Lilly Bell

[justgot2havefun]

Walt personally owned Retlaw which operated the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad and the Mark Twain. He eventually sold to Disneyland Proper as I recall. The Lillybelle was actually never viewed in its current state by Walt. It was created from the Retlaw 1 observation car in the 1970s.

Yes, after Walt passed, Retlaw approached Lillian with the idea of the car in anticipation of America's Bicentennial a a means to host both foriegn and domestic dignitatries and politicians; she loved the idea, and furnished the car with many personal possessions, and wanted the car painted red, white, and blue for the Bicentennial. This was the only thing she wanted for this car that Retlaw didn't approve of. They surprised her with the name and at the car's commissioning, when she saw the name she burst into tears as this was Walt's Nickname for her.

 

[elmoandzoey]

Thanks for the explanation. I joined a bit late and only heard about Lillian decorating the car - I thought Walt was still around at that time but apparently I thought wrong....

 

[MadeToLove]

I'm curious what times the Lilly Belle is letting guests ride, on the days it runs. I saw one person above say 1:30. What other times have you noticed it had passengers this month? I know it's hit or miss, but I'm curious to know before I make breakfast/lunch reservations for next month (last week I entered the park at 8:10am and all the spots were taken for the day, so I know to reserve first thing, I'd just hate to have to walk away from a chance because I had prior reservations). TIA

 

[jemmi]

I'm curious what times the Lilly Belle is letting guests ride, on the days it runs. I saw one person above say 1:30. What other times have you noticed it had passengers this month? I know it's hit or miss, but I'm curious to know before I make breakfast/lunch reservations for next month (last week I entered the park at 8:10am and all the spots were taken for the day, so I know to reserve first thing, I'd just hate to have to walk away from a chance because I had prior reservations). TIA

When we rode it the end of April/beginning of May the two times were 10am and 11:30am. They only ran it twice the day we were able to sign up. The park opened at 9am the day we rode it so I had to sign up immediately and then stay there for an hour. The train conductor told us if the heat index was above 95 or if there was a chance of rain they didn't bring the Lilly Bell out. I hope you get to ride it, it was such a cool experience!!

 

[707MickeyGirl]

We went into DL at about 10am (park opened at 8am but we did EMH at DCA) on May 27th and they were running the Lilly Belle at least 3 times that day. We got spots on the 2:15 trip. I never thought I would get to ride in that car - I've been checking every day of every trip - but we finally got lucky! Now I'm hoping I can get lucky again when I take my DGD7 in December.

 

[DreamIsaWish]

I'm so glad to hear it's operating again and open to the public. I knew it had been taken out of service for a while but couldn't figure out if it was back. Two years ago we signed up in the morning and rode later in the day. I'd love to ride again this summer!