  Admiral in the united states navy now In 1954 Walt Disney was looking for a naval expert to help him with the building of the Mark Twain which was under construction. Fowler was hired to work on the Mark Twain, but stayed around for quite a while as he became the construction boss for the entire Disneyland project. Going way beyond his responsibilities for the Mark Twain and after Disneyland was completed, Fowler stayed as the general manager of the park during it's first 10 years. He also assisted with the construction of Walt Disney World Florida and retired from the Walt Disney company in 1978. He continued to be a consultant. Admiral Joe saw Disneyland as if both he and Walt were building a real city. Keeping in mind that many of the people who helped designed Disneyland were from Hollywood and had a much more temporary view on construction. They typically were used to building temporary sets, but Admiral Joe wanted to build Disneyland like a real town. One of the things that he knew was that the riverboats would need a dry dock to be serviced. Walt didn't want to spend money on this so there was push back. After a couple of decades, Admiral Joe won and Walt said, "fine we'll give Joe his little ditch". Fowler's Harbor is named after Joe Fowler and in 1999, one of the ferries that crosses the seven seas lagoon in Walt Disney World, was renamed the Admiral Joe Fowler in his honor. Fowler passed away at age 99 in 1993.   1955 Walt standing by the construction of the Disneyland entrance Railroad station.
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon these at the Dollar Tree!! $5 each!      You can see the review for Han Solo in a PREVIOUS POST.     Padmé first met Obi-Wan, shortly after the Invasion of Naboo started, when he and his mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn rescued her from the Trade Federation's battle droids, they do not have much interaction with each other. However, throughout the Clone Wars the two become close friends. In Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Padmé's friendship with Obi-Wan became strained, after Anakin told her of Obi-Wan's manipulations to use him as a spy for his own purposes, she did not believe him when he told her of husband's dark deeds, mainly because she was in denial and partly because of what Anakin told her, to reassure herself that what he had said was not true, she traveled to Mustafar to ask Anakin herself; unknown to Padmé, Obi-Wan had stowed away on her Naboo star skiff, so he could find Vader and kill him. Before Padmé's death, she told Obi-Wan that there was still good left in Anakin and one day he can be redeemed, but Obi-Wan didn't believe her. Padme's belief in her husband proved right when he sacrificed himself to save their son, Luke.  Thank you Curtis (Obi Wan Kenobi) for collaborating with me on this special project.
 Walt Disney hosted a 4th of July party for a select group of Disney studio employees and their families at Disneyland, just days before it's grand opening on July 17th 1955. Those lucky enough to attend would be among the very first to ride some of the attractions and see Walt's highly anticipated project. Construction was still ongoing in many areas of the park, so the party guests were restricted to Main Street U.S.A., Adventureland and Frontierland. Guests we're able to ride the Jungle Cruise, Mark Twain steamboat, as well as the pack Mules, conestoga wagon's, and stage coaches in Frontierland. The Disneyland railroad was also steaming along, with none other than Walt himself and Disney legend Ward Kimball, in the bowler hat. Just getting to Disneyland was an adventure in itself in 1955. 1 of the guests that day was 11 year old Alan Coats, the son of Disney artist Claude Coats, who at the time was helping compete Pleat the painting of the Mr. Toad's wild ride attraction. Years later, Alan recalled, "It took a long time to get to Disneyland from the studio because the freeway wasn't finished. So we got off in Buena Park somewhere and wandered through the Orange groves. It was a very rural experience."  When the Coach family rode the Jungle Cruise, Alan remembers Walt coming on the boat and greeting everyone, "well thank you for coming and I hope you have a good time welcome to Disneyland."
From all accounts of that day, Walt had the most fun with Ward Kimball on the train. Even after most of the guests left for the day, the train lovers stuck around. Kimball later said, "this was a big day for Walt, on that 4th of July, to the 80 or 90 people that were there that day, the park was basically a big empty place, with a lot of work going on. They rode the trains and the Mark Twain, looked at how the construction was going, ate a picnic lunch and that was about it, people began leaving when the sun went down. But to Walt, the locomotives were under steam! We were like kids playing trains." |
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