It Came From the Fandom: That's From Disneyland!

The Disneyland-related benefits of living in Los Angeles do not stop with proximity to the resort itself. Because the park has remained primarily of interest to locals (as opposed to tourists like its Orlando counterpart), the hardcore fan community is pretty centralized to Southern California. As well, this city being a major hub—maybe the major hub—for the entertainment industry as a whole means that, to put it delicately, there are quite a few stinking rich people in this area. And that all means that, on those rare occasions when Disneyland just up and gets rid of something, it tends to end up in the possession of someone who lives nearby...and in the fullness of time, many of these things come back to the fan community in some way.

One of those ways is by being loaned for display to the Van Eaton Galleries, an art distributor and auction house headquartered in Sherman Oaks, CA, perhaps a 45-minute drive from Disneyland...and about five miles away from the residence of Yours Truly. I manage to drop in whenever they have a Disneyland memorabilia collection on the premises. The subsequent auctions are invariably too rich for my blood, but they let you take as many photos in the meantime as you like.

For the most recent exhibit, still (barely) ongoing, they've ramped things up. This time, the feature is the collection of Disneyland megafan Richard Kraft, including everything from concept art to decommissioned ride vehicles, and there weren't no way that was going to fit into their regular exhibition rooms or even the overflow space next door. So they've leased a two-story retail location* for a full-on, museum-style pop-up exhibit and gift shop, freely open to the public. The name of the exhibit? That's From Disneyland!

That name says it all, doesn't it? They certainly know who their audience is—people who know Disneyland's iconography by sight and need no other reason to love it.

What? Of course I've been there. What kind of question is that? Here are just a few of the nice photos I got...

Sentimental Paleontology: The Other Space

Let's not lose perspective: the Tomorrowland Problem is old. You could make a case for it being as old as Disneyland itself—we all know that Tomorrowland was the one area that was severely skimped on back in 1955 due to time and budget shortfalls, and what was there was so immediately dated that the land received a major upgrade before the park turned five. What we don't acknowledge as often is that said major upgrade already represented a partial departure from the themes of science, technology, and realistic futurism in favor of a dose of pure fantasy. The Submarine Voyage—a celebration of technological achievements allowing humanity to explore parts of the world that were previously completely inaccessible—was also a veritable showcase of popular myths about the ocean, presented as though they were as real as the coral reefs.

And honestly...I have trouble figuring out why. This early in the game, the Imagineers could hardly have been running short of futuristic inspiration. Did they think a realistic undersea voyage was too boring? If so, why create the Submarine Voyage to begin with? If, on the the other hand, the fantasy material was included due to the attraction's location on the boundary between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, why don't we see more crossover content in other boundary attractions that debuted in this era?

Moreover, several years down the line, the “World on the Move” Tomorrowland makeover would have been the perfect opportunity to refine the Submarine Voyage into something more on-point. But instead, the Imagineers doubled down on the fantasy by adding live mermaid performers to the Lagoon. That experiment didn't last, for reasons that vary depending upon who's telling the story,* but the overall point is that this ride has been part of Tomorrowland almost since the beginning, and its most fantastic aspect was immediately established as its most iconic.

They've never really known what to do with Tomorrowland.

The mythical aquatic singing sirens...of the future!

Armchair Imagineering: Autopian Visions of the Future

The Autopia is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment, prompted by the end of Chevron's sponsorship and the beginning of Honda's. The known changes are primarily superficial—fresh coats of paint to bring the cars and queue structures away from the ridiculous color schemes engendered by the 1998 remodel of Tomorrowland and get them more in line with Honda's own contemporary aesthetic. We're seeing a lot of blue and white:

Nice, isn't it? More than nice, it's classic Tomorrowland coloring: a return to form in at least that superficial sense. And naturally, with a change in sponsors and paint jobs comes the inevitable question: Is anything else about this Opening Day ride changing?

Armchair Imagineering: International Land

At Disneyland Park in Anaheim, the borders of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are occupied by a series of attractions that don’t quite fit. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, the Matterhorn, “it’s a small world”…these iconic rides were installed in their locations to take advantage of available space, or because they belonged there once, but by now the surrounding area or the ride itself has evolved in such a way as to take it out of theme. What do cartoon fish have to do with the future or even science-fiction? The growling Yeti notwithstanding, the Matterhorn Bobsleds are more contemporary than fantastic. The whimsy of “it’s a small world” seems perfectly suited to the childlike wonder of Fantasyland, but the theme of international peace and multiculturalism belongs, one would hope, firmly in the real world.

In addition, there is a large swatch of land between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland that suffers from underutilization—formerly the site of the Fantasyland Autopia and Motor Boat Cruise (neither of which was very appropriate to Fantasyland either), it currently provides extended track for the remaining Autopia in Tomorrowland…yet another ride that doesn’t do justice to the imagery of its land. It’s almost like this part of the park is rebelling against the adjacent areas and crying out for a theme of its own. Hence the proposal contained herein: International Land, where the world itself comes to Disneyland.

Armchair Imagineering: Theme and the Tomorrowland Problem

Today, I'll be talking about that most vital yet hard-to-define of Disney park concepts: Theme. As Walt Disney explained while developing his revolutionary idea—and as we fans are quick to remind people—Disneyland and its successors are not mere amusement parks but theme parks...but what does this actually mean?

The basic definition of a “theme” is a unifying idea, principle, or motif. Walt Disney's disgust with the filth and disorganization of the amusement parks and fun fairs that were standard in the first half of the 20^th Century led him to imagine his own park as a place that would be kept scrupulously clean and logical in design. He settled on a handful of themes he wanted to express and gave each one its own area of the park. Everything in each “land”—the architecture, landscaping, Cast Member costumes, food and merchandise, and of course the rides and attractions themselves—was designed to match the associated theme. Even when he ran short of time and money to complete the park, Walt managed to preserve his designated themes so that the areas were recognizable and consistent.

It is common knowledge which themed areas were present when Disneyland opened, but it still bears repeating. Main Street, USA functioned as the introduction to what was at the time a brand-new concept, and provided familiarity and a friendly atmosphere with its theme of the American small town circa the 1900s. Adventureland was a wild tropical jungle composited from all the jungle areas of the world—Africa, Asia, South America, the South Pacific. Frontierland was a tribute to America's Westward Expansion period of the 19^th Century. Fantasyland was a place of fairy tales and children's stories...especially as featured in the animated films of Walt Disney Studios. Tomorrowland was a vision of the future and the excitement of developing technology. All these themes were easily distinguishable from each other, and all loomed large in the American imagination of the time.

So far, so good. But how have the area themes fared as the park has continued to grow and evolve? Main Street, USA has remained more or less the same—with few specific attractions, its theming hangs almost entirely on atmospheric elements such as building design and Cast Member costumes, and these have changed very little. Adventureland has also held onto its theming pretty well. Its palette has been broadened but mostly remained in tropical jungles—the one exception is Aladdin's Oasis. Frontierland has weathered the decline of the Western gracefully enough without losing its focus. (It helps that the parts that diverge the most have been spun off into lands of their own—New Orleans Square and Bear/Critter Country.) Fantasyland's theme has expanded without necessarily being diluted (a trick perhaps to be examined in a separate article). And Tomorrowland...

Ah, Tomorrowland, we hardly knew ye.