Welcome, everyone! The Disneyland fanbase is so big and well established that in this
day and age it’s hard to stump the theme park fanatics on information they don’t
already know. But I’m going to take a crack at it.
These are 5 things you didn’t know about Disneyland!
#5 The Semaphore. Walt Disney received lots
of gifts from various people, and many of those gifts were placed in Disneyland.
Things such as the Kalamazoo handcar at Main Street Station, or Lafitte’s Anchor in New Orleans Square.
But one thing that is always overlooked is the Semaphore at the New Orleans Square
railroad station. This semaphore in particular is an authentic antique and it was given to
Walt Disney as a gift from William White, the chairman of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad.
It was once used by the D&H Railroad to signal train masters of a change in orders. Today
it is still in operation and it’s actually used to signal when a train is approaching,
this is useful for the cast members that need to cross the railroad tracks here because
they are given plenty of time to clear the way.
#4 Tunnels. There is conflicting information online as to whether or not Disneyland in
California has underground tunnels. But one thing you might already know is that Magic
Kingdom at Walt Disney World does have tunnels called Utilidors. However it may surprise
you to know that Disneyland does in fact have tunnels, they just don’t interconnect the
way they do in Florida. The largest tunnel under Disneyland stretches from the northwest
corner of Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, and goes southeast to the other side of the Carousel Building.
It was built for the 1967 new Tomorrowland project and was once a major
thoroughfare for cast members looking to get to Fantasyland or Frontierland without being seen.
There is also an underground tunnel underneath the Disneyland railroad connecting
two different sides of the old administration complex, and a tunnel on the border of Fantasyland
and Frontierland, burrowed into the earthen berm that separates the two lands.
These are only a few of the small list of tunnels the park has.
#3 Interconnected Waterways. When Disneyland was being designed, there were plans for various
canals, rivers, and ponds to be dug into the park. The man in charge of overseeing construction
was Admiral Joe Fowler, and he had the bright idea to interconnect all these waterways together
so they act more like one large body, helping to prevent stagnation and fouling of the water.
In the early days, these connections were easily seen above ground, but as the park
expanded, the connections had to be placed in large pipes under the walkways. The best
example is this canal that connected the Jungle Cruise to the Rivers of America. It became
an underground pipe during the construction of the Swiss Family Treehouse in 1962.
#2 New Orleans Square Main Kitchen. When you look at New Orleans Square from a distance
it appears to be a series of buildings in close proximity to each other, but what if
I told you the entirety of New Orleans Square is actually one giant building?
You see, it all begins with a massive basement that was dug out. A little over half of the basement
was reserved for the underground portion of pirates of the Caribbean, but the other half
was intentionally constructed to house a massive kitchen that could supply the southwestern
side of Disneyland with the food supply it needs at the restaurants. Some restaurants
in the park do not have kitchens large enough to do things like roasting meats, cooking
soups, and making desserts, so park designers had the foresight to construct a massive kitchen
underground that could help carry the load. The shops and eateries at ground level were
simply built on top of the basement. So in essence the entire thing is actually one giant
building, even the streets you walk down are not sitting on actual soil.
#1 Main Street Station. I get asked a lot about which areas of the Disneyland railroad
still pass along the original route that was constructed in 1955. You see, over the years
the park had to be expanded from its original 60-acre plot to the 97 acres it occupies today.
This means the railroad that surrounded the perimeter needed to be realigned. To this
day the only area of track that still runs along the original route, is the short segment
of track at Main Street Station. Another little fun fact is that the original passing tracks
are still at the station, and you can also see the original rock ballast which Walt Disney
insisted was crushed to 5/8ths scale to match the small scale of his trains.
The practice of crushing the ballast smaller was eventually discontinued soon after the park opened,
as the tiny gravel often got washed away in heavy rain. But the last remnants are still there,
over six decades later!
Well folks that was 5 things you didn’t know about Disneyland.
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Thanks for watching, and I hope you all have, a magical day!