Santa's Village

Santa's Village were the first franchised theme parks in the world. Imagine a place where children could experience the fun of Christmas 365 days a year!Sadly, they are a thing of the past. For an exhaustive history of these incredible parks, go here.

Welcome Foolish Mortals...

I may have mentioned at some point that my all time favorite theme-park ride is Disney's Haunted Mansion. On my recent visit to the Anaheim park, my friend Lance told me about a record he had as a kid which featured a young Ron Howard trapped inside the mansion.
I quickly pulled out my iPhone and looked up The Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion.
Turns out this hard-to-find Disneyland Records Storyteller long-playing featured the creepy soundtrack from the Disneyland attraction plus a narrated story about two teenagers who visit a haunted house.
So, while shopping on Main Street USA, we popped into the book & record shop - only to find that The Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion is now out on cd! So of course we bought it!
As soon as we got in the car, we popped it in the cd player!The story is narrated by Disney (and Frosted Flakes) Legend Thurl Ravenscroft - and tells the tale of Mike and Karen, two siblings who take refuge inside a eerie house during a thunderstorm.
Mike is indeed portrayed by Ron Howard and Robie Lester is Karen.
The two basically go through the mansion the way a guest would encountering many of the mansion's characters and experiencing much of the classic music and sound effects. Their Ghost Host is voiced by Pete Renoudet, rather than Paul Frees.
The cd also comes with an extended version of the song Grim Grinning Ghosts and a collection of awesome Collin Campbell artwork (which has graced this post) created for the 1969 vinyl release. Listening to it on the way home was the perfect way to cap off a perfect day at the Happiest Place on Earth.

No (Big) Post Today

Today I took "the day off" to go to Disneyland (a day after "Gay Days" ended). It was fun.

EPCOT

Walt Disney's visionary Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow eventually evolved into the theme park we know of today. And I just happen to be there - today!

For my controversial (and quite silly in retrospect) review of the apparently much-loved CAPTAIN EO attraction film from last year go here.