Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Disneyland Railroad Seating Configuration (2005)

When I first visited Disneyland in January 2005, one thing that really surprised me was the configuration of the seats on the Disneyland Railroad. Having my entire Disney theme park experience up to that point being focused on Florida, where the seats face forward on the Magic Kingdom's version of the ride, I found it silly that we were forced to look out one direction.

Walt Disney World Railroad Seating Configuration (2009)

Granted, Walt Disney World's take doesn't feature such elements such as the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas, so there isn't need to direct your attention to one side of the tracks… but still, it's just silly. Real trains aren't configured that way!

Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Blue Bayou Blur (2005)

At Disneyland, you can eat inside at the Blue Bayou Restaurant in New Orleans Square, which is part of the same building the holds Pirates of the Caribbean. The place is themed to give the impression that you are actually eating outside at night, while you overlook the ride. It's one of the more awesome dining experiences, and the inspiration for the setting of Mexico's San Angel Inn at Epcot's World Showcase.

In this January 2005 photo, I was shooting with a really slow shutter speed and got a blur effect while viewing one of the plantation buildings.

Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Twisting Tastebuds (2005)

It's a rainy day here in Chicago, thus why not a rainy photo of Disneyland? During our first-ever visit to Walt's original park back in January 2005, we braved the rains and still had a fun time. But it was nice to warm up with a hot pretzel, as Amy so artfully demonstrates here.

Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Twain from the Train (2005)

My very first visit to Disneyland was in January 2005. Of course, it rained pretty much all day. But it was pretty exciting to see historical "Disney things" for the first time. Things that had history that dated back to Walt's day. For example, the Mark Twain Riverboat, seen here as viewed from the Disneyland Railroad.

On one of my Walt Disney Treasures DVD sets, there's an episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color called "Disneyland After Dark", first aired in 1962. It features nighttime entertainment around Disneyland, including many guest stars. One segment featured Louis Armstrong performing on the Mark Twain. Very cool!

Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Steve & Amy ride Mr. Toad once again! (2005)

A few weeks ago I talked about the long-gone Mr. Toad's Wild Ride attraction at Walt Disney World. I loved that ride. Well, back in January 2005, I got to ride it once again… sorta.

You see, Disneyland still has a version of the ride, though it's a single-track implementation vs. the twin-track awesomeness of the Florida version. During a conference on the West Coast, Amy & I got to experience Walt's original park for the first time… and ride Mr. Toad!

Disneyland's take is more "refined" and less insane, but it was still gerat to spend some time on the ride. With Baby Tanner on the way, you can be sure he'll be exposed to classic Disney films that most folks have long forgotten… including 1949's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

Theme Park Thursdays feature photos from one of our theme park adventures in the past.

Circling the entrance to Tomorrowland (2005)

As part of the failed "Tomorrowland 1998" retro-futurist project at Disneyland, the former Rocket Jets ride was removed from the top of the PeopleMover building, while another spinner-type ride called the Astro Orbitor was placed at the entrance of Tomorrowland at ground level. Many have felt this was a design mistake, as it clogs up the entrance to the land, but it remains there to this day.

During our first visit ever to Disneyland in 2005, Amy & I rode the Astro Orbitor… in the rain. (It seems every visit we've had to a Disney theme park on the West Coast has been when it was wet!) In today's photo, you can see Amy piloting her ride vehicle… while my foot literally stands watch on the left side! If you look carefully at the upper left corner, you can also see the abandoned PeopleMover track, which stopped running at Disneyland in 1995. The ride was shortly replaced by the Rocket Rods, which ran on the same track from 1998-2001, but the track remains unused today.

It's time for another Theme Park Thursday photo. This one is from Disney's California Adventure…

Amy loves Disney's California Adventure (2005)

In January 2005, Amy & I got to travel to California for a conference I worked while on staff with Kidology.  For me, it was my first visit to the West Coast.  More importantly, it was my first visit to Disneyland, the mother park!  In typical Tanner fashion, it pretty much rained the entire time we were there.  We got to spend 2 days at the Disneyland Resort, which gave us a chance not only to check out Disneyland, but also explore the park that everyone loves to hate, Disney's California Adventure.

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If you were to take a look at my iTunes collection, you'd notice two genres that are substantially larger in song quantity when compared to an "average" person.  The first is "Christmas", which isn't a surprise for anyone who has participated in my annual Steve's 25 Days of Christmas Music countdowns.  The other is "Disney Theme Park", which features songs, area music, soundtracks, and other related audio from Disney-owned theme parks around the world.

The Official Album of Disneyland (2008)

Thus, you have to understand my excitement when I'm able to add some new audio to this collection.  There is quite a bit of Disney theme park audio out there, and to be honest, most of it is unofficial and obtained via "underground" means.  However, since 1980 Disney has released what they termed "Official Albums" for their parks, eventually growing from a single LP into multi-CD sets that cover Disneyland or Walt Disney World.  Other special sets have also been released to compliment this genre, such as 2009's 5-disc Walt Disney and the 1964 World's Fair set or 2005's elite 6-disc release to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Walt's original park, A Musical History of Disneyland.

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Disney theme parks will often repurpose music and themes among properties on opposite coasts. For example, as I've already written, in 1985 Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Parade soundtrack was tweaked to be used by Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom as the tune for Mickey's Street Parade.

Recently, we've seen this type of repurposing in soundtrack once again with Disney's promotion for Summer Nightastic. This seasonal event started in Summer 2009 as an all-encompassing theme of pre-exisiting shows bundled under the same brand name ("Nightastic") to help Disneyland push their summer activities, as they didn't have any new rides or attractions to promote.

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