Originally Posted By DlandDug The brass survey marker in the castle marks a centerline in the park. It is aligned with the east/west dividing line that runs down the center of Main Street, across the hub, and through Sleeping Beauty Castle. It was NEVER the exact center of Disneyland.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Also, if you see early aerial shots of DL, you'll see that FaL did not extend as far north as it does now. The DLRR actually came in just north of StorybookLand. The whole Small World Mall/FaL Theatre area came later (as well as Toontown, of course). So that spike north of the castle was really LESS close to the geographic center of DL in 1955 than it is today.
Originally Posted By smd4 The "gold spike is the Center of DL" is one of those Disney myths/urban legends, that never seems to die a quick death. Someone, somewhere, at some time, will post it to a Disneyland message board as a "fact" or a "secret." It is neither.
Originally Posted By imtigger2 Thanks guys. Just ruin the fantasy for those of us who've "known" that the spike IS the center of Disneyland. It was plain 'ol fun thinking that.. now ruined. Are you gonna tell me now that the "real" Mermaid Lagoon in Peter Pan is just plaster, paint and LED lights? .. and that Mickey Mouse there is just some guy in a costume? Thanks... Dan B
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger The initials "WD" and "RD" are worked into the wrought iron on the balcony of the Disney Gallery. The gallery was originally designed as an apartment for Walt and Roy.
Originally Posted By Anacon They pump vanillia into main street from two grills, knea height, from the front of as candy store so it always smells sweet. At the New Orleans train station you'll hear morse code. It's Walt's opening day speech.
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger Unless I'm thinking of some other morse code sounding thingy, I recall reading that what you hear isn't actually morse code. It's some other code (I can't remember what), but to the average joe it sounds the same.
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger A quick google: According to sorcerersworkshop.disneyfans.com, it's Landline Telegraphy Code.
Originally Posted By danyoung >...where is the time castle and does it really have walts plan of a state sized disneyland park?< I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that there was never a plan for a state sized Disneyland park. The Orlando project originally included plans for a real city named EPCOT, but after Walt's death this plan changed EPCOT into a theme park. The Florida property way pretty big by Disneyland standards - 27,000 acres, or 43 square miles. Large, but not quite state-sized.
Originally Posted By ahecht Actually, what you hear in the train station is true morse code. What most people today refer to as morse code (and the code that is used in ham radio) is actually continental code. For more information on this, and a fascinating story about the New Orleans Square telegraph, see <a href="http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/Disneyland/Secrets/Square/Morse.html" target="_blank">http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/D isneyland/Secrets/Square/Morse.html</a>
Originally Posted By Elderp I always thought it was the complete speech but now I know it isn't cool stuff.
Originally Posted By DlandDug What a GREAT story. I know Glenn Barker (the WDI sound engineer), and this sounds just like something he would want to be sure was correct. I do note that the message does differ from Walt's speech in one important way. In NOS it begins, "To all who come to Disneyland, welcome." As we know, the speech actually was, "To all who come to this HAPPY PLACE, welcome." I suppose at the time, Walt wanted to be sure that the text refered directly to Disneyland. There is a funny story connected with the telegraph in Frontierland. I have never been able to confirm it, but oldtimers swear it's true. It seems that Walt asked someone to make a recording of true telegraphy to play in the Frontierland station. A staffer was found who was able to do this (in 1955 there were still people who had done this professionally), and a message was recorded and installed. However, it seems that the staffer was a bit of a joker, and, assuming that no one would be able to decipher the arcane maessage, had recorded something a bit on the earthy side. When Walt heard the recording play (in those days the station was on the guest side of the tracks), he was reported to have said how pleased he was, adding that his wife, Lillian would be excited, as she had worked in a telegraph office and would be able to "read" the message. Needless to say, the recording was immediately pulled, and Walt's opening day speech was substituted. And there it remains to this day. Fun story-- whether it's true or not.
Originally Posted By danyoung ^^ The only thing to make me doubt the story was that Lillian Disney started at the Disney studios as an ink & paint girl when she was pretty young. I don't know if there was time in her earlier youth to work in a telegraph office. Cute story, though, if true!
Originally Posted By Rivkah86 <<They pump vanillia into main street from two grills, knea height, from the front of as candy store so it always smells sweet.>> And they change the scent to peppermint during the holiday season!
Originally Posted By ArchtMig Please watch your step when walking on the sidewalk in front of the candy shop, and don't slip on all that vanilla!
