The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (3 page)

Smith
and
Sklar
are among the last of an old guard who know
Disney
history down to the smallest detail, in part because they—especially
Sklar
—lived it. 
Sklar
began working at
Disneyland
when it first opened; he was a college student then, but he stayed with
Disney
for over five decades and ultimately helped create all of the
Disney
parks
.  Smith
, as
Disney’
s archivist emeritus, shapes much of what we know about
Disney
history, and how (through books, and online columns, and lectures) we learn about it.

Listening to these living legends, and reading their words, it becomes apparent that however much
Disneyland
changes over the decades it is still that very special kingdom that
Walt Disney
personally designed for all of us—for the ages—in the the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. 
Disneyland
’s traditional features still have
magic
and meaning in 2014.  And
Disneyland
’s new features still follow
Walt
’s formula for
pixie dust
—they are entertaining, unique, inspirational, and put Guests at the center of everything.

I hope you e
njoy this 2014 update of
The Disneyland Book of Secrets
, which presents new shows, new foods, updated menus, new essays, and, of course, a treasure trove of new secrets.

In response to reader feedback, the 2014 editions have been made more user-friendly and easier to read.  The massive “
E-Ticket
” electronic version includes more than a thousand pages of clearly organized and intensely fun content, and covers both
Disneyland Park
and
DCA Park
and all of the extra material.  The
Disneyland Park
deluxe paperback includes select portions of the appendices and special material, as does the
DCA Park
deluxe paperback—and both paperbacks now include photos.  Whether you prefer the
Disneyland
paperback, the
DCA
paperback, or the
E-Ticket
ebook edition that covers EVERYTHING, there is a 2014 “Book of Secrets” that you’re sure to enjoy.

In th
e 2014 editions you’ll find up-to-date content like:


        
Entries on
new additions
, like
Mickey and the Magical Map
(
Disneyland Park
).


        
Updates on
changes to attractions, shops, and eateries
, like the controversial introduction of Starbucks to
Disneyland Park
, the
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
refurbishment, and the 2014 changes coming to
Club 33 in
New Orleans Square.


        
Profiles of the resort’s
new holiday traditions
, like the
DCA
Easter egg hunt, and the 24-hour all-nighter that kicked off
Disneyland
’s
Monstrous Summer
on Memorial Day weekend in 2013.


        
New essays on
Disneyland Food
and
Disneyland Fitness
, the latter featuring an interview with So Cal fitness expert and adventure guide
Jack Witt
.


        
An updated
Disneyland Ghosts
chapter, including an interview with real-life ghost hunters, the heartland paranormal group
Paranormal Answer Research Team
.


        
FastView capsule reviews
.  Learn about each attraction, shop, and eatery at-a-glance!


        
New photos
!  Dozens of images of
Disneyland Resort
.


        
New information galore
woven into the guide–like how
Disney Visa
cardmembers can get a private audience—and free photo—with
Disney characters
at
DCA.
  The important boarding procedure changes for disabled Guests, and the “rogue” tours that prompted them. How to join
Disneyland
’s fashion elite twice a year on
Dapper Days
.  How to order secret food treats like
Frontierland
’s gooey golden mozzarella sticks.  What really caused that big “BOOM” in
Toontown
?  How has the
FastPass
system changed during the last year?  And did a spider drone actually fly through
DCA
?

New readers, thanks a million for joining the fun.

Returning readers, thanks for being
loyal partners on this magical journey.

Enjoy, everyone … And keep on dreaming!

Introduction (2014 Revision)

Musings on
Disneyland
,
Disney
,
Anaheim
, the author, and how this series came to be.

Every year since 1955, millions of people have climbed into cars, trains, taxis and airplanes, onto ships and bicycles and motorcycles, into and onto, really, every form of transportation real or imagined, except dolphins, broomsticks, griffins or the Loch Ness Monster, and have gone to
Disneyland
.

“Millions” is no exaggeration
. 
Disneyland
had been open several months when it welcomed its millionth visitor, and that’s when the floodgates
really
opened.  By early 2004, 500 million people had visited the self-described “happiest place on earth”.  During winter 2013, the
Disneyland Railroad
station and its “Population” sign was swathed in a huge tent for refurbishment; when the tent was removed, the updated population sign read
650 million
.

Even in an economically poisonous year
(let’s say 2008, for instance),
Disneyland Park
had a gate of almost 15 million souls according to the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA)’s 2008 Attraction Attendance Report.  That’s almost 15 million visitors to the park alone,
not
the entire resort, which has three hotels, a
Downtown Disney
district open to the general public, and a second theme park,
Disney California Adventure
, that launched in 2001.

Of all of the amusement and theme parks in the world,
Disneyland Park
ranked second in 2008, out-performed only by its much larger sibling, the
Magic Kingdom
, at
Walt Disney World
in Orlando, Florida.  (In case you’re curious,
Disneyland
’s far younger and smaller sibling and neighbor
Disney California Adventure
had a gate of over 5.5 million visitors in 2008, giving it a ranking of 13
th
in the world.)

In 2009, as the general economic downturn continued,
Disneyland Park
’s annual attendance
grew
to 15.9 million and
DCA
’s
grew
to 6.05 million.  By 2010
Disneyland
had attracted 600 million visitors in its lifetime.  That’s about
twice
the present US population.

In 2010, 15.98 million Guests visited
Disneyland Park
, a slight but significant increase over the previous year, and 6.28 million Guests visited
DCA
, drawn in by – and then mesmerized by –
World of Color
and
DCA
’s many other new attractions and improvements, driving “the little park that could” up into the number 11 spot worldwide and the number 6 spot in North America.  That year, eight of the top ten amusement/theme parks in the world were
Disney Parks
, with
Disneyland Park
itself winning second place, as usual, behind
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
.

And in 2011,
attendance figures were up yet again, with 16.14 million Guests visiting
Disneyland Park
. 
DCA
’s numbers continued to grow, rising modestly from 6.28 million in 2010 to 6.34 million in 2011.

W
hen TEA released its 2012 Attraction Attendance Report,
Disneyland Park
’s numbers had dipped slightly to 15.96 million (down 1.1% from 2011), but the decrease was more than offset by
DCA
’s staggering leap from 6.34 million Guests in 2011 to 7.78 million Guests in 2012, an increase of 22.6%.
DCA
’s numbers skyrocketed in 2012 due to the park’s rededication and its opening of
Buena Vista Street
and
Cars Land
. 
DCA
held its number 11 spot worldwide, and no other park posted attendance increases even close to
DCA
’s amazing numbers.

* * *

Most visitors to the
Disneyland Resort
(henceforth I’ll call them Guests, as
Disney
does) are Californians, but there are also substantial numbers of Guests from across the United States and around the planet.  These Guests spend hours or days and hundreds or even thousands of dollars to come to the still-modest-sized hamlet of
Anaheim
and play at
Disneyland
.

A very few of the
se Guests are wealthy.  The great mass of them are not.  For some, mainly locals like the author, this is their hundred-and-something visit.  For many, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime, long-dreamed-of and long-saved-for trip.  Pennies have been pinched and sacrifices made to make the vacation a reality.  All Guests’ wallets will be separated from a great deal of money, like trout expertly filleted, but it will be a curiously painless experience; for all but a few, the trip will be transcendently and sublimely worth every sacrifice and every penny.

Most Guests ar
rive brimming with excitement and energy.  Many are celebrating life events: engagements, weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries, birthdays, adoptions, quinceañeras, family reunions, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, promotions, and so forth.

They come for the traditional American holidays,
too, like Independence Day, Halloween, and Christmas.  Thanksgiving – not so much.  For Thanksgiving a lot of people return to their own hometowns rather than visiting America’s hometown.

Some people who come to
Disneyland
are ill.  They’re dying, perhaps, and visiting
Disneyland
is their last great wish.  Or they’ve conquered a terrible illness, and their visit to
Disneyland
celebrates their renewed, no longer tenuous connection to life.

Several
Guests arrived unexpectedly when their mothers gave birth to them within the boundaries of the
Disneyland Resort
.  Babies were born on property in 1979, 2002, and most recently in 2012 – an auspicious way to begin their lives!  Baby Salcedo, weighing in at six pounds and ten ounces when she was born on a bench behind
Main Street
’s
Plaza Inn
on July 4, 1979, received the first-ever
Disneyland
“birth certificate”.  Do babies born at
Disneyland
receive lifetime
Annual Passes
?  No – but that’s one of
Disneyland
’s many interesting urban legends!

Guests come to
Disneyland
to stare, to gawk, to “ooh” and “ah,” to be entertained, surprised, dazzled, bewildered, and inspired.  They come to be challenged and pampered, reassured and recharged.

They
arrive, in the words of
Walter Elias Disney
, the man who created the whole magical clockworks, to “relive fond memories of the past,” and to “savor the challenge and promise of the future.”

Guests visit
alone (a lot more than you’d think) and they visit with coworkers and school fellows and church groups and friends and family.