News

Re-Openings

• Hall of Presidents re-opened last week, with President Biden giving the oath of office.

DVC and AP Previews for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure begin September 4, and there are at least a dozen dates for that in September. That should alleviate a lot of the potential crowd ahead of its October 1 opening.

Annual Passes for Disneyland

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FO7xL8fToR7M9xFuQ3vPO6zMO5-d-dZmb2snkBX9wsQ/edit

Disneyland Paris FastPass prices are out (thanks WDWMagic):

These are the current prices at Disneyland Paris, per person for a ride within a designated time window with minimal wait. Pricing is dynamic, so may change depending on demand, time of day and season.

Autopia (Speedway) $9.50

Big Thunder Mountain $14

Buzz Lightyear $18

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure $14

Space Mountain $11

Star Tours $9.50

Peter Pan's Flight $18

Tower of Terror $18

So let’s go over what we expect in terms of announcements from Disney World this month:

• Standby queue
• Standby Pass (virtual queue with time window)
• Boarding Group (ROTR, Remy) (virtual queue without time window)
• Premier Access (Lightning Lane) - paid Fastpass with a time window
• Lightning Lane+ (?) - instant access at a cost
• Genie (free) Get alerts
• Genie+ (optimized touring plan)

Prices for Mears Connect, the replacement for Disney’s Magical Express, are out

• Round-trip for adults is $32, for kids $27 to Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

Introductory Prices and Itineraries are out for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel

Prices:

• 2 people: $4,809
• 3 people (2A, 1C): $5,300
• 4 people (3A, 1C): $6,000
• These are the cheapest rates, good mid-August through mid-September 2022

• Grand Floridian’s highest rack rates in 2021 are 57% higher than their lowest rates, so using that guideline, peak rates:

• 2 people: $7,500
• 3 people: $8,300
• 4 people: $9,420

Includes:

• 2-night stay in a cabin or suite
• Ongoing, immersive and interactive entertainment, where choices determine your experience
• Food and beverages on the starcruiser (excluding alcoholic and specialty beverages) and a quick-service meal at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo or other select locations at Disney's Hollywood Studios
• Admission to Disney's Hollywood Studios for your planetary excursion to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge for one day, on day two
• A MagicBand, valet parking

Surveys

From our good friend John Tierney, who most definitely did not work for a government agency in Eastern Europe:

From Jenn:

From Ken:

Regarding Magical Express:

Listener Questions

From Sarah:

We just checked out from a brief stay @ the Riviera, and the inclusion of Costco in this survey question caught my eye. Why do you think Costco is included and not other members-only big-box companies (Sam’s, BJ’s)? The inclusion of AAA makes sense, but Costco seems like an outlier given all the other Disney-based choices. Does Costco have a unique relationship with Disney? As a happy member, I’d love for there to be more Disney promotions available through Costco in case this is a harbinger of things to come.

We’re starting this new series today because August 9th is the 52nd anniversary of the opening of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland Park. Much beloved attraction / very big deal to millions of Disney fans worldwide.

Important attraction in the Park’s overall history as well. One week after the Mansion first opened its doors -- this would have been Saturday, August 16th -- 82,516 people poured into that theme park.

This was back when -- on a typical Summer weekday -- 30,000 people would enter Disneyland. And on a typical Summer Saturday or Sunday -- 50,000 people would buy admission to Walt’s family fun park.

Mind you, the reason that so many people had crammed into Disneyland that day was … Well, radio stations all over Southern California were playing ads that stated that the Haunted Mansion was finally open. Likewise there were billboards lining the 5. Full page ads in the Los Angeles Times & the Examiner.

As a direct result … Again, 82,516 people pushed their way into Disneyland Park (That’s an attendance record that stood for the next 18 years. Only the January 1987 opening of “Star Tours” resulted in more people pouring into that theme park over the course of a single day (And to be fair here, given that Disneyland stayed open for 60 hours straight to celebrate the grand opening of “Star Tours” … Well, it’s been suggested that it’s not entirely fair to compare the single day attendance record that Disneyland achieved back on August 16, 1969 [The Park was open that day from 8 a.m. - 1 a.m.] to how many people were then able to enter that theme park over a single 24 hour-long window of time during a period when Disneyland Park was open for 60 hours straight.

Anyway … That day (August 16, 1969) the line for the Haunted Mansion extended all the way out to the Hub. The typical Guest wait to experience this then-brand-new attraction was three hours.

Just in case you’re wondering: The Mansion’s THRC (i.e., theoretical hourly ride capacity) is 2,616 people per hour. That’s assuming that the Cast Members in this attraction’s load area are able to cram at least two Guests into every Doom Buggy.

On August 16, 1969, Disneyland Park was open from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. 17 hours straight. 17 X 2,616 is 44,472 potential total riders of the Haunted Mansion that day. And let’s remember that some 82,516 people bought admission to the Park that day.

That means that only 53% of the people who crammed into Disneyland Park that day actually got to experience the Haunted Mansion. 47% went home disappointed.

Had it been a normal Summer Saturday with just 50,000 people in the Park … 88% of the Guests would have potentially been able to experience the Haunted Mansion. Which just seems crazy to me.

But you have to remember that that sort of thru-put was only possible because of the break-thru that the Imagineers had on the back of the 1964 - 1965 New York World’s Fair. It was there -- in the ride-thru portion of the Ford Magic Skyway attraction -- that Disney first field-tested the ride system that would eventually become the Omnimover.

Ford Magic Skyway -- by the way -- could handle 4000 Guests per hour. When the first really-for-real Omnimover opened at Disneyland Park on August 5, 1967 (That was when Monsanto’s “Adventures thru Inner Space” joined the attraction line-up found in Disneyland’s New Tomorrowland, that “City on the Move”).

That attraction’s Atomobiles could handle up to 3,275 Guests per hour. Key difference between “Adventures thru Inner Space” & “Haunted Mansion” is that the ride track for the Tomorrowland attraction was shorter. Which then allowed for 650 more people per hour (in theory, mind you) to be loaded on “Adventures thru Inner Space.”

The irony here is that … For the longest time, the Haunted Mansion (or as this proposed attraction was originally known, the Haunted House or the Spook House or the Ghost House) was originally supposed to be a walk-thru or a walk-by. Which would have resulted in far fewer Guests being able to experience its supernatural wonders. At least on an hourly basis.

The earliest known mention of a Haunted House being an element of a Disney-produced attraction can be found in an August 1948 memo that Walt wrote where he was describing that “Mickey Mouse Park” that he wanted to build out in that vacant field. Which was directly across the street from the Burbank Studio. An 8-acre parcel that was bracketed by Riverside Drive to the north and the Los Angeles Flood Control Channel to the south.

What Walt wanted to build here was … Well, sort of a melding of Main Street, U.S.A. with Frontierland. Though -- at odd intervals here & there -- there’d be smallish elements of Fantasyland.

Picture this: You’d have entered Mickey Mouse Park and found yourself at the Town Green in the Main Village AKA New Town. At one end of this green space was the turn-of-the-century train station. At the other end was the red brick Town Hall. Inbetween … Well, here’s Walt’s description of that space:

In the park will be benches, a bandstand, drinking fountain, trees and shrubs. It will be a place for people to sit and rest … mothers and grandmothers can watch over small children at play. I want it to be very relaxing, cool and inviting.

To your right (if you were facing Town Hall with the train station to your back) you’d have seen the tops of some very colorful tents poking up just behind the trees. That’s because this was where a traveling carnival had recently set up shop. If you walked in that direction, you’d have discovered a carousel. Not to mention a midway. Which then led to a circus tent.

If -- on the other hand -- you’d looked to your left, you’d have seen that the turn-of-the-century buildings that made up New Town then gave way to some older looking structures AKA Old Town.

It was this part of Mickey Mouse Park that gradually gave way to more of a frontier feel as you walked uphill. At the outskirts of Old Town, you’d have found Granny’s Farm. Which had elements of a petting zoo.

But between Old Town and Granny’s Farm … Well, high up on a hill overlooking Old Town’s overgrown graveyard was a spooky old abandoned house. And for those visitors to Mickey Mouse Park who were brave enough … Well, there was supposed to be this path through the graveyard that then led up to a porch which wrapped around the outside of this spooky old house.

And if you were to look through the individual windows that lined this porch, you’d have then seen some show scenes that took inspiration from the December 1937 Mickey Mouse short, “Lonesome Ghosts.”

You have to remember that this was an early, early iteration of Disneyland Park. So there were a lot of elements like this that didn’t entirely fit together. Take -- for example -- the covered bridge just beyond Granny’s Farm. If you walked across that bridge, on the other side of that brooke was a full-sized version of the Seven Dwarfs Cottage. And just beyond that was a walk-through recreation of Geppetto’s toy show.

Meanwhile …  Did I mention that New Town & Old Town were built around a sizable lagoon? And in the middle of that lagoon was an island that served as a sanctuary for wild birds. And that Guests -- if they wanted to travel around that lagoon -- could climb aboard a Mississippi steamboat. Where -- as they traveled around this scenic lagoon … Well, at one end of this lagoon, there’d have been a recreation of a lighthouse (Like the ones found off the Coast of Maine). While at the other end of this lagoon would have been Skull Rock from Disney’s “Peter Pan.”

You see what I’m saying here, right? There’s lots of stuff here that would ultimately be very familiar to those who visited the finished version of Disneyland Park in Anaheim. Only these elements are all in different places as Walt experiments with his idea for a family fun park and then moves these chess pieces around that board.

And in a weird way, a spooky old house high up on a hill that then features scenes that Guests can look in on which were inspired by that Mickey Mouse short from 1937, “Lonesome Ghosts” … Well, that actually makes sense too. Remember that Walt initially wanted to call this place “Mickey Mouse Park” (to capitalize on the overall success / name brand recognition of that Disney-owned character). So it would just make sense that “Mickey Mouse Park” would need at least a few attractions that could then be tied back to the Disney-owned character whose name had been slapped on Walt’s family fun park.

Walt obviously really wanted this spooky old house thing to be a key element of his “Mickey Mouse Park” project. Which is why he assigned Harper Goff (who Walt had lured over from Warner Bros. just to help design his family fun park) to come up with some concepts for this enter-through-a-graveyard / walk-up-a-hill / look-in-through-windows-along-a-porch Haunted attraction.

Okay. Harper did his drawings of that spooky old house in 1951. And Walt loved them. So much so that Disney then began to think about expanding “Mickey Mouse Park” to the East & the West. As it happened, the City of Burbank owned the parcels of land on either side of where Walt wanted to build his family fun park. And Disney hoped that … Well, if he could persuade the Burbank City Council to allow Walt Disney Productions to lease those two pieces of property from the city … Well, one could then become the parking lot for “Mickey Mouse Park.” While the other could be back-of-house for his family fun park. Where the administration offices & wardrobe could be located. Not to mention the roundhouse where the steam train that rolled around “Mickey Mouse Park” could be maintained. Likewise the stables for when all the horses who pulled the street cars or were hitched to the surreys could be stabled.

That was the crux of the issue here. In order for “Mickey Mouse Park” to be a success, Walt needed access to those two city-owned parcels of land on either side of that chunk of property between Riverside Drive and the Los Angeles Flood Control Channel.

So in December of 1951, Walt contacted the Burbank city manager to talk about his “Mickey Mouse Park” idea. The Burbank city manager seems excited about what Walt Disney Productions is proposing here. But he also warns Walt that he’ll need the approval of the city council before he’s then allowed to build on those two city-owned parcels to either side of his proposed family fun park.

So Walt began reaching out to movers-and-shakers in Burbank, trying to get them to get behind his “Mickey Mouse Park” idea. In March of 1952, the Burbank Daily Review (the local newspaper) even ran a feature piece about the project. Its headline read "Walt Disney Make-Believe Land Project Planned Here".

The problem was … People couldn’t really understand what Walt was pitching with his “Mickey Mouse Park.” They looked at the site plan and saw the carnival area with its carousel and immediately thought “carnies.”

In fact, when Walt finally formally presented his “Mickey Mouse Park” idea to the Burbank City Council in September of 1952, there was a member of the City Council who actually stood up and said “We don't want a carny atmosphere in Burbank. We don't want people falling in the river, or merry-go-rounds squawking all day long.”

And with that, Walt’s hopes of leasing those two city-owned plots to either side of the Riverside Drive property fell by the wayside. Which was -- admittedly -- a pretty big setback. But Disney wasn’t deterred. By this point, Walt had realized that his “Mickey Mouse Park” idea had already outgrown the 28 acres he was originally working with in Burbank (20 owned by the city, then 8 acres across from the Studio along Riverside Drive).

Walt then told Harper “We’re now going to look elsewhere for enough land to do this right. Especially your spooky old house up on a hill idea.” Disney then explained to Goff his new plan for that attraction. Now he was going to use that spooky old house as a way to logically transition his family fun park from its New Town section (i.e., Main Street, U.S.A.) to its Old Town area (i.e., Frontierland).

And that was in fact the original plan for Disneyland … As you walked up Main Street, U.S.A. towards Sleeping Beauty Castle, to your left at the edge of the Hub … Well, that’s where the graveyard and the spooky old house high up on a hill was supposed to be built.

Mind you, this was back when True-Life Adventureland only had one real attraction (i.e., the Rivers of Romance). More to the point, that early, early version of the Jungle Cruise was to have been shoehorned between Main Street, U.S.A. and Tomorrowland. Whereas between Main Street, U.S.A. and Frontierland was where the roundhouse for the Disneyland railroad AND its Spooky House attraction was supposed to be built.

We’ll get to how & why those particular chess pieces got moved around the Disneyland game board on the next installment of this series.