Our first official challenge began on November 4, 2005.
It came about because I wasn’t able to keep up with
requests of how best to enjoy Disneyland – where to find
the best deals, when was the best time of the year or
month to go, what were different things to do for
different age groups, and what and where were those
often unnoticed special touches that make Disneyland
such a special place for all those of different ages and
generations. I decided that I would announce a date
once a year where I would give out the major points of
information that I had shared, and do it in a
scavenger/treasure hunt type format, with prizes being
awarded to the top 3 teams. A little history of each of
the challenges is given under Past Challenges.
The knowledge I gained about Disneyland came about
several years earlier while serving as the chapter
president of the local civil engineers society. We were
looking into going on a field trip to a location like
Disneyland in order to learn about the behind the scenes
infrastructure that made such a large theme park work so
flawlessly. I was unable to make connections with
anyone that could help us, because national terrorist
threats had recently caused Disneyland as well as other
amusement parks to discontinue behind the scenes tours.
After some online research, I was referred to a Michael
Broggie who has a very colorful connection to Walt
Disney himself. Michael had recently started up a
Disney historical society called the
Carolwood Pacific
Historical Society (CPHS). Upon contacting him he
wasn’t able to get me a full behind the scenes tour, but
was able to get me into the Disneyland Roundhouse, with
the supervisor there, for a personal morning long tour
of the facility. It was the beginning of a Disney
experience I never dreamed of enjoying.
At the same time our family decided to plan a much
anticipated weeklong Disneyland trip. We had gone
before, but it was always frustrating for our family
because we would go at crowded times, trying to squeeze
in as much as we could because of the high cost of the
admission ticket. Like many others, we would leave
exhausted, miserable and swearing never to return
again. We decided a weeklong trip would allow us the
time to enjoy everything we wanted and at the same time,
allow more time to explore all the places and shows we
had always bypassed for lack of time. I had come across
information about the Disneyland RV Park. We had a
little tent trailer that we thoroughly enjoyed on
camping trips. It had utility connections, so we
decided to go high class and actually have water, sewer
and electrical hookups. The RV Park was very
inexpensive with places for large, medium and small RVs
like ours. There was even a field for people to set up
tents and campout there on-site. They had great shower
facilities and Disney movies that ran in the rec. hall
most of the day. Shuttle buses would take park visitors
to the front gate every 15 minutes, so it was easy to
come and go as we pleased. Sadly the park was closed
down the following year. The site would be demolished
and is now the new Mickey & Friends parking structure.
The Roundhouse tour along with a week of more in depth
investigation of Disneyland during our family vacation,
led me to inquire more into the CPHS. I joined and was
soon asked to help reproduce through our engineering
firm, the original Lilly Belle plans that Roger Broggie
(Michael’s father) used to build Walt Disney’s backyard
live steam train.
Through the years we have gone from archaic reproduction
methods to digital scans and cleanup of the original
plans we borrowed. People from all over have purchased
these plans through the CPHS and have built their own
backyard riding trains. There are over 80 sheets to the
plans, which are full scale, with several sheets nearly
6 feet long.
In those first years of the CPHS, the society would hold
2 or 3 special events per year for the members where we
would get to meet some wonderful Disney legends, former
and current. For those in the know of all things
Disney, here is a sampling of the people I’ve met and
tours we took:
Bob Gurr – Designer of all the
original vehicles in Disneyland
Ward Kimball – Original animator & one of the “Nine Old
Men.”
Ollie Johnson & home tour – Original animator & one of
the “Nine Old Men.” Location of original train that
inspired Walt Disney to get into the Live Steam hobby.
Frank Thomas – Original animator & one of the “Nine Old
Men.”
Tony Anselmo – Animator & 2nd voice of Donald
Duck
Tony Baxter & home tour – Current
Senior Vice President, Creative Development, Walt
Disney
Imagineering
Disney Studios Tour
Disney Archives Tour
Rededication of Disneyland Engine No. 2 – E.P. Ripley
Because of these tours and the opportunity to meet and
visit with these wonderful Disney people, I gained
additional insight into Disneyland & all things Disney.
The information and knowledge I gained leaked out to
family and friends wanting to know more, especially
information about Disneyland, which leads me back to why
the DLC was started in the first place.
See ya real soon!
Craig Colvin
This page last updated on:
09/17/2011 |
