Sketch: Christmas Castles at Disneyland & Walt Disney World

The Christmas lights on Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland are an enchanting holiday spectacle that inspired this sketch. It has been nearly 10 years since we have seen Disneyland in it’s Holiday decorations.

We have been fortunate enough to be able to visit Walt Disney World during the holidays the last 4 years. At Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Cinderella Castle is adorned in the “Dreamlights” and at nearly 200’ tall the castle decked out head to toe in lights is a remarkable sight and inspired the following sketch.

Sketch of Cinderella Castle in dreamlights

Sketch: Magic Kingdom entry plaza at night

Nightfall over the Magic Kingdom just before the fireworks. Can you hear the music and smell the popcorn yet? Last chance for a grand circle tour on the Walt Disney World Railroad.

Sketch: Sleeping Beauty Castle

The final sketch in the "Family Series" is Mom & Dad in front of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. This series began as an outgrowth of Toddler Son's requests for Dad to draw with him. It started with a sketch of Toddler Son and a balloon at Cinderella Castle and was followed by a sketch of Teenage Son/Agent P with Figment at Spaceship Earth. Since Mom & Dad went on their first date to Disneyland it seemed like drawing them in front of the original Disney Castle would be a great way to close out the series. Again all three drawings in the set are color pencil style crayons on Xerox paper. Please look back on the previous 2 posts to see the other drawings in the set!

Sketch: Spaceship Earth

After Toddler Son asked for a drawing of him at Cinderella Castle then Agent P our Teenage Son (and Figment Fanatic) requested a drawing of Spaceship Earth. In this drawing Agent P has manged to take a joyride in Dreamfinder's flying machine to chase after Figment.  Earlier this month we visited Epcot several times to enjoy the 2018 Food & Wine Festival. This drawing was done with pencil style crayons on Xerox paper. All it took was one little spark of imagination! This ended up being the second in a series, Sketch 1 in the series was showcased in the previous post "Sketch: Cinderella Castle".

Sketch: Cinderella Castle

Toddler Son enjoys sitting at our kitchen bar drawing, while he does that he insists that Dad join him. While drawing Toddler Son will make requests of what he wants Dad to draw for him and most of the time the subjects are Disney attractions. Usually Dad will doodle very loosely but sometimes he will take the opportunity to spend a little more time on a drawing.  This time Toddler Son asked for a drawing of Cinderella Castle, with a balloon. So Dad obliged and drew it using color pencils on xerox paper; Dad ended up drawing Toddler Son in the "It's A Small World" inspired balloon. 

Sketch: Kiss Goodnight at Magic Kingdom

Have you ever been at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom at the end of an operating day? Then perhaps you have received a "Kiss Goodnight". The "Kiss Goodnight" is a wonderful selection of classic Disney music  playing (A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, When You Wish Upon A Star, a little sampling of Zip A Dee Do Dah, etc.) accompanied by a narration about Walt Disney, and the mission of the Disney Parks. As the music & narration play the castle then goes through a changing series of lighting profiles. It usually starts playing at some point after closing and then incrementally until Main Street ("with shops open 1 hour after park closing") finally closes, sort of like a very polite, magical way of saying "go home already!". This sketch tries to capture a little bit of that magical quiet and isolation of the "Kiss Goodnight" in those times after a full day in the Magic Kingdom.

Sketches: 20 years of "New-New Tomorrowland" & Train ride through "Primeval World"

It was 20 years ago this week that Tomorrowland 1998 opened at Disneyland. May 22, 1998 was the day of the big reveal and ultimately the reviews were mixed for what we call "New-New Tomorrowland" around here. Tomorrowland got the first "New" treatment in 1967, and it was followed up with incremental change. The Euro Disneyland (now Disneyland Paris) Discoveryland inspired plans for "New-New Tomorrowland" were scaled back after the difficulties the Euro Disneyland project was having after its opening in 1992. So by the time it opened in 1998 large amounts of the remodel were just cosmetic by liberally applying bronze paint to the mid-century modern architecture of 1967 New Tomorrowland.

Astro Orbitor makes a striking statement right on the hub, but also blocks traffic

"New New Tomorrowland" was hit and miss.  In 1998 mid-century modern was more of a fringe taste...we were Architecture students so we were very aware of it(and big fans of it), but it had not quite become hip, retro or trendy. At that time the aesthetic of 1967 Tomorrowland was probably 10 years away from becoming a classic...unfortunately it was perceived as being "dated". Yet it is surprising how much retro stuff they worked into the remodel. The removed Peoplemover & Skyway vehicles and older Monorails were used as decor in queues & shops. And it was exciting to see a recreation of Disneyland's original rocket: The Moonliner. Space Mountain painted brown did not work and they ended up painting it back to white in anticipation of  Disneyland's 50th anniversary in 2005. It was sad to see the Rocket Jets remodeled into a satellite dish art piece. The Astro Orbitor is a handsome sculpture and it looks striking right off the hub but by placing the ride at ground level you lose the thrill and it creates a great bottleneck right at the entry to the land. Innoventions was a positive because it was not replacing anything...by 1998 the Carousel Theater had been inaccessible to guests for years. Losing the Peoplemover was a shame and ultimately the short lived Rocket Rods replacement was not successful.

Moonliner replica and edible landscaping in the planters 

We have a fondness for Tomorrowland 1998 as it was where "Mom & Dad" went on their first date on May 23, 1998. Dad wanted to take Mom to Disneyland for their first date, only Tomorrowland was not open  yet, so he suggested they wait a few weekends and go right after the grand opening...and they did, the very 2nd day it was open. 

Restored Space Mountain paint scheme in 2004 in anticipation of Disneyland's 50th Anniversary the following year

Leave the future behind and travel into the past

They spent most of the day in Tomorrowland but eventually made their way to the Disneyland Railroad and off to the rest of the park.  It is very clever that you board a nostalgic train in "The Future" and then proceed to travel "Into the Past"...in this case the "Primeval World" dinosaur diorama! This diorama was originally part of the Ford Pavilion Magic Skyway attraction Walt Disney developed for the 1964 New York World's Fair.  After the fair they brought the Dinosaur portion and added it to the Disneyland Railroad. 

Tomorrowland circa 1984 sketch remodeled into the Tomorrowland 1998 sketch above

The Sketches: Dad did a nostalgic rendering of Tomorrowland circa 1984 some time ago, and he thought it would be fun to remodel the sketch into Tomorrowland 1998. He added the sketch of the Disneyland Railroad in the Primeval World because after spending most of their first date in the future of Tomorrowland 1998 20 years ago they hopped on the train and traveled into the past. 

Sketch: Figment and Agent P

On my first ever post I said my favorite character was Figment, and if you don't know who Figment is he is a purple dragon who is basically the mascot of Epcot. In 1982 there was a ride called Journey Into Imagination in the Future World section of the park. On the ride you followed the characters Dreamfinder and Figment through their adventures of collecting things to spark the Imagination. The ride has had several variations for better or worse. Today the ride is called Journey Into Your Imagination with Figment. For the longest time I have been wanting a drawing of Figment on my shoulder and my Dad drew this for me recently.

In the rest of this post I am going to talk about my Figment collection. My collection kind of accidentally started in late 2015. For my souvenirs I wanted a stuffed animal from every park. It was almost time to leave so we went to Mouse Gears and I saw a figment plush so I got it to represent Epcot.

Figment Plush from 1982 on left, and from 2015 on right

For my 13th Birthday I wanted a Vintage Figment plush. I wanted one because recently my Family and I got into collecting vintage stuffed animals. On one of my recent trips I got a Figment Pop Figure that I am so in love with.

A big part of my Figment and pin collection are Figment themed pins. Recently I bought some EPCOT Festival of the Arts pins that are based on real life artwork. My favorite is the "Mona Figment". Recently I bought this pin that had my birth year on it that was from an old Cast Member Pin Party. I love anything that has my birth year, month, or day.

Figment patch from "Pin Folio" pin carrying case

Figment themed Disney Pins

On my next trips I want to grow my collections even more. Happy Figment Friday!

Sketch: Orange Bird and the Tiki Room

Welcome to the Tropical Hideaway you lucky people you! Imagine watching the Tiki Birds with Orange Bird.

Being Californians we were not familiar with "The Little Orange Bird", but we pretty much fell for him from the moment we saw him! He was developed by Walt Disney Productions as a mascot for the Florida Citrus Commission- the original sponsors of the Magic Kingdom Tiki Room. At Walt Disney World the Tiki Room show was called "Tropical Serenade" from 1972 through the 1990's. The version of the show you will find today is a slightly truncated version of the current Disneyland show and goes by the name "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room".

We think of  "The Little Orange Bird" as a mascot for our youngest son since he too is an East Coast creation. He's a big fan of the little guy and we dressed him up in a homemade Orange Bird costume for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and in the sketch he can be seen wearing the costume.

Sketch: Plaza Inn at Disneyland

Imagine a cool evening dining under the stars at Disneyland's Plaza Inn! Savor the legendary Chicken Dinner while you wait for the evening fireworks. The Plaza Inn opened in the 50's originally as "The Red Wagon Inn" but was elegantly remodeled into the Plaza Inn in the mid 60's and was one of Walt Disney's favorite places to eat.

We've dined there many times, Dad is partial to the Pot Roast, while Mom 's favorite is the Fried Chicken. When oldest son was a baby/toddler we enjoyed going to Minnie's Character Breakfast several times. The character lineup was very impressive, and the food was great too.

Character dining in Victorian Splendor

During the "What will you celebrate?" promotion we spent Agent P's 4th birthday there. The party was led by master of ceremonies "Chef Pat E. Cake" and a visit by Minnie Mouse.

Make your own cake beneath the spires of Sleeping Beauty Castle

With Chef Pat E. Cake

Sketches: Haunted Mansion & Mad Tea Party

Here are two mini posters (well I think they are Instagram Posts but ol' Dad calls them posters) that Agent P made from some of Dad's sketches. The first one is of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion...where they are always looking for that 1000th volunteer. Make final arrangements today! 

The second is an invitation to have some tea! The tea, you must try the tea, perhaps at your next un-birthday party? Here we have the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Tea Party which has a shelter to protect you from Florida's infrequent rain ;-). We still ride the same Tea Cup...all four of us. In this case there is not room for another so no volunteers are needed.

And here you can see the drawings in their original, corruptible form before being delightfully enhanced by Agent P. The intent with the Haunted Mansion drawing was to make it look alive. While the Tea Party sketch is supposed to be bright and peppy to try to capture the spirit of the ride on a cool November night. You may notice Toddler Son partaking of his popcorn, he simply would not stop eating his favorite snack...even while the world was spinning around him.

Sketch: It's A Small World

Our Toddler son's middle name is Elias, as a joint tribute to a family name on  Mom's side and to Walter Elias Disney who was a childhood hero of Dad's. In keeping with the Disney/Elias connection we found an It's A Small World receiving blanket and would wrap him it, it became his favorite blanket. We also hanged It's A Small World illustrations in his nursery/play area. He has been looking at the It's A Small World clock face and facade pattern his entire life! It has been burned into his subconscious like the sun motif was to Rapunzel in "Tangled".

We had some It's A Small World records and would play them for the baby. As he has gotten older he really has taken to the song and insists on hearing it "Again! Again!" Eventually we showed him videos of the ride on YouTube, first ride throughs and ultimately old episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. He fell in love with the videos as much as he did the song and books. Our Teenage son has always liked and appreciated the ride and fairly early on would dance along to the ride but it did not resonate with him like it has for our toddler son. On one of our trips to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World earlier this year the Toddler insisted on riding It's A Small World "Again! Again!".

It was a pretty busy, extremely cold day in January. When we arrived at the park at 8:00 AM we were able to snag a same day fast pass for Peter Pan right at 8:30 AM. When we emerged from Peter Pan we headed to It's A Small World which was a walk on. After going through the ride we got off the boat walked out the exit...and headed right back in and walked back on. We did a ride through and when we got back to the dock there was no one waiting so we asked to stay aboard and rode through again. So by 9:15 AM or so we had already been on the Happiest Cruise that ever Sailed 3 times. We managed to get the little guy off the ride to go on the Tea Cups. But his desire to go on It's A Small World could not be satiated. By 10:30 AM the ride was a 40 minute wait or more (and would grow throughout the day). Dad was able to secure fast passes for the ride...repeatedly. We'd get our fastpass (usually within 15 minutes), then we'd cross the touch points and as soon as we were in the line or no later than by the time the boat returned to the dock we'd obtained another fastpass. And each time we got back to the dock the Toddler would say "Again! Again!" and the cycle would repeat "Again! Again!". After 8 rides we lost count...but the joy on the little guy's face was too much to resist and they kept having fastpasses so we kept riding. Dad likes to draw so he put together this sketch of the time he and the Toddler spent the better part of a day at The Magic Kingdom riding It's A Small World Again! and Again!