For the true Disney lover, the Adventures by Disney Hollywood & Disneyland tour is a dream come true! Follow in Walt’s footsteps from the very beginning of his journey, visiting the actual places that inspired Walt’s vision to create a place where both parents and children could have fun together. I participated in the Keys to the Kingdom Tour in Walt Disney World as a child, before Disney raised the age minimum. Seeing the underground world is something I will never forget. This adventure, and it truly was an adventure, showed me the complete story! Immersive storytelling at it’s best that kept even my younger children engaged during the Hollywood visit when they had getting to Disneyland on their minds!
This itinerary was an emotional journey of Walt’s courage and dreams in luxurious settings of fabulous hotels, perfectly chosen restaurants and unparalleled service for the 5 night/6 day vacation. Let me share another part of this dreamy service, our fabulous guides took hundreds of photos, documenting the entire vacation! I would love to share some moments from my experience but am omitting some of the surprises that made it most magical so we can save those moments for your adventure. I would think that the itineraries might vary slightly depending on the schedules of the venues visited on the tours.
IT ALL STARTED WITH A MOUSE…IN HOLLYWOOD!
We began in Hollywood, California where we toured both well-known and private historic Hollywood sites. A private tour of Grauman’s Chinese Theater was fascinating and complete with a private showing of a film on the history of the theater. The next stop was Jim Henson Studios for an exclusive tour. This studio is packed with history as it was the original site of Charlie Chaplin Studios. The Muppet memorabilia sure brought back memories! The kids enjoyed learning the art of old fashion puppeteering and the digital forms as well. We visited a working sound stage where a familiar cartoon was being produced. No photos allowed in the sound stage!
And the Emmy goes to…Kermit!
We sat in Walt’s favorite booth at his favorite lunch spot where imagineers’ carvings are still visible in the tabletops as they bounced ideas around for future parks. Looked to me like the vision of Epcot started right there in that booth!
AT THE CORNER OF MICKEY AVENUE & DOPEY DRIVE
We spent some time at Walt Disney Studios. We felt like true insiders walking the halls of the Animation building and seeing the various departments such as Ink & Paint and Voices! Amazing that Ariel’s tale has several rows of slightly different colored paint, each individually coded to the various shades of blue and green in the movie, in case animators need to reference a specific scene in the future. A visit to the Walt Disney Archives to see some prized Disney possessions was a hi-light. Pretty cool when LUCAS FILMS was one of my WI-FI choices! Can you believe that Walt built an underground tunnel so that the animator’s cels could be carefully walked out of the weather elements over to the next department? When Walt was ready to purge cels, he would tell the animators to take some home to clear out the clutter! Can you imagine owning an original cel from Cinderella? How many famous voices worked behind that Character Voices door?
1401 FLOWER STREET
We thoroughly enjoyed our next stop, Walt Disney Imagineering. After walking through a hallway that looks like you are riding the monorail, imagineers were hard at work on the park attractions and resort details that we know and love or that were in development stages. Seeing the face and head molds for the attraction characters such as Captain Jack Sparrow and the presidents from the Hall of Presidents was unreal to me! Stories about the history of attractions and sitting in on immersive processes of attraction development were fascinating! Fun Fact: WED Imagineering stands Walt Elias Disney. We may or may not have gotten to shop the exclusive Imagineering store!
THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!
Say no more! The tour comes full circle when you arrive in Disneyland! VIP access to several attractions made the visit extra magical! Daily character breakfast ensured a happy start and each evening ended with a special surprise. We could hardly wait to see what the next day would hold! Enjoying the parks before opening time, the over-the-top Dream suite, Walt’s personal apartment over Town Square, the behind the scenes tour of Soarin and VIP viewing of World of Color were extra special moments for me! So many of my childhood memories wrapped up into one amazing vacation.
