Riding Dumbo the Flying Elephant For the First Time - Disney Flashback Friday

I don't often post pictures of the kiddies on the blog, although they are featured from time to time, but this week's idea really stood out to me.  It came to me as the family was sitting down to watch the new release of "Dumbo" for our own "Friday Night Family Movie Night" last weekend.  We try to do it fairly often, especially when there's a new Disney release to be watched, and we had a lot of fun doing it!

It got me to thinking about the Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction that's in Fantasyland in Disneyland Park.  It's not an attraction we get on a lot anymore because the boys are getting older now and moving onto bigger things inside The Park, but looking back, I couldn't help but realize that in terms of "first attractions ridden", Dumbo just might be the one that each and every one of my boys rode for their very first Disneyland ride.

My oldest is almost 9 now, but he was just 2 when these pictures were taken, and looking back at them just brings a big ole smile to my face.  Maybe the coolest thing about it is that it was dad's first time on Dumbo too!  And although when we walk by now I poke fun at it a little bit, the truth is it's one of my favorite Disneyland memories, and hopefully by looking at the pictures, it's pretty obvious exactly why.

All smiles as we're ready to fly

Didn't take long to find the handle to steer Daddy up and down, up and down...

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Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy 2010 - Disney Flashback Friday

There's little use in denying the fact that Halloween Time at Disneyland is one of our favorite times of the year!  Disneyland really upped the ante a couple of years ago, however, with the annual transformation of our beloved Space Mountain into Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy.  Anyone familiar with Disneyland (or Walt Disney World for that matter) probably knows all about the premise of Space Mountain.  Shoot around the stars (virtually, at least) on a roller coaster in the dark.  Always been one of our favorites!  But add in a "Space Ghost" named "Bob" who chases you all over the place and pops up at the most inopportune of times, some creepy music and lighting, and you've got Ghost Galaxy!  We've heard of adults getting creeped out on the ride (shame on you!) and seen children come off with tears in their eyes.  But as for us, we say bring it!

Last week we braved the massive crowds to be able to say we rode it this year on opening day (as opposed to just opening weekend like we have the past two years), and it made us look back at last year's pictures for some good laughs.  We thought we'd share them with you today.  If you haven't already ridden Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy you need to.  And if you live out of state, fly here immediately and ride it.

Enjoy!

MJ gets ready for his VERY FIRST ride on Ghost Galaxy

First time riding last year... and we get stuck halfway up the first hill and have to disembark - Chad tweets and Mark panics!

(#1) MJ's ride picture on his very first trip around Ghost Galaxy - his hair KILLS us!
(#2) Touring the Galaxy with our friends from FindingMickey.com on the 'Happiest Haunts Tour'

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Many thanks as always to Sarah at "Magical Days with the Mouse" for hosting this wonderful, weekly event!

Disneyland Halloween Time 2010 - Disney Flashback Friday

It's one of our favorite days of the week - Disney Flashback Friday hosted by Magical Days with the Mouse!

And a perfect day to do it, too!  Today is the first day of Halloween Time for 2011 at the Disneyland Resort, so it seemed totally apropos to look through some of our pictures from last year and use those for today's post.  We spent quite a few days there during Halloween last year, and fully intend to this year as well, so it was awesome to go back and look through them and see what we had seen all over again.  We hope that you'll enjoy going back with us and looking at them as well, and keep your eyes glued here from now until the end of October for ones from this year, too!  Enjoy!

Haunted Mansion Holiday - Jack Skellington in all his glory

About to board; we LOVE Oogie Boogie in the background

The Halloweentown Jack-o-Lantern Mountain - one of our absolute favorites!

Entrance to Big Thunder Ranch and the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ

One of the Halloween carriages in Big Thunder Ranch

LOVE the pumpkin of Prince John (Robin Hood) sucking his thumb

Yoda in pumpkin form - do we really NEED to say how awesome this is?!

Jack and Sally outside of Miss Chris' Cabin - Big Thunder Ranch

Pumpkinheads playing poker inside Miss Chris' Cabin - Big Thunder Ranch

Pumpkin carving of Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter in Big Thunder Ranch

Date Night At Disneyland: Disney Flashback Friday

It's hard to believe it's Friday again and already time for another "Flashback"! With all the hubbub surrounding the D23 Expo this past week, we almost forgot!  But luckily for everyone we didn't so here we go.

I was sitting around listening to music from Disneyland this past week off of my "A Musical History of Disneyland" set and came across one called "Let's Dance At Disneyland", by a group called The Elliott Brothers Band.  The song was recorded and cut for a record in 1956 (so just one year after Disneyland Park officially opened), called Date Night at Disneyland.  If you're interested in hearing part of what the song sounds like, you can check it out here on the iTunes website where you can buy the entire album should you so desire.  I may just have to myself one of these days.

At any rate, through a little bit (and I do mean a little bit) of research, it appears that back in the early days (and some people report into the 70s even), Disneyland hosted "Date Night at Disneyland" events on the weekends.  Bands would come in (such as The Elliott Brothers), special ticket books would be sold (you can see one from the 1960s on this Vintage Disneyland Tickets blog), and couples would come out and dance the night away in the Plaza Gardens.  Sounds pretty cool to me!  Well, other than the dancing part because I have four left feet.  They still do something very similar to this many weekends with swing dancing in the now Carnation Plaza Gardens, if we're not too terribly wrong about it.

The confluence of several events led to my deciding to feature "Date Nights at Disneyland" in this week's flashback:

• I was listening to a song about said "Date Nights at Disneyland"
• It was performed by a band called "The Elliott Brothers" which is my last name (they even spelled it correctly!)
• Word came out at D23 last weekend that the Carnation Plaza Gardens would be leaving us soon to make way for a new Fantasyland Fantasy-Faire

Seemed like a sign from above to me!

Without belaboring it too much more, Disneyland is one of my, if not my absolute, favorite places to take my wife on a date.  We don't get to much anymore because of all of our responsibilities with work and the kids, but if given the opportunity it's where we'll wind up most of the time.  There's just something magical about being there with the person you care most about in the world, your best friend, and it's something that Disneyland obviously knew from the beginning and has kept alive lo these many years.  And it's something that I think both of us look forward to being able to partake in for years to come.

So that's what I'm sharing today.  Are you a "Date Night at Disneyland" person?  Have a great "Date Night" story you'd like to share?  Leave us a comment because we'd love to hear from you.  In the meantime, it's an "Elliott Date Night at Disneyland".  Enjoy!

Disney Flashback Friday: Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade

This week was a doozy!  Looking back through all of my old photographs and nothing was jumping out at me at all!  Then I got to thinking that maybe instead of just looking back through pictures, I should try to mesh them with a flashback attraction.  Done deal!  It didn't take long at all to come up with one of my favorite attractions from Disneyland that's no longer there: the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade.

Unfortunately, by the time I became a serious Disneyland junkie and an Annual Passholder, the Parade was no longer held in Disneyland Park at all, but had since moved over to Disney California Adventure Park and was being held there.  Looking back, I'm sad to say I never got to see it actually on Main Street, USA, and that would have really been something.  I can, however, thank my lucky stars that I was able to see it alongside my kids during the last summer it was here; it having since moved on to Walt Disney World.

Our pictures might not be the best of the Parade itself, but it leaves no doubt in my mind that my kids loved it, and I love looking back at them.  It must have made some impression, because they still ask to listen to the music from the Parade almost constantly.  That makes it a great flashback in my book.  Enjoy!

Chad, Stephanie, and 2/3 of the boys getting ready for The Parade

Everybody loves Tink!

 

Total immersion...

One of my favorites...

Disney Flashback Friday: To Infinity And The Rest!

It's Friday again!  Time to jump back on the blog hop with Magical Days With The Mouse and her Disney Flashback Friday where we celebrate "all things past" about our trips to the Disneyland Resort.

This week we're kicking it five years ago during the 50th Anniversary celebration at Disneyland Park.  Chad's parents were out for vacation and it was their very first visit to The Resort.  We couldn't have picked a better time or a greater celebration for a first visit!  Unfortunately, the evil Emperor Zurg seemed bent on ruining the entire trip by stoking competition levels between Chad and his dad to a fever pitch.  We've lost track of how many times we actually rode Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters on that trip since then, but it's something that we still talk about, and it's something that Chad's dad still swears he can beat him on.  We're still a year away from a trip to Walt Disney World and he's already talking smack about it.  I guess he forgot all about this!  And Chad has improved exponentially since then.  It should be interesting how this all goes down next year and we'll have to revisit this post then to find out.

Note the determination! And he still lost. Shame, really...

So that's it for this week!  We're really enjoying going back in time and poking through our old pictures to come up with moments from throughout the years to share.  We can't wait to see what we'll come up with for next week.  Hop on back here then to find out!  In the meantime, hop on over to Magical Days With The Mouse to view all of the other blogs participating and take a peek at all of their memories as well.

Disney Flashback Friday: The Days In The Park Kiddies

It's a Friday and that means it's a "Flashback" Friday with our friend Magical Days With The Mouse.  Lots of good Disney stories and photos to be read and seen there, so be sure to check them out.  In the meantime, while you're with us, read on!

If you read our blog on a regular basis (and you should!), you'll no doubt notice that in many of our posts, the roles of the children are portrayed by a bunch of grown-ups who, for the most part, refuse to act their age.  But that's not to say that our real kids don't play a huge role in our Park experiences.  In fact, the kiddies might just play a big role in future "Flashbacks", so consider yourself warned.

In today's pictures, Mark shares a time when he carried his niece "Tyana" all the way from The Park to the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure, asleep on his shoulders after a full day of fun capped off by fireworks.

And Chad shares a special memory of his son "MJ" (yes, the same son who's now 9 and was featured in this week's Wordless Wednesday), who was 3 at the time, at one of his favorite shows at that age, Playhouse Disney (now Disney Junior).

We hope that you've enjoyed "Flashing" with us today!  We really love these little articles and it's the perfect excuse to go back and relive some great memories, and share them with our readers.

Until next week, make every picture a "Flashback"-worthy one!