Saturday 10/1 WDW 40th Anniversary

[FrankieDplus3]

Corey's video: http://youtu.be/gTul-FIif5A

Corey, you ROCK!



It looks like Disney was filiming too.

 

[DisneyDee27]

I'm glad you're battling the crowds and reporting for all of us. I know they have special park maps today. Would you be willing to pick up 2 and mail them to me? I will happily reimburse you for postage.
Thanks
Dee

 

[Oglet]

and a BIG reason why I'm not there. Like the EPCOT anniversary, this was thrown together because the PTB realized that that fan community expected something. IMHO it's a slap in the face to Disney fans and to Walt and Roy's memory.

Right, I couldn't agree more. I personally feel they would have just let this slide on by without much of anything if they had their way.

I keep seeing people say the park looks great, without getting in to that whole debate, I would have thought that for a well planned and thought out celebration they would have had their non major construction/refurb projects completed for the big day, It's not like Oct 1, 2011 just come out of nowhere.

also,

I still don't understand why they couldn't give free cupcakes out as guests come in to the park? Your coming to a party right, I've never had to go to a party and buy my own cupcakes.

 

[PeterPan09]

They count on the "memorabilia addicts" that will show up on days like this for the exclusive pins and exclusive shirts and the signed stuff and not care about all those "surface issues".

As long as this kind of thing works, and judging by Kevin's crowd comments it does, we're not going to see much better from the current administration.

My hope is that someone is thinking that the 50th is more important and that work will be done on all the refurbs before then. I'm hoping that a great big celebration is planned for the entire year that will honor Walt, Roy, Marty Sklar and all of those visionary people who created this place that we love so much. I hope that it is one that is more about that than the $$ to be made off the exclusive merchandise.

 

[DrMomof3]

Thanks for the awesome updates! I would have loved to be there. Then again, hearing about the huge crowds, maybe not?!?

Amanda

 

[kbelle8995]

From 1996....It's Time to Remember Your Mortgage

I mean The Magic.

25th Anniversary music..

I'm still laughing over this.

I remember this too well. I was working there.

 

[chirurgeon]

Corey's video: http://youtu.be/gTul-FIif5A

Corey made me cry. Teresa and I must be related.

Kim

 

[kbelle8995]

I have a feeling that some of the merchandise will be on ebay by this afternoon.

I wish I was there just to get the cupcake.

 

[jcb]

I have a feeling that some of the merchandise will be on ebay by this afternoon.

I wish I was there just to get the cupcake.

"This afternoon" is too late. The buttons/tickets are already being listed on ebay ($35!!!!) (linking only so folks can see the buttons, I'm not endorsing the seller, who I don't know).

 

[TinkerChelle]

They are asking everyone to sing When You Wish Upon A Star along with The Dapper Dans.

O M G I got chills just reading that

Thanks to John Kevin Kathy & Corey for covering this for us. Loving the updates.

 

[daraddg]

"This afternoon" is too late. The buttons/tickets are already being listed on ebay ($35!!!!) (linking only so folks can see the buttons, I'm not endorsing the seller, who I don't know).

WOW the maps are already at $80!

 

[safetymom]

http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/g1373-40th-anniversary-celebration.html

Here are some of my pictures. Blog will be up shortly.

 

[safetymom]

I was crying while singing When You Wish Upon a Star. I couldn't believe I was standing there covering the event.

 

[MainStreetFireman]

Thanks for the great blog and pictures. It is great that you get to work at a job that you love. The fact that it happens to be at a place that so many others love is doubly lucky. Thanks for letting us share the magic through your eyes. I, for one, cannot get enough reporting about today. Hopefully more atendees will post.

Thanks again!

 

[kbelle8995]

http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/g1373-40th-anniversary-celebration.html

Here are some of my pictures. Blog will be up shortly.

Thank you for the wonderful pictures.

 

[safetymom]

Thank you for the wonderful pictures.

I am glad you enjoyed them.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Had a great day today.

Spent way too long in line, but I got the stuff I set out to get.

Had a great time hanging out with old friends and new friends.

While I think there was some miscommunication going on, I think Disney ultimately did a good job with keeping things fair.

The weather today was beautiful. The park was CROWDED, but everything moved along.

All in all today was a good day in the Magic Kingdom.

 

[DisneyKevin]

I'm glad you're battling the crowds and reporting for all of us. I know they have special park maps today. Would you be willing to pick up 2 and mail them to me? I will happily reimburse you for postage.
Thanks
Dee

Hi Dee,

John and I arrived at 9:00am and there were no park maps.

Apparently, they put them out like regular park maps and people behaved like animals....grabbing them by the handfull.

On our way out, a friend gave us one and they were handing them out to guests that did not get one.

There was a Cast Member limiting you to one map per person.

We ended up with 3 and unfortunately, ours are all spoken for.

 

[simmons_m]

Heading over for round 2. Did not make it in time for the cupcakes or merchandise.
Looking forward to the fireworks

 

[WebmasterJohn]

Home now after what turned out to be a much longer, and much more enjoyable day than I ever thought.

We ran into so many friends and made some new ones that the time spent in line after line after line after line went fast and was actually fun.

We never got cupcakes (I thought Kevin was going to hurt someone when I jokingly told him I saw a lady carrying a cupcake out of the park) but we did get some cool items and made some great memories.

I can't remember when I was in the parks when it was that crowded but I have to say everyone was great - even those of us stuck in one register line for an hour (because the bar code scanner was broken and they had to enter each items SKU by hand) had fun.

I know that it wasn't the best planned out event - and a lot did feel thrown together - but it was loads of fun.

A special thanks to Erica and Steve for helping us get some hard-to-get pins. I was still in the "line of death" when you guys left and I never had a chance to thank you!!