Report: Club 33 Breakfast and Disneyland Tour with Imagineers
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Shelley also talked about the Trophy Room. Apparently Walt Disney made a comment about not understanding the need for hunting as a sport. In response all his buddies who hunted sent him trophy heads and stuffed birds for his collection. Rather than return the creatures, Walt decided to make them a part of an audio-animatronic show in the private club. Although the show was never completed, remnants do exist. There are microphones in the chandeliers and a disconnected audio-animatronic vulture that would have interacted with the guests based on conversation overhead through those microphones.

After breakfast the attendees were split into three groups by their wristband color. Ours was led by Doina, the first Disneyland Resort Ambassador. The park tour consisted of three lecture stations and the groups rotated between them.

Speakers at the event will change from week to week. This weekend we were honored to have X..Atencio, Maggie Irvine Elliot, and Marty Sklar.

A large portion of each section was in a question and answer format, so if you're attending one of the future sessions, it might pay to do a little research and come up with a question or two in advance.

Our first stop was Town Square with the illustrious Marty Sklar, vice-chairman of Walt Disney Imagineering. Sklar spoke passionately about Herb Ryman and his ability to tell a story through his drawings. During his talk Sklar passed around samples of Ryman's work and spoke on how he influenced the magic of Disneyland through his art, and his generosity in helping other artists at the Disney Company.

Marty Sklar

Marty Sklar was also asked about Disneyland Resort's new theme park California Adventure. Sklar was genuinely positive about park and mentioned that he should know as he's the only active employee at the Walt Disney Company whose witnessed the opening of every Disney theme park.

The subject of McDonald's in Disneyland was also brought up. And while Sklar couldn't deny that the golden arches would never make an appearance, he stated that the only full restaurant sponsorship he knew of would be in California Adventure. He also stated that the parks could learn a lot from McDonalds as they do some things better, like french fries.

Maggie Irvine Elliot

Our next stop was the castle moat courtyard with Maggie Irvine Elliot, a former senior executive at Walt Disney Imagineering. She was in the unique position of having a father who was a colleague of Ryman, so she had him around while she grew up. Then when she later joined WDI, she worked with Ryman herself.

In addition to sharing her personal experiences with Ryman, Elliot spoke on his wide spread influence in parks other than Disneyland. She also confirmed the location of the Herb Ryman tree at Sleeping Beauty Castle. (The fir tree next to the moat across the bridge from Snow White's Grotto.)

Our group encountered the third guest speaker along the River's of America where he was sandwiched between the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.... No better place to meet X. Atencio, Disney Legend and lyricist for both rides.

X. Atencio