I'm double posting this on both MC and LoT because people from both were involved.


Dreams DO come true!


I am STILL grinning from ear to ear over this AMAZING event. When I first thought of doing this, it seemed like such an impossability. First of all, just HOW do you get 70 people together? Secondly, how do you pull this off without being a large bunch of irritating AP?

Well, we did both and it was simply amazing!

We organized ourselves near the Plaza Pavillion then, holding my Dinseyland 50th Penant, led the group to the start of the drawbridge, where we all chanted in unison:

"Open the Fantasyland Castle in the name of the children of the world!"

(Which was what was said on that wonderful day 50 years ago when Fantasyland was opened for all to see.)

Then, we all ran through across the drawbridge without arms in the air, screaming with excitement.

Then we went to the Caroussel and got in line. General You and ISM stayed at the entrance to get a correct count. When we got to the CM, he looked at me and asked "How Many" I smiled by biggest smile and said "70". After a moment of shock, he said OK! I told him we would make this work. I helped "herd" people into the holding area while allowing others behind us to move ahead and board the waiting Caroussel.

The suits started to show up. There were at LEAST 4 non-costumed CMs prepared to make our dream come true. (I think the real reason they were there was to help a VIP ride the Caroussel, but poor people had to wait for us geeks to do our thank. Sorry VIPs.)

We all loaded into the Caroussel and almost everyone had a horse. I got to ride my beloved Jingles - the lead horse. We did "the wave" and sand Happy Birthday to Disneyland while riding.

I couldn't stop smiling! It was probably THE most amazing Disneyland experience I've EVER had - and I've experience some wonderful things! I'm STILL smiling!

When we stopped, the group of suits were cheering and applauding us. One guy gave me a hug and told me "You've made my day!" I told him that was a pretty big order on Disneyland's Birthday!

I was also told we would be on Cast TV, so all of you CMs out there, please report back if you see anything.

My little dream became a BIG REALITY, THANK YOU to all of you and, especially, the MOST magnificent Innerspaceman, who made it happen. I love you Mr. ISM! And I love all of you!

Lisa, this event made our day as well and we are so glad that we were able to share that moment with you. The best part was seeing the huge smile on your face. :)

The other moment that stands out so clearly to us and is something that we will never forget is the cast members welcoming us into the park that morning. It truly brought tears to our eyes. Overall, the celebration may have been lacking but I must say that I've never been so overwhelmed with emotion walking into Disneyland as I was that morning. I understand that Matt Ouimet was one of the people standing on the sidewalk. I wish I could have seen him and thanked him. It was a special touch of magic that made the whole thing worthwhile.

MbC, it was great seeing you, and riding the carrousel with you. I wish we had a chance to spen more time with you guys, I always love being in the park with you.

Even with 49 total hours at the resort across 4 days, I didn't get so spend nearly as much time with all the people I wanted to. There were people we were lucky enough to spend a good chunk of time with, some that we just saw in passing once or twice and tried to say as much as possible to in those brief encounters, and many that we never got a chance to see. It was wonderful having a near constant flow of people I know and consider friends to bump into the whole day through!

I had lots of fun.
The lining up and walking in to be greeted by the CM's made the day completly worth it.
It was nice sitting and catching up wit Alex and eventually NA, all the while just observing. The Blue Bayou was also nice, enjoying lunch wit NM, Dusty, Babette, Euro, and NA at our table.
For me, just being there as a part of the day was enough, and I didnt expect Disney to do much more than a few ceremonies. I think they knew if they tried to unveil everything on the 17th it would exclude many that have been able to experience the magic since May 4th/5th. I am not sure what else they could have done besides some additional fireworks after the planned show. Space Mountain was a new thing for most, but us locals have ridden it, so it may have lost its luster to some already. (but I know they were excited whatever day that they did get to ride it).

For me, I was there to celebrate the birthday of the park, and do my part to be a little part of the magic. I was not let down.

The day was abosolutely magical. I, too, cried as the CMs welcomed us home to DL. I was truly touched.

The carousel ride was awesome. I loved every minute of the ride.

Also, a big thanks to iSm and Zapp, those ticket books were a labour of love and worth the hard work. My highlight of the attraction crawl had to have been the PotC ride. It was good stuff. :)

ACK! I have had no time to post! Worked this morning to get pics up (which I didn't finish) and now work is actually BUSY!

I had an INCREDIBLE time. Seeing EVERYONE was amazing. We even bumped into RStar, remember him?

There are too many amazing things to list, and I had started working on a great post at home, so I'll post that tonight...for now all I can say is WOW.

:snap: :cheers: :tiki: :snap: :cheers: :tiki: :snap: :cheers: :tiki: :snap: :cheers: :tiki:

PHOTOS from the Noon Meet and Storming The Castle into Fantasyland toward the Carrousel on July 17 can be seen at:
www.disneydaniel.com
which should automatically redirect you to:
http://disneydaniel.smugmug.com

Also, please note that pictures of Taking Over the Carrousel are still being uploaded as of this post and should take about two hours. In the meanwhile, you can see some Carrousel pictures, but I recommend you wait a few hours to see ALL of the Carrousel pictures--there will be 83 photos featuring some of the Happiest Faces to ever ride it! Even better, the Cast Members there said we were the first group to ever take over King Arthur Carrousel. All our dreams came true that day!

So, I hope everyone enjoys these photos. If you were there, I hope they help you relive the past and rekindle your memories. If you missed Disneyland on its birthday, you can live vicariously through seeing these pictures and reading about what happened. :)

Thank you for the pics!

SO bummed i got stuck in the office:(

To add a few tidbits of my experience:

Friends everywhere - It seemed no matter where I was or where I was going I always seemed to be running into someone else I knew. My favortite moment was heading to the hub with Not Afraid - she was ahead of me by about 10 paces as I ran into Motorboat Cruiser & Mathew. Momments later, Uncle Dick & Monorail Man joined us. Not Afraid looked back to see what was keeping me and there I was with four of our friends who just materialized while she wasn't looking. A delightful moment.

I went on rides...Yeayyy