By Keith Mahne

Marc Davis, one of Walt Disney’s “nine old men,” was involved creatively in most facets of the Disney story during his amazing 43 year career with the Studio. A recipient of the Disney Legend Award, he began in animation on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, continued in animated films into the early ’60s, and was a Directing Animator on most of the classic cartoon features we have all grown to love. In 1961, Walt Disney asked Marc to join his Imagineering team to lend his considerable designing experience to the expansion of a still youthful Disneyland. The "E" Ticket magazine had the privilege of spending a fascinating afternoon with both Marc and his wife Alice Davis (who is an accomplished Disney veteran in her own right) back in 1989. Let's take a look at that incredible interview where Marc shared his many personal memories and details from the golden era of Disney...

By Keith Mahne

1965 marked the 10th anniversary of Disneyland, and to celebrate the occasion, Walt gave TV viewers a sneak peek into the upcoming Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean attractions and other new plans for his park on this beloved 10th anniversary show as part of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Join us in today's new article as we travel back to 1965 and join Walt, Disneyland Ambassador Julie Reihm, and his Imagineers as we watch Disneyland's 10th Anniversary Show in spectacular HD quality...

By Keith Mahne

This past March, Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean attraction turned 50 years old – and what a ride it’s been. It's unique, unconventional, uncharacteristically dark and  – without a doubt  –  one of the most iconic theme park rides of all time. Launched on March 18, 1967, the original "Pirates" ride featured a 1,838-foot flume with a 12-minute running time, making it one of the longest theme park rides in existence. The attraction quickly became a fan favorite and an icon for the park that had opened only twelve years earlier. The ride was one of the first to combine multiple elements for users to enjoy: audio animatronics, a double drop, theatrical effects and more. Join us today as we celebrate 50 years of plundering fun with this delightful 1967 Pirates of the Caribbean radio commercial that you have got to hear...

By Brittany Bell

When guests are taking a walk down the crowded streets of Frontierland, they are transported back to a simpler time of the American West when cowboys and outlaws ruled the streets. Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain reign as the kings of the land, towering over the frontier streets. However, this land was originally slated to be much different than it is now. Join us today as we look at what was planned for the Magic Kingdom's Frontierland and the never-realized but absolutely remarkable Thunder Mesa and the Western River Expedition...

By Keith Mahne

The talking skull in Pirates of the Caribbean has warned guests that "Dead Men tell no tales" millions of times over the years. The poor mayor has been dunked countless times (and still hasn't drowned). The auctioneer has been trying to unload the same plump young wench on the same six pirates hundreds of times a day, 365 days a year with no takers. And those same six pirates have been wanting the "red 'ed" without success for almost 50 years. Day after day, year after year, the pirates have been singing and pillaging and plundering and kidnapping and extorting and marauding, much to the delight of the thousands of Disneyland guests who line up daily to see the less-than-daring exploits of these fun-loving scalawags. In fact, Pirates of the Caribbean has emerged as perhaps the most successful attraction ever built at a Disney Theme Park and it's all thanks to the Imagineers. In today's new article, we'll hear from some of those very same Imagineers who have shared their memories over the years on creating one of the best Disney attractions that has been exciting guests with almost 50 years of plundering fun...

By EPCOT Explorer

At WED Enterprises, the 1970s were marked with an unmistakable drive of creativity that produced some of the most well known and iconic Disney experiences that still are held dear, today. This was the decade of Walt Disney World’s opening and all of the efforts to bring the fledgling resort up to operational and thematic speed. This is also the heady decade in which Walt Disney Productions would finally act upon Walt Disney’s idea for an urban community of tomorrow and produce a theme park, EPCOT Center, out of those ideas and plans. Additionally, this is also the decade when Disney looked beyond America and saw potential in building magic kingdoms around the world. Tokyo Disneyland’s creative nexus came about during EPCOT’s formal creation as a unified theme park and would go on to be a thematic entity based in the best parts of her Floridian and Californian sisters. But what of Disneyland, the original Magic Kingdom? Disneyland, too, was also the product of the driving spirit of WED’s enterprise during the mid 1970s and although what was built was slightly less than all of the plans and ideas fostered for the park, the process is astounding and a hallmark of the breadth of WED’s vision and skill. Under closer observation, Tony Baxter was instrumental in the creation of Disneyland’s efforts to expand. Join us today as we look back at Tony Baxter's development and influence on Imagineering’s way forward in perfecting the art of the theme park experience...

By EPCOT Explorer

When considering how a Magic Kingdom creates her environments, there are countless schemas of how the park goes about placing a guest, or a viewer, into a setting that is believable, compelling, and usually otherworldly. No matter the way an attraction positions itself and its thematics, the end result is the same: a believable place or scenario is created, implied, and enjoyed.  This is the crux of a Magic Kingdom: belief is suspended, and we, as willing participants in a fantasy, are taken to a destination usually rooted in the expected cultural conscious. This doesn’t mean the environments are conventional or expected, but they are built upon genres and a cultural wellspring. How else would we willingly accept the sudden changes of time of day, context, or environment, when stepping into a ride vehicle? An experience in the Magic Kingdom is meant to be trasnsportive and preclude some basic logic. Continue after the page break for more...

By Keith Mahne

Welcome back to another Motion Monday article! This week we'll see Marc Davis explaining the “elongating stretching room” in the Haunted Mansion for the Disneyland Tenth Anniversary Show in 1965. It's a wonderful moment in time and a perfect fit for Disney Avenue's Motion Monday segment! Have a look after the page break...