The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (61 page)

For practical reasons,
day-to-day operational functions related to Cast, Costuming, Food, Maintenance, etc. remain within the parks and resort in the many secret pockets sealed off from Guests’ eyes.  So talented are the
Imagineers
when it comes to designing environments that Guests rarely have a clue that a secret
backstage
area is just behind that fence or tree or rock!

The
Fire Station
is on the west side of
Town Square
, south of the
Emporium
and north of
City Hall
.  The ground level is usually open to Guests.  This is an attraction that sometimes gets missed in the hustle and bustle of
Town Square
, the character greetings and parades, and the bright lights of the nearby
Emporium
.  It’s worth stopping a moment to explore the
Fire Station
.

Before you enter the
Fire Station
, note the broad gate between it and the back wall of the
Emporium
across the street.  This colorfully painted barrier is known as
Firehouse Gate
, and hides a backstage corridor between
Main Street
and
Adventureland
.  It’s through this gate that you’ll see
Main Street
Vehicles
entering
Town Square
in the early morning hours.

What’s “behind the curtain”? 
Immediately through this gate, to your left, on the north side of the
Fire Station
is the staircase leading up to the second story of the station and the private
Disney
apartment.  To your right stretches the between-land corridor, a typically plain
backstage
area lined with large rubbish bins, the occasional Cast Member, and back entrances into the
Emporium
.

On extremely crowded nights, to avoid insane bottlenecks along
Main Street
after the fireworks, Cast Members guide some Guests through the gate between the west side of
Refreshment Corner
and the
Plaza Pavillion
, and along this normally
verboten
corridor, to exit via
Firehouse Gate
.  The utilitarian nature of this hidden throughway underlines the continuing
Disney
practice of keeping
backstage
as simple and functional as possible, while lavishing resources on Guests and the
onstage
areas.

The
Fire Station
is small but rich with details, from the old-fashioned fire engine on display, to the fire buckets, axe, horse harnesses, and the chalkboard announcing how many days the station’s been accident-free.  The original bright red
Chemical Wagon
, which was an
Opening Day
attraction, is permanently parked in the center of the floor.  For a number of years after the park opened, horses drew this old-fashioned fire engine and its passengers up and down
Main Street
.

There are
two stalls for fire horses
Bess
and
Jess
, who would’ve pulled the Victorian horse-drawn engine.  And all Guests will be intrigued by the brass fire pole; it’s still there, but the ceiling entrance to the apartment above remains sealed.

You can
estimate the size of the
Disney
apartment above based on the slight square footage of the station below.  There’s only room in the apartment for a reasonable living space, a kitchenette, and a bathroom.

The living area includes hideaway beds and was
decorated with
Mrs.
Disney
’s antiques, including a phonograph. 
Mrs. Disney
chose the apartment’s Victorian motif, which includes antique rockers with ottomans and delicate antimacassars draped over the chair backs.  (You don’t see antimacassars any more because they’re no longer needed; they used to protect furniture from men’s Macassar hair oil back when it was fashionable.)

A gorgeously carpeted
little staircase of several steps leads from the apartment to the rooftop patio outside.  The patio, above the rest rooms adjacent to
City Hall
, is actually roomier than the apartment!  From this perch, the orderly world of
Main Street
is visible to the east; to the west are the plants, heavy foliage, and mysterious sounds–like pistol fire!–of
Adventureland
.

Walt
often looked down into
Town Square
from the patio, and from the east window of his apartment.  He watched Guests as they arrived to begin a day of adventure, fun, and imagination in the
magical kingdom
that he had created.  There is still a little table standing at that east window, with an old-fashioned turn-key glass lamp on it.  The lamp is kept lit always in memory of
Walt
,
Disneyland
’s creator.  As far as Cast Members are concerned,
Walt
’s spirit will
always
be present at
Disneyland
. 
Did You Know?
  As
Walt
’s family grew, he planned to have a larger family apartment built over
Pirates of the Caribbean
in
New Orleans Square
.  Talented artist
Dorothea Redmond
painted color and style design studies for the private space. 
Walt
passed away in 1966, before this particular dream was realized.  The
Pirates
space was utilized for a long time as the
Disney Gallery
, displaying
Disney
-related art and statues high above
New Orleans Square
.  In 2007 the gallery was moved first to the north and then to a refurbished space just to the south of the
Main Street Opera House
.  The area over
Pirates of the Caribbean
was converted to a lovely,
Dorothea Redmond
-designed suite, just as had originally been planned, but not for
Walt
and his family.  The
Dream Suite
opened in 2007 and has since housed a limited number of lucky
Disneyland
Guests, Cast Members, and execs. 
FastPass:
  No.  The
Fire Station
is a self-guided experience, like most
Main Street
attractions, and rarely crowded. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  It’s pretty cool.  There’s a bunch of ropes and an old fire engine and there’s a pole
Walt Disney
used to climb down but it’s blocked.  There’s a light in the window for
Walt Disney
still.

Disneyland:  The First 50 Magical Years
(Opera House)

[
FastView:
 
An informative and funny
Disneyland
history presented by
Steve Martin
and
Donald Duck
in the beautiful old
Opera House
.
]

The
Disneyland
Opera House
was the first building completed when
Disneyland
was under construction. Its enormous interior was used not for performances of operatic masterpieces by Mozart, Puccini, or Wagner, but as a mill for the massive quantity of lumber needed for the park’s construction.

Using the cavernous
premises of the
Opera House
as a mill was one of many good ideas by former
Admiral Joe Fowler
whom
Walt
had tasked with overseeing the park’s construction. 
Fowler
’s efficiency and planning skills allowed the park to open on schedule in just under a year.

The
Opera House
is an elegant building with ornate scrollwork and gilt touches on its exterior.  It dominates the eastern edge of
Town Square
with its refined façade, but at only two stories tall is comfortable enough in scale not to intimidate Guests.

Given how lovely it looked from the outside by
Disneyland
’s
Opening Day
in 1955, you’d think that the
Opera House
would’ve been used as a theater from that point forward.  However, it had done such exceptional service as a mill for the original park, that it was kept in use as a mill through 1961.  In its vast spaces, lumber for new
Disneyland
attractions and projects continued to be milled.

According to
Chris Strodder
’s
The Disneyland Encyclopedia
, the
Opera House
served many purposes between its days as a mill and the entertainment venue we know today.  In 1961, the
Babes in Toyland
Exhibit
moved in, featuring enormous sets from the film, then the
Mickey Mouse Club
’s short-term television studio moved in, and then the
Mickey Mouse Club HQ
.

In July of 1965,
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
arrived and stayed until 1973, when it was pre-empted for a couple of years by the
Walt Disney Story
.  In 1975,
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
and the
Walt Disney Story
combined forces in a joint show that lasted until the unveiling of the funny and fascinating 2005 tribute film
Disneyland:  The First 50 Magical Years
.

About every fifteen minutes, the theater doors silently opened and Guests who’d been viewing the
Disneyland
treasures in the lobby were ushered into a the lavish theater to take their seat for
Disneyland:  The First 50 Magical Years
.  At only thirteen minutes in length, the film is a concise winner, hilariously and touchingly narrated by former
Main Street Magic Shop
Cast Member
Steve Martin
and everybody’s favorite duck
Donald
.

Steve Martin
really did work at the
Main Street Magic Shop
, demonstrating magic tricks for Guests; it was an early entertainment gig for the man who would become an acclaimed comic, actor, author, and musician, a household name and important American humorist.

Martin
and
Donald Duck
journey magically throughout time and the diverse lands of the park to share its fascinating history with Guests. 
Martin
’s shenanigans are well-scripted and relay a wealth of
Disneyland
trivia amidst the clowning.

H
is genuine fondness for the park is clear even as he gently tweaks its nose–or beak, rather, as his delightfully disruptive co-host
Donald Duck
constantly puts his worst webbed-foot forward!

In 2009
the
Opera House
was closed to the public for the re-installation of a refurbished, even more amazing
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
show scheduled to launch in fall 2009.  The
Lincoln
re-launch was delayed until December 2009.

The original
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
show was a break-through
Audio-Animatronic
show that
Imagineers
developed for the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair.  The
Lincoln
figure was able to perform a riveting recitation of portions the real President’s key speeches, changing facial expressions, gesturing, even standing up, with a sense of realism that had many convinced it was an actor, not an
Audio-Animatronic
creature addressing the audience.

Given the increased fluidity and subtlety of modern
AA
figures (consider the
Captain Jack Sparrow
figures in the updated
Pirates of the Caribbean
attraction, or the modern Presidents in the recently refurbished
Hall of Presidents
in
Liberty Square
,
Walt Disney World
, particularly highly-advanced
AA
President
Barack Obama
), the refurbished
AA
Mr. Lincoln
of
Disneyland
’s
Opera House
promised to be a stunner.