printersdevil78 Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Oh, the things that keep me up at night.... I recently treated myself to an early Christmas present (er, "holiday" present; I'm not sure state employees are allowed to say "Christmas" anymore) and bought the preview edition of Kevin Yee's new book, "Mouse Trap: Memoir of a Disneyland Cast Member 1987-2002." So tonight I get to page 157 and find: "No discussion of CM shenanigans is complete without mentioning one of the most common forms of Cast Member tomfoolery: sneaking around locations other than one's own. Robb bravely infiltrated the Matterhorn and took his picture next to the Abominable Snowman, and also made it into closed attractions America Sings and Mission to Mars." Suddenly I find myself thinking, "Hmmm... I've seen a picture of Robb with the Abominable Snowman, wearing what appears to be a Disneyland CM costume, no less." So 'fess up, Robb: Are you the aforementioned infiltrator, or is Kevin writing about some other former Disneyland employee who happens to spell his name with a cool double-B? Jason "Inquiring Minds Want to Know" Rhodes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 It's him. It's his avatar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 That was me! Although we weren't really "infiltrating" as I was with people from WDI when we did that! --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
printersdevil78 Posted December 7, 2007 Author Share Posted December 7, 2007 Cool! So now that your fame is confirmed, if I send an SASE, will your assistant send me an autographed photo? Or do I have to wait in line for an hour and pay $75 like I had to do for Hank Aaron? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIP Psyclone Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 Wow, how long were America Sings and Mission To Mars sitting there closed, but intact? I know Inner Space was pretty much gutted right away. I'm still looking for remnants of it in Star Tours, but there are very few, if any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
printersdevil78 Posted December 10, 2007 Author Share Posted December 10, 2007 No idea how long these attractions sat intact inside their buildings before being gutted; however, I assume America Sings was gone fairly quickly, as many of its Audio-Animatronics were repurposed for Splash Mountain, which opened in 1989, one year after America Sings was shuttered. The only ATIS Easter egg I'm aware of in Star Tours is the microscope used in the Inner Space attraction appearing on screen as an item being moved by a space-age crane just before your shuttle leaves the launch site. Speaking of Star Tours and America Sings, maybe someone "in the know" on here can shed some light on what I believe was a misnomer on my tour guide's part during the "Walk in Walt's Footsteps" tour I took a few years ago. I had always heard that the two work droids in Star Tours were originally geese in America Sings. I've even seen photos where two of the geese were removed from America Sings. However, the tour guide said the AA droids actually were originally the two hosts from America Sings, the eagle and the owl (fuzzy on their names; America Sings closed a couple years prior to my first trip to Disneyland). I'm thinking the guide was just misinformed, as A) Star Tours opened in 1987, a year before America Sings closed, so it would have been difficult to remove the host AAs without installing replacements, and B) the guide also told us that the final construction cost for Disneyland in 1955 was (switching to Dr. Evil voice) "one MIIIIIIIIIIILION dollars." I asked if he hadn't meant $17 million and was told no, he was pretty sure it was only $1 million The cornbread chili included with the tour was good, though. And the guide let me have his cheesecake since he didn't want it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIP Psyclone Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 A goose was removed from the quartet for the last 2 or so years of operation of America Sings, and was never replaced. Only 3 geese can clearly been seen from about 2:00 to 2:25 All 4 geese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 No idea how long these attractions sat intact inside their buildings before being gutted; however, I assume America Sings was gone fairly quickly, as many of its Audio-Animatronics were repurposed for Splash Mountain, which opened in 1989, one year after America Sings was shuttered. The only ATIS Easter egg I'm aware of in Star Tours is the microscope used in the Inner Space attraction appearing on screen as an item being moved by a space-age crane just before your shuttle leaves the launch site. Speaking of Star Tours and America Sings, maybe someone "in the know" on here can shed some light on what I believe was a misnomer on my tour guide's part during the "Walk in Walt's Footsteps" tour I took a few years ago. I had always heard that the two work droids in Star Tours were originally geese in America Sings. I've even seen photos where two of the geese were removed from America Sings. However, the tour guide said the AA droids actually were originally the two hosts from America Sings, the eagle and the owl (fuzzy on their names; America Sings closed a couple years prior to my first trip to Disneyland). I'm thinking the guide was just misinformed, as A) Star Tours opened in 1987, a year before America Sings closed, so it would have been difficult to remove the host AAs without installing replacements, and B) the guide also told us that the final construction cost for Disneyland in 1955 was (switching to Dr. Evil voice) "one MIIIIIIIIIIILION dollars." I asked if he hadn't meant $17 million and was told no, he was pretty sure it was only $1 million The cornbread chili included with the tour was good, though. And the guide let me have his cheesecake since he didn't want it! While a lot of the AA's were used in Splash Mountain quite a bit of USA Sings stayed in tact for the parts that weren't used. In fact, they used to hold meetings in the opening/closing room and the entire stage and I believe the eagle and the owl were both there for a long time. I have some pictures that I took during a few of those meetings that I attended in 1992 where many of the ride's backdrop and some AA's were still there. And yes your guide was mis-informed. The droids were geese from USA Sings. I'm actually kind of surprised the tour guides don't have more accurate information. I mean, just look at the feet on the droids! They still look like geese! --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
printersdevil78 Posted December 11, 2007 Author Share Posted December 11, 2007 I always love hearing about how meetings and such take place in actual attractions. Like when they have management briefings at Lincoln Theater. I just can't imagine going into a building like the Carousel of Progress (OK, America Sings) and doing business. I'm lucky if the rooms I end up having meetings in have windows. Yours had Audio-Animatronics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now