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Backstage pass
Fellow blogger Vintage Disneyland Tickets posted this great aerial view of the Happiest Place on Earth as it appeared when I was an Outdoor Vending Cast Member in 1983. I applied some labels to...
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Ain't got that swing
A summer shift working the popcorn wagon in Bear Country used to be a delightful way to spend a late afternoon. The little land was a shady, relatively quiet spot in an otherwise bustling Disneyland....
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Old growler
Walt said that he didn't "like to make sequels to my pictures. I like to take a new thing and develop something." "Disney," however, now turns out sequels on top of sequels, so I'll go ahead and follow...
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Only high-class stuff
There were a lot of Country Bears, and each one's song has a story. But yesterday's Disneyland had a lot of stories that I want to remember and share. As Henry used to say, "We've got work to do."So...
View ArticleDisneyland family
The Disneyland Cast was once a family. This fabulous 1979 video clip by a former character focuses on the old Zoo Crew, but these people could have been part of any work location back then....
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Tricks and treats
Merlin knew how to conjure both, but it didn't stop him from being evicted from his old Fantasyland magic shop. Trick-or-treat day seems like a great time to remember the wizard's little emporium that...
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Inside Outdoor Vending
If you remember having the lemonade stand that you had as a kid, you'll have a pretty good idea of what it was like to work in Outdoor Vending back in the '80s.The backstage side of the business was an...
View ArticleCome live it again
Back when Walt Disney Productions prided itself on delivering "The Finest in Family Entertainment," Disneyland reached out to guests to "come live it again." I've searched for promotions using that...
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December 15, 1966
Eric Sevareid said it best on the CBS Evening News on this day. Just forty-five years ago, but doesn't it seem like so much longer?It would take more time than anybody has around the daily news shops...
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Being in the present
With the low seniority that I had after becoming a permanent part-time Cast Member in 1983, my Disneyland working hours that year included eight on Christmas day. I lived with a roommate in Anaheim,...
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2011 heads to Denny's
We'll put another year to bed in about an hour. When you're part of the Disneyland Show, though, time is relative. In the 24/7 world onstage and backstage, landmarks like "midnight" or "morning" don't...
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King Arthur
If you were part of Disneyland in the days when it had a parking lot, you probably knew Arthur.Those of us in the Cast knew him well. He was there nearly every day. We talked with him as he made his...
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Disneyland old-timers
It's the Best Possible Job's one hundredth post! In honor of those who, like me, were part of yesterday's Disneyland, it's dedicated to the Cast Members with whom I had the privilege of sharing time at...
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Pixie dust and carbon paper
It might seem incomprehensible to those who have grown up with fast passes and Fantasmic, but Disneyland was once a pretty primitive operation. A Cast of about 6,000 kept the Park sparkling and...
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Up through the atmosphere
Anyone who knew Disneyland well when Tomorrowland wasn't whatever it is today can tell you where this photo was taken. Can you identify the costume? The white, dark orange, and black color scheme...
View ArticleI know a place
Donna Summer's recent passing made me want to look back at her joyful performance during Disneyland's 30th Anniversary special from 1985. Unconditional love is what the Magic Kingdom should really be...
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Cars land
California Adventure's new addition now has guests racing through, floating over, and being pulled behind the various locations and characters from Pixar's Cars. It's a major investment in the...
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Popcorn Price Index
I can’t count the number of times that I scooped a box of Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn as a Disneyland Outdoor Vending Cast Member back in the '80s. It was all our popcorn wagons sold. No...
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First-rate third gate
Here's an idea for a new theme park experience that would be better than almost any other entertainment in the world. It's a perfect re-creation of a place that existed from around 1967 to around 1985....
View ArticleJuly 4, 1976
What July holiday would be complete without a parade celebrating the best of America? (If we're talking about America on Parade, the answer is every July since around 1976, but who's counting?) Here's...
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Riding on the Metro
One of my favorite blogs, Vintage Disneyland Tickets, has been quiet lately. I know that one of VDT's favorite things is Magic Mountain's old Metro monorail, so I thought that I would share a story...
View ArticleWhat a day in the Park
Thank goodness for old home movies of our Disneyland. If you were one of those who still feel something when you think back around thirty years to the Park as it was then, these could just as easily be...
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Lightyears beyond Buzz
Neil Armstrong, along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins of Apollo 11, was an attraction as at home in 1969's Tomorrowland as at Tranquility Base on the moon's surface.The Tomorrowland Stage stood...
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A one-way trip
Disneyland made the Skyway a one-way trip. Sure, sometimes an Attractions Host's flirtation with a cute girl was followed by a surreptitious phone call alerting the other station to send that gondola...
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What do you give a 58-year-old Magic Kingdom?
What do you give a 59-year-old Magic Kingdom on her birthday? Especially when she has everything, like she did when I first pinned on a Mickey Mouse nametag:A restored Tomorrowland? Nice, but totally...
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