runDisney Announces…

the Avengers Super Hero Half Marathon!

 

Anyone else excited about this?!  I know I am!

-Buzz

The Walt Disney Family Museum

Diane Miller Disney, Walt Disney’s daughter, helped create a wonderful museum in honor of her father and the Disney family’s history with The Walt Disney Company and their personal lives. 

I have been lucky enough to visit this wonderful museum and it is truly unrivaled. I could have spent at least two full days there; unfortunately, I only had a few hours. The museum is located in San Francisco, CA and details several aspects of Walt’s animation career, personal life, and his beloved Disneyland and soon to be Walt Disney World. It’s an in-depth look into the man whom millions love, and is extremely well-detailed. You can watch Disney movies at the museum, shop in their wonderful gift shop, view a replica of the Disneyland Resort, and attend a few workshops and courses they have available!

I highly recommend you visit their website, http://www.waltdisney.org/, and plan your next trip to  
San Francisco, CA or at least The Walt Disney Museum!

– Woody

The Alice Comedies

You know what day it is?  That’s right it’s “Throwback Thursday!”

So I thought since the Disney company is in the process of celebrating 90 years of magic making, I would go ahead and throw it all the way back to the Alice Comedies.  Created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, the Alice Comedies was a series that took Alice (a live action girl) and Julius (an animated cat) through an animated landscape.

While still in Kansas City, Missouri, Walt Disney had his company Laugh-O-Gram.  It was from this studio that Walt Disney and his staff came up with the Alice Comedies.  The first, of  what would eventually become many, was only ten minutes long titled “Alice’s Wonderland.”  This short starts off with Alice entering a cartoon studio and witnessing how cartoons are created.  With her amazement, the characters come to life and start playing around the studio.  That night, as she sleeps, she dreams of being greeted in a cartoon world by all the characters.  This short laid the ground out for what would come in the series.

However, shortly after producing that first short, Laugh-O-Gram went bankrupt.  From there, Disney worked as a freelance photographer and once he had enough money saved up, he bought a one way train ticket to Los Angeles.  After arriving in California, Disney continued to promote the Alice Comedies. 

Eventually, Winkler Pictures, made a deal with Disney and the Alice Comedies.  Virginia Davis, who played the original Alice in “Alice’s Wonderland,” moved out to L.A. from Missouri after Disney convinced her family.

*Photo courtesy of pdxretro.com

The Walt Disney Company essentially started in 1923 in the back of a small office of a realty company in Los Angeles.  From this office, Walt and Roy Disney produced the Alice Comedies.  Starting with the “Alice’s Wonderland” short, from 1923 to 1927, more than 50 episodes in the Alice Comedies series had aired.  Walt Disney produced and directed every episode in the 4 years of running.  He also did all of the animations for the series.  Throughout the series, four girls played Alice.  These girls were Virginia Davis, Margie Gay, Dawn O’Day, and Lois Hardwick.

Because of this series, Walt Disney’s dedication, and will to never give up, we are now celebrating 90 years of the Walt Disney Company.  It hasn’t always been called this, but the intentions have always been the same.  Disney once said “if you can dream it, you can do it” and he truly proved that correct.  If it wasn’t for this one man’s dream, none of us would have had the same life that we are currently living.  We all grew up watching Disney movies and shows, going to the parks and resorts, singing the songs, and just believing in the magic and happy endings.  I think it is safe to say that we owe Mr. Disney a lot.

With that being said, we would just like to wish a happy 90th birthday to The Walt Disney Company and to say “thank you” for being such a large part of our lives.  Without you, the two of us wouldn’t be the best of friends and our dreams wouldn’t have come true.  Here’s to many, many more years of creating magic and showing us that if you believe, anything is possible! °o°

-Buzz

 

Photos From The Very Beginning

It’s Throwback Thursday!!

So, we’re throwing it back to the early days of Disneyland.  Check out these photos from the early days of Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

The beloved attraction, Dumbo, has been in the park since 1955.

This banner used to hang over Main Street in 1959.

This photo was before Space Mountain existed.