Disneyland's 47th Birthday,

Disneyland's 47th Birthday
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by LaughingPlace.com Staff
July 17, 2002
Coverage of Disneyland's 47th Birthday with tenor Daniel Rodriguez at a Town Square ceremony.

On July 17th at 11:45am, Disneyland celebrated its 47th birthday with a ceremony held at Town Square. The highlight of the celebration was a performance by tenor Danny Rodriguez of the New York Police Department who has represented the department and the city with his voice over the past 10 months since September 11.

Below are pictures from the event as well as a transcript and six videos which together make up the entire event.

Videos
Note: These videos are no longer available
There are six videos available. Each video is available in RealVideo format. The videos are linked here as well as at the relevant parts of the article.

The Event
The ceremony started with Disneyland Resort Ambassador, Matt Ebeling.

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Disneyland Ambassador Matt Ebeling
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Clip 1: Matt Ebeling (1 minute, 14 seconds)
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Matt Ebeling: Good morning everyone. (crowd responds) Good morning! (crowd responds louder) Excellent. On behalf of all of us at the Disneyland Resort I want to welcome you to our celebration in honor of the 47th birthday of the happiest place on earth. We�re so glad that you could join us for this special occasion. It is a great honor and privilege for me to represent more than 20,000 cast members at the Disneyland Resort who are dedicating themselves every day to bringing the magic of Disney to guests from around the world. Since July 17th 1955 more than 450 million guests have passed through our gates and created joyful memories that will be cherished for a lifetime. We are proud to continue this legacy of happiness that has grown over 47 years. And now I�d like you to help me give a warm welcome to the President of the Disneyland Resort, Cynthia Harriss.

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Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss
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Clip 2: Cynthia Harriss (3 minutes, 30 seconds)
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Cynthia Harriss: Well I think for two more minutes I get to say good morning. Welcome, welcome to the Disneyland Resort. This is absolutely, a perfect gorgeous Disneyland day. Don�t you agree? Just a perfect day for celebration. Well, today we are very proud to celebrate the 47th birthday of Walt Disney�s dream come true, Disneyland. On this day in 1955, Walt dedicated this happy place to the world. And when he was asked about this new creation he answered it very simply he said he created Disneyland to be a place where adults and children could come together to have fun, where they could experience some of the wonders and adventures of life and feel better as a result. Well almost 5 decades later the entire world still cherishes the magical place as an American tradition. Walt believed Disneyland truly was the essence of our great nation. He understood that nostalgia, ideals and dreams were woven into fabric of every American and no where else is Walt�s love of his country and its citizens more evident than right here on Main Street USA where the turn of the century buildings echo the promise of prosperity, family and new growth. The hopeful spirit of America echoes from every window and every doorway along this symbolic street. Well here we�re surrounded by the harmonious vision of community, generosity, creativity, and optimism that was born in hometowns across America. And here we stand beneath our nation�s flag waving proudly for all to see. And here we honor the dreams, and tremendous spirit that has risen above adversity to make America a home and all of her citizens a family.