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MMD > Archives > September 1999 > 1999.09.05 > 01Prev  Next


Mechanical Music at Disneyland, Anaheim CA
By Dave Allan

Hi all,  As the technician responsible for the mechanical musical
instruments at Disneyland, Anaheim CA, from 1974 to around 1988,
I can shed some light on what they had, where it came from and where
it is now.

Some of the instruments from the Paul Eakins collection did make their
way to Disneyland: a Seeburg Greyhound, a Violano Virtuoso, a Seeburg
Eagle, and the Coinola C2 that Andrew Barrett found upstairs in the
Golden Horseshoe.

The Coinola was once part of a pre-show and played free for about
15 minutes before shows.  It has not played there for maybe ten years.
It was originally brought to Disneyland to go in the office of the
Vice President of Entertainment.   Later it was moved to the Golden
Horseshoe Saloon.  It's there as a decoration now.

The Violano and Greyhound are in storage waiting their turn in the
park.  They both played for guests in the early '80s when I was
maintaining them.  The Seeburg Eagle (I don't remember the instrumen-
tation) is currently in an office building on property and is played
occasionally.  Years ago, as I went on my service rounds on the pianos,
this piano was the only one that I collected the nickels from.  I would
leave the nickels on the secretaries desk, as she would play the instru-
ment for guests that were waiting for the vice-president.  By the way,
the front doors have been removed and a large glass door allows full
visibility to the interior.  This modification was done at Paul Eakins'
Gay '90s Museum.

Andrew also noticed the Wurlitzer 157 facade at the Carrousel.  This is
a beautiful reproduction of the original (painted just the way Disney
wanted it).  This reproduction was lovingly created by Tom Grace with
the help of other craftsmen.   The original facade was sold with the
instrument several years ago.

The music you hear at the carrousel is recorded from the Gavioli at the
Dumbo attraction.  The music was arranged at the Studio and programmed
at Disneyland in 1983 for the re-opening of Fantasyland.  The instru-
ment needs restoration, so it isn't playing at this time.  It was a
unique situation when first installed.  The Gavioli organ played live
via a Peterson pipe organ controller, and at the same time a recorded
version played in sync at the Carrousel and Casey Jr. rides.  You could
stand between them and hear live music on one side and the recording on
the other.

Except for the Gavioli and the Eakins instruments, all of the instru-
ments at Disneyland came from the Raney collection and can be seen in
Harvey Roehl's "Player Piano Treasury", or in the last few pages of
"Put Another Nickel In", by Q. David Bowers.

Currently there are only three instruments operating at Disneyland.
The Welte Style 4 Concert Orchestrion in the Penny Arcade has been
playing original Welte music from a MIDI player for nearly three years.
The Electrova 44-note piano in the Country Bear Playhouse is currently
going through a minor overhaul, and so during the rehab a very fine
Nelson-Wiggen 6X is playing in its place.

A Symphonion disc music box is in the new music store on Main Street
and they may start letting it get some play soon.   The only other
instrument they have is a Wurlitzer L that used to play in the Penny
Arcade, and years before was on the Mark Twain Dock.  All other
instruments were sold to private parties three years ago.

I hope this clears things up.

Dave Allan


(Message sent Sun 5 Sep 1999, 22:28:52 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  Anaheim, CA, Disneyland, Mechanical, Music

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