This month marks the anniversary of canoes at Disneyland park – no motor or track since 1956! To celebrate, Disneyland Resort cast member Jessica Voiles will give you a glimpse into her role as a river guide aboard Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes, in this installment of Every Role a Starring Role!
Check out these posts for more Every Role a Starring Role:
Children at 10 local nonprofit organizations are saying “Ka-Chow!” thanks to the donation of 30 Lightning McQueen Power Wheels from the Disneyland Resort! You may remember the vehicles from a recent Cars Land video we shared here on the Disney Parks Blog.
The donation is bringing daily fun and excitement to children at CHOC Children’s (Children’s Hospital of Orange County), Anaheim Family YMCA, and the Orange County Ronald McDonald House, to name a few. The donated vehicles feature race car sounds, phrases from the Disney•Pixar “Cars” films, and even power lock brakes! Check them out in this remix version of the original video.
Whoever your favorite Disney characters may be, my bet is that cast member David Mitchell can sketch them for you. David creates custom sketches inside Disneyana at Disneyland park, and watching him work is pure magic! See for yourself in this installment of Every Role a Starring Role.
Check out these posts for more Every Role a Starring Role:
To celebrate the grand reopening of the newly expanded and reimagined Disney California Adventure park, the Disneyland Resort donated a total of $500,000 to CHOC Children’s (Children’s Hospital of Orange County) and the Anaheim Community Foundation, which assists disadvantaged youth in Anaheim.
In addition, four military families, who were selected from an opportunity drawing at a recent career expo as part of The Walt Disney Company’s “Heroes Work Here” initiative, were invited to attend the premiere of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street.
Disneyland Resort also partnered with Make-A-Wish Orange County and the Inland Empire to grant the wishes of four children, based on their affinity for the Disney•Pixar “Cars” films. They were among the first to experience the two new lands!
Check out these posts for more news about Disney’s community outreach efforts:
Disneyland Resort stage technicians have been bringing “Fantasmic!” to life for 20 years. As we celebrate the milestone anniversary this month, join stage technician James Adling for a peek inside the iconic show – and Mickey’s imagination!
For more Every Role a Starring Role, check out these posts:
The “CALIFORNIA” letters previously located in the esplanade of the Disney California Adventure park entrance have found a new home! The Disneyland Resort will donate the set of letters, which were removed to make way for the Disney California Adventure park expansion project, to the Friends of the California State Fair, a nonprofit organization that benefits California Exposition & State Fair (Cal Expo) in Sacramento. Cal Expo is the site of the California State Fair and hundreds of other events annually.
Plans are underway to make the letters an integral part of a new Cal Expo entrance. The “CALIFORNIA” letters will make their way to their new home sometime in late September and will be placed high enough at the entrance to be seen from Exposition Boulevard. They’ll continue to create memories at a fitting location as Disney California Adventure park welcomes Cars Land and Buena Vista Street!
The donation is the latest among several other Disney California Adventure park artifacts over the last five years, including:
The cab of the California Zephyr train that was formerly the home of Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream and Bakers Field Bakery was donated to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, Calif.
The sun icon that welcomed visitors to Sunshine Plaza was donated to the City of Anaheim for future use.
The giant toy train from EnginEARS Toys will be donated to Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC Children’s) for future use.
Postcards and displays from the Greetings From California store at the main entrance of Disney California Adventure park were donated to many Southern California nonprofit organizations and educational facilities, including the Boys & Girls Club of Tustin, the Anaheim Family YMCA, the Child Abuse Services Team office in Orange, the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach, and Betsy Ross and Orange Grove elementary schools in Anaheim.
Signs and character displays from Greetings From California were donated to Pretend City in Irvine.
The Reboundo Beach surfboard basketball game was donated to the Boys & Girls Club of Garden Grove.
Benches from throughout Disney California Adventure park were donated to the City of Anaheim for use in public spaces.
Hundreds of volunteers rose bright and early last Saturday, May 12, to help build a new playground just blocks away from the Disneyland Resort – and it came together in just one day!
Partnering with the City of Anaheim, Anaheim Family YMCA, KaBOOM! and local community members, Disney VoluntEARS built a playground at Stoddard Park in Anaheim that will provide more than 1,000 children a safe place to play. Planning began in March when local children met with Disney and KaBOOM! to design their ideal playground. The children’s drawings were then used to create the playground’s final design.
Disney is a KaBOOM! National Partner, supporting its vision of a play space within walking distance of every child in America. Since 2011, Disney has pledged more than $3.5 million to help build playgrounds and learning gardens across the country with the participation of thousands of Disney VoluntEARS. By the end of the year, Disney will have helped KaBOOM! build nearly 30 playgrounds nationwide!
Disneyland Resort painters are known for making the old look new, and the new look old. The key is attention to detail, according to Disneyland Resort Painter Alan Smith, who will tell you more in this installment of Every Role a Starring Role!
For more Every Role a Starring Role, check out these posts:
Did you know 779 new trees have been planted in Disney California Adventure park as part of the five-year expansion? To give you a glimpse into those in Cars Land we have John Schrimsher, horticulture manager of the Disneyland Resort, in this installment of our “Did You Know” video series.
For more Fast Facts from the Disneyland Resort, check out these posts:
Participants planted 19 types of native plants in the garden, which Disney VoluntEARS prepped earlier this month by clearing a 100 x 30-ft. area of non-native plants and weeds at Rancho Sonado, a local environmental education facility that received the first garden. The remaining gardens will benefit local schools.
Disney Kids and Nature Celebration alumni Briana Perlson, Katherine Gwaltney and Jennifer Janneck from Brea Olinda High School in Brea, Calif., rounded out the event with a mentoring activity that inspired participants to plan their own, similar project for the planet!
Thanks for visiting the Disney Parks Blog. We welcome your comments. Please understand that this is a moderated blog. Blog comments will be reviewed prior to posting. As a result, there will be a delay in the posting of comments. Not all comments will be posted. Comments may also be removed after they are posted.
