Ken Reviews: Jeff Lange 40th Anniversary DVDs
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So what's on the other DVD?
It's one documenting the events of July 17, 1995 – Disneyland's 40th Birthday (purchase at the LP Store)
I remember that day. Before the park was open in the morning, thousands of us cast members got together to crowd Main Street U.S.A. to pose for a picture and appear on a British TV broadcast. The picture was going into the Time Castle later in the day. I was there with my fiancée at the time. (Long story short: we never married… we're now married to people much more suitable for us and we're all friends now.)
This "Birthday" DVD runs 62 minutes, broken into chapters featuring:
July 17th Birthday Scenes
Time Castle Ceremony
The Jungle Cruise
Original Space Mountain
Fantasy In The Sky Fireworks
Disneyland's Birthday Photo Slide Show
The DVD begins with a disclaimer, explaining that there are some moments during the picture is lost during the anniversary ceremony. Rather than cut the audio accordingly, Lange places the 40th Anniversary logo on the screen. These visual interruptions happen several times, but only momentarily each time.
Birthday Scenes start off showing us a banner at the Main Entrance announcing the day as Disneyland's birthday. We see Main Street U.S.A., all decked out with large inflatables of various Disney characters, balloons, balloon arches, and lamppost décor. There's even a birthday banner on the face of the Matterhorn.
The Castle forecourt was all set up for the Time Castle ceremony. This time capsule, focusing heavily on the park's 40th anniversary, will be re-opened 40 years after being buried.
In a rare moment in the DVDs I've seen so far from Lange, he gets a shot of die-hard Disneyland fans who wave into the camera and say "hi" to Lange. Usually, the DVDs have the feel of putting you invisibly and anonymously into the middle of what is going on. But this was a day for the fans as well as the media, so the inclusion makes sense. I was a few yards west of where Lange was standing, hence my tense during this portions of this review.
Before the ceremony starts, we see some of the participants in casual conversations. Guests are standing around in birthday hats (I still have mine). Actor and vintner Fess Parker and archivist Dave Smith walk by separately.