Ever since I have been six years old I have been a life-long lover of Disneyland. It has strong through all these years of my life, which included working at the Disneyland Resort as an Entertainment Costumer. In all that time I have learned a lot of secrets and stories about Disneyland (actually a lot before I worked at the park). I know the park like the back of my hand and have always prided myself on my ability to know almost everything about the parks. That's before I watched the DVD documentary of "Disneyland: Secrets, Stories, and Magic." I expected to know a lot of the information. Some of the information I did know, but I was really surprised how much I did learn. Plus it comes with replica of one of the original ticket books, which every Disney aficionado has always wanted (or maybe just me).
The actual documentary in itself was fun just in the fact that there are interviews from people who had been alive when Disney was. Anybody who worked for Disney when he was alive can say that he held a special magic for the company and those people are the ones who know what Disneyland is all about. While there is magic in the parks today it was nothing like when Walt roamed the streets. The documentary goes from the time the park was created to now and shares some interesting stories (I love the one about the cleaning crew in Haunted Mansion). Probably the best part about the documentary is the great clips you never see anymore (like the opening of Star Tours with Michel Eisner and George Lucas). It does have some interesting facts (I didn't know that for a year there was a ride that was a cross between a train and a monorail). While the documentary was entertaining, it was not necessarily the most informative part of the DVD.
What I learned the most from was the special features. I would have to say that without the special features the documentary would not be worth the money spent. A trivia game is offered on the DVD in which you can answer questions about the park. Your reward is that you get to pick a clip to watch (I really enjoyed my tour of Walt Disney's apartment above the fire station). It also features "People and Places: Disneyland U.S.A." You can watch it in its original format or with a commentary. I highly recommend watching it with the commentary. This movie was actually one of the first films (short films, of course) that was shot in cinemascope, so it is absolutely amazing to watch. The most amazing part is to see that Frontierland was one-third of the park back then. It really shows us how our focus on media has changed. Back then it was all about Westerns and being out in nature....things sure have changed. We are definitely more about the fast-paced lifestyle.
"Operation Disneyland" is one of the most amazing parts. It was a short film that was sent only to the ABC affiliates shortly after the Disneyland opening day was aired. It is a documentary on the filming of it. No one thinks about how heavy the cameras were back then, or of how little rehearsal time they had (the park was still being fine tuned an hour before it opened). They had to pull their trucks out of the cement and had to allow construction trucks through. I could really feel the frustration...in the comfort of my own living room.
The DVD also includes a few "Disney's Wonderful World of Color" episodes. Again we get to learn about how TV was different back then and how our attention span has changed. Now-a-days we have to edit the material to where it is switching off every two seconds, but back then it was like nothing audiences had ever seen. So, the segments take a little longer and are richer. The "Golden Horseshoe Revue" episode was one of the most entertaining. What a funny show! You know something can translate when it is about fifty years later and someone can still laugh like that. Nothing can entertain you more than old vaudeville material. "Disneyland Goes to the World Fair" is a great look into the process of making Primal World, It's a Small World, and Carousel of Progress. It also shows the history of where fairs come from, which was shown in an entertaining, but informative light. Last (but not least), there was "Disneyland Through the Seasons." The least entertaining of the episodes on this DVD, it shows the openings of some of the rides, parades, and the candlelight processional. It is worth a small browse over.
All in all I am happy for purchasing this DVD. It is worth it just for the "Disney's Wonderful World of Color" episodes. It brings you back to a time when things were a little more innocent and Disneyland was just a dream that no one believed in (except for one man, of course). It is less a vacation video and more a homage to dreams everywhere, we can never dream to big.....after all Disneyland all started with a mouse.
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