The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (103 page)

New Orleans Square Character Meetings and Performers

Because New Orleans has strong French roots, and such a profound tie to delicious cuisine, the Parisian chef extraordinaire, rat
Remy
, and his pal
Emile
, are placed in this district when they do character meet-and-greets.  This is not, however, a regular or common occurrence.

Disney
’s 2009 animated feature
The Princess and the Frog
is set in New Orleans’ French Quarter and bayous, and has voodoo elements in its plot, so character meet-and-greets for the movie’s critters initially transpired in
New Orleans Square. 
Beginning in late 2009, Guests queued just outside the pretty
Court des Anges
to meet
Princess Tiana
and
Prince Naveen
.
  Princess Tiana
(in her human form) moved to the
Royal Walk
at
Fantasyland
’s
Disney Princess Fantasy Faire
in early 2010, and then joined the other princesses at the
Royal Hall
in
Disneyland
’s new
Fantasy Faire
next to
Sleeping Beauty Castle
beginning in March of 2013.  But during January and February,
Mardis Gras
season,
Tiana
can still be found in
New Orleans Square
, celebrating the
Bayou Bash
with singing, dancing, special treats, face painting, and even performances by trumpet-playing alligator
Louis
!

Where
’s
Captain Jack Sparrow
?  You can see his
Audio-Animatronic
avatar during your sail through
Pirates of the Caribbean
.  If you want to catch him for a meet-and-greet, you might be able to visit him at
Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island
in
Frontierland
, but only if he’s stationed there for a movie tie-in or special event.  Pirate
Angelica
from
Pirates 4
(
On Stranger Tides
) hosted character appearances in
New Orleans Square
in anticipation of the movie’s May 20, 2010 premiere, a limited-time event to promote the film. 
Captain Jack
and other famous pirates might return when
Pirates 5
sets sail in theaters in July 2015!

Around Halloween,
Nightmare Before Christmas
fans will be pleased to find
Jack Skellington
and
Sally
lurking around
Magnolia Park
just south of the
Haunted Mansion
for meet-and-greets, autographs, and photos.

Queenie
and the
Jambalaya Jazz Band
blast through
New Orleans Square
with their boisterous French Quarter music, making every day
Mardi Gras
.  The
Royal Street Bachelors
, a jazz trio, entertain in the lanes of
New Orleans Square
and on the
French Market
stage.

Since New Orleans is pirate country, you might run into the
Bootstrappers
or the
Bilge Rats
, musical pirates who, although they
look
comically fearsome, are more interested in singing to you than relieving you of your gold.  Both bands of pirate crooners also perform at times on
Tom Sawyer Island
.

Sometimes t
he guitarist is
Jon Walmsley
, who played musical brother Jason Walton on the popular “Waltons” TV series and specials. 
Walmsley
has
Disney
connections; he was the voice of
Christopher Robin
in
Disney
’s
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
in 1968, and he appeared in 1968’s
The One and Only Genuine Family Band
, a film that aired as
The Family Band
in two episodes on
Disney
’s TV program in 1972. More recently,
Walmsley
’s band
The Ravers
has played at
Disneyland
.
Walmsley
used to be spotted cheerfully strumming a guitar with the
Miner 49ers
over at
DCA
, too.

A bit of
“bootstrapping” trivia: 
Disney
’s
Sherman Brothers
wrote songs for the non-
Disney
live action film “Tom Sawyer” in 1973; when
Tom
and
Huck
run away to Jackson’s Island and experience a taste of independence, they sing the rollicking,
Sherman
-penned song
Bootstrappers
.  More bootstrapping trivia:  In the
Disney Pirates of the Caribbean
films,
Will Turner
’s father is a pirate nick-named
Bootstrap Bill Turner
.

What is a bootstrapper, anyway?  It has a technological meaning among the
computer set, but generally people who are “bootstrappers” are bettering themselves without a helping hand, lifting themselves up by their own bootstraps, as it were.

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland At-a-Glance

Attractions: 
Astro Orbitor
,
Autopia
(FP),
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
,
Disneyland Monorail
,
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
,
Granite Ball
,
“
Honey, I Shrunk The Audience”
/ “Captain EO”
,
Innoventions
,
Jedi Training Academy
,
Observatron
,
Space Mountain
(FP),
Starcade
,
Star Tours
(FP),
TLT Dance Club
(Closed)

Gear: 
Autopia Winner’s Circle
,
Little Green Men Store Command
,
Star Trader
,
TommorowLanding

Grub: 
Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port
(L, D, S),
Spirit of Refreshment
(S),
Tomorrowland Fruit Cart
(S),
Tomorrowland Terrace
(B, L, D, S)

Tomorrowland Introduction:

Walt
Disney
was fascinated by the possibilities of the future.  Although very early drafts for
Disneyland
(back when it was going to be the small
Mickey Mouse Park
in
Burbank
) focus on main street and frontier-like landscapes of the past, by the time
Walt
and
Herb Ryman
collaborated on the famous 1953 illustration that wooed and won the investors, there was a clearly defined
World of Tomorrow
sketched in the eastern side of the map precisely where
Tomorrowland
was eventually built.

Walt
was a proponent of progress and of “continuous improvement” well before that concept became ubiquitous in the corporate world.  He called constant improvement
plussing
, a phrase that
Disney
leaders and Cast Members continue to use today.

No matter how delightful an attraction was,
Walt
knew you could always find a way to
plus
it, to make it even more imaginative, efficient, and pleasing for Guests.  One of the things he loved about
Disneyland
was that unlike a film, which, once completed, could not be altered, the park was a living entertainment laboratory that could be
plussed
endlessly.

Tomorrowland
was the last of the original
Disneyland
realms to be completed. On
Opening Day
in 1955 it wasn’t ready;
Imagineers
slapped it together as best they could to make it presentable for the first Guests.  Early Tomorrowland was less a land of the future than a Potemkin village of wet paint and vacant spaces where attractions were “Coming soon”.  But by 1956 that had been rectified.  In
Tomorrowland
’s earliest years it hosted many educational exhibits, including the
Hall of Chemistry
, the
Hall of Aluminum Fame
,
Circarama
, the
Dairy Bar
, and the ever-popular
Bathroom of Tomorrow
.

The
Dairy Bar
was sponsored by the
American Dairy Association
and focused on diary science and concluded with a cool glass of milk.  Remember that in 1955 most daires, like farms, were still family-run enterprises, not corporate-owned behemoths, and the advances in dairy science we take for granted today were fresh and exciting in the middle of the last century.

The
Bathroom of Tomorrow
was sponsored by the
Crane Company
, and seems to have been more of an advertisement for
Crane
’s contemporary bathroom fixtures and hot-water boilers than a true scientific exhibit.

Like many great minds of his day, from the trained academics to intuitive geniuses,
Walt
saw the future in motion.  He predicted and encouraged advances in more efficient public transportation, in better cars and drivers, and in trips to the moon, Mars and beyond.  Consequently,
Tomorrowland
was always heavy on transportation and space-themed attractions.

Largely unfinished and barely presentable on opening day in 1955,
Tomorrowland
has always been a popular but problematic district.  The problem?  How to keep ahead of advances in transportation, technology, architecture, and design, how to remain not only relevant but ahead of the curve. 
Tomorrowland
has always been a victim of its own vision; when what it predicts and proposes comes to pass, the visionary park attraction becomes suddenly ordinary.  And when predicted advancements
don’t
come to pass, the attraction suddenly seems silly.

At times
the original
Tomorrowland
seemed sleekly futuristic and prophetic, as when early attraction
Rocket to the Moon
gave Guests a truly thrilling facsimile of a journey to the lunar surface.  To give just one example of the very real visionary power that
Disney
and
Disneyland
exerted, the
Disney
science-fact films on which the
Rocket to the Moon
attraction was based inspired President Eisenhower to make space exploration a blue-chip endeavor.

Coming out of World War II, there were plenty of engineers and designers who had learned to work together on complex projects during the war.  In the 1950’s and 1960’s, often at the government’s behest, these talents put their energy into large-scale transportation efforts on the ground (the national highway system) and in the sky (air and space programs).

Eisenhower had one of the
Disney
science-fact films shown to Congress, setting the United States on the space exploration course that would culminate with man’s moon landing in the summer of 1969, and give impetus to in time to space shuttle and space station programs, and unmanned probe and telescope projects. 
Disneyland
Guests saw the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing on July 20, 1969 as it unfolded when it was broadcast live at the
Tomorrowland Stage
.

The
Rocket to the Moon
attraction is fondly remembered by Guests as a dramatic and powerful experience.  Called
Rocket to the Moon
from 1955 to 1966, then named
Flight to the Moon
from 1967 to 1975, it was a well-engineered experience.  Guests entered a double-domed building and were seated in round, tiered theaters that represented rocket interiors.  The theaters were called
Luna
and
Diana
, moon goddess names.