In 1994 (at least I think it was 1994) was the first and only "Backstage Magic" private party. I say it was the first, but I suppose something like this could have been offered years ago. If so I haven't heard anything about it.

This was a party that, quite simply both celebrated and revealed much of the backstage at Disneyland. The party was open to all Disneyland CMs and their immediate families (or one guest), and it was great fun, naturally. Unlike the heavily attended Christmas parties of the 90s, attendance here was light, and in that way resembled the days before ABC started to flock to the annual Christmas party.

There are doubtless dozens of activities I've forgotten, but in general it was much like an open house designed more to show you how things worked rather than to actually enjoy them. Rides were open, in other words, but the neat part was witnessing backstage how the shows were presented.

Take Splash Mountain. I'm not sure, but I think you could ride it, if you wished (true??). The focus here was on visiting the control tower, up above the loading dock. You waited in a brief queue and then were led up in small groups, where you could see the bank of video screens and witness the safety net ensure that logs did not collide with each other. The control room is barely visible from the loading dock, if you know where to look, but it's surprisingly small, cramped, and undecorated in person. Looked to be rather boring actually, and far too utilitarian in design. But perhaps that's the point — the focus here, after all, is on safety.

There is one small chair here — and none too comfy (they let us sit in it). You see a few banks of video cameras, viewing many portions of the ride. You'd be surprised by how small those monitors are. I sure was.

It was also possible to visit the Space Mountain control room, where 1960s era panels and buttons control the aging roller coaster. They might arguably need to upgrade their systems, given the derailment in mid-2000, but really the system works just fine as it is, provided that the maintenance is done as scheduled. Here, too, the control room was smaller and less impressive than I'd imagined. I was sort of vaguely disappointed that it was so mundane, actually.

The decidedly 70's technology that powers Space Mountain.

Space Mountain the ride was also touted as one of the notable activities for the night, for here we were invited to ride it as never before: with the work lights turned completely on. (A few years later they would replicate this popular idea during a Christmas party by offering rides in utter darkness — no galaxy of stars overhead. That was fun too.)

"Space Mountain Lights On" was as fun as you'd imagine. A few observations come to mind immediately. First, the track is dusty and painted, if I remember correctly, not black but something else. Brown? Or was it unpainted steel? At any rate, the most memorable thing about a ride with the lights on is the sheer volume of steel all about you, particularly as you race around near the bottom. The clearances here are not at all comforting if you're a very tall person. I'd imagine that a basketball star could indeed smack his hand on a passing beam if he weren't careful (no, not his head. There's enough clearance for that at least). It was rather terrifying racing toward what appeared to be solid masses of metal, only to have a yawning crack open at the last second.

Over at Star Tours you could do something I'll never forget: travel under a moving starspeeder and watch it shake, rattle, and roll (though it didn't actually roll, it really does rattle quite a bit). Naturally, they guide you in very cautiously and are careful to keep you away from the moving machinery itself, but it's still quite fun. The thing you take away is the impressive size of the pistons used to hold up the cabin at each of the four corners. And the cabin moves about quite a bit, actually — more than you would normally think.

The highlight of the evening came, in all places, in the deep backstage. You could visit the Roundhouse, where they store the monorails and steam trains, and poke about there, that was fun. Did you know that the Roundhouse stores the Monorails right above the steam trains? The Monorail even has this cool xambone-type thing that covers the monorail track sometimes. Two of them, in fact.

No, seriously! There are some tall trees at Disneyland, so they have these trimmers which unfold themselves and rise up dozens of dozens of feet. Hundreds maybe? The platform has a feeble chain, and we were also hooked in, but my goodness was this terrifying. Much worse than the parachutes at Knott's Berry Farm. I had a newfound respect for the DL gardeners after this heart-pounding ride.

I've never taken the backstage tours of WDW, but I suspect some of the same experiences are duplicated. There are no "utilidors" (underground corridors) at Disneyland; there are only unconnected underground storage and office areas (New Orleans, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland have the biggest ones, in that order). Anyone care to comment how those tours compare to Disneyland's Backstage Magic Night?

I'm unsure why they haven't repeated the night. It was great fun, and a wonderful way for CMs, who see Disneyland all the time, to see it in a whole new way. Bravo!