2011 Disneyland Challenges, September 23

To see more pictures from the challenge, visit our Picasa Web Album Disneyland Challenge 2011.  If you have pictures that you would be willing to share with us, we would appreciate it!

Lots of great uniforms & cheers from this years teams!  We have most of the cheers posted here. Sorry that I missed a couple teams cheers and my camera was going in and out of focus so the quality isn't the greatest, but still good enough to be embarrassing.

What a great group we had this year! It was great to see everyone having a chance to get to know each other at our Club 34 dinners. Nothing formal, just a chance to ramp up for the challenges & then scale back afterwards to just relax & enjoy each other’s company. For now, no dues for membership! I’ll have to look into hats, t-shirts, pocket watches & embossed bathroom paper towels, so we’re more official. I’d love to hear your comments of our eating meeting places, or anything about the challenge or your visit to Disneyland this year. Please stop take a moment while you are browsing the pictures to make some comments. Happy to hear any kind of feedback, it’s a gift you know.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to ride along in the Lilly Belle with some of our winning teams. Everybody seemed to enjoy the experience as we learned a little more about the unique car. Conductor Tom even gave each person a Lilly Belle train ticket as a souvenir.

The Disney Dogs had to drop out at the last minute, but I’m really grateful to Shelley for helping out with the grading & buying us lunch!

HUGE thanks again to Julie for managing the website, putting together all the Minnie challenges this year & all the help with the Beginners & Advanced challenges. She is absolutely amazing and practically perfect in every way. I can't imagine doing the Disneyland Challenge without her help. Everything is better when Julie is involved. (OK, so maybe I did a little bit of editing after Craig sent this to me.) Also thanks to Bret & Julie for sponsoring all the Minnie Challenge prizes!

Wish I had more of a chance to get to know all the newcomers better! Again, thank you for all for joining us, for your nice comments & your wonderful company. I hope you’ll all stay in touch & hope to see you at Disneyland again someday!!!

The Lion Cubs, Team Lady & the Tramp, Fantasmic Four, Plane Crazy, Team Sparrow, Sassy Sisters

We were happy to see all the last minute teams & grateful for upping the excitement of the challenges this year. We had to make a few changes on the Beginners Challenge because of last minute changes & attraction closures. We had as many Disneyland pros as newcomers and we appreciate the comments to make it better. As always the purpose of all this is for you to learn to enjoy Disneyland with all its magical details that make it the happiest place on Earth. The teams that did not win a cash prize for first, second or third, still walked away winners with some delicious English toffee made at Disneyland.

First Place - Team Sparrow	Second Place - The Lion Cubs	Third Place - Team Lady and the Tramp

Unstoppable Mickeys, Team Krispy Kreme/We Bring Donuts!, Goodyear Goofy's, Dixie Pirates, Sneaky Snakes, All Ears, Team Yoda

First Place - All Ears	Second Place - Team Yoda	Third Place - Sneaky Snakes

 

Fun Tidbit: When Disneyland first opened, the only two stations were Main Street and Frontierland. The building opposite the tracks at the New Orleans Station is the original Frontierland Station platform. It was rotated and moved across the track in 1962. Although New Orleans Square opened in 1966, the signs still read Frontierland Station until the 1990's.

Fun Tidbit: Before Toontown opened in 1993, this station was previously the Videopolis Station from 1985-1993. Just a little further away, the Fantasyland Depot was in operation from 1956-1966.

Fun Tidbit: “Hello folks, welcome aboard the Disneyland Railroad.” Prior to 2002, the narrator of the Disneyland Railroad was Disney Legend Thurl Ravenscroft. Best known as the voice of Kellog’s Tony the Tiger, Ravenscroft also lent his voice to at least 25 Disney movies. At Disneyland, you can also hear him in It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Carribean, Splash Mountain, The Enchanted Tiki Room and Haunted Mansion.

Fun Tidbit: On March 31, 1958 the Grand Canyon diorama between Tomorrowland and Main Street Stations was dedicated. The backdrop for the 306 foot long diorama was done on the largest piece of seamless canvas in the world. Delmer Yoakum and other artists used over 300 gallons of paint in 14 colors. The diorama project cost $367,000 and took over 80,000 hours of labor to construct. The Primeval World diorama was created for the 1964 World’s Fair and was transferred to the park in 1966.

 

This page last updated on: 10/13/2011