Some more photos i felt would make charming additions to this thread.
Last week Tony took a photographer from the Orange County Register on a tour around Disneyland for a photo shoot for a article about his upcoming Main Street Window Ceremony.
You could say this was the 'official version' of a 'Tony Baxter Tour of Disneyland'...looking at these.
They hit all the hot spots on the Baxterland Map..!
Original article from OCR, now updated with photos from the Ceremony :
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/baxter-532664-disney-disneyland.html
Tony talking about his desire to bring the Subs back.
I love this photo, as it reminds me so much of the time i spent standing in this same spot gazing at the lagoon and simply enjoying the ambiance of the moment.
Tony pointing out some of the details in Fantasy Faire, now one of his favorite places in the Park.
Quite touching that 'where he began' is where he ended up 'completing' the circle of his active career..in some respects.
Very nice...not everyone gets to do that.
Tony with his pride and joy...still his all time favorite attraction project he worked on.
You can tell he is still very happy about it !
Tony reminiscing about his youth outside of the Enchanted Tiki Room.
The original article posted above stated something i never knew -
One of his first non-model related design projects at WDI soon after he was hired was to design the flowers that dangle from the large tree Tiki in the Enchanted Tiki Garden. During the course of this fun pre-show, a large Tiki God that appears as a huge tree drops smaller tikis from it's overhead blossoms.
Those blossoms that Tony designed are still there and in use to this day.
Readers here may recall this photo to took while on my venture....
It shows the tree, and blossoms, in the background.
If i only knew then, what i know now!
Still a fitting photo i refer to as a 'toast to Tony'.
Little did i suspect this was a more fitting tribute then i realized at the time!
Another great story the photo of Tony outside of the Tiki Room reminds me of is the one he told of the hungry sacrifice he made to see the Enchanted Tiki Room soon after it opened.
He used to get dropped off at the Park by his Mom as a teen for the day with some money for buying attraction admission coupons and for lunch.
DL was at that time in the 60s amidst it's original 'Ticket Book' media admission concept. To experience a attraction, one had to pay each time to ride or see a presentation via the famous 'E,D,C,B,A' ticket book coupons.
One day Tony went to see the Tiki Room for the first time and instantly became fascinated with the concept.
He HAD to see this experience again, so he paid for another 'E-coupon' and saw the show again.
He still had a little money left for lunch....but after the second showing he was still in awe and gave up the last of his lunch money to buy another admission.
Dedicated indeed....but he spent a hungry afternoon in the Park afterwards.
I would be willing to bet however that he felt it was worth the sacrifice, however!
