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OUR STORY SO FAR: After months of playing Long Beach and Anaheim off one another, Disney (surprise, surprise) picked Orange County as the future home of its next Californian theme park. This $3.1 billion development would have risen up out of Disneyland's old parking lot, changing forever the fiscal...

OUR STORY SO FAR: All Michael Eisner wanted was to turn Anaheim into Orlando. Was that too much to ask? Given all the problems Disney had getting Westcot through the approval process ... Yes, I guess it was. Everything that could have gone wrong with Disneyland's first expansion plans did. Orange County...

OUR STORY SO FAR: Hoping to turn Anaheim into another Orlando, Disney CEO Michael Eisner proposes adding hundreds of Disney-owned-and-operated hotel rooms to Orange County. Understanding that he needed a way to keep those new hotel rooms filled, Eisner asked his Imagineers to design huge new Disney attractions...

Walt Disney was desperate. Here it was, early 1955. Walt had pumped every penny he had into building "The Happiest Place on Earth" out amongst the orange groves of Anaheim. When he suddenly realized: "There's no place for them to stay." Who's "them?" Disneyland's customers. AKA the guests. All those...

OUR STORY SO FAR: Way back in 1955, Walt Disney made a rash decision. In order to get a hotel built next to his Anaheim theme park, Walt gave TV producer Jack Wrather a 99-year lease as well as exclusive use of the Disney name (should Wrather decide to build any more hotels in Southern California). It...

OUR STORY SO FAR: It was supposed to be the scariest show ever presented at Disneyland. A squirm-in-your-seat, scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs special effects extravaganza. Had construction of "Tomorrowland 2055" actually gone forward, "The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter" could have easily become...

After a summer of demolition, the "Horizons" show building is no more. Its old Future World location has been scraped clean and -- even as you read this -- a new foundation is being poured for the massive "Mission: Space" attraction. Theme park enthusiasts worldwide are itching to ride this cutting edge...

OUR STORY SO FAR: It was going to be the next big franchise for the Disney theme parks. A terrifying sit-down show that would dazzle audiences worldwide with its amazing use of 3D sound and in-theater physical effects. That was the plan, anyway. In reality, Disney's "Alien Encounter" attraction was beset...

It was the attraction that was supposed to be the next big thing for the Disney theme parks. The show that would change forever how guests would think about the Mouse by mixing in-theater effects with 3D sound to create high-tech terror. At least that was what was supposed to happen. But -- instead of...

OUR STORY SO FAR: 1984 was a dark time for the Disney empire. Teens reportedly felt that all the rides and shows found at the Mouse's theme parks were lame, preferring the edgier entertainment to be found at Universal Studios and Six Flags Magic Mountain. That's why newly arrived CEO Michael Eisner ordered...

To hear the Disneyland Entertainment staff tell the story, it was all Tinker Bell's fault. You see, ever since Peter Pan's pal made her small screen debut on the very first broadcast of the "Disneyland" TV show, people have been associating this spritely little sprite with the Anaheim theme park. Which...

Okay. I know. Today, we were supposed to get into all the behind-the-scenes stuff. All the technical problems that "Light Magic" had prior to its disastrous May 1997 debut. I was to explain why exactly the "streetacular" was in such rough shape when it was first performed for Disneyland's Annual Passholders...

Perhaps longtime Disneyland attractions supervisor Bruce Kimbrell was the one who said it best. While serving as the master of ceremonies at last year's "Flashback" (A cast-member-only talent show that Disneyland staffers hold annually to raise moneys for Orange County's "Make-a-Wish" Foundation), Bruce...

One of the more fun parts of doing a column like this is that nice people -- like yourselves -- will come forward with weird bits of information that I didn't have access to. Their mission: to help fill in the blanks on parts of the story that I may have inadvertently missed out on. Recently, a number...

There's always one of them at every party. The wet blanket. That loud mouthed jerk who spoils everyone's fun by revealing how a trick was done. The smart ass who takes the wind out of your sails by deliberately sharing something that was supposed to be secret. Well, this week, kids, I'm that smart ass...

So when did the bad buzz on "Light Magic" really begin to spread? Obviously, Disneyland's technical staff - the people who'd been putting in 18-hour days for weeks now, trying to get those "rolling stages" ready for their May 13th debut - must have told their family members that "Light Magic" was an...

February 8, 2001 marks the end of Disneyland as we know it. Why? Because on that date, Disney's California Adventure (DCA) is finally supposed to open. Once this brand new theme park -- one of the key elements in a $1.4 billion expansion of the Disneyland Resort -- throws open its gates, life in Anaheim...

You honestly have to wonder what's worse: Having disaster strike you unexpectedly, or knowing full well that you're marching to your doom. Disneyland's Entertainment staff didn't really have a choice in the matter. By the middle of March 1997, they already knew that "Light Magic" was in serious trouble...

There's this myth about the Walt Disney Company (one that the Mouse itself likes to promote) that no other corporation can ever beat the Mouse when it comes to cross promotion. Disney likes to call this practice "synergy." I.E. Mickey's ability to use every single division of the company to cross promote...

Just a quick note before we get started here today. I want to take a moment to thank all of you nice people who've sent me notes over the past 10 days, saying me how much you've been enjoying my "Light Magic" series. In particular, I want to acknowledge an e-mail that I just received from Vicki T. of...