At Thursday's early morning ceremony to kick off the 18 month celebration of Disneyland's 50th Anniversary, the inimitable Julie Andrews said of Walt Disney, "He's blessed so many people in the world by giving us the great gift of Disneyland. No matter how old you are, no matter what language you speak, Disneyland is and always will be the place where imagination comes alive; the impossible seems real, and the feelings, indescribable."
Julie Andrews being interviewed May 5th. Indescribable. Yes, that says it perfectly. You walk through the berm and you just get this wonderful feeling, but how do you describe what that feeling is? Well, until a few days ago, I would have been hard-pressed to put it all into words. But having been lucky enough to have been a part of the media event launching the celebration, I think I can now define the indescribable. Talking to so many people during the course of the event, I learned a thing or two and the common thread that ran through every conversation again and again, was that we are all connected. From those of us who are famous, like Richard Sherman, the darling man who brought us those fabulous songs from Mary Poppins (among so many others) to the not so famous, Rose Keller, the sweet Annual Passholder (below) who rearranged her flight to see her own granddaughter graduate because, "There was no way I was going to miss this," we are all connected through a commonality, through a love for Disneyland.
Rose Keller Disneyland is family. Family. My copy of Webster's New International Dictionary defines the word family as; A group of kindred or closely related individuals or groups of individuals; as a family of Disney fans. Well, okay, it doesn't actually say Disney fans (it would if I had anything to do with it), it says; as a family of languages. But I think you'll allow me to make that one small change, won't you dear readers? Now I'm sure you've all heard the slogans and seen the commercials for the 50th Anniversary Celebration. The characters come from the four corners of the earth to get to Disneyland. Dumbo flies over Manhattan. Stitch rides in on a motorcycle. Cinderella rushes past the Eiffel Tower. The Genie hops on a camel. Mickey and the gang catch a ride with Herbie the Love Bug. The word family is used liberally and we're all invited to "come home." The commercial is cute but until now, I pretty much dismissed it as media rhetoric. Yeah, yeah, we're all part of the Disney family and we're going to go home to Disneyland. But you know what? It's not rhetoric. It's real and I'm going to take you on a journey through the various events of the past few days and when we arrive at the end, you will know what it means to be part of the Disneyland Family too. The kickoff of the media event started with a presentation in the DCA's Hyperion Theater. Media from all over the world positioned themselves, anxious to hear Jay Rasulo, president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, speak about the major events taking place during the 18 month celebration (above). An army of cameras focused on the stage and we were all ears. "Half a century ago the opening of Disneyland marked the birth of a national treasure and it launched a whole new genre of family entertainment," Rasulo went on telling us the celebration is called "The Happiest Homecoming On Earth" and filled us in on original opening day participants that would also be present for the 50th, Art Linkletter and original sponsors Eastman Kodak and Coca Cola (look for the special commemorative bottles). He added that, "This is a commemoration of the past, but it is also a celebration of the future." We saw a few clips of the other Disney parks celebrations, some pictures of Hong Kong Disneyland (the first Disney theme park to be modeled closely on Disneyland), and then actor Kelsey Grammar took the stage. "It's not every day I'm asked to help celebrate the anniversary of a national treasure and it's really a delight to be here." Kelsey went on to express the thought that it's impossible to imagine a time when there was no Disneyland. That's probably a thought that occurs to a lot of folks, I know it does to me having literally grown up with the park. Like all of us Kelsey has memories of his early trips to Disneyland, but as he started to share these with us, he took a nasty fall from the stage (photos above & below). I believe at first a lot of us thought it was part of the show and in a minute or two, Mr. Grammar would pop back up again. But when he let out a couple of curse words (and I can tell you I would have let fly way worse words than he did), quickly we all realized that this was not the case. Consummate actor that he is, Kelsey pulled himself back upon the stage and carried on with his presentation staying far away from the edge of the stage and putting us all at ease by cracking a few self-deprecating jokes about the mishap. "I first visited the ride, It's A Small World at the world's fair in New York in 1964 when I was just a boy. And there are so many wonderful memories that I have of it. I even sang that song, It's A Small World, for the cub scout performance we gave that year. Over the next two days, we're gonna make some new memories, one with me falling off the stage...." Enough of that, Kelsey went on a bit longer but the Green Army Men interrupted and gave us our marching orders to the back lot area where a party had been prepared for us. THERE ARE FOUR PAGES TODAY, CLICK HERE FOR PAGE TWO
Sleeping Beauty Castle decorated for the celebration
The American theme park Disneyland celebrated its golden anniversary on Thursday, in Anaheim, California.

The theme park, created and opened by Walt Disney in 1955, hosted a special gala opening at 1pm in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, the world-famous icon of Disneyland.

CEO of the Walt Disney Company Michael Eisner, COO Bob Iger, honorary Disneyland Ambassador Julie Andrews and a host of stars opened the celebration, which is scheduled to run for eighteen months.

Singers Christina Aguilera and LeAnn Rimes sang Disney classics, while actors Tim Allen and Steve Martin opened new attractions. Martin had worked at Disneyland as a teenager, and Aguilera was part of the Mickey Mouse Club in the 1980s.

Within California, Disney is calling it the ''Happiest Homecoming on Earth'', and worldwide it is known as the ''Happiest Celebration on Earth''. Several attractions have been swapped between parks, and the four main Disney theme parks (the Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland) gave a salute to Disneyland via live satellite feed.

The ceremony was hit with deep purple stormclouds but no rain. 

The park celebrates its actual birthday on July 17, 2005. There are no clear details on how Disney will mark the occasion.