Was talking to a friend - he mentioned they haven't always done the flag retreat on Main Street. You know, where security team member march in and do a formal take down of the American flag on Main Street. I thought that was always a thing -- even going back to Walt's time. Anyone know?
It definitely was in Walt's time and for a long time after. And I know on a fairly recent visit (3 years ago??) they were doing it. Perhaps your friend is mistaken. Or perhaps there was a period where they didn't and then revived it. Or perhaps they do it during the traditional busy seasons (summer, Christmas, etc.) but not all year round. Lots of perhapses...
I remember it always being there. I try to be there as often as possible. But I am old and prone to both memory lapses and fill-ins.
They do it now and have always do it. You will know the terrorists have won when Disneyland doesn't have a flag raising/retreat ceremony each day.
There are a couple variations on the ceremony, depending which musical group(s) are available, but as far as I know it still happens daily. Maybe they cut it in Florida, or at the non-castle parks? On a related note, the CGI flag in Town Square is my biggest pet peeve of all of the dumb CGI inserted into the new Soarin'. Disney is usually exceptionally good about flag etiquette, so it seems especially dumb that they felt it was necessary to go back and add a flag to the footage but not give it a spotlight. They were already making a CGI flag (even though they never actually fly the flag there after sundown), so adjusting the lighting really wouldn't have been that much more work
