Walt Disney mortgaged nearly everything he owned and sold TV rights to ABC in order to get enough money to build Disneyland. Alas, the money didn’t go far enough to buy up more of the orange groves that surrounded the site in 1954, by the… Read More »Disneyland Acquires More Property for Cast Parking
Welcome to the Magic is a Disneyland Timelapse by Matt Givot and Dan Douglas, both Orange County based photographers. They took over 20,000 images to showcase Disneyland and Disney California Adventure using timelapse photography. I love the way it captures crowds, lights, and the unique… Read More »Welcome to the Magic – Fan Made Disneyland Timelapse Video
Did Doofenshmirtz keep you from experiencing the Waffle-inator Challenge at the D23 Expo this past weekend, don’t worry. The larger than life interactive game will appear at Disneyland’s Downtown Disney this weekend, Friday through Sunday, August 16 through 18. As you might have guessed, the… Read More »Phineas & Ferb Waffle-inator Challenge At Disneyland Resort this Weekend
The European edition of Star Wars Celebrations, the official Lucasfilm organized fan event, has just wrapped up. More than 20,000 Star Wars fans from around the world gathered to celebrate their love of the classic stories and the chance to hear a few big announcements about the future of the franchise.
In a Main Stage event hosted by Warwick Davis, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced that legendary composer John Williams will return to score the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII, to be directed by J.J. Abrams. And one of the Executive Producers from Star Wars Rebels, Dave Filoni, was on hand to guide fans through the genesis of the upcoming animated series, revealing designs heavily influenced by original Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie. While unable to attend in person, Executive Producers Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman shared their excitement for the series in a video message recorded exclusively for Celebration attendees. Star Wars: Episode VII is slated for a 2015 release and Star Wars Rebels will begin airing on Disney XD starting in fall of 2014.Read More »Star Wars Celebration Europe Wraps Up With Big Announcement
A Note on Sources
The following article is based primarily on documents on file with the Superior Court of California, County of Orange in the case of The People of The State of California vs. Larry James Allred and Robert Edward Smyrak, 11NF1191.
My research in these was supplemented by telephone interviews with the defense attorneys involved (I thank them for taking the time to speak with me); law enforcement press releases; public record searches; and, in a few instances, previous media reports from reputable news-gathering organizations such as the Los Angeles Times.—Mike Bastoli
S
eptember 29, 2011 was not a good day for Robert Edward Smyrak. At 8:00 AM in Courtroom N3 of the North Justice Center in Fullerton, California, the 52-year-old Anaheim man appeared before Judge Nicholas Thompson of the Superior Court of California, Orange County to receive his sentence.
Smyrak, who goes by Bob, was pleading guilty to one count of felony trademark infringement. The penalty, at least as paper, would be one year in jail, three years probation, plus restitution. In truth, because of overcrowding in California’s prisons, he would serve out his sentence entirely at home, through supervised house arrest. But it was still, to be sure, an unfortunate turn of events for the IT operations manager whose most serious prior conviction was for using a cell phone behind the wheel.
Smyrak’s journey into California’s madhouse corrections system had begun, at least in earnest, in the early days of 2010, with a little help from a friend, Larry James Allred, then aged 56 and a resident of nearby Walnut.
Read More »Junk Metal: Inside the California Disney Pin Counterfeiting Bust
Major kudos to the Disney History Institute for their latest contribution to our knowledge of early Disneyland. They’ve compiled a video of color footage from 1955. The video is more than just home movies edited together, it reveals how the park would have looked to… Read More »Disneyland Home Videos from 1955 – Spectacular New Video
In my youth, I heard a lot of weird stories about Disneyland. For instance, I was told that the facades for the buildings on Main Street were salvaged from actual old buildings and brought to Anaheim by Walt to give it that authentic look and… Read More »Disneyland Stories, Fact or Fiction
TEA has released its 2012 Theme Park attendance estimates listing the 25 most attended theme parks in the world. Disney has the top 8 spots and 3 others in the top 20. Not a lot of surprises if you’ve been following developments last year:
1. Magic Kingdom: 17,536,000 (+2.3% change)
2. Disneyland Park: 15,963,000 (-1.1% )
3. Tokyo Disneyland: 14,847,000 (+8.5%)
4. Tokyo Disney Sea: 12,656,000 (+8.5%)
5. Disneyland Park, Disneyland Paris: 11,200,000 (+1.9%)
6. Epcot: 11,063,000 (+2.2%)
7. Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 9,998,000 (+2.2%)
8. Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9,912,000 (+2.2%)
9. Universal Studios Japan: 9,700,000 (+14.1%)
10. Islands of Adventure: 7,981,000 (+4%)
Read More »Global Themepark Attendance For 2012 Via TEA Report