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  • Blog Post: Company insiders share all sorts of great stories at the Disneyana Fan Club's annual convention

    Disneyland Park celebrated its 56 th anniversary of its opening yesterday. But for those who couldn't wait to get that party started, there was the Disneyana Fan Club 's annual convention . Photo by Paul Schnebelen Held just down the road from the Park at the Anaheim Crowne Plaza Resort in Garden...
  • Blog Post: Shanghai Disneyland concept art reveals how good the Imagineers are at hiding things

    I got an e-mail asking me what I thought of that concept painting of the Shanghai Disneyland Resort which was shown at The Walt Disney Company's 2011 Investor's Conference yesterday. Concept art for the Shanghai Disneyland Resort. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved To be honest...
  • Blog Post: Carolwood Foundation's fundraiser will reunite 5 of the 6 cars that originally made up the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad

    Yesterday's article about DCA 's entrance complex seems to have struck a nerve with JHM readers. Especially the part of that column which talked about the California Zephyr replica that sits in Sunshine Plaza. I can't tell you how many e-mails I got from rail fans who moaned about how their...
  • Blog Post: Sherman Brothers honored with their very own Window on Main Street at Disneyland

    Given the strong positive reaction that Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman ’s Window on Main Street ceremony received this past Thursday morning, Disneyland Resort President George Kalogridis remarked “ … we should open the Park like this every day.” But – then again -- how could you not love an event...
  • Blog Post: Disneyland history comes to life at D23's first anniversary party

    Though I must admit that back in January, when the D23 Anniversary event at Disneyland was first announced, I was skeptical as to how Disney would put together a three-hour party on a Wednesday that was worth a three-hour drive to the park.Three hours, each way, I might add. Having just attended the...
  • Blog Post: Disney Legend Harriet Burns: A model (maker) of a mother

    If you ask Pam Burns-Clair to describe her mother, she’ll tell you that Disney Legend Harriet Burns was not your typical 1950s housewife. “When I was a girl, the shows on TV were Ozzie & Harriet , Leave It to Beaver and I Love Lucy . These women were very much stay-at-home moms with the chocolate...
  • Blog Post: Marty Sklar to pay tribute to Disney Legend at Ryman Arts fund-raiser

    Today is a day when most people here in the US traditionally take a moment or two to reflect on whatever it is that they have to be thankful for. And for the more-than-a-thousand Southern California students who’ve taken part in the Ryman Arts program over the past 19 years … Well, they’re just thankful...
  • Blog Post: Toon Tuesday : Getting a head with Blaine Gibson

    Like most old guys, I tend to get my brain stuck in a certain time frame. So I didn't immediately recognize the man sitting in the limo. For some odd reason, I expected to see the guy I remembered. The slender, dark haired young man with the horn rimmed glasses. However, this older gentleman didn't exactly...
  • Blog Post: Mist Direction or How DAK Operations just slipped Joe Rohde a Mickey

    Folks who visited Disney's Animal Kingdom late last month got something of a treat. In that -- for a while there, anyway -- most of " Expedition Everest " 's effects were actually working. The scenic mist that's supposed to drift off of Forbidden Mountain top actually did that. The fog bank that your...
  • Blog Post: M-I-C ... as in "I wish that this microphone would work properly"

    Now THAT'S Dedication... Shortly after Disneyland opened in 1955, someone found an unpaid bill in a desk drawer amounting to thousands of dollars. When Walt heard about it, he is supposed to have said, “Well, when you do big things, you make big mistakes.“ Here's another example of this phenomenon, from...
  • Blog Post: Toon Thursday : Mermaids, donuts and musical concrete

    Hey, folks -- Jim Hill here. Before this month's Floyd Norman column officially gets underway, I thought that I'd take a moment to let JHM readers know that Mr. Fun recently launched his very own blog. Appropriately titled Mr. Fun's Blog . So if you want more than just the usually once-a-month dose of...
  • Blog Post: Toon Tuesday : A Disney kind of guy

    It's been a little over a week and I'm still trying to deal with reality. Sometimes, reality is hard to take. Although much has already been said and written , I feel there is still a little more to say about the loss of Disney Imagineer Bruce Gordon . It's difficult to believe that only two weeks ago...