The Sorcerer's Guide

If you haven’t tried a Monte Cristo at Disneyland you definitely need to try one. They are by far our favorite meal at the park. And since we celebrated a birthday last week I thought I’d try my hand at making one homemade. After some searching I found this official Disney recipe: It only took a few minutes to make the batter. The batter is much thicker than I thought it would be, almost as thick as pudding, but it coated the bread easily and fried well. We used “Texas toast” instead of regular bread so the sandwiches were a little thicker. We don’t have a fryer so we just heated oil in a pan and that worked well. I realized I didn’t have any powdered sugar so I couldn’t put the finishing touch on. They don’t look nearly as pretty as Blue Bayou or Cafe Orleans, but surprisingly they tasted pretty good.

Disney has carved a strange place in the consumer’s mind. Few other brands command the love and respect of a group of fans the way Disney can. Not many people set goals to see every Six Flags park, collect every variation of Great Value pasta, or to decorate their homes like natural architecture symbols. But Disney fans try to visit each of Disney’s parks, impulse buy pins, plush, figurines, and hundreds of other collectibles, and decorate their homes to match Disney architecture. Simple themes – like the American Frontier, a European Village, or a Tropical Paradise – are instead labelled as Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Adventureland, whether they are actually connected to the Disney places or not. This is partly because of Disney’s skilled marketing teams. But the reason these teams have been so successful can be attributed to nostalgia. Disney thrives on nostalgia. Here are several websites that describe Main Street as nostalgic – one , two , three ,. It’s a common claim, but there...

It was 1948, and Walt desperately wanted to go to the Chicago Railroad Fair. Knowing Lillian and his daughters wouldn’t want go, Walt invited his friend Ward Kimball. Walt and Ward enjoyed the fair, and when Walt started building Disneyland in 1954, he knew he had to have a train. This wasn’t the first time Walt and Ward talked about trains. Back in 1945, Ward let Walt drive one of his engines at the Grizzly Flats Railroad, Ward’s personal railroad. We can’t say for sure, but it’s very likely that Walt’s Lilly Belle came because he wanted to have a railroad just like Ward’s. Now Ward Kimball is immortalized in the Ward Kimball engine at Disneyland. The Person Ward Kimball was an animator for Walt Disney. Hired in 1934, Ward started on the Silly Symphony cartoons. He went on to help animate many films including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Fantasia, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. Ward was one of the studio’s “Nine Old Men”. He was a brilliant animator, known f...

It’s been 65 years since the Happiest Place on Earth opened to the world. To celebrate, here are 5 facts you may not know about Disneyland’s opening. If it failed, it would have become movie sets Disneyland was expensive to build, and Walt needed more money for it. Roy Disney was the company’s financial leader and was responsible for finding all the funding they needed.. To convince lenders to hand over more cash, Roy told them that the project was low risk. His story was that even if the park proved unpopular, the park could close to the public and turn into movie sets. Frontierland could be used for westerns, Adventureland for adventures, and Main Street for turn-of-the-century stories. I’m not sure what they could have used the Fantasyland circus tents for, though. July 17th was supposed to be a smaller party Disney sent invitations to a selected number of people for the grand opening festivities. The park was meant to open to the public on the next day, July 18th. However, some ind...

Walt loved trains! He knew he had to have one in the park, so when plans were drawn, it was included from the beginning. Its first test run was on July 10, 1955, just days before the park opening. Original Main Street Station The route was set up a little differently back then. Plans were made for two trains to take guests on a “grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom.” But unlike today, each train stopped at only one station. A passenger train pulled by the E.P. Ripley only stopped at the Main Street Station, while a freight train pulled by the C.K. Holliday only stopped at the Frontierland Station (now the New Orleans Station). The track split at those 2 stations so the trains could pass each other. This lasted about a year before the trains began stopping at both stations. The Frontierland Station was rebuilt in 1962 to make room for New Orleans Square and the second track was removed. The Main Street Station still has the original 2 sets of tracks though. Original Frontierland Stati...

Welcome back to Part 2 of taking a baby to the park. I have a few more tricks to make your visit to Disneyland with a baby just a little smoother. Take advantage of the baby center Look for this symbol on your park map. Every Disney park has a baby center . It has changing tables, high chairs, a toddler sized toilet, and even a rocking chair behind a curtain so you can breastfeed your baby privately. They also have a bunch of supplies you may have forgotten that you can purchase: baby food, diapers, wipes, sunscreen, etc. It’s a nice place to give your baby some quiet time. Next time you’re in the park, go in and see. They are great! Bring a few different outfits You always want to have an extra outfit in case of spit ups or blow-outs. You’ll also want to have warmer clothes in case it rains or gets cold. While we were there it was a nice 75-80 degrees, but by 7 at night it was getting pretty chilly. It was nice to have an extra pair of clothes to keep her little legs warm. Of course, ...

World of Color debuted to the public on June 11, 2010. As luck would have it, I happened to be at the Disneyland Resort that weekend and got to see it. I remember watching it the very first time and honestly, it took my breath away. It’s amazing how they can just take fountains and turn them into something so beautiful. Here are some fun facts and a little history about the show. Enjoy! Disney decided, back in 2004, they wanted to add some kind of new attraction to California Adventure. California Adventure had only been open since February 8, 2001 but it was not bringing the attendance Disney executives had hoped. They knew they needed some big changes to turn the park around. In 2007, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced these changes, including World of Color, Cars Land, and the new park entrance. It took 5 years of planning, start to finish, with 15 months of installation and testing. There were many different versions and many different concepts before they finally settled on a water sho...