Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour

[JLW11Hi]

Anyone here gone on this tour of Disneyland before?

I did recently, and really enjoyed it! After years of reading about all the inside stories and stuff about Disneyland, I now actually got to see it all! There was a lot of interesting things I didn't know about, too.

One of them was that on every Christmas, the folks at Disneyland hang a bulb on a special tree planted in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle ala Charlie Brown. The tree was given as a gift to a famous person at Disney, but I can;t remember who it was. Does anyone know who the tree is in honor of?

 

[Merlin]

Yes, it is for Disney artist Herb Ryman who died several years ago. Shortly afterward, a Christmas tree was planted in his memory next to Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Ryman is famous for creating one of the earliest conceptual drawings for Disneyland. In fact, in terms of conceptual drawings that most resembled what Disneyland ended up actually looking like, Ryman's drawing was actually THE earliest. The story is that Walt approached Ryman to create a drawing of the park so that Roy would have something to show some potential investors at an upcoming meeting. They had realized they previously had had no real visual representation of what the park would look like, so Ryman was given the task.

For several years, there was a continuously looping video shown in the Disney Gallery that was entirely about Herb Ryman. This was shown for a few years before and after his death.

 

[JLW11Hi]

Thanks, Meriln! (I thought it might have been him)

The story was that Herb really liked the Peanuts comic Strip and the Peanuts cartoons, including the Christmas special. While Herb was in the hospital, some friends brought in a tree for him at Christmas and hung a bulb on it so the tree would bend over, like on Charlie Brown.

 

[Merlin]

Oh yeah, that's right. I had forgotten that they had brought the tree to him in the hospital. I also had never heard the Charlie Brown connection. Thanks for filling in the missing gaps to this story.

What else stood out about the tour? I was thinking about taking it. Do they take you into the apartment over the Firehouse?

 

[JLW11Hi]

You don't get to go into the Fire Station Office, but you do go to the station and they tell a few stories about his office. One funny thing I noticed that the guide didn't seem to mention was that there seemed to be a small Christmas tree lit up in the office window.

You don't go backstage anywhere or anything special like that, but I learned and saw a whole mess of stuff I hadn't heard before, which is always fun for a Walt fanatic like me! I thought it was a fun tour, if you have time to spare while you are visiting. (about 3 hours)

 

[Merlin]

Originally posted by JLW11Hi

And then there is the somewhat unsetteling story about the real skull in Pirates of the Caribbean....:lookaroun

Is that true, or just an urban legend? How did it get there?

 

[JLW11Hi]

Originally posted by Merlin
Is that true, or just an urban legend? How did it get there?

 

[CalDisney]

Hhhmm Kinda Scary
I will have to look at my Old View Master reels from the early 60s and see if they show anything like that

 

[ToTBellHop]

Be advised that A Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour has just been modified. It is now 3.5 hours in length and costs $49 (not $16...). I am unsure of the changes, but they better be good for a 300% price jump...

 

[JLW11Hi]

Originally posted by DogsRule!
Be advised that A Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour has just been modified. It is now 3.5 hours in length and costs $49 (not $16...). I am unsure of the changes, but they better be good for a 300% price jump...

Well, the one that I went on was about 3 hours long (mabey a little more). We got it free with our resort package there.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Originally posted by JLW11Hi
Well, the one that I went on was about 3 hours long (mabey a little more). We got it free with our resort package there.

Right. In 2002, either that tour of the Welcome to Disneyland tour was included in packages...not in 2003, as the price rose.

 

[JLW11Hi]

Originally posted by DogsRule!
Right. In 2002, either that tour of the Welcome to Disneyland tour was included in packages...not in 2003, as the price rose.

Wow! lol, good thing we went when we did!

It was a fun tour, but $49? Unless they added something pretty dang exclusive to the tour, I'd say thats way too much.

 

[ToTBellHop]

That's what I was wondering...cuz I'm going to the Disneyland Resort in March (1st time...) and am considering going...but I was shocked to see the price go up (saw it at disneyland.com), so I'm just waiting until someone goes this year (I realize we are only 4 days into the year...) to see any changes.