Oh the places I get to go. This past week was legendspalooza for this Disney gal. But it could have been for you too. Here’s what you missed . . . don’t miss it next year!

DisneyanaMania 2015: Ryman Arts

The Disneyana Fan Club had their annual convention in Garden Grove, right down the street from Disneyland. Every year, they meet during the week of Disneyland’s anniversary, culminating on Sunday with a huge Disneyana Show and Sale. This year, the convention kicked off with a benefit for Ryman Arts. Disney artist and Imagineer Herb Ryman created so much Disney magic, not the least the design of iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle.

There were both a silent and live auction; the live auction included four experiences: a drawing lesson with Mike Peraza on Herb Ryman’s desk, lunch at the Smokehouse by Warner Bros. for four with Marty Sklar, a “Walt’s Tour” of Los Angeles and lunch at the Tam O’Shanter with Dave Smith, a visit to Terri Hardin’s private studio, an original Herb Ryman painting, the wonderful castle art that Joe Yakovetic created onstage during the program, and much, much more. Marty Sklar gave a rousing talk about the program and showed some great and funny Walt outtakes.

Disney Legend Marty Sklar

We also got to hear what the program has done for a pair of students, one of whom is at USC, the other at Knott’s as a scene painter.

It’s Berry Good the Second Time Around

Speaking of Knott’s, There’s a fantastic book, Knott’s Preserved, which is out of print; You can get it for some pearl-clutchingly high price on eBay or you can wait a tick and get the second printing, which will have a few new pages as a bonus and also a reason for Fab to buy another copy of the book. It’s by Christopher Merritt (Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’ Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier) and Eric Lynxwiler (walking, breathing Knott’s encyclopaedia and also BEAR-Y TALES SHIRTS DESIGNER!) with foreword by Tony Baxter and it’s a great read.

Chris says:

“Great news everyone! After several years of being out of print (and exorbitant prices on Amazon and Ebay) we are going into a 2nd printing of Knott’s Preserved! Eric and I added 16 pages to this edition, bringing the story up to date and adding several new and vintage photos. It will be available both at Knott’s and direct through our publisher, Angel City Press next month – here’s some more details from ACP: We have deemed August 15 (Assumption Day!) to be the official pub date for our new edition of Knott’s Preserved in order to give the book industry time to absorb the new metadata and PR material into their systems. The printed books are on the truck and wending their way to L.A.; we should be able to deliver to Knott’s next week. The ACP catalog page is located HERE — readers can pre-order for delivery as soon as we get the books.

Yes, please.

Knott's Berry Farm history book

DisneyMania 2015: Legends and Lunch

Family business kept me from seeing Memories of Moose: Growing Up With The Shermans by Robbie Sherman in the morning. I’m sorry I missed it. He surprised everyone with a special song he’d created, “Disneyana”, just for the DFC!

At noon, they had the annual Legends ceremony. One of my favorite Imagineers as well as just plain one of my favorite people, Joe Lanzisero, was honored this year as a Disneyana Fan Club Legend as well as another one of my favorites, Dick Nunis, so Dusty Sage and I were honored to be invited to attend. First, we were re-introduced to the many well-deserving honorees of the past, and then we were introduced to this year’s inductees. Joe was first:

Disney Imagineer Joe Lanzisero

Joe gave us a brief career bio, starting with his time at CalArts with classmates such as John Lasseter, and animation team Musker and Clements, then on to his time animating Disney films such as Oliver and Company, then moving to Imagineering because it looked like they had more fun over there. He told a great story about putting a teacup on Pinocchio to test the concept for Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin (at the time, the Imagineer who told me about it claimed it was the Haunted Mansion. And that he was there. Nope on both counts, but what really happened turns out to actually be more exciting; Joe got startled by Monstro leaping up at him at just the right moment, and it was a whale of an inspiration (sorry) for RRCTS. He also showed us some of the incredible Mystic Manor, which is what happens when the Adventurer’s Club and the Haunted Mansion love each other very, very much…but I digress. Joe credits all of his accomplishments to his teams, including the Imagineer who did all the fantastic color work on Mystic Manor, who happens to also be his wife.

Richard “Dick” Nunis was next. He started with the company when he was hired by Van Arsdale France, who told him to come back the next day with a pushbroom and to get rid of those blue suede shoes he was wearing! He worked directly with Walt quite a bit, and Walt trusted him. Walt said that he wanted people to leave Disneyland at night with two things: that they had had a good time and that they had gotten good value for their money. He said that after Walt died, Roy asked if they should go ahead with their plans. His answer was yes. Apparently Roy got enough of those, and they went ahead. He spoke of how valiantly Richard F. “Dick” Irvine fought to get Walt Disney World (“and don’t ever take the name Walt off of it!”) open, and wept openly as he recalled that Irvine was not able to see the wonder he helped to create.

Dick Nunis worked directly with Walt Disney

He talked about how people complain to him about the price of admission today, but says that they have always complained about the price of admission, even when the park first opened and it was a dollar.

He had high praise for the Imagineers who had reimagined Disney California Adventure, especially Buena Vista Street and Cars Land, but told them that they need to get to work on Tomorrowland. He lamented the loss of the Carousel of Progress. (If you guys are taking notes, I’m lamenting the loss of the Peoplemover.) What I loved is that when he turned to address the table full of present-day Imagineers, I don’t know if they noticed this, but they all leaned toward him, even though he was speaking loud and clear. When E. F. Hutton talks…

Disney fans give Legend award at Disneyana convention

After receiving their beautiful trophies and having a very blurry photo taken by yours truly, they mingled with attendees (one of the really nice things about the DFC convention) for photos and autographs. Congratulations to this year’s Disneyana Fan Club Legends!

Sadly, I missed the afternoon panels, including Dennis Tanida, which I was really looking forward to; more family stuff. Happy to spend time with family though. Next year, I hope to attend everything. The panels were followed by the local chapter reception that evening.

A Jolly Time

Dusty Sage with Disney's original Mouseketeers
Master of Ceremonies Dusty Sage and The Mouseketeers. Photo by David Yeh

While Disneyana dominated my week, another group was planning something big as well. Thursday evening, a group of Disney fans gathered at the Grand Californian hotel for Legends Events’ A Jolly Holiday with Dick Van Dyke. Lance and Jennifer of Legends Events put on a spectacular show. Fans got to see Dick Van Dyke answer their questions, perform with his group The Vantasticks, get made an honorary Mouseketeer by five of the original Mouseketeers from The Mickey Mouse Club, and then perform with Richard Sherman, finishing off with photos and a silent auction benefiting The Walt Disney Birthplace. MiceChat.com supplied the volunteers for the night. (EDITOR NOTE: Thank you MiceChatters Shelly, Ellen, Michele, Jenn, Matt, James, Kathy and Peter for your amazing work on this event!) Our own Dusty Sage was the host, and he did a spectacular job. Disney animation god, Mike Peraza, posted to Facebook, “Dusty, PT Barnum could have learned a few things from you as to owning the title, Greatest Showman on Earth!” Everything about this evening was amazing, including the much needed funds it raised for the restoration of the historic Walt Disney Birthplace.

Disney items up for auction
Shane Grammer’s incredible painting on the right; on the table, a self-portrait drawn by Dick Van Dyke

Artists like Yakovetic, Shane Grammer, Alex Maher, Kevin-john, and many others created works just for the Birthplace, while some kind souls donated fantastic pieces of Disney history, including park signs (who remembers State Fair?) and some other really swell stuff. If you missed the event and would still like to help save the Walt Disney Birthplace and empower them to launch the Center for Early Childhood Creativity and Innovation, please visit their funding page HERE and make a difference!

Dick-Van-Dyke-Richard-Sherman
A surprise dream come true for attendees, Dick Van Dyke and Richard Sherman performing together. Photo by David Yeh.
Arlene-Dick-Van-Dyke
Dick Van Dyke answers fan questions read to him by his charming wife, Arlene. Photo by Brent Young.
Vantastics
The Vantasticks perform. Photo by Brent Young.

DisneyanaMania 2015: A Fun-Filled Weekend

David Koenig regaled a receptive crowd with tales of “Yippie Day” at Disneyland. There was also a Design panel and a wonderful interview with DFC legend Bill “Sully” Sullivan, who had some fantastic stories about his 60 (yes, 60) years working in Disney theme parks. Brian Sandahl brought in Christmas in July, talking about Haunted Mansion Holiday and the newer (and hilarious) Jingle Cruise.

Then the madness ensued.

Dusty hosts the Disney game show presentation but not the game show itself
Do you know this man? If you enjoyed him at the Dick Van Dyke event, you’ll love him at Disneyana! The busiest man in showbiz.

Yes, it was MiceChat Game Show time, and this year, Dusty Sage, Dan Peterson and The Greatest Game Show Host on Earth, Hastin Zylstra brought their A game to the Wyndham for some Disneyland-savvy attendees to test their mettle against each other, “family” to “family”.

Hastin Zylstra hosts the Disney themed Family Feud

FAMILY FEUD!

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As he did for the MiceChat Gumball Rally, Hastin dressed up in a blue polo shirt and blue cap and stood at the Harbor Blvd.Disneyland crosswalk at 10PM with a clipboard, getting park-goers’ answers to several questions. The Schnebelen Family were victorious in the end.

The Schnebelen family shows off their Disney prizes

After Family Feud, there was a nice long break for conventioneers to get ready for the ball – I mean, the Celebration Banquet. Paula Sigman Lowery gave a great talk about the beginnings of the NFFC, which became the DFC, and the history of the Disney classic Cinderella. The ballroom was all done up for the occasion by DFC volunteers headed up by Daron Sorg and was simply incredible – again, all volunteers:

What says fairy tale more than a Disney castle?
The stage – we went in and took pictures before the event started, so we wouldn’t get in Drizella’s hair.

Ready for a night of Disney magic

Two Disney mice
Beautiful little touches at every table.

Handmade Disney themed decorations made by volunteers

Yes, that's a Disney Parks popcorn bucket!

A specially made tea set evokes the Disney classic.

It all ended Sunday with the fantastic Show and Sale, where I worked the MiceChat/Walt Disney Birthplace booth with Dusty, Ellen and Peter for a short spell. It was a real hoot!

If you’d like to know more about becoming a Disneyana Fan Club member and learn about their upcoming events, please visit THIS LINK.

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, and it did my heart a lot of good to meet people who actually read my news column. It makes me want to keep typing. Keep me honest and don’t let my head swell too big, okay? I don’t want to have to buy a whole set of new mouse-ear hats!

Got news or a question? Write to [email protected]!

 

Shelly Valladolid
Shelly Valladolid, aka Fab, has been writing about Disney and theme parks for about two decades. She has written for various fan and pop culture sites, Disney Magazine and OCRegister.com and participated in several books, including Passporter's Disneyland and Southern California and Disney World Dreams. She was co-founder and president of the Orlando, Florida chapter of the NFFC (now Disneyana Fan Club). She taught a class on theme park history at a Southern California University. She is creator and co-owner of Jim Hill Media, one of the creators of MousePlanet and was a consultant on MSNBC, The Motley Fool and others about Disney and various media matters. She was a Heel wrestling manager on TV and a voice artist on the radio in Honolulu, HI, where she grew up. She has a blog and a podcast with her daughter, Mission:Breakout Obsessive Alice Hill. She and her husband, MiceChat columnist Noe Valladolid, live in Southern California with Alice.