Comparing Celebrations

"Do you believe in the magic of dreams that if you wish upon a shooting star with all your heart, dreams really do come true?" Forty-five years ago, one of those dreams came true when Disneyland opened its gates to the world. On July 17, 2000, Disneyland celebrated its 45th Anniversary. Another one of those dreams came true when the Magic Kingdom opened its gates at Walt Disney World on October 1, 1971.

I have become spoiled in two different ways: my visits to Disneyland and my anniversary celebrations of Walt Disney World. Although I have visited Walt Disney World hundreds of times, I have now visited Disneyland on three separate occasions for a total 10 days. Two of my visits to Walt Disney World have been for the most recent anniversary celebrations (and I have been to Walt Disney World during all of their year-long anniversary celebrations.)

During my first two visits to Disneyland, I went during the  "off-season". My first visit to Disneyland was in November 1996. I grew up with Walt Disney World. I am a native Floridian. There never had been a great urge for me to go to Disneyland. No urge until a unique opportunity presented itself in 1996 - originally September 1996, when the Main Street Electrical Parade was to perform its final season during the summer of 1996. The original "last night" was scheduled for September 1996, but Disneyland was breaking attendance records for the final season, so the parade was extended until the end of November 1996.

Walt Disney World experienced rumored (I say "rumored" because the Walt Disney Company does not release attendance figures) record- breaking attendance during its final two nights of its Main Street Electrical Parade before the parade units were shipped overseas to make way for SpectroMagic in 1991. I was there for the final nights in Florida (as well as an estimated 90-some odd thousand people). When the chance to be at the final performance for the West Coast version presented itself, of course, I jumped on the opportunity. If you've read previous columns of mine - you know I live for these things.

SpectroMagic was introduced in 1991 as part of Walt Disney World's 20th Anniversary Celebration. Since the 10th Anniversary mark, Walt Disney World celebrates its milestones every five years with at least a 12-month celebration, though more commonly, a 15- month celebration.

Finally, in November of 1996, I made my first trek to the West Coast version of a Disney theme park: Disneyland. Although, I wasn't sure what to expect for the final performances, I knew what I had experienced at Walt Disney World for the final performance of the Main Street Electrical Parade: crowds and a cool poster that they gave out to everyone as they left the park. Luckily, the crowds had peaked earlier and there weren't all the people about whom I had heard. The park wasn't the nightmare that I had expected.

Lead off unit for the Main Street Electrical Parade

You could feel the excitement in the air in the morning of the last performance at Disneyland. There is an extra special magical feeling during the first day performances and the last day performances at most of the entertainment venues, and this day was no different. People started getting their place on the sidewalk early in the day, and Disneyland had some special streetmosphere type entertainment available for those who staked out their spot early.

I was surprised, for some reason, that Disneyland didn't take further advantage of the actual last day of the performance. I expected either the sale of something like a T-shirt commemorating the day or Disneyland giving away something like the poster that Walt Disney World gave out. But Disneyland did neither. It was the parade itself that was available that day, and it would be its last general public performance at Disneyland.

A month earlier, I was at Walt Disney World, at its 25th Anniversary Celebration, a celebration that would last for 15 months from October 1 until the end of the next year. Walt Disney World likes to take advantage of that Christmas holiday crowd for two years instead of just one. And Walt Disney World did sell a day of exclusive T-shirt, so I really was expecting Disneyland to sell one for the final performance, but that just showed me one of the differences between the management styles of Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Now October 1 at Walt Disney World, that was a party! And Walt Disney World usually throws a really good party. The actual day of the anniversary at Walt Disney World is usually part of a press junket that Walt Disney World offers to the press corps. - and, of course,  how the press deals with it varies from market to market. Because of the media attention that Walt Disney World is getting, the park tries to pull out all the stops and make the party big. Usually they succeed. The advertising campaign that goes along with the Anniversary Celebration always highlights what is new to the Resort and tries to show why people should return to Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom usually gets a new afternoon parade which coincides with the Anniversary theme for the year.

Walt Disney World expected the Magic Kingdom to be extremely crowded on its 25th Anniversary day, so it tried to encourage as many people as possible to enjoy their day at Epcot or the Disney-MGM Studios and not to go to the Magic Kingdom that day. It turned out not to be as crowded as it could have been. Everyone that went to the Magic Kingdom that day seemed to enjoy the day. You could see the excitement of the day in every cast member. Everyone had that little extra spark of magic in their step that day.

A year ago, I got to make another visit out to Disneyland, my second visit. It was in October, so another off-season experience. It was just a chance for some fellow Internet friends to get together and enjoy Disneyland together - most of us were East Coasters so we don't get out to Disneyland that often. This set the stage for my next two visits to Disneyland. Knowing that Disneyland's 45th Anniversary was coming the following July, I decided to purchase one of their limited Annual Passports so that I could get into the park for the October visit and set the stage for a return trip in July.

Prior to heading out to Disneyland in July, I already knew that Disneyland didn't celebrate its anniversaries the same way that Walt Disney World did. I knew that Walt Disney World tended to hype them up and make them extremely big events. So I wasn't expecting Disneyland to have a twelve or fifteen-month celebration. I had read what Disneyland had done with its 40th Anniversary and the most lasting impression was the cake they handed out during the 40th Anniversary.

Now this is where I would get to see some crowds, although, compared to my visits to Walt Disney World, the crowds still weren't as bad as I had been dreading. Knowing how to get around the Magic Kingdom in Florida, I could use the same strategies to bypass the crowds in Disneyland and keep my wait times down to a minimum. It also helped that this was now my third visit, so I would make sure that I hit the new attractions, the unique attractions and my favorite attractions. I wouldn't feel the need to hit every attraction.

Disneyland started to celebrate its 45th Anniversary back in February, so the actual day of the anniversary really didn't seem to be the start of the celebration and really didn't feel right to me. It was fun to be there on that day, and I got to meet some new friends (and had a blast with them
that night). No "day-of" merchandise either. Apparently, Disneyland hasn't gotten into the "day-of" merchandise aspect of their celebrations. They do offer Anniversary Celebration merchandise, but it was all merchandise that had been available since they started back in February.

"Believe" fireworks at Disneyland - Photo by Claude Cartee

"Believe," the new fireworks display at Disneyland, celebrating the 45th Anniversary is the best Magic Kingdom type fireworks display that I have seen. The one thing that I didn't get to see in my other visits to Disneyland was the fireworks. Not only did I finally get to see the fireworks, but I got to see a new level of fireworks for Disney. "Believe" definitely puts to shame the current Fantasy in the Sky fireworks at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Amazingly it opens the door for Walt Disney World to go even further than Disneyland because of their respective  locations.

I did get the impression that the Cast Members were slightly stoked about it being the Anniversary Day itself, but it didn't quite have the feel of a major anniversary to me, that spark in the Cast Members eyes was not the same. On October 1, I returned to Walt Disney World for the Magic Kingdom's 29th Anniversary. I knew it wouldn't be much, because it was a minor birthday, but I could compare this to the 28th Anniversary the year before. Well, although I thought Disneyland could have done better with that magical aspect to their Anniversary, I was highly disappointed with Walt Disney World this year. There was no spark this year. You had to look hard to figure out that it was Walt Disney World's birthday this year. The emphasis on the Millennium Celebration must have taken its toll on October 1, 2000.

Well its onto the future to see what Walt Disney World's 30th Anniversary will hold and amazingly what Disneyland's 50th Anniversary will be like. Disney is the place where dreams come true. I can dream about the greatest anniversary celebrations ever. In my dreams, Disneyland's 50th Anniversary will be celebrated by all four Disney park locations worldwide. If the Walt Disney Attractions division of the Walt Disney Company uses what it knows and has done for Walt Disney World, it can throw the biggest and best party to help celebrate the creation of what many consider a magical place. "Dreams can come true, every day, now it's your turn to dream just look deep in your heart, look to the sky and make a wish. And maybe if you believe. Your wish can come true."

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