Ken Reviews: Jeff Lange 40th Anniversary DVDs
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Ken Reviews
By Ken Pellman
Two Disneyland 40th Anniversary DVDs
JWL Media Productions Presents
Jeff Lange Remembers
"Disneyland's 40th Anniversary"
and
"Disneyland's 40th Birthday"
Thank goodness for the prolific Jeff Lange.
Thanks to Lange and people like him, you can have "home video" of certain Disney experiences even if you were unable to visit them in person, or weren't able to take video of them yourself. I would think these things would be especially helpful for newer fans who want some historical context.
Not too long ago, I rambled on and on about
what Disneyland was like in 1990, when it was celebrating "35 Years of Magic", and I reviewed Lange's DVD documenting Disneyland of 1990. I remarked that the DVD didn't include the two days of special anniversary-related events from that year. Well, Lange has managed to release two DVDs of the Disneyland 40th Anniversary, one much like his 35th Anniversary DVD, and another specifically covering Disneyland's 40th "Birthday".The 50th Anniversary celebration is still going on at what is now the Disneyland Resort, and it is hard for me to believe it has been eleven years since the "40 Years of Adventure" 1995 celebration at a place called simply "Disneyland".
The "Anniversary" DVD (purchase at the LP Store) is 69 minutes sectioned into chapters featuring:
Ride on Horse-Drawn Street Car Down Main Street, U.S.A.
Lion King Celebration
Time Castle (time capsule)
Indiana Jones Adventure
The Spirit of Pocahontas stage show
40th Anniversary Slideshow
The video starts at the Main Entrance, complete with the old ticket booths that used to line the area directly in front of the turnstiles. Once inside, we catch the Disneyland Marching Band performing in front of Mickey Floral. From there, we see the 40th Anniversary sign over the entrance tunnel, and then we're in Town Square.
The Horse-Drawn Street Car ride shows us only the east side of Main Street, with a glimpse of the old Tomorrowland entrance, complete with stationary Peoplemover cars.
As we see Sleeping Beauty Castle, we can hear the Mark Twain whistle and the sounds of the Matterhorn in the distance. We walk through the castle to see the themed Fantasyland history display. These displays were placed throughout the park to show the history of the various lands.
The Lion King Celebration was a parade with fewer floats that stopped at several places along the parade route, and so it wasn't called a parade by Disney.
The DVD presents a performance from 1994, the Celebration's first year. It was performing through all of 1995, which is why it is in this DVD. There is only one camera position – curbside in Town Square, right by where Pumbaa is during the stationary performance. Like the rest of the DVD, the shots are handheld and the sound is unsweetened.
The Celebration was one of Disneyland's most popular "parades" to date, and one of the most well-done. With floats move into position with "I Just Can't Wait to Be King", then the show runs through "The Circle of Life" before going back to "King".
A single camera position is inadequate for fully covering the parade, and we don't see nearly enough of the dancers who climb up poles placed in the route to stretch out high above the pavement.