The Palm Tree

Another story behind the story...

Disneyland was built on an orange grove (Orange county, CA, get it?). Some questioned "Why is he building this way out here? It takes half an hour to get here from the city". But Walt knew that being close to Interstate 5 and between LA and San Diego, development would come his way. His only mistake was not buying more land, even though he really couldn't...he was over-extended as it was.

Anyway, the Dominguez family that owned 10 acres of the orange grove land had 2 requests when they sold to Walt. Their son, Ron, needed a job and there was a palm tree that they requested stay put. Many had been wed under that tree and it was very special to them. Walt honored both requests.

Ron Dominguez started working in 1955 as a ticket taker and retired in 1994 as an executive at the park. His name is on a window on main street. By the way, those names up there are all Disney legends, which you can find listed if you google "disney legends".

That palm tree, just outside where the Dominguez home once stood (just outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), is...yes, still there. I saw it last time I visited. It's a majestic palm tree located just outside the Indiana Jones ride and Tarzan's Treehouse in Adventureland. If you're ever there, ask a cast member where the Dominguez palm tree is. Then, go take a picture under it and tell people something they probably don't know.

The lull

Oh, it's been awhile..don't know if anyone's still out there but yeah, the Oswald story was probably getting a little old. Just haven't been that inspired, I guess. I'm looking for inspiration in a bottle..anyone have any? We're excited about the little one on the way. Many have asked if he's being named after Walt. No, he's not. True, Walt's middle name was Elias and true, Walt's father was Elias, but that's not the reason. We like the name Eli and are following a weird tradition by naming our child something we'll only call them when we're upset with them. Emmy knows it when I say "Emily....."

We're thinking about the Disney Vacation Club someday. There's been talk there but we figure it best to wait until next year before getting serious. We will be taking a trip after Thanksgiving with my parents and staying at the Polynesian resort. Love the Polynesian but haven't stayed there. It's close in case we need to bring the little guy back to the room. Emmy will almost be 4...perfect, if you ask me.

Last thing...I have one share of Disney stock, a gift from my wife a few years ago. The certificate is framed in my office at work. The cool thing is being a shareholder (of one share mind you), I get Disney's annual report, which is pretty cool. It's coming soon...waiting for it in the mail!

Disney quote: "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyways."

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

In late 1927, Walt's cartoon character was "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit". It was distributed by Universal and a man named Charles Mintz. In February 1928, Walt headed to NYC by train to negotiate a new contract for the character. He had no idea that Mintz had hired out all but one of Disney's animators and basically stole the character from Walt. On the train ride home, instead of wallowing in self-pity and bitterness, Walt came up with another character.....and made sure he owned his rights this time.

Fast forward to 2006. Universal still owns the rights to Oswald, although he died out in animation shortly after Mintz stole him from Walt. NBC has earned the right to show an NFL football game on Sunday nights, and they want John Madden and Al Michaels to do the game since ESPN is now doing Monday night football. ABC, owned by Disney, negotiates with NBC for Al's rights to do play by play in the game. The new CEO of Disney asks NBC (which owns Universal) to give Oswald back to the company he belongs to. So, we have Al Michaels to thank for Disney getting Oswald back....almost 80 years later.

Just another lesson in things happening for a reason. I have a hard time seeing Oswald doing what Mickey Mouse did to the American culture. It's also a lesson that what goes around, comes around. Welcome back, Oswald!

DL and DW Parades

A tradition now for the past several years. Christmas morning at 9:00 cst, the Disneyland/WDW parades come on ABC with stars and Disney characters. It was taped earlier this month. We were there last year when they were filming it. Pretty warm but they make the audience wear santa hats anyway and take several takes until they get the right one. Then, they splice and dice it to perfection. If you're there like we were, find something better to do (like ride rides), and then watch it on Christmas Day. Check it out!

Merry Christmas!

Family Museum

For those of you interested in learning more about Walt...

http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/

Blessings...

Remembrance

A well established description of Walt was that he had one foot in the past and one foot in the future. He was always worried about Tomorrowland b/c he knew that tomorrow would be in the past soon enough. Time does fly and before you know it, the future IS the past.

Walt died 41 years ago yesterday, Dec 15th, 1966. It's interesting how people remember the day Walt died very vividly. It was a shock to everyone. He'd only learned he had cancer 8 weeks earlier. I was born 4 years after his death and yet I can remember watching Wonderful World of Disney and not realizing this man on tv (the tv that sat on the red shag carpet with the three channel tuner) was not alive. Walt died of lung cancer..from smoking. He picked up the habit while driving an ambulance in France during the end of World War I, enlisting by faking his birthday. His employees could hear him coming down the hallway. He had that cough, ya know. Because he seemed to know it was a bad habit, he always tried to keep it hidden from the cameras. There are few shots of him with a cigarette. His daughter Diane actually gave him "filtered" cigarettes for Christmas one year, to try and get him weaned of the non-filtered ones. With an obsessive personality like his, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for him to try and quit. Yet, it probably took 10 years off his life. He had much planned...WDW, Epcot. More on Epcot in the future. It ended up being a compromise on Walt's dream.

When Disneyland opened, Tomorrowland was supposed to be 1986. I believe this was how long Walt hoped to live. He would have been 85.

Happy Birthday Snow White

Why is it that my wife just looks at this title before I start writing and laughs. So what. I am who I am. See, here's the thing:

Yes, Snow White came out 70 years ago, in 1937. It was a story about an innocent girl with a high pitched voice, an evil queen, a prince, a talking mirror, a huntsman who almost takes Snow White out with an ax, a red apple, and 7 mysteriously single dwarfs who worked in the jewel mines. It was also called "Disney's Folly" and was panned even before it came out. How did Disney expect people to sit through a full length cartoon? All they knew to that point were cartoon shorts...gags, 3-5 minute punchlines before the real movie began.

It worked. Walt mortgaged the studio to make it, everyone in his employ worked on it, he was very demanding of the animation, and was masterful at what was needed to tell the story. The first people who saw it wept..no kidding.

It won a special academy award, with the main statue and 7 miniature statues alongside it. Shirley Temple presented it to Walt. We would probably not have Disneyland or DisneyWorld if it hadn't done so well. Full-length animated features worked! Snow White, if it hadn't been for you..no Pinocchio, no Dumbo, no Peter Pan, no Lion King, no Little Mermaid, etc. etc.

This one's for you Emmy (SW is the flavor of the month). Someday your prince will come...and I'll be waiting with the huntsman and his ax.