney Pixar characters. Music will be the starring role in this musical extravaganza.

Off-property decor - the entire Anaheim resort area will be decked out in banners of gold, rasberry, and "Disney blue." (they have an official color now?)

Disneyland Resort decor - all DLR hotels and tram stop locations will be decked out in the same decor as above. Inside Disneyland Park, the floral Mickey at the main entrance gate will have a new look for the anniversary. Golden lamposts will line Main Street.

Attractions 50 - 50 new hidden "Mickey 50 Ears" of various sizes will be placed throughout Disneyland Park. Some will be obvious, some will be intricately hidden. Many will be featured on attraction exteriors or inside queue lines. Maps of all locations will be available at City Hall.

Golden Vehicles - Guests can pose for pictures or even ride in one of the golden vehicles featured at each attraction that has been here for the full 50 years.

Happiest Faces on Earth - the result of the year-long Happiest Faces on Earth campaign will come to light with more than 30 photo collages placed throughout both parks. A super collage of Mickey as Steamboat Willie will be the highlight of Town Square as guests enter Main Street. Steamboat Willlie's image is made up of hundreds of individual portraits of Cast Members, which in turn are made up of about 800 guest photos each. Other collages will include the three hitchhikiing ghosts from the HM, Alice in Wonderland, Jungle Book, the Disney Princesses, Winnie the Pooh, Sorcerer Mickey, Snow White, and the cartoon short of "Mickey's Trailer."

50th Film Festival - Classic Disney films will be screened at AMC 12 Theatres in Downtown Disney, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Freaky Friday, The Love Bug, Bambi, and Dumbo. More titles will be added as the celebration continues.

Other areas of Disney celebrating Disneyland's 50th

The Disney Cruise Line - Disney Magic will come for the first time to the weast coast including two 14-night trans-Panama Canal cruises (one west, and one east) and 12 7-night Mexican Riviera cruises. Ports of call will be Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas.

Virtural Magic Kingdom - where you can play online versions of classic Disneyland and Magic Kingdom attractions. The only date this gives is summer 2005.

Cinderella Castle Decor - premieres May 5th - the castle will be accented in dazzling gold, with banners, ribbons, and tapestries draping from the balconies. There will be a delightful Disney surprise at every angle.

Cinderellabration - May 5th - stage show inspired by Tokyo Disneyland - the happily ever after story of Cinderella as she is crowned as a princess.

It's a Small World WDW grand reopening (May 2005, doesn't say the 5th) - a classic update that will bring in elements from the original attraction in Disneyland Park.

Epcot - Soarin - May 5th - guests will take a hang-gliding journey over the golden state (California) while paying tribute to the west coast heritage of Disney theme parks.

Epcot - Hong Kong Disneyland Preview Center - May 5th - showcases the newest Disney theme park scheduled to open Sept. 12, 2005.

MGM - Lights, Motors, Action - Extreme Stunt Show - May 5th - from Disneyland Paris, a behind the scenes look at stunt performances with cars, motorcycles, and jet skis.

Animal Kingdom - Lucky the Dinosaur - runs from May through July 2005 - the first-ever free-roaming audio animatronics character, Lucky walks the streets of Dinoland, greeting guests and creating smiles.

Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain - Spring 2006. The legend of the Yeti will come to life in this train adventure with coaster-style thrills.

Tokyo Disneyland - Disney's Rock Around the Mouse - April-August 2005 - themed to California in the 50's, a show giving everyone a "blast from the past."

Tokyo Disney Sea - In the port of Lost River Delta, a roller coaster takes guests on a high-speed ride through fire and water.

Disneyland Paris - Wishes - Spring 2005, lights up the skies above Sleeping Beauty's Castle

DL Paris - Space Mountain: Mission 2 - relaunches Spring 2005 - guests will be sent on a journey to the edge of the universe. (I didn't know this one was closed as well!)

Disneyland Resort cast members will start wearing a new badge on May 2nd, among other surprises for cast. Cast previews of all attractions will be on May 2nd, with Buzz Lightyear Previews to be March 7-10. A CM preview event for Space Mountain will also be this summer.

Cast Members working on July 17th (the actual anniversary day) will recieve a commemorative button as well as a pair of golden Mickey Mouse ears to commemorate the occasion. StarDinerz will also have a special menu on that day.

Cast Members can also participate in an ongoing trivia contest and win some amazing prizes.

50 Happiest Moments on Earth Cast Exclusive Series Trading Cards - each card commemorates the top 50 happiest moments in Disneyland history. CM's voted for their top 10 resulting in these cards.

The ticket book also includes a really detailed timeline of Disneyland history which I didn't cover.

Hope this info is useful! Happy 50th, Disneyland!

[BuzzLightyear]

Thanks for the info.
Lot of exciting stuff coming up for the 50th!!!

[chiasgirl]

Wow - that is a lot of stuff coming up - thanks for sharing! (And typing all of that in!)

[Erin]

Lots of neat stuff! Thanks for the information :c)

[PrincessJill]

Oh wow, I wish I could go back to DL to see all that! Thanks for posting about the other parks too. It all sounds awesome! :) Wow it seems like the DL castmembers get to do a lot of cool stuff. Do they do that in other parks too or is that just a DL thing?

[Cincy]

That was a lot of information. Thank you for taking the time to type all of that in for us.

[mickaholic4077]

How exciting!!!!! Thank you for sharing.

[Baloo85]

Disney certanly has been busy...sheesh...yay! I can't wait...I love parties!!!

[Disneywife]

Originally Posted by PrincessJill

Oh wow, I wish I could go back to DL to see all that! Thanks for posting about the other parks too. It all sounds awesome! :) Wow it seems like the DL castmembers get to do a lot of cool stuff. Do they do that in other parks too or is that just a DL thing?

The ticket book was put out by Disneyland Resort Cast Communications, so it was intended for DLR castmembers, so I'm not sure if other resort CMs are doing similar things. But this book was so thorough, it seems it probably would have said. After all, it is Disneyland's party. With a global celebration! I would imagine that other resort CM's will receive some CM exclusive commemorative stuff (pins, etc) too however.

(btw, no problem typing it all in...it was a means of procrastinating from the research paper I was supposed to be writing! LOL )

[PrincessJill]

Originally Posted by Disneywife

The ticket book was put out by Disneyland Resort Cast Communications, so it was intended for DLR castmembers, so I'm not sure if other resort CMs are doing similar things. But this book was so thorough, it seems it probably would have said. After all, it is Disneyland's party. With a global celebration! I would imagine that other resort CM's will receive some CM exclusive commemorative stuff (pins, etc) too however.

Thanks Disneywife. :)
What are you most excited about? The Parade of Dreams sounds pretty cool to me.

[Disneywife]

I'll tell you what I'm most excited about! Dh just told me all this additional stuff this morning while he was getting ready for work - none of this is in the book which is what I was going off last night.

Tinkerbell's flight during the new fireworks show - will be totally different from before! This, I think, is what I'm most excited about. Dd is going to LOVE this. This also explains why there is a big hole in the side of the Matterhorn right now.

During some "undercover" operations - ie, circling of the crowd during Tinkerbell's past flights, they wanted to see what children's reactions would be when she appeared. In the past Tinkerbell would take off from the tip of the Matterhorn and fly towards the castle ("and crash into pads" as dh said). The undercover agents (hee hee) overheard one little girl ask her father why Tinkerbell doesn't come back.

So now, Tinkerbell has a new flight path!

Tinkerbell will again take off from the tip of the Matterhorn, fly towards the castle, CIRCLE it, then stop above it, and "hit" it with her magic wand. At the moment that she hits it the castle will explode in white light.

Then, she'll fly BACK to the Matterhorn (this explains the hole, which she'll enter into), and at the end of the fireworks show, she'll fly back to the castle for the finale.

WOW!! I can't wait to see this.

[Disneywife]

Dh also told me that both the Tiki Room and Small World will be playing their original 1955 soundtracks.

The golden vehicles that I mentioned above - I didn't quite understand this from the book. Each attraction that boasts a golden vehicle will actually have one of their ride vehicles covered in gold leaf - such as one of the Small World Boats, one of the pirate boats, one of the dumbo vehicles.

[jodilt]

WOW!!! That will be exciting to see....might need to see it more than once. My DLR counter is under 100 days! I can't wait!!!!

[PrincessJill]

Originally Posted by Disneywife

Tinkerbell will again take off from the tip of the Matterhorn, fly towards the castle, CIRCLE it, then stop above it, and "hit" it with her magic wand. At the moment that she hits it the castle will explode in white light.

Then, she'll fly BACK to the Matterhorn (this explains the hole, which she'll enter into), and at the end of the fireworks show, she'll fly back to the castle for the finale.

Oh my gosh!!! That sounds sooooo awesome!! I wonder what my chances of getting back to DL in the near future are... I would love to see this. DL's 50th is gonna be sooooo great.

[A Goofy Family]

Just reading this gets me so excited! Wish we could swing a trip to CA this year, but I don't think it's going to happen. You mentioned Golden Ears given to the CM's...I saw those on the RoseBowl Parade, do you think the golden ears will be for sale to the public??