Remember "Private Party" Nights at Disneyland?

[Disneyland Daddy]

I do remember this. They used to have City of Anaheim Nights - went to one of those in early 1980 (Dad worked and STILL works for City of Anaheim).

Also, my friend Rebecca and I went in January 1986 on a rainy rainy day.....and Disneyland was going to close at 6 pm but then it cleared up and there was some big company function and for some reason, Disneyland ended up staying open until Midnight - and guests that were in the park that day that were STILL in the park, were allowed to stay.

Very cool (and a tad wet). Good times!

[Never Grow Up]

I went with my family to a private party for Ford in 1977! It ended up being the day Space mountain opened!

The line went all through the queue, down the moving walkway, through Tomorrowland and all the way down Main Street! It was a 3.5 hour wait.

For some reason my parents didn't want to go on it.....

[TacAlert]

I remember going a few times as a kid when my mom worked for California Federal (now CitiBank). Never a wait for a ride.

[Radiobarry]

I recall going to a private General Telephone party once (before it was GTE) -- my grandfather worked there. It was probably around 1968, as I think it was my first experience of the "New Tomorrowland" -- also, I think, the first time I visited the park at night. I don't really recall much other than riding the Autopia.

I also remember being at the park one Friday in the mid-80's, when we were expecting it to close at 6:00 -- but the time rolled around, and no announcement was made. We finally asked a CM, who explained about mixers. Cool! We stayed a couple more hours. (I made a point of visiting on further Fridays, but never happened on one again.) (That was the same trip we discovered an unlocked door near the Haunted Mansion, which I think was one of the emergency exits. We snuck through and crept up a hallway, but chickened out before we got anywhere very interesting.)

However, a friend of mine had a REALLY awesome experience at the time of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. They had a closed party for people involved in the games, including athletes and I presume sponsors and the like. A friend of his somehow got an extra ticket and he went along. Not only was the place virtually empty, but he discovered the refreshments were free! I was pretty envious of that one.

That must have been one great party!

By the way, most of the "mix-in" private parties like the one you referred to took place on Sundays during my years there.

--Barry

[twainrider]

I worked for General Dynamics from the 70s thru the early 90s and the private parties were, in many cases, the only time I went to Disneyland. You got so spoiled by having relatively small crowds for the private parties, that you hated going on regular days when the crowds were much bigger.

[Radiobarry]

I worked for General Dynamics from the 70s thru the early 90s and the private parties were, in many cases, the only time I went to Disneyland. You got so spoiled by having relatively small crowds for the private parties, that you hated going on regular days when the crowds were much bigger.

I guess the trade-off would be no parades or fireworks, and usually some of the attractions and restaurants closed either for the off-season or for rehab. But again, for me, working in the kitchen on those nights was a breeze compared to other times. Crowds for those lind of events were usually between 5,000 and 10,000.

--Barry

[Hamlet Schmalzbach]

My father worked for City National Bank from the late 70's to the early 80's and one of the great perks was the bank renting out the park on a Sunday each year. It was a mix-in, but for some reason it seemed as though the park did become less crowded after 7. We would show up around two and stay till midnight. My family had such a great time at this event. Thanks for the memories.

[Deanna]

Oh my gosh, do I remember private party nights? We moved to California in '75, and my dad worked for Mattel Toys, he was head of security at some point. We went every year for Mattel night, which ALWAYS fell on the weekend before or after my birthday, which made it really exciting. We went a few years in a row, until my parents split up at least.

And my step dad's aunt worked for a bank, so in junior high, I got to go for another private party night. My high school marching band went every year, which isn't a private party, but is usually a week day in the spring, and was never busy. I swear, I've been for free or cheap more often than not!

[ExCandyMaker]

I also went to many of the Rohr nights in the 70's and early 80's. The thing I remember most was that the westside of the park would be absolutely empty and freezing cold and that all the rides in the park were walk ons. Later when I worked at the park I would volunteer to work private party nights because Main St. was empty and we would pretty much just screw around all night long.

[mrfantasmic]

California Scholarship Federation did several of these "Private Party nights" in the mid 90s. They switched to "mix-ins" on my last year with the organization in '99.

[savanasue]

The Gas Company used to have parties. My friend's dad worked for the gas co. and they would get extra tickets and i was invited. Was fun, crowded. Also a few yrs ago my friend works for Rockwell and they had a private party (well the park was still open to regular guests but the Rockewell employees got a special deal, including a cateretd dinner which was so much fun,. The dinner included characters, face painting for kids, all u can eat buffett. The dinner was held at the old big thunder ranch(when it used to be a bbq place) and overflowed into the festival of fools arena.

[stormres44]

This is my first post here. I love this site, btw....brings back some great memories.

We went to several of those private party nights when my dad worked for a firm
in Anaheim named Interstate Electronics back in the 60's and 70's. It's located
on Vermont Avenue, about a mile from the park. I'm pretty sure we shared the
park with other companies, but it was still rather deserted. No lines to wait in
except for the Bobsleds, which was the big attraction back then. I only went to
the park once during the daytime; all other times, it was during the private party
nights. My folks used to let each of us kids take one of our friends with us. It
was always hard to decide who to pick each year. We lived in Orange, and at night
I could see the lights from Anaheim Stadium and the fireworks from Disneyland
during the summer from my bedroom window. Those were the days. We moved
to the east coast (Virginia) in 1972 and I haven't been back to SoCal since. My
daughter now lives in West Hollywood though so there's a good chance I may
return in the near furture.

[Radiobarry]

This is my first post here. I love this site, btw....brings back some great memories.

We went to several of those private party nights when my dad worked for a firm
in Anaheim named Interstate Electronics back in the 60's and 70's. It's located
on Vermont Avenue, about a mile from the park. I'm pretty sure we shared the
park with other companies, but it was still rather deserted. No lines to wait in
except for the Bobsleds, which was the big attraction back then. I only went to
the park once during the daytime; all other times, it was during the private party
nights. My folks used to let each of us kids take one of our friends with us. It
was always hard to decide who to pick each year. We lived in Orange, and at night
I could see the lights from Anaheim Stadium and the fireworks from Disneyland
during the summer from my bedroom window. Those were the days. We moved
to the east coast (Virginia) in 1972 and I haven't been back to SoCal since. My
daughter now lives in West Hollywood though so there's a good chance I may
return in the near furture.

Welcome stormres! I sure enjoyed your very first post here. I thought that Interstate at least used to be on Ball Road at East Street, across from the now gone KEZY 1190 studios. Maybe I have it mixed up with something else.

I had a good friend who was born the same year I was...1956...that I met when I took a radio job here in Ventura County back in the 80's. He also grew up in Orange, and told me of the same memories (I grew up in Garden Grove, so I could still hear the fireworks at least)...he was my best friend, and died of leukemia at 45.

Anyway, sorry for the sad note. Welcome aboard!

--Barry

[stormres44]

Barry...I think you're right about the previous location of IEC...I seem to
recall that radio studio as well, but you have to remember, I was just a kid
back then !!! ( I was born in Fullerton in 1957, btw...) I remember seeing the
circus at the 'new' Convention Center way back when, too !! When I was in
junior high (Cerro Villa), my 'Preparation for Bachelorhood class (how
progressive for 1971, huh ??) took a field trip to the Disneyland Hotel and
got a behind the scenes look at how they ran their kitchen. Pretty cool, huh ?
I also remember, adjacent to the DH, a helipad that ran commercially between
Anaheim and LAX...anyone else recall that? My dad used it all the time when
he had to travel for business.

Nice to meet you.

[PirateChick]

I do remember CSF did these nights at DL and I remember hearing that they were really crowded, especially since it was all high schools in the area. Since there was a lot of vandalism those nights Disney stopped doing them in 1999. They were held at Knotts for a couple of years and then when I was a senior in 2002 our school did not even participate in the CSF night.