The West Side of the Kingdom
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There were other events and parades that I have loved dearly at Disneyland over the past years that I enjoy thinking about and talking about from time to time. When I first hired in to the Park, the current event was State Fair. It was so funny - during our Park-wide orientation, they let us watch the State Fair parade and I was stunned to see thousands of guests going nuts over tractors and farming equipment rolling down Main Street. I went away to high school and lived for four years in the Imperial Valley, about two hours south of San Diego. I lived there in El Centro, and had to learn to put up with tractors driving in traffic lanes, etc. It was a farming community, so these were everyday items for me. It boggled my mind to see everyone so fired up about John Deer’s finest! As I said, I was new to Disneyland then as a Cast Member, so I focused less on State Fair and more on learning what an “E-Stop” at Pirates was or a “Phantom Stop” was at the Haunted Mansion. And for what it’s worth, an “E-Stop” on any attraction is an “emergency stop.” The term “E-Stop” is more suitable to be spoken out loud without alarming guests, etc. A “Phantom Stop” at the Mansion was an occurrence that old Mansion Cast Members will know about. The old motors used to simply shut the ride down for no apparent reason. We could never figure out (nor could the sound guys or various techs) why the attraction would all of a sudden come to a slow stop. That was taken care of a few years ago during an extensive rehab, in which the motors were replaced. As far as I know, there are no more “Phantom Stops” at the Haunted Mansion.

I was around for the Park’s 35th Anniversary and even participated early one morning in the filming of the Park’s parade commercial. They served hundreds of Cast Members coffee and muffins as we stood freezing before the Park opened as they lined Main Street with the massive Party Gras balloons of Disney characters and boomed the soundtrack of Buster Poindexter singing Hot Hot Hot! over and over again as we threw the purple doubloons and danced and cheered in the streets as the cameras rolled. It was fun, and a very unique memory. I still have a bag full of those purple coins! During that time, they gave a car away each day at the park from a huge stage that was built in the Hub where the Partners statue now resides. Upon entering the Park, guests would receive a ticket that entitled them to a prize if they were lucky - once a day, someone would win the car and it would come rising slowly from the Hub amidst music and great fanfare. From what I understand, the empty “holding area” still exists down there. Maybe one of these days, Partners will be moved to a location near the Castle and we’ll see a giant gift-giving machine rise once again to grant guests wondrous prizes! Who knows?

As a Cast Member, one of the most memorable experiences was gathering in front of the Castle to take a Cast 35th Anniversary picture. Most of us wore red T-shirts and others wore white ones. We formed a huge mass of faces and smiles while our shirts made our a giant “35” in the middle of the picture. Getting a gazillion Cast Members to be cooperative at the crack of dawn is an amazing feat in itself (come on, you guys know how you are!). But there was a lurking menace at the back of the group. Once we were all in place, the Park wanted to include characters and the ever-popular Mickey-Moo (the cow with the Mickey ears “logo” naturally grown on its side) around the outer edges of the Cast Member group. The cow was placed in the back. As the countdown began for the picture to at last be taken, screams erupted from the rear of the group and like the parting of the Red Sea, a line grew down the middle of the group. You see, you can control a crowd of Cast Members (eventually), but no matter how much you scream over a bullhorn, you can’t control a large cow’s bladder!

My favorite event hands-down was Blast to the Past. Main Street was transformed into a ‘50s wonderland with doo-wap singers and slow-cruising convertibles. Girls in poodle skirts and guys with slicked-back hair and leather jackets mingled with Disneyland guests as the music of Del Shannon and Chubby Checker boomed through the sound system. It was great! The one part of Blast that remains one of my favorite times at the Park was the Main Street Hop. It was a parade that rolled out and stopped on Main Street and was simply fantastic - great music, loads of fun and a million Disneyland guests and regulars doing the hand jive and having one heck of a good time. I spent many days doing the Main Street Hop with my dear friend, Don Schockow - who now produces Disneyana TV. Gosh, we were wild and over-the-top back then! One of the little things that went on during the Blast promotion was a car filled with various things - yo-yos, Frisbees and so on. Guests guessing how many items were stuffed in the car won a prize, etc. One afternoon, we found two nuns filling out the entry form and heckled the heck out of them about being “lured into these worldly games of chance at Disneyland!” They laughed and one said, “You bet!”

The Main Street Hop remains one of my favorite soundtracks to this day and there are afternoons that I listen to it and think back all those years ago and giggle to myself. What an awesome event and totally cool parade! I got so into the whole craze that I went out one afternoon to Tower Records in Tustin and bought $106-worth of do-wap and ‘50s Billboard tapes to play in the car! I remember that figure because everyone (including me) thought I was nuts to spend that kind of cash on tapes just to keep the flavor of the Disneyland event flowing after I had left the Park each day! To this day, all of those tapes have been thrown out or tossed into storage somewhere. However, they all served a purpose then and I am so glad I bought them - if anything, I learned some great old tunes and learned to keep away from Runaround Sue! We saw several great performances of these old bands at Videopolis before it became a stage show venue including Del Shannon and Paul Revere and the Raiders. During another Cast Member event, I was able to take Don with me to set a World’s Record for the most people doing the Twist at once. We were in the Hub, right behind the Chubster. At one point, he jumped down and did the Twist with us - talk about a thrill! It was awesome and he was a great sport about the whole event. He really gave it his all and the crowd loved him. That’s another memory that will forever remain a favorite of mine.