They Went to Disneyland with Bob Iger

"The Rest is History" so they say. Well, in this case, the guys from The Rest is History vlog were accompanied by none other than Robert Iger on a tour of The Walt Disney Company headquarters and then on to Disneyland. Of course, Bob was the perfect host as they visited various attractions- everything from Walt Disney- A Magical Life to Pirates of the Caribbean to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and beyond.

So what did Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook think? You'll have to watch for yourself. But love him or loathe him, Mr. Iger is the perfect gentleman and a true lover of the genius of Walt Disney and his accomplishments.

The Disney Gallery Attraction Poster: Evolution of A Dream

Attraction posters continued to be one of the most searched for items on the Insights and Sounds blog. For good reason! First generation Imagineers created gorgeous works of art to celebrate and advertise the attractions at Disneyland. The tradition continued decade after decade. Here's the Imagineer's latest creation- a nice poster that advertises the preshow exhibition to the impressive Walt Disney - A Magical Life theater presentation. The exhibit is named Disneyland 70- Evolution of A Dream. This piece is in the style of the day for Main Street U.S.A., circa the turn of the 20th Century. 

There's posters for the attractions in each land at Disneyland on the blog as well as some for the Magic Kingdom, the "renewed" Epcot, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea, California Adventure (yes, some great ones, actually!) and a smattering of them for other Disney parks. What a great number of treasures waiting to be found as you search here!

And watch for the November post which shares the rarest Disney attraction poster of them all...

Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic Coming to The Magic Kingdom's Carousel of Progress

During Destination D23, Imagineer Chris Beaty announced that Walt in robotic form would be coming to the Magic Kingdom's Carousel of Progress. Instead of Walt being in his office as he is on Main Street in Disneyland's "Walt Disney- A Magic Life", here it seems as if he is in the Imagineering offices. This piece of concept art shows Walt on stage as the opening act for the beloved show. When this will happen is anyone's guess. But it seems that if you are a fan of the attraction in Tomorrowland, the show will be staying around awhile. What good news!

(Concept art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Disneyland Attraction Posters: The Main Street U.S.A. Collection

Today, I want to reintroduce a very popular series on the Insights and Sounds blog- Disney Theme Park Attraction Posters. I want to thank the various sources from which I have collected these over the years. Some of these came from the incredible Daveland blog and some from many others- including scans and photographs by me. Thanks to everyone on the web who contributed to keeping especially Disneyland- Walt's park- history alive.

I'm beginning with posters from Disneyland, but I also have collections from California Adventure, Walt Disney World and even Tokyo Disney Resort and more. 

Soon, we will be adding a poster for Walt Disney – A Magical Life. Those of you newer to the blog might find this article interesting. It was an interview with Disney historian Didier Ghez and a surprise guest, Eddie Sotto, who revealed that an Audio Animatronic of Walt Disney was first discussed by Imagineering decades ago. Yes, decades. You can read this article here.

Enjoy these beautiful posters! As long as there is imagination left in Imagineering, there should be more attraction posters!
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As Walt Disney and his team were planning Disneyland, they instinctively knew this was going to be a different type of park. How could they communicate to the public what they would see in it? Of course, television played a huge role in sharing the vision and the details.

With a plan for the park to be defined by the railroad tracks, it was only natural that the Main Street U.S.A. train station would be at the park's entrance. It would have two tunnels in which to pull guests from the front of the turnstiles into Main Street, one on the left and one on the right. Inside these tunnels, the Imagineering team proudly created posters advertising the attractions.

Over the years, the attractions would also be found in front of the park along the fences and over park benches as guests found seating alongside the main entrance. It's only fitting that we begin this look at the attraction posters by starting with the ones first encountered by the earliest guests- the ones for Main Street U.S.A.

Although the Grand Canyon Diorama was a very small part of the route, this poster did a magnificent job of communicating the grandeur and beauty to be found by guests making the full circle tour on the trains.

Primeval World would come later and provide even more thrills.

It's difficult to tell which color scheme of the attraction poster was actually used. Either way, the artist's use of colors not normally associated with railroading and bold imagery created a stunning representation! The beautifully intricate version at the top of this post came many years later, communicating the elegance of Disneyland's railroad in an entirely different way than earlier versions.

The Red Wagon Inn restaurant was the predecessor to the beautiful Plaza Inn and operated by that name until the mid 1960s. Again, the colors in these two posters are slightly different.

Arguably the greatest attraction found on Main Street U.S.A., Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was quickly recognized as a masterpiece of engineering, artistic accomplishment, and exquisite storytelling. The poster above advertised the attraction at its opening. 

 Above is a proposed version of the poster.

 Another variation on a theme.

Several years after Walt's passing, the Disneyland Opera House presented "The Walt Disney Story", a very fitting tribute to the man who started it all. The first version of the attraction replaced time with Mr. Lincoln in favor of a film about Walt. A later version left Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln as the stunning finale of sorts to the attraction. A new poster reflected that change.

This poster was used during the park's 50th anniversary.

The posters for attractions found on Main Street, U.S.A. are quite an impressive lot! There's more to come as we explore the other lands of Disneyland- and eventually Disney parks all over the world.Next time, we'll take a look at those posters for attractions in Adventureland. The exotic attractions form a very beautiful basis for another set are great artistic interpretations. Stay tuned for the next segment in this series- and stay tuned for additional posters to be added!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)