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FEJ
10-14-2001, 12:19 AM
I remember when Disney would throw Anniversary overnight parties. I went for the 30th and 35th anniversaries. Why don't they do it anymore?
I have fond memories of people sleeping in the phone cubicles that used to occupy the premiere shop in Tomorrowland.
I don't know if I could stay up overnight anymore, but it would be fun to try.

innerSpaceman
10-14-2001, 07:52 AM
I think they blew it when, following the very successful 25th and 30th anniversary overnights. they had 24 hour parties for the official openings of Star Tours and of Captain Eo. These events (especially the one for EO) attracted an entirely different crowd than the people who came to the Disneyland Anniversary Parties. It was something akin to when they built Videopolis, but soon found out that they didn't like young clubbers thronging to the park in droves. Like Videopolis, the 24-hour parties were summarily discontinued. The Eo and Star Tours parties were more like hyper-active Grad Nights than they were like the previous anniversary parties. But Disneyland always acts with a heavy hand, and they ceased having 24-hour parites even for big anniversaries. I certainly hope they re-thnk that policy in time for the 50th anniversary, but I won't hold my breath. Even now, nearly 17 years later, I daresay that the 30th Anniversary Party was the most fantastic single event in Disneyland history. Here's hoping that the party for Disneyland's auspicious 50th birthday exceeds that milestone.

Cadaverous Pallor
10-14-2001, 11:59 AM
What was the 30th like? It must have been awesome.

USofA
10-14-2001, 12:38 PM
Have to say the Star Tours party was awesome. Park was open for 60 hours during the week-end. I was in and out all weekend. It was so crowded. I got in line for Star Tours down on Main Street. We waited in line for 6 hours with the gang from Head of the Class right in front of us.

Now that I live halfway accross the country, I would most definately travel back for one of those overnight parties. I really miss them.

innerSpaceman
10-14-2001, 12:45 PM
Since you ask, Mr. Pallour - and for the edification of all you folks who weren't there (and for the fond remembrances of all you who were), I shall gleefully recall the following:
It was the highlight of a wonderful year where every entry was through the Gift Giver Extraordinaire which (unlike its counterpart 5 years later) awarded you with prizes with great regularity. Classic live entertainment traditions were brought back - Barbershop quartets on Main Street, Shoot-outs in front of the Golden Horseshoe, Swiss climbers scaling the Matterhorn, and sultry mermaids returning to the Submarine Lagoon.
On top of all this, a 24-hour fantastic birthday celebration occurred on July 17, 1985. Live music all over the park (I seem to remember Sister Sledge being the big act of the night), and there was a 4:00 a.m. run of the Electrical Parade, with that special 30th anniversary float of the Castle that ran that year only.

innerSpaceman
10-14-2001, 01:03 PM
30th Anniversary (continued)
The wild overnight portion of the celebration began at midnight with a spectacular fireworks opener where the vast strands of balloons that were strung across Main Street began to rise, one after another, straight up into the air, pulled aloft by the heretofore unseen Mega Giant Balloons to which they were tethered. First one side of the Street, then the other, marching down the Street from Town Square to the Hub, the balloon columns rose to form a colonade of 30 birthday candles. The enormous balloon columns would remain towering over Disneyland 40 feet above the roos of Main Street U.S.A.
But as the fireworks drey to a frenzied finale, an apparition was let loose upon Disneyland that would last only till dawn and then never be see again. A glorious, radiant RAINBOW filled the sky from Behind Storybookland, running completely overhead and a band as wide as Main Street itself, out past the train station and falling somewhere in the parking lot.
Vast banks of lights in the areas later to become Toontown and later to become DCA arched over the whole park, meeting perfectly above the Hub to provide a magnificent rainbow of light in the sky all night long. I've got to say, I've seen just about every Disneyland lightscape in the past 25 years and this one was the triumphant best.
Next day to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Walt's original dedication of Disneyland, the mother of all balloon releases combined with the most gargantuan confetti shower ever deployed to create a universe filled to the edge with tiny moving dots of color. From in front of your eye, filling the area between the building on Main Street cover, over the rooftops and joining with balloons, still being pumped into the sky for minutes and minutes until they cover the skies of Orange County. Now I've seen balloon releases come at Disneyland and I've seen them go, and this was unprecedented and unrepeated in Disneyland history.

Cadaverous Pallor
10-14-2001, 01:13 PM
NOT FAIR!

Oh and by the way, that's Miss Pallor to you. :cool:

Crispy
10-14-2001, 01:59 PM
I read a discription of a skit that was performed at the last Pirates anniversary...

Man dressed as pirate chases woman dressed as wench

(crowd cheers)

woman dressed as wench stops and picks up a loaf of bread. Pirate continues chasing her.

(crowd boos)

innerSpaceman
10-14-2001, 06:22 PM
Oh, sorry - Miss Pallour. Or would you prefer Ms. Pallour?

Well, just stick around for 3-1/2 more years and maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised on 7/17/05.