Disney Parks, Past and Present

March 15, 2012 12:56 PM

Plenty of people collect Disneyana, the toys, books, animation cels, and theme-park souvenirs. Then there are those fans who collect information and details on the Disney parks themselves, collecting official park maps or drawing up their own ride blueprints, assembling the design history behind the attractions, and even collecting vintage tickets and ticket books. Yesterland (previously: 1, 2, 3) is an ever-growing collection of Disneyland history, and has an updated collection of links to similar fan sites and Imagineering blogs, which is a whole collection of rabbit holes of nostalgia and behind-the-scense information. So grab a riding crop and pretend like it's the 60s all over again!
posted by filthy light thief (9 comments total)

Great post. Rabbit holes of nostalgia, indeed.
posted by ShutterBun at 1:18 PM on March 15, 2012

This didn't really fit in the last couple of Disney related threads we've had here, but this is a terrific 3D modeled "virtual ride-through" of the old "Adventure Through Inner Space" ride done in painstaking accuracy. I thought it would make a nice addition to this great collection of links.
posted by ShutterBun at 1:22 PM on March 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

I....I love you.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 1:26 PM on March 15, 2012

So grab a riding crop and pretend like it's the 60s all over again!

The Twilight/BDSM fan faction discussion is two posts up.

In all seriousness, this is good stuff. We have a friend who has wanted to work at Disneyland since he was a kid. You know when you ask a four-year-old boy what he wants to be when he grows up, and his answer is something like "cowboy" or "baseball player" or "submarine driver?" This guy's answer was always "I want to work at Disneyland," ever since he was old enough to talk. And he's worked there since he was 16, moving up the hierarchy to be one of the upper management guys in the food services department.

Going to Disneyland with this guy is a combination of fascinating and exhausting because of his mastery of trivia; it's fascinating at first, but after a few hours when you're hot and tired and stuff, it's like, "I don't care what year Pirates of the Caribbean debuted; I just want to go on it because it's shady in there." Dude knows the location of all the hidden Mickey Mouse heads all over the park.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:41 PM on March 15, 2012

infinitywaltz: Dude knows the location of all the hidden Mickey Mouse heads all over the park.

You can, too. Yes, the site is solely dedicated to finding hidden Mickeys in the parks, and elsewhere.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:51 PM on March 15, 2012

If I was independently wealthy, Id def get a job at the park.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 3:35 PM on March 15, 2012

I love Long Forgotten, an exploration of the aesthetic underpinnings of the Haunted Mansion.
posted by anazgnos at 7:57 PM on March 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

Shutterbun thanks for posting that Adventures in Inner space video. I loved that ride when I was a kid and had totally forgotten what it was called. The giant snowflakes! The eye that looks at you through the lens! Though I see I've totally blotted from my memory the happy Monsanto theme song at the end.
posted by interplanetjanet at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks for tweaking my secret fetish for the Disney Ambassador costume. Oh, those riding crops....
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:57 AM on March 16, 2012