Tragic Kingdom: Disneyland's haunted parking structure of terror

The suicide last night at Disneyland's Mickey & Friends parking structure adds an unintended real-life macabre twist to the park's Halloween Time celebration. Attractions including Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion have been tricked out in special Halloween themes. How many parents, while walking their kids to the escalators on their way from their cars to the trams that lead into the Magic Kingdom, will spin tales of the ghosts that haunt the parking structure?

Fun facts: The garage holds 10,500 car and was the world’s largest parking structure when it was constructed in 1998. It may still be. the last Disneyland suicide we reported was in 2008.

Fess Parker starred in first TV miniseries

Davy Crockett was the first miniseries in the history of television though the term had not yet been coined. It aired on ABC in five episodes of the Disneyland series, with Fess Parker, who died today, in the title role and Buddy Ebsen as George Russell. The series was filmed in color at the Gatlinburg, Tennessee entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The first three episodes were edited together as the 1955 theatrical film, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.


Fess Parker became a contract star for Disney and appearing in many films such as The Great Locomotive Chase, Old Yeller, and Westward Ho, The Wagons!, but complained they were all pretty much the same role. Parker was a featured star at the grand opening of Disneyland on July, 17 1955. For all his work with Disney, he was honored in December 2004 with his own tribute window on a facade in the park's Adventureland section.

Leading an expedition through an unfinished Disneyland.

Riding down Main Street, USA with Walt Disney.

Yep, we had our coonskin caps

Disneyland's D23 cut to every two years

The D23 Expo, Disneyland's answer to Comic-Con, was such a flop in its debut last September that it won't take place at all this year.

The Disney people announced today that the fan convention will take place August 19th to 21st, 2011 at the Anaheim Convention Center across the street from Disneyland, and continue as a biennial event.

Subbing this year will be a look back called "Destination D," September 24th and 25th, focusing on "Disneyland '55" and the park's opening 55 years ago.


The Disney people have way low expectations for Destination D. They'll stage it in the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel. Panels and presentations are set to include "Disney Undiscovered," never-built projects and attractions, and "Weird Disney," showcasing little-known facts, people and places in Disneyland history.

Tickets for Destination D and next year's expo go on sale this summer.

Captain EO: A child molester in Disneyland?

A little over an hour ago, Captain EO returned to Disneyland.

The 17-minute science fiction musical starring Michael Jackson opened for a "limited engagement" at the Tomorrowland Theatre at 10 a.m., replacing Honey I Shrunk the Audience, which closed Jan. 3.


Captain EO was launched at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland in 1986, when Jacko was calling himself "The King of Pop," and had the power to rope in Francis Ford Coppola as director and executive producer George Lucas-- a few years before he became better known as a freakish oddity and alleged child molester.

The $30 million 3-D film closed in 1997, but after Jacko's death last summer and the subsequent wiping clean of his pedophiliac slate, the Disney people decided to listen to the fans asking for its return, dust off the film canisters and rake in some more dough.

A Disney spokesman says the film will run "as long as it remains popular."

Police seek Disney Tower of Terror groper

Police in Anaheim, California are looking for a man who allegedly groped a woman on the Tower of Terror ride in the Disneyland Resort's California Adventure park. A woman says she was on the ride with her daughter Friday night when someone grabbed her breast when the lights dimmed. She says she believes she was grabbed by someone sitting to her left, but that it could have been someone else.

Security staff gave investigators a photo taken of the victim on the ride before the lights went out. Police say they're trying to identify the person to her left in the photo.


The incident brings to light the phenomenon that "Disneyland," which aficionados recognize to be the Magic Kingdom park, is now considered to encompass the entire area around the park, including the hotels and the inferior California Adventure park that was built in what was once the Disneyland parking lot.

Lost fans wash up on Tom Sawyer's Island

The folks who run Disneyland are witnessing the fallout from their decision three years ago to dilute the classic timelessness of Tom Sawyer's Island with product-placement promotion for its Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. A petition by fans of the television series Lost for a show-themed Disney attraction has led to suggestions that the Tom Sawyer refuge is the obvious location.

The online petition is not slick by any means. In fact, in its address to "Televsion and Disnet Fans," it's not even spellchecked:

"LOST is one of the best television series to ever be broadcast on television. Disney should give this awesome show it's due and create a LOST Island attraction at one of it's Disney theme parks. Just think of the locations that can be immortalized in a Disney location.

- The Frozen Donkey Wheel behind the Orchid Station testing chamber.
- The Swan station and Hatch ride
- A submarine ride to Palu Ferry.
- Dharmaville Barracks.
- Smoke monster
- Ruins
- Jacob's Cabin
- The Egyptian Statue and Jacob's Lair"


The petition is closing in on two thousand signatures even though the Lost television series does not appeal to kids or, beyond the "Thumb Guy," wide popular culture. Its network, ABC, is owned by The Walt Disney Company, however, and there is a chance that someone within the corporate structure tought it a good way to drum up publicity for the show as it nears its finale in May (deliberately throwing in the misspellings to appear more grassroots).


The knock of sacred Mickey Mouse, Tom Sawyer and Uncle Walt Disney can also be placed in a wider context. The latest promotions for the show parody da Vinci's portrait of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper.

Disrael: M-I-C-K-E-Y N-E-V-E-R F-O-R-G-E-T

Our Man Elli in Israel checks in with some historic Disney news: The Walt Disney Company will produce, for the first time, original Hebrew-language shows in Israel. The Disney Channel began airing in Israel this year and has been so successful, it's begun joint production with Herzliya Studios on two original programs to air there.


So let's put aside all that talk about old Uncle Walt being an antisemite. Yes, in the 1930s he was sympathetic to the pro-Nazi German American Bund, and allegedly showed up at a meeting or two, and yes, legend has it that he, alone among all studio heads, met with Hitler's filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl when she was looking for work in Hollywood, and yes, legend has it he told her he admired her work that hiring her would hurt the brand, and yes, there were lots of Jew gags in the animated shorts Walt approved (like the scene in the original "The Three Little Pigs" in which the Big Bad Wolf comes to the door dressed as a stereotypical Jewish peddler, yes--- in any case, there's always Eisner and Iger... oy!

UPDATE: Our Man Elli reminds us we can't put aside Uncle Walt's record, and adds this from the Israel News Network: "The announcement is bitter irony for Hamas, which was forced to stop its anti-Israel children’s programs, featuring Disney characters, after the company threatened to sue it for copyright infringement. Hamas used characters similar to Mickey Mouse, among others, to air material that often incited Arab children to become martyrs when they grow up.

"Anti-Israel groups previously have tried to boycott Disney, which 10 years ago set up its Millennium exhibition in Florida and referred to Jerusalem as 'the capital of the millennium' and the 'heart of the Israeli people..' The Arab League had tried to boycott Disney until Saudi Prince Walid ibn Talal, who was a large shareholder of Euro Disney said, 'If we boycott Disney, Israel will win because it will impact our image negatively in the United States.'"

The first of many tributes to Roy Disney

Not even the magical Disneyland could make it through the holiday season a step ahead of the grim, grinning Celebrity Reaper of 2009 who has taken far too many influential, beloved and important pop culture figures and given us too much fodder from which to choose for our Death of The Day column. This morning, Roy Disney has passed onto another magic kingdom, and already the tributes are pouring in through the Tabloid Baby transom: This one from leading Disneyana expert, Los Angeles historian and Hollywood Thoughts blogger LA Dodger Jon:

Many like to tell the story about how Roy Disney’s Uncle Walt once referred to him as his “idiot nephew.” This writer prefers to remember Roy Disney, Jr as a savior for the body of work that his uncle – and father – built over a half century.

In 1984 it looked all but certain that the Walt Disney Studios was headed towards a hostile takeover. The studio, its library and the beloved theme parks would have all been dismantled, split apart and/or spun off. It’s because of Roy that you’re not passing through the gates of the Anaheim M&M’s Magical Kingdom… or a Disney World that’s been snapped-up by a giant Beatrice-like mega corp…


Thanks to Roy Disney’s efforts, Frank Wells and Michael Eisner were hired and the Disney company averted disaster and thrived.

While it’s not wholly wrong to view the Disney outfit itself as a mega corporation these days, it’s hard to argue about the contribution they’ve made to art… and a whole lot of childhood memories.

I’m happy to take the hit for sounding schmaltzy, but I’m also a dad that’s pleased he has family fare to watch in the theatre with his son… or still gets excited packing the family in the car for a fun ride at the theme park.

Thanks, Roy.

ROY DISNEY DEAD

Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney and a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company (which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his Uncle Walt founded) has died at age 79. A consultant for the company, Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors and a thorn in the side of many successors, he helped revive the animation department but is perhaps best known for organizing the ousting of two top Disney executives: Ron Miller (Walt's son-in-law) in 1984 and Michael Eisner in 2005. Roy began working with the company in 1954 and was the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved with the company.

Roy died this morning. He had been battling cancer.

Exclusive! Disneyland's Christmas playlist

If you've ever wondered the exact song titles, artists and arrangements of the holiday music piped along Disneyland's Main Street USA, a Disneyphile with a Shazam application on his iPhone took the time to identify the entire Disneyland music loop. The list below is sending many people to downloading sites to customize their own Christmas music playlists.

(click list to enlarge)

Disneyland: Black to the future? Or past?

A year after the election of Barack Obama, Disneyland officially inaugurated its first black princess with the debut of Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! starring Princess Tiana from the new animated feature, The Princess and The Frog.


Singing and dancing and performing from the Mark Twain riverboat along the Rivers of America and culminating in a second line march into New Orleans Square, the spectacle is, as the daily program, promises, a "toe tappin,' hand-clappin' riverboat extravaganza" that veers perilously and surprisingly toward the coonin' and buffoonin' of another era and a Showboat of another era. The actress lip-synching to the recorded tracks plays it broad-- way broad, and the happy shining stereotypes, including a gravel-throated crocodile trumpeter named Louis-- are in your face. Equally controversial is that the prince Tiana is paired up with, appears to be white, or Indian, or Middle Eastern, but most definitely not a black man. It all seems to tarnish Tiana's achievement, and while she may become a favorite of little black girls, the setup could lead to serious questions from black boys.

Stevie Wonder

Any irony in all this? While the show tapped and clapped along New Orleans Square, Stevie Wonder was in the plaza at the end of Main Street with Sleeping Beauty's castle behind him, dressed in red and performing "What Christmas Means To Me" for an ABC Christmas Day special.

Disney decides to mess with Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is getting a cynical and potentially dangerous makeover from Walt Disney's successors, as they fear the iconic beloved symbol of childhood innocence is more of a corporate symbol than beloved character to a generation raised on the Disney Channel.

The New York Times reports on two parallel efforts within the Walt Disney Compamy organization to make Mickey Mouse more Miley Cyrus. The first is a new video game, Epic Mickey, "in which the formerly squeaky clean character can be cantankerous and cunning...

"In many ways, it is a return to Mickey at his creation. When the character made its debut in 'Steamboat Willie' in 1928, he was the Bart Simpson of his time: an uninhibited rabble-rouser who got into fistfights, played tricks on his friends (pity Clarabelle Cow) and, later, was amorously aggressive with Minnie.

"Epic Mickey, designed for Nintendo’s Wii console, is set in a 'cartoon wasteland' where Disney’s forgotten and retired creations live. The chief inhabitant is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character Walt Disney created in 1927 as a precursor to Mickey but ultimately abandoned in a dispute with Universal Studios. In the game, Oswald has become bitter and envious of Mickey’s popularity. The game also features a disemboweled, robotic Donald Duck and a 'twisted, broken, dangerous' version of Disneyland’s 'It’s a Small World.' Using paint and thinner thrown from a magic paintbrush, Mickey must stop the Phantom Blot overlord, gain the trust of Oswald and save the day."


Meanwhile, Disney "has quietly embarked on an even larger project to rethink the character’s personality, from the way Mickey walks and talks to the way he appears on the Disney Channel and how children interact with him on the Web — even what his house looks like at Disney World."

Disney announced this week that after 20 years of negotiations, the Chinese government has given the okay to open a Disneyland in Shanghai. The China move is seen as another reason they're tampering with their symbol.

What next?

Disneyland has its first black princess

Disneyland has its first black princess.

Posters are up and products are on sale at the park, promoting the animated feature, The Princess and The Frog, and the character Princess Tiana.

Tiana will be the ninth of Disney princess characters, which have rung up $3 billion in retail sales since 1999. Disney introduced the Middle Eastern Jasmine, its first non-white animated heroine in 1992's Aladdin: a Middle Eastern character named Jasmine. Three years later an American Indian princess appeared in Pocahontas.

The Broadway musical-style film is set in New Orleans uring rhe Jazz Age. It opens in New York and Los Angeles November 25th and goes into wide release December 11th. Disneyland opened in 1955. The Walt Disney Company announced it had begun work on an animated featuring its first black princess on March 12, 2007. Barack Obama had announced his candidacy for President on February 10th.

D23 Expo a Mickey Mouse convention?

Disney's first-ever D23 Expo opened today at the Anaheim Convention Center to crowds that are a whole lot thinner (in number, not physically, sadly) than the throngs pouring into Disneyland across the street, The Disney-con takes a cue from the fanboy comics and sci fi conventions, showcasing the latest Disney products, previewing Disney films like Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland, TRON, Toy Story 3, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, featuring classic Disney memorabilia and showing off Disney people and old flicks like Darby O'Gill & The Little People. It dies seem to be accompanied by a lack of... buzz? D-23 Expo runs through Sunday. Details here.

Outrage! Mark & Brian suck it at Disneyland

The historic, beloved Disneyland allowed the Los Angeles morning radio team Mark & Brian to host a first-ever sleepover in the Haunted Mansion and broadcast from the balcony of its Dream Suite in New Orleans Square today. Each is quite an honor and as we don't see a clear connection between the jocks' radio station and Disneylnnd's owners, we'd expect the morning deejays would take pains to give the place the respect and dignity it so deserves.

So we were taken aback, surprised and insulted when, during their daily time-killing segment in which they and their crew play a game of Trivial Pursuit, that one of the pair-- we believe it was Mark-- yelled out "Suck it!" every time he got a correct answer.

"Suck it."

The meaning of his taunting phrase was made clear last week when he urged his fellow quiz players to get on their knees in the studio, apply Chapstik and "suck it."

Disneyland is not the place for that kind of puerile, obscene behaviour. We did not hear the rest of the show, so we do not knmow what other disrespectful acts took place on the public airwaves, yet based on that segment alone, the park and the memory of its creator, Walt Disney, deserve an apology from Mark Thompson & Brian Phelps.

Uncle Walter and Uncle Walt

Mickey Mouse is dead

Wayne Allwine, who was the voice of Mickey Mouse for more than three decades, has died at 62.

The Walt Disney voiceover artist was also an Emmy Award-winning former sound effects editor and foley artist. He married Russi Taylor in 1991.

She was the voice of Minnie Mouse.


Wayne was only the third person to voice Mickey Mouse. His first appearance as Mickey was voicing the animated lead-ins for The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1977. His first appearance as Mickey for a theatrical release was in the 1983 featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol.

He died of complications of diabetes Monday morning at UCLA Medical Center.

A Tabloid Baby shout out and condolences to Jon Crowley.