Save Disneyland's Carnation Plaza Gardens

****** Update from Reader Samantha ******

Sign the Petition to Save Disneyland's Carnation Plaza Gardens here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-of-the-disneyland-resort-cancel-plans-to-remodel-carnation-plaza-gardens-at-the-disneyland-resort

****** Thank you Samantha! ******

For those that may not be aware, according to reliable sources (such as Daveland) “It was recently announced at the D23 Expo that the Carnation Plaza Gardens were going bye-bye and being replaced by a Fantasy Faire Princess Meet-And-Greet”. The Gardens opened August 18, 1956 and has survived over five decades of changes at the park. The bandstand has seen legendary performers, such as my favorite Disneyland band The Elliot Brothers!

Let's not even get into how utterly lame the idea is of removing the Carnation Plaza Gardens. I mentioned in my recent trip report (link) that Disney should place the new “Princess Meet-And-Greet” over at the old Motor Boat Cruise Load area (Fantasia Gardens) and leave the Carnation Plaza Gardens alone.

Lloyd Elliot’s (of the Elliot Brothers) daughter recently wrote into the trip report blog and made the following comment:

“I really enjoyed your tour of Plaza Gardens and commentary on its pending demise as well as Daveland's blog on same. In a way I grew up in the Gardens as the Elliott Brothers were my Dad Lloyd and my Uncle Bill. It's really wonderful to see how many people remember them and the fun times that were generated out of that area!

I was there a couple of years ago for my '55th-I hadn't been there for over ten years-I saw that Plaza Gardens had been repainted burgundy/tan and that they had taken out the old concession stands (where you could buy Fantasia ice cream). What used to be Dad's "secret passage" behind the bandstand to Frontierland is now a wide archway that anyone can go through. But the mirror ball was still there and that terrazzo floor still looked great!

I hope someone out there in-the-know might find out when this remodeling is supposed to take place. My cousin talked about making a last pilgrimage. Wouldn't it be great if Disneyland had one last dance show there as a tribute to all the great musicians who played there in the past?”

I know the mouse house in Burbank reads this blog (thanks guys!) so can someone PLEASE print out this post and get in the hands of whoever can stop this from happening!!

Below is a re-post of the Date Nite at Disneyland with The Elliot Brothers LP. I've made a CD of the LP and I play it each time on my way to Disneyland!

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Welcome to Souvenir Saturday. I've always loved the Elliott Brothers and this LP has got to be one of their best. The cover alone will put you in the mood to dance!





You can buy this album on iTunes, but I bet its not on warm vinyl and I can guarantee you its not on the "Disc-Jockey" label, one of the international producers of LP's for Disneyland Records. This version was pressed in and made for Argentina.

As a collector of vintage vinyl its been my experience that on average the foreign pressings of LP's are superior to the US versions. My guess would be the lower volume of records stamped in foreign countries. A master stamper can be used hundreds if not thousands of times, but the first stamping always sounds better then the last one - the high number of pressing in the US tended to put out some mass produced LP's that varied greatly in quality. The low number of pressings overseas tend to be a bit cleaner and have less defects.

Let's watch the first part of "Let's Dance at Disneyland".

Download both sides, crank up your speakers and LETS DANCE!!!

Side 1 (link) 14mb – wma format.

Side 2 (link) 13mb – wma format. (check it out at around 14:00 - what sounds like the Mexican Hat Dance morphs into The Mickey Mouse Club song and the audience joins in!)