Classic Disneyland
ID:
TMS-2942
Source:
MickeyMousePark.com
Author:
Cal Jones
Dateline:
Posted:
Status:
Current
There is a site called Yesterland and it details all attractions that have
closed, from the PeopleMover to the House of the Future, Main Street
Electrical Parade to Carnation Ice Cream Parlor, as well as the seasonal
Explorer's Canoes.
Of the aforementioned attractions, House of the Future closed twenty years
before I was born and that's the main one I've wanted to see. The pictures
posted on both Yesterland and DLDHistory are the only way I've been able to
see it, which really sucks because the place looked so cool. And I've heard
that during the demolition of the place, the half-inch steel bolts in the
foundation broke before the structure itself did. Talk about earthquake
proof. I wonder if the general design is doable on a real house.
I rode the PeopleMover probably about a year before it permanently closed, or
maybe it was the same year; I can't remember exactly. What I do remember,
rather distinctly, in fact, is that when my family and I were just outside
one of the tunnels, the trains stopped. They stayed that way for several
minutes and then a blonde female cast-member in a red vest and black bow-tie
walked by all of the train cars and told us we needed to evacuate. From what
I'd heard, some guy in the train behind us had leaned out and brushed the
wall.
One of the many novels I'm writing has a school that looks a bit like Fort
Wilderness, with the student dorms in the towers at the four corners of the
fort. The school is magical and the entire world revolves around Halloween,
and especially, music. The band even comes to Disneyland to march down Main
Street (whomever is in charge of the bands knows that there are magical
bands that perform sometimes), just as my own high school did.
It seems like the best rides that closed were in Tomorrowland. I'd always loved
the Submarine Voyage, especially the mermaids and the googley-eyed sea
serpent. The Rocket Rods were fun, but they would have been even more fun had the
proper funding been put in to add banks to the turns.
I read an article on Yesterland about the last night the Electrical Parade
went down Main Street. A bunch of people had started singing "Nah-nah
nah-Nah, Nah-nah nah-Nah, Hey-hey-hey, good bye. Nah-nah nah-Nah, Nah-nah
nah-Nah, Hey-hey-hey, good-bye" followed by the final good-bye verse from the
Mickey Mouse Club March, which everyone had gone into. The writer went on to
say that if there had been a dry eye before, there wasn't one now. So far,
that's the only time I teared up reading an article.
'96 was when that closed, making me around nine years old. My mother and
"aunt" decided to make a special trip down to the park just to see it for
the last time, if not the day it closed, then a few days before. I don't
recall very much of it - though we have it on video - and I've no idea why. That
was always my "aunt's" favorite show, so it must have been difficult for her
to watch it, knowing that it would be for the last time. I don't think she
ever got to watch it again during the nine years it was at California
Adventure.
For several years, in the shop at the end of Star Tours, right as you were
exiting the ride, there was a statue of Yoda on top of a cube of shelves. My
neighbor sculpted that. He's a big Star Wars fan and it was always cool for
me to see. I'm not sure where it is now, though I sort of suspect it might
be at Skywalker Ranch.
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