As many of you know, I am now writing about Disneyland and other theme parks for Insidethemagic.net. Here are links to some recent articles.
The second is about the opening of the new Starbucks in Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort.
I was at Disneyland and decided to take a trip around the Rivers of America on the Mark Twain Steamboat.
As usual, I had my camera with me, you never know when there will be a photo opportunity. There was, but not the kind I was looking for.
As we were steaming in front of New Orleans Square, I noticed a blanket down on the walkway, right up against the fence.
Now this was obviously placed by some Disneyland regulars in the perfect front spot for that night’s performance of Fantasmic! Nothing wrong with that, I am sure some of you are saying.
Well I say it is wrong. Why? Because it was not even 1 p.m. Yet, here was this blanket stretched out just like at any Southern California beach, keeping anyone away from being able to have their family pose for a keepsake photograph.
I know there are a lot of Annual Passholders, and some of them act like they own the place and think they can do whatever they want but come on, think of others – especially those visitors who do not visit every day. They want their day to feel special, and not like a day at the beach having to play dodge the beach blanket.
I am also sure this was not the first time for these blanket homesteaders to see Fantasmic!
Folks, the park is there for everyone, not just you.
Disagree if you want, but I think a more realistic time to put a blanket down would be more like an hour before the show. I wouldn’t mind if Disneyland picked up any blankets and sent them to lost and found.
Rant over. Feel free to comment. No swearing.
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Writing about Disney and other theme parks
If you’re wondering why you don’t see much in the way of stories about Disney here, it’s because I am writing about Disney and other theme parks for Inside the Magic.net.
Its owner, Ricky Brigante, and I have become pretty good friends over the past few years. When I was laid off by the Orange County Register in January, he reached out to me and we reached an agreement.
So, I will mostly be writing about the Disneyland Resort, Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios Hollywood and other theme park related stories for him.
Stories should appear weekly, and I will provide links here.
Below is a list of my first five stories:
This is me, Mark Eades, outside the entrance to Star Tours at Disneyland.
Finding a Voice for Star Tours.
A “Marvel” ous plot at Disneyland?
Why no Frozen attraction at the same time as the movie?
How the Golden Dream in American Adventure was almost a nightmare.
I hope you enjoy them. Meanwhile, look for more from me about other things here at this website.
I’ve worked with a lot of very talented people over the years, and some of them helped out with this web page.
Susan Lustig is a former Imagineer. She was a show producer at Universal Creative and at Walt Disney Imagineering. Like many, she is now out working on the world wide web and designs web pages, among other things. She is the one responsible for the design of this web page. (I’ve actually known her husband, Bob Dahl, longer than I have Susan. Bob is a principal at September Entertainment.)
You can check out more of her work at Acme Digital Design.
She was terrific to work with, and answered a lot of question. A very patient woman, but also talented and knows how to deal with coding issues.
She instinctively knew what photos to pick for the initial launch, and the color scheme for things.
Having a background in theme parks, like me, probably helped a lot too.
Susan, thanks for your terrific work.
Another former Imagineer I have known for a long time is a gentleman by the name of Steve Feicht.
We first met at Disneyland, then went our separate ways. He was a toy designer based back east for a while.
We hooked up again when he showed up one day at Walt Disney Imagineering, interviewing for one of the many designer positions they were hiring for at the time. My boss, Randy Bright, a Disney legend, asked me what I thought. It was simple, I said, “Hire him.”
We worked on a few projects together there, and after leaving WDI, on a couple other projects.
Steve is designing toys again, but when I asked if he could help me out, he designed the logo for my website, markeades.com.
You can learn more about Steve at his website, tinynightmares.com. Don’t be scared off by the name, they’re a bunch of really cute characters he designed to help get his daughters to go to sleep.
Steve has a great sense of humor.
Steve, thanks for the logo design.