Q : I have always loved Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland, partly because of its history and the fact that it was the first full Audio-Animatronics show. At the time of the Tiki Room‘s opening, in 1963, there was a full control room for the show located right underneath it (as seen on the Disneyland 10th anniversary show). This control room looked to be very complex for its time. Since Audio-Animatronics technology has certainly advanced by leaps and bounds since the Tiki Room‘s opening, what is this control room used for today, if anything?
Fred, Placentia, California
A: The room is still used for its original purpose, though the technology has indeed changed.
Q : Someone told me that the restaurant Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante in Frontierland was on the original sign over Frontierland. However I’ve tried to research it and come up empty handed. Can you explain the history, if any?
Jon, Laguna Hills, California
A: Disneyland has had a restaurant featuring Mexican food almost from the beginning. The Casa de Fritos (sponsored by Fritos) opened in August 1955 in a site near the current River Belle Terrace, but in 1957 it moved to its present site. It was renamed Casa Mexicana in 1982 and closed in 1999 to make way for the completely redesigned Rancho del Zocalo.
Q : I am working with a patient who went to Disneyland in or around 1955 with her classmates from Lewis Carroll elementary in Vallejo, California. This was a school for disabled children. Bianca Culbertson has cerebral palsy. She said the story was in the Vallejo newspaper with a picture of her with her class. This was a hugely memorable event in her life. She is trying to find a copy of that picture. I can’t find the school, have left messages for the school district and did a search with the papers, with no success. Can you give me any ideas?
Jean, Auburn, California
A: It would seem like you have checked all the obvious sources. The Disney Archives does have a collection of newspaper clippings about Disneyland, but would need a more accurate date and school name in order to know where to look.
Q : I’m aware that Marc Davis had a hand in helping to develop certain attractions (or, rather, the overseas counterparts of existing attractions) for Tokyo Disneyland—there exists a bit of concept art of extra scenes for Tokyo’s Haunted Mansion, such as a crypt containing the tombs of famous horror figures such as Dracula and Jack the Ripper. Does his involvement in Tokyo Disneyland (or anything in Disney parks beyond the 70s) expand beyond the Mansion, and was any of his conceptual work during this period realized?
Andrew, Snellville, Georgia
A: We know that Marc Davis consulted on World of Motion in Epcot and for attractions such as Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean (including the skeletons in the grottos), Jungle Cruise (including animals in the African veldt), It’s a Small World, and Western River Railroad (dinosaurs in Primeval Diorama) in Tokyo Disneyland after his retirement in 1978. His distinctive artwork from throughout his Imagineering career has been maintained at Walt Disney Imagineering, and it is still consulted by Imagineers. Marc died in 2000.
Q : When was Epcot park inaugurated?
Natalia, Orlando, Florida
A: Epcot, then called EPCOT Center, opened to the public on October 1, 1982. EPCOT Center: A Grand Opening Celebration aired as a television special on October 23. The park is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary.