Free... oh yes FREE things!

Because everyone loves free things heres alittle post for the free things you can get at Disneyland.

First off theres food items:
- Chocolate: From the Ghiradelli Chocolate factory you can get free chocolate samples.
- On your birthday you can get a free dessert from a couple restaurants.
- Bread: At the Bakery Tour you can get free bread samples.

Memorabilia:
- Celebration buttons: If you’re celebrating, be it a birthday, anniversary, first visit, family reunion, or anything else really, stop by Guest Relations in Disneyland or DCA, and they’ll give you a free button with which to publicly proclaim your celebratory status.
-Cars Land Buttons: Yes Cars Land has its own free buttons! Cast members up and down the main street of the land will randomly give out buttons during the day. Some CMs make a game out of it and ask you Cars trivia and to make you earn the buttons. Others will simply hand them to you. There are several different characters and colors, so that adds a collectible-factor to it.
- Guest Survey stickers: Guest survey cast members will randomly approach guests as they are leaving the parks. If you or someone in your party completes a survey, they will be handed a sticker of Mickey Mouse.
- Maps: Park maps are one of my favorite souvenirs, and I have collected hundreds of them over the years. Save them for your scrapbook. Frame them for playroom decor. Use them for small-item gift wrap. Turn foreign-language maps into a great teaching tool for your child’s school language lessons.
- Recipies: Dole Juice Bar in Adventureland that's most famous for it's Dole Whips! If you haven't had one... For gosh's sakes, man! Go Get One!!
Anyway, they have Dole recipe cards available at the stand. I'm for sure going to go see if I can grab one!
- Jungle Cruise maps: I'm sure a lot of you have heard rumors of these maps, but have yet to see one. I'm in the same boat (haha) as you. Never hurts to ask and this will be a definite pleaser if you can get your hands on one. Same goes for the infamous Death Certificates from the Haunted mansion. I have not heard of anyone being able to get one of these tho in the last few years. But by all means, try
- The Mark Twain has certificates available if you're able to go up into the Captain's area. Not only will you be able to pilot the gorgeous steam boat up the Rivers of America, you'll be able to have proof you did it!
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Everyone wants to be a Cat!

Each night at Disneyland, after the sunburned families and exhausted cast members have made their way home, the park fills up again—this time, with hundreds of feral cats.

Park officials love the felines because they help control the mouse population. (After all, a park full of cartoon mice is more enticing than a park full of real ones.) But these cats aren’t a new addition to the Disney family. They first showed up at Disneyland shortly after it opened in 1955, and rather than spend time chasing them away, park officials decided to put the cats to work.

Today, there are plenty of benefits to being a Disney-employed mouser. When they’re not prowling the grounds, these corporate fat cats spend their days lounging at one of the park’s five permanent feeding stations. Of course, Disney also goes to great lengths to manage its feline population. Wranglers at the park work to spay and neuter adult cats, and any time kittens are found, they’re put up for adoption.

One of the main reasons Walt liked to keep these cats around, was because of his fear of mice! Which I ironic due to the fact that it all started with a mouse. 

Indiana Jones

The Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland (Temple of the forbidden eye) is actually one of 4, the next is the Temple of the Crystal Skull at The Tokyo DisneySea,   Temple du Péril in Disneyland Paris, and Epic Stunt Spectacular at Walt Disney World Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios). The one in Disneyland and the other at DisneySea both are dark ride concepts of the Indiana Jones franchise. The Crystal Skull version is unlike the movie, were you encounter a crystal skull that is guardian of the Fountain of Youth, located within an Aztec Pyramid. The Forbiden Eye ride is similar concept, including the three alternate routes that the car may take, army of the undead thowing spears, and snakes (yes, snakes); however the dieties are different the forbidden eye is Mara in a temple located in India and the other is a Crystal Skull from somewhere in Mezo-America. 

The Indiana Jones located in Walt Disney' Hollywood studios is that of a stage show showing guests all the tricks the movies have with in them from jumping off buildings, to the stage fights and the pyrotechnics, and is somewhat interactive where the guest can participate in certain things. The one located in Disneyland Paris is that of a High-thrill roller coaster (one I want to try).  Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril is a Mine Train roller coaster through a lost temple orignally went backward to give the guest the feeling of a lost control mine cart later to be flipped back around and includes a loop in it's design. 

Pirates... Arrg

The original Pirates of the Caribbean was drafted to be a walk-through wax museum. Walt after seeing reviewing thought it would be hoaxy. The ride was then constructed from there. Walt believed that fake plastic skeletons would look like Halloween decorations so they went to the UCLA medical department and bought skeletons to use for the ride(yes real medical skeletons). The facade of the ride is that of the New Orleans Antebellum era, perched on top is a 31- star flag of the United States. The dock on the ride is called Laffitte's Landing, where Jean Laffitte was believed to be a pirate however a key militant of the Battle of New Orleans.

Mermaids At Disneyland

Other than Ariel there were some Mermaids that resided at Disneyland. In the 1960, mermaids were the inhabitants of the lagoon of the 10,000 Leagues under the Sea Submarine Ride (now Nemo's Submarine voyage). They were trained to swim in this lagoon in full mermaid attire (right down to the flippers) at the pool of the Disneyland Hotel. For the opening ceremonies of attraction at Disneyland on June 14, 1959,  they had eight live mermaids performing a synchronized swimming ballet in the lagoon
(I personally wish I was fortunate enough to witness it first hand). They also went  underwater to the delight of guests peering through the submarine portholes. It was one of the only unscripted jobs within the park. Unfortunately, they were too much for some of the guys onshore, who found themselves compelled to jump into the water and swim to the rocks to answer the siren's call.  Disney ended this live mermaid feature in 1967 after several ladies reported health concerns related to the submarines' diesel exhaust fumes and the highly chlorinated water. In addition, tourists taking pictures of them would block the thoroughfare between the Matterhorn and the submarine lagoon.

Speaking of Trash Cans...

Yes, Trash Cans... If you were to walk around the park and notice anything other than the constant change in scenery, one would be that the trash cans change with it. Each land in Disneyland and even Walt Disney World, the trash cans would change with it, with an acompanied color or patter. If you were to go to Frontierland they are a Brown wood pattern. This goes along with the previous post on the 'Go Away Green' that Walt Disney wanted the trash cans to one not be really visible to the eye at first sight. If you weren't positive on which land you were in just look for a trash can.

These were also spaced no more than 30 steps apart. "Why's that?" you might ask, that is because Walt believed that the average person walked 30 steps before dropping a piece of trash. (He didnt want trash littering his park).

Cool tidbit

Disney wanted to keep things hidden that either he didn't want the people in his park to pay attention to, so he (with the help of the Imagineers) created a new form of the color Green which the creatively called 'Go Away Green.' The way the color works is that it's on a spectrum that when not intentionally looking for it, it would almost blend in with it's surroundings. This was the color for most things, from Trash Cans, the occasional door or building. Even the exclusive Club 33's door was painted this shade, to maintain the, somewhat., secrecy of the club.