The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (140 page)

What significance do the trolley numbers have? 
There are two trolleys, number 623 and number 717.  The numerals 623 refer to June of 1923, the month and year that
Walt
moved to
Los Angeles
.  The numbers also reference the “600 series” of Pacific Electric cars.  623 is painted red.  The numerals 717 refer to July 17–the date
Disneyland
opened its gates in 1955.  The numbers also reference the “700 series” of Pacific Electric cars.  717 is painted bright red with gold doors and a distinctive gold butterfly pattern that harks back to Pacific Electric vehicles.
Did You Know?
  Powerful and savvy businessman Henry Huntington was behind the Pacific Electric Railway and its Big Red Cars and was instrumental in making them the success they were.  Before the Big Red Cars he presided over LA’s more modest (and lesser known) Yellow Car System.  Huntington was one of LA’s greats, and left behind a hospital, library, street, school, and cities named after him.
Night Vision:
  The
Red Car Trolleys
are beautiful at night; warmly lit from within, they glide through
Hollywood Land
and
Buena Vista Street
like glowing lamps.
FastPass:
 
DCA
’s
Red Car Trolleys
, like all forms of transportation at the resort, are not a match for the
FastPass
system.  Like
Disneyland
’s
Main Street Vehicles
, they are first-come, first-serve transports.

Storytellers Statue

[
FastView:
 
A statue of
Walt
and
Mickey
—the spirit of
Walt
and
Mickey
—before the
Disney
empire was born.  Great photo opportunity for the whole family.
]

One of the few elements of
Buena Vista Street
that
wasn’t
visible during the
Annual Passholder Sneak Previews
, the
Storytellers Statue
inspired a great deal of anticipation. 
Disney
fans had caught a glimpse of the
Storytellers
model at 2011’s
D23 Expo
, but were eager to see the fully realized statue.

On June 15, 2012,
Disney Chairman
and
CEO
Bob Iger
rededicated
DCA
.  It was the official grand reopening of
DCA
and grand opening of
Buena Vista Street
.  And there, finally, was the
Storytellers Statue
, in a little park near
Elias & Co.
on
Carthay Circle Plaza
.

A
direct counterpart (and counterpoint) to the
Partners Statue
in
Disneyland
’s
Hub
, this new statue of
Walt
and
Mickey Mouse
depicts
Walt
as an optimistic young man, in casual attire that includes a fedora, portrayed as he might have looked stepping off the train from the Midwest in the early 1920’s.

Th
e statue is one of many vital features of
Buena Vista Street
, an elegant yet welcoming land deeply connected to
Walt
’s past.

As
wonderful as it is, the statue is anachronistic in that it includes
Mickey
.  When he first arrived in Los Angeles,
Walt
had not yet created
Mickey Mouse
. 
Walt
wouldn’t create
Mickey
until 1928.

The anachronism can be forgiven, however, because
Walt
’s incredible imagination, which would help create
Mickey
, was already in full force in 1923, and because
Mickey
can be seen, always, as
Walt
’s alter ego–especially early
Mickey
.  And it is indeed an early version of
Mickey
that we see here, an adorable, scampish
Mickey
with pie-cut eyes.

Storytellers
, like the rest of
Buena Vista Street
, is not intended to be historically accurate but rather to evoke truthful insights into
Walt
and his creativity. 
Storytellers
is part of the coded collage of
Buena Vista Street
; it is part of the
Buena Vista Street
waking dream.

Unlike the
Partners Statue
of
Disneyland
, which stands on a raised pedestal surrounded by scrupulously maintained flower beds,
Storytellers
was installed at ground level in the midst of a humbler landscape.  Instead of being a formal focal point that draws attention, as
Partners
does,
Storytellers
is (literally) down-to-earth, and off to one side; many Guests sort of stumble across it as if they were stumbling across young
Walt
back in the day, before all of his fame and success.

Storyteller
’s
Walt
still has his battered suitcase with him, as if he just that moment stepped off his train from the Midwest.  Prophetically, little
Mickey
is balancing on that suitcase–and
Mickey
carries his own travelling bag.

Walt
wears a sweater-vest, his jacket slung casually over one shoulder.  There’s a marvelous ease and informality about the scene.  Elegant three-piece suits, and pedestals, and phenomenal success, are far in the future.  This is a young man “with a suitcase and a dream”–the young
Walt
that the
Red Car News Boys
sing about.

Want to have your photo snapped
next to the
Storytellers Statue
?  There’s usually a
Disneyland Photographer
posted nearby.

The image of youthful
Walt
and
Mickey
is so moving that many Guests break into teary-eyed smiles when they see the statue and pose with it.  The image is so compelling that
Disney
selected it to adorn a slew of
Buena Vista Street
and rededication merchandise like
Storytellers
T-shirts, jackets, miniatures, portfolios, pins, and fedoras.  The power and warmth of the image make its merchandising feel commemorative rather than exploitive.  Every Guest wants to take home some meaningful little piece of
Walt
.

I have a very limited
Disney pin
collection; two of my most treasured pieces are
Storytellers pins
from the June 15, 2012
DCA
rededication.  I have also a gold-faced
DCA
rededication watch, and its central image is, naturally,
Storytellers
.  The artisans were also able to include iconic symbols of
Grizzly Peak
,
Paradise Pier
,
Cars Land
, and
Hollywood Land
, but it’s the central visual of young
Walt
and
Mickey
, the
Carthay Circle Theatre
behind them, that stirs the imagination and touches the heart.

Do you admire
Walt
?  Do you know his story, or want to learn it?  Make
Storytellers Statue
one of your first stops when you visit
DCA
. 
Did You Know?
  When
Walt
first moved to
Los Angeles
, he was nearly broke and wearing a mismatched suit, but he bought a first-class train ticket for the journey.  Even back then,
Walt
had confidence that he was going to make his mark in Hollywood. 
Did You Also Know?
 
Blaine Gibson
, who sculpted
Partners
, passed away in 2000, so who sculpted
Storytellers
? 
Disney
didn’t publicize the identity of the sculptor, but indicated at the
D23 Expo
in 2011 that the artist had been a protégé of
Gibson
for 30 years. 
Gibson
passed the torch to successor
Valerie Edwards
, but she departed
Imagineering
in 2009, and is therefore unlikely to be the sculptor. 
Peter Carsillo
, a
Gibson
protégé,
Imagineer
, and sculptor in bronze is a possible suspect.  As always,
Disney
focuses on the work rather than the individual creator.

Buena Vista Street
Gear and Grub

Gear:

Atwater Ink & Paint

[
FastView:
 
Stop in here to view the many
Disney
tributes and gags and for
Disney
treats.
]

From 1926 to 1940, the
Disney
animation studios were located on
Hyperion
in L.A.’s
Silver Lake
district.  Los Angeles was–and remains–a complicated patchwork of neighborhoods, each with its own distinct flavor.

Just north of
Silver Lake
is
Atwater Village
, a densely populated community squeezed between
Glendale
and
Los Feliz
.  More accurately, it’s bordered by the L.A. River, which runs between
Atwater Village
and
Los Feliz
. 
Atwater
is literally at the water–hence its name.

Because
Walt
and
Roy
and their employees spent so much time at the
Silver Lake
studios, and because
Walt
and
Roy
and their wives lived for a time in the
Atwater
-
Los Feliz
area,
Atwater Village
has a special place in
Disney
history.

The
Disneys
and their animators frequented
Atwater Village
, where the Pacific Electric Railway’s “big red cars” ran, and where the famous Tam O’Shanter Inn restaurant, which opened in 1922, was a favorite of
Walt
’s–perhaps in part because of its storybook style.

Animation was the
Disney
bread-and-butter in those days, so what more fitting contemporary tribute to
Atwater Village
than to open the
Atwater Ink & Paint
shop on
Buena Vista Street
in newly remodeled
DCA
?

Gaze through the plate glass windows of
Atwater Ink & Paint
, and you’ll see a display of sketches, artist’s dummies, brushes, and pots of ink and paint.  A sign proclaims that the
Atwater School of Art & Animation
is located upstairs, on the second level.  The instructors listed (
Clark
,
Larson
,
Johnston
,
Thomas
,
Kimball
,
Davis
,
Kahl
,
Lounsbery
, and
Reitherman
) were
Disney’s Nine Old Men
,
Walt
’s key animators, some of whom later became directors, producers, and
Imagineers
.

Sources report that if you listen carefully, you’ll hear an audio show emanating from
the art school upstairs;
Walt
is taking animation lessons.  (The author can’t confirm this, not having heard it myself, although I stopped and listened on several occasions.  This might be a
DCA
urban legend.)