Travel – Disneyland (Part Two)

Posted on July 21, 2014 by barbara

In Part One of a five part series on Disneyland, I went into detail about the origin of Walt’s idea for his famous park and the building process that took a little less than one year complete. In the additional four posts in the series I will feature the eight different “lands” of Disneyland – Main Street, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, New Orleans Square, Critter Country, Tomorrowland and Mickey’s Toontown.

In this post I will discuss two of the original “lands” in Disneyland. The first “land” is Main Street which is located at the entrance to the park and it is the first area that guests see. At the end of Main Street is an area called The Hub from which the various other “lands” of Disneyland can be reached. Located near the center of the park is the Sleeping Beauty Castle which is the entrance to Fantasyland. Fantasyland has several rides and attractions that were inspired by many of the famous Disney animated movies.

Main Street, U.S.A

Main Street in Disneyland was inspired and designed to look like Walt Disney’s boyhood home in Marceline, Missouri during the early 20th century, which is the time that he briefly lived there. (We had visited this small Midwest town and for more information please click on the link to the December 2013 Travel post) The photos shown below are of Marceline on the left and Main St. in Disneyland on the right, there are many architectural similarities between the two places. For example the Emporium on Main St. in Disneyland resembles the Zurcher store located at the corner of the street in Marceline.

Upon entering Disneyland, guests passing through the main gates will see the Disneyland Railroad Station with the iconic floral Mickey in the front. (Travel tip: This spot is the perfect place to take a photo with family and friends before starting the day at the park!) When Walt Disney was a boy living in Marceline he became fascinated with trains and later he had a small model train that ran on a track through the property at his home in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, CA. The Disneyland Railroad is a great way to move around the park and guests can travel throughout Disneyland as the train stops in New Orleans Square, ToonTown and Tomorrowland. As guests proceed into the park they will pass through two tunnels on either side of the Main Street Railroad station, be sure to look for the sign overhead that reads: “Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy”.

Main Street is one of the main shopping areas of Disneyland and many different stores and small restaurants line both sides of the street. Some of the stores include: the Emporium which is a large store located at the beginning of Main St. and is filled with Disney souvenirs, the Disneyana store sells interesting memorabilia like animation cels, artwork and other types of items for serious Disney collectors but one of my favorite stores is the China Closet which sells Disney ornaments. (Over the years, every time I have visited Disneyland, I always purchase a special ornament or souvenir to add to my large Disney Memorabilia Collection, please click the link for more information)

Most visitors rush through Main Street section of Disneyland into other areas of the park, but for first time visitors I would suggest time taking the time to browse the stores and look around at all the interesting things to see and the fun things to do. Be sure to look for the Disneyland dedication plaque which has been placed at the base of the flagpole in the Town Square , it marks the opening of the park in 1955. Next, visitors should stop in the Disneyland City Hall regarding park information such as parade schedules, etc. (Travel tip: Don’t forget to mention if you are celebrating a first visit, birthday or anniversary to receive a special free button to celebrate the occasion) Then, after leaving City Hall be sure to look for the light in the window on the second floor of the Fire Station which is located next door, it is lit in tribute to Walt Disney. (Travel tip: If you are interested in seeing the private Disney apartment located on the second floor of the Fire Station I would suggest purchasing the Disneyland Guided tour “Walk in Walt’s Footsteps” tour) For first time visitors to the park, I would also suggest seeing the “Disneyland Story” exhibit located in the Main Street Opera House and the “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” attraction that pays tribute to a former President of the United States and one of Walt’s favorite people in history. Then, as you walk down Main Street, be sure to check out the wonderful window displays of the Main Street stores and make a game of finding the numerous hidden Mickeys shown in the decorations. Also look for the special tributes to some of the imagineers and other employees of both the Walt Disney Studios and Disneyland park that are written in the store windows, shown in the old photo is Walt standing in front of the window that honors his father.

At the end of Main Street is the Central Plaza, known as the “Hub”, and from this area in the park visitors can enter the various “lands” of Disneyland. A large statue named “Partners” is located there and it was created by the Disney imaginer and animator Blaine Gibson. It depicts Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse and was dedicated on November 18, 1993 which marked the 65th birthday of Mickey Mouse. Placed around the Hub are other smaller statues of various Disney characters, such as Donald Duck, Pinocchio, Winnie the Pooh, etc. (Travel tip: The “Hub” is a great central location in the park and could be designated as a meeting place if you become separated from family or friends during your visit)

Fantasyland

Fantasyland is one of the original “lands” of Disneyland and in Walt’s 1955 dedication speech of this area of the park he said, “Fantasyland is dedicated to the young and the young at heart, to those who believe that when you wish upon a star your dreams do come true”. The attractions of Fantasyland were inspired by many of the classic Disney animation films and was said to be one of Walt’s favorite places in the park. In 1983 this area of the park received a major refurbishment and was completely redesigned to showcase the fairytale villages as seen in the Disney movies, shown below are photos of Fantasyland at the time the park opened in 1955 and the 1983 and current version. Many of the attractions received renovations during the redesign and some rides were entirely moved to new locations within Fantasyland, such as the King Arthur Carrousel was moved to the center and placed farther from the castle while the Mad Tea Party was moved close to the Alice in Wonderland attraction. A new Pinocchio attraction was added while the Pirate Ship and Skull Rock attractions from the Peter Pan movie were removed. (Travel tip: This area of the park is very popular with families visiting with small children and can get quite crowded during the day; if you are travel with kids I would advise making Fantasyland one of the first stops during a visit to the park to avoid the long lines to see the attractions)

Most visitors to Disneyland will enter Fantasyland by passing over the drawbridge across the moat that surrounds Sleeping Beauty Castle. This fairytale caste was one of the first structures to be built on the site and was named for the new animation film that was in production at the Disney Studios during the time of the park’s construction. The design of the Sleeping Beauty Castle is said to have been inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle located in southern Germany which Walt had visited during a European vacation prior to the building of Disneyland. (Travel tip: Be sure to look for the Disney family crest that is placed above the arched entrance to the castle and also the special plaque that marks the spot where a Disneyland time capsule that was buried in the area in front of the castle in 1995 to mark the 40th anniversary of Disneyland)

Disneyland 40th Anniversary Time Castle 1

As previously mentioned, the attractions of Fantasyland are based on several classic Disney animation movies and Walt wanted visitors to experience what it would be like to fly with Peter Pan over London to visit Neverland or to travel with Snow White to see the cottage of the seven dwarfs or to visit Geppetto’s village with Pinocchio or go down the white rabbit’s hole with Alice to see Wonderland. Visitors can take a spin on the teacups from the Mad Hatter’s Party or maybe ride with Dumbo above Fantasyland or ride in the animal cages on Casey Jr’s train or ride on the beautifully craved Denzel horses on King Arthur’s Carrousel. Originally, the term “dark ride” was used to indicate the Disneyland rides that were built within the interior of a “show” building and visitors rode in the dark through different scenes that were painted with fluorescent paint illuminated by black lights, animated props or figures, themed music or sounds and other special effects that were used to tell the story of a Disney film. Also the attractions were designed by the imagineers for the guests to experience the ride as if they were the main character of the stories; specifically the characters of Snow White and Alice were not depicted within the older versions of those rides. After the 1983 Fantasyland refurbishment several changes occurred during the renovation of the attractions and the main characters of Snow White and Alice were added to give the rides a more complete version of those classic Disney movies. Also with the advance of technology, special effects such as fiber optics and holograms were added into the updated versions of the rides. Special note: The majority of the fiber optics in Fantasyland can be found on the Peter Pan ride and the poison apple on the Snow White ride was taken b guests so often through the years that a hologram apple is now used to prevent it from being stolen!

One of Walt’s favorite attractions of Fantasyland was the Storybook Land Canal Boat ride; it is one of the original attractions from when the park opened in 1955. The idea for the ride was based on Walt’s interest in miniatures and features small scale buildings from many of the classic Disney movies, such as the cottage of the seven dwarfs from Snow White, the castle from Cinderella and Geppettos village from the Pinocchio. Guests ride on boats and enter the attraction through the mouth of the giant whale, Monstro, from the Pinocchio and this outside attraction is beautifully landscaped with miniature trees and shrubs. (Travel tip: Look for the lighthouse in front of the queue line, this was originally a ticket booth back when each of Disneyland’s rides need individual tickets … remember the old ticket books with A to E tickets, I’m lucky to have a complete book of tickets and also several of the individual E tickets!!)

The Matterhorn Blobsled attraction was added to Disneyland in 1959 and it was the first steel track rollercoaster in the world and it has become one of Disneyland’s major thrill rides. The Disneyland Matterhorn ride was built in the area between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and it is 147 feet tall, which is 1/100 the size of the actual mountain located in the Swiss Alps that inspired the attraction’s design. The ride was originally built to hide the support towers for the old Skyway attraction that traveled from Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, the Skyway buckets used to pass through the mountain until the ride eventually closed in 1994. After a major refurbishment of the Matterhorn ride in 2012 at which time the seating changed to single rider bobsleds instead of double seating and the famous Disneyland mountain was once again painted white but tiny glass beads were added into the paint to create the illusion of glistening snow. (Travel tip: Be sure to look on the ride for the crate labeled “Wells Expedition” located in one of the snow caves, it was added during the 1994 refurbishment to honor Frank Wells, the former Chief Operating Officer of the Disney Company, who had died that year in a tragic accident.

In 1966, the area of Fantasyland was extended to accommodate the addition of the It’s a Small World attraction, the ride was originally a part of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair in the UNICEF pavilion. This enchanting ride features almost 300 dolls of children representing the countries of the world singing its theme song in over five different languages; the dolls were designed in the distinctive style of Disney imaginer Mary Blair. During a 2008 refurbishment, several iconic Disney characters were added into the scenes of the various countries. Some of the 37 new characters added Alice, the White Rabbit, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell characters were added to the England set; Cinderella and her friendly mice in France; Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket in Italy; Mulan in China; Aladdin and Jasmine in the Middle East; Simba, Pumbaa, and Timon in Africa; and Donald Duck as one of the Three Caballeros in South America and Ariel, Flounder, Dory, Nemo, Lilo, and Stitch in the South Seas scene. For more information about the history of the It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland, please click on the link. (Travel tip: Don’t miss seeing the parade of characters that perform each time the exterior clock in front of the attraction strikes the hour)

This post completes the tours of Main Street and Fantasyland but be sure to check out the four additional posts in the Disneyland series. Part One – The history of Disneyland, Part Three – Adventureland and Frontierland, Part Four – New Orleans Square and Critter Country, Part Five – Tomorrowland and Mickey’s Toontown.

Travel – Disneyland (Part One)

Posted on July 17, 2014 by barbara

One of the joys of growing up as a child in Southern California was that our family has been going to Disneyland since the 1950s. Many years later with my own children, I continued the family tradition of annual trips to Disneyland. Over the last fifty years I have seen many changes made to the park and the attractions that have come and gone. In this first of a five part series on Disneyland, I will discuss how this magical theme park started and how it has changed over the years. Then, in the next four additional posts of the series, I will offer the history of each of the eight “lands” of Disneyland, Main Street and Fantasyland, Adventureland and Frointerland, New Orleans Square and Critter Country, Tomorrowland and ToonTown.

A brief history of Disneyland

There is a famous story about how Walt Disney was inspired to build Disneyland, the story goes that while during an afternoon visit to Griffith Park located near the Burbank Studios Walt took a seat on a bench while his two young daughters rode the merry-go-round. Walt thought there should be a place where both children and their parents could enjoy spending some time together in an environment that would be both entertaining and visually appealing, so with this one thought came the vision for Disneyland.

Walt’s original plan was to build an 8 acre park located near the Burbank studios that would be a place for his employees and their families. Those plans were put on hold due to the start of World War II, but Walt never forgot. During the war and in the years after, Walt’s ideas for the park continued to develop and quickly a small park turned into something much larger!

By 1952, Walt had created a special department that was dedicated to planning his dream; it was called WED which were the initials of his name, Walter Elias Disney. His team of employees were called “imagineers” because they were pioneering a new field that blended imagination and engineering to create the new park. (The department eventually became WDI, a separate division of the Walt Disney Company, which is now based in Glendale, Ca and is currently still responsible for designing and building Disney theme parks, resorts and other venues around the world)

Finally in 1953, the first steps in building the park happened when Walt hired the Stanford Research Institute to make a survey to determine the best possible location for the future park. Taking into consideration projected population growth and accessibility of projected future major freeway construction for easy access for visitors, ultimately a location was found in Anaheim and a 160 acre property was purchased for the site of the new park.

The building of the park would prove to be very expensive and to create funding for the project Walt developed the idea of the “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” television show. It turned out to be a successful idea to not only gain the money from lucrative sponsors to build the park but it was also a wonderful way to present the park to the American public and gaining excitement for the project.

Construction for Disneyland officially began on July 21, 1954, it was an ambitious building schedule of less than one year to complete the new parkt for the projected opening day. The 160 acre property needed to be cleared of orange tree groves and also 15 houses needed to be moved in order to create the space requirements for the new park. Walt’s design for Disneyland called for five different “lands” within the park: Main Street, Adventureland, Frointerland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Each of these original Disneyland “lands” took elements from several previous and current Disney films and television shows: Main Street was inspired by Walt’s boyhood home of Marceline, Missouri and Adventureland was inspired by Disney’s True-Life adventure films, Frointerland was inspired by Walt’s love of the classic stories of Tom Sawyer and Davy Crockett (Davy Crockett television episodes were shown on the Disneyland television show starting in 1954), Fantasyland was inspired by many of the Disney animated films (such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan to name a few!) and finally Tomorrowland was inspired by Walt’s interest in the future and this new “land” would showcase our emerging NASA space exploration .

Walt oversaw the park’s construction and progress continued at a steady pace with just a few minor delays and adjustments. Finally, the park was ready for Opening Day on July 17, 1955. On that day, Disneyland was officially opened to a select number of invited guests and the media for a Press Preview Day which was nationally televised on the ABC network. Unfortunately, several mishaps happened during that day and it was not the anticipated success that Walt hoped for, the day became known as “Black Friday” within the Disney Company. Some of the problems were caused by counterfeit tickets which increased the attendance to an unexpected 28,000 people (which was almost twice the number of people originally invited!) and there were severe traffic problems and delays for guests trying to reach the park. Guests also encountered long lines waiting to see the attractions and food supplies ran out. The weather wasn’t cooperating on that day and the temperature were unusually high causing the newly laid asphalt in the park to melt and another problem was that only a small number of water fountains were working. Finally, there were numerous technical problems during the live broadcast and the press reviews of the Opening Day of Disneyland were very negative.

Walt was concerned about the bad reviews, but the next day approximately 50,000 guests attended the first day the park was open for the general public. To show his support of Walt’s Dream, the first ticket was purchased by Roy Disney who was not only Walt’s brother but also his partner in the Disney Company. Over the first year, the operational problems of the park were resolved, additional attractions opened and attendance continued to increase in size and ultimately Disneyland proved to be a huge success.

During that first year, the park had opened with only five “lands” which were Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Over the following years additional “lands” were opened and currently there are eight consisting of the original five plus New Orleans Square that opened in 1966, Bear Country (later named Critter Country) in 1972 and the newest is Mickey’s Toontown which opened in 1993.

Disneyland attractions have also come and gone over the years. I remember rides like the Flying Saucers (1961-1966) and the original Carousel of Progress (1967-1973) naming just two of my favorite attractions that have been gone several years. I also remember new rides being added to the park, like the Swiss Family Treehouse (1962), It’s a Small World (1964), Pirates of the Caribbean (1967) and the Mansion Haunted (1969) and Space Mountain (1977). Over the years, during our numerous family visits to the park, we saw the Skyway ride dismantled (1956-1994), the new Fantasyland being rebuilt (1983) and the Star Tours (1987) and Splash Mountain (1989) attractions added.

To mark Disneyland 50^th anniversary in 2005, the park underwent a major renovation to prepare for the special occasion. Several events were planned during the expected 18 month-long celebration which officially started with an announcement on May 5, 2005. Some of the events held during that time included a special “Remember” fireworks show, the “Parade of Dreams” and a reunion of the previous members of the Mickey Mouse Club. During the months leading up the official anniversary, people were requested to submit their photos where used to make special murals known as the “Happiest Faces on Earth” that depicted iconic Disney characters and these were scattered across the park. The Disneyland Castle was also decorated to mark the special occasion with a golden overlay and also fifty Golden Mickeys were hidden in the decorations of the park’s attractions. Finally, to note the attractions that were there on opening day in 1955, one ride vehicle on each of those attractions was painted gold.

Walt Disney wanted his dream of Disneyland to continue grow and change with new rides and attractions being added continuously throughout the decades. In closing this post, I want to end with the words Walt spoke on opening day at the dedication of Disneyland.

“To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” July 17, 1955

Be sure to check out the four additional posts in the Disneyland series. Part Two – Main Street and Fantasyland, Part Three – Adventureland and Frontierland, Part Four – New Orleans Square and Critter Country, Part Five – Tomorrowland and Mickey’s Toontown.

Dave Barry’s Birthday

Posted on July 3, 2014 by jeff0006

Hello, Jeff again. Barbara says I have a weird sense of humor and if that is the case, Dave Barry has one too because I have been following him since his humor column was first syndicated and I love his work! While humor is his claim to fame me, he has written / co-written children’s books, had several of his books made into movies and is a member of a band.

David McAlister Barry was born July 3, 1947 to Reverend David Barry (a Presbyterian minister) and a mother whose name is curiously not mentioned in any source I can find on the internet. His father died in 1984 and his mother shortly afterwards. I find this curious because I am convinced Dave cared deeply about his mother as can be heard in his record “Mama” and after she died he wrote about her death in “Lost in America”. Dave was born in Armonk, New York and went to Wampus Elementary School. He was voted “Class Clown” at Pleasantville High School and went to Haverford College where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1969. Dave has been married three times, to Ann Shelnutt, Beth Lenox and now Michelle Kaufman and has two children, Rob Barry (1980) and Sophie Barry (2000).

After college he worked for the Daily Local News in West Chester, PA and then as a copy editor for the Associated Press before joining the consulting firm Burger Associates. He then became the Humor Columnist for the Miami Herald in 1983 and that’s when he became famous for articles like “Exploding Whale” and how to make grapes explode in a microwave. I can’t find a link to the grape article, but here is a related article about Microwave Grape racing. I particularly like t-what he says before starting the races: “My son, Rob, and I held some microwave grape races, after taking the standard precaution of making sure that my wife was not home.” His description of the Potato Gun still makes me laugh, especially comments like: “…a bazooka-sized device that can shoot a potato several hundred yards at speeds up to 1,000 feet per second. To give you an idea of how fast that is, an ordinary potato, on its own, will rarely travel more than four feet per day, even during the height of mating season.”

Dave became a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1988 for Commentary:

Dave Barry of The Miami Herald

For his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns.

He has published many, many books including some of my favorites:

Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months With Tools You Probably Have Around the Home (1984)
Claw Your Way to the Top: How to Become the Head of a Major Corporation in Roughly a Week (1986)
Dave Barry’s Guide to Marriage and/or Sex (1987)
Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States (1989)
Dave Barry’s Gift Guide to End All Gift Guides (1994)
Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys (1996)
Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs (1997)
Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway: A Vicious and Unprovoked Attack on Our Most Cherished Political Institutions (2001)
“My Teenage Son’s Goal in Life is to Make Me Feel 3,500 Years Old” and Other Thoughts On Parenting From Dave Barry (2001)
Dave Barry’s Money Secrets (2006)
You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About (2014)
Dave Barry’s Bad Habits: A 100% Fact-Free Book (1987)
Dave Barry is NOT Making This Up (1995)
Big Trouble (1999)
Peter and the Starcatchers (2004, with Ridley Pearson) series
Escape From the Carnivale (2006, with Ridley Pearson)

His book Big Trouble was made into a movie but the release was delayed because of the 9-11 attacks. Then his Dave Barry Turns 40 and Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits were made into a four season sitcom by CBS which ran 1993 to 1997. The show starred Harry Anderson as Barry and DeLane Matthews as his wife Beth. In an early episode, Barry appeared in a cameo role. There are rumors that another book written by Barry, Peter and the Starcatchers, will be made into a movie by Disney.

One thing I did not know about Dave was that he founded a rock band called “Rock Bottom Remainders” composed of other authors including Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount, Jr., Barbara Kingsolver, Matt Groening, and Barry’s brother Sam, among many others. The band has raised over $2 million for charity and is described by Dave as “not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud.” You can find a little more detail on the band on Oprah’s site here: http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/The-Rock-Bottom-Remainders

Dave retired in 2005 to spend more time with his family, but still maintains a blog at http://www.davebarry.com/ and writes occasional columns for the Miami Herald including his yearly gift guide and his year-in-review feature. In addition to the Pulitzer, Dave was awarded the Fairfax Price and has a sewage processing plant named after him in East Grand Forks, MN. He also can be hired as a motivational speaker for $20,000 to $30,000 per engagement. To quote Dave himself “I’m not making this up.”

Travel – Kensington Palace

Posted on July 1, 2014 by barbara

When we visited London in 1998, my son and I took a short walk to Kensington Palace from where we were staying in Notting Hill. I was very excited to see the palace especially after reading so many books about two of its former occupants, Queen Victoria and Diana, the Princess of Wales. Currently, the palace is now the official residence of Prince William and his family, Prince Harry and several other members of the royal family. In this post, I will discuss the history and the architecture of this historic building.

A brief history of Kensington Palace

In 1605, Sir George Coppin built a two-story Jacobean mansion in the Kensington area of London. Then, in 1619, the 1^st Earl of Nottingham purchased the house and it became known as Nottingham House. 70 years later, after William and Mary became joint monarchs of England; they purchased the house from the 2^nd Earl of Nottingham.

In 1689, William and Mary commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to design an expansion on Nottingham House. Wren kept the original structure but created a new entrance that now faced west and two additional wings were built; one to the south-east for the King and another to the north-west that was the Queen’s Apartments. The building and the surrounding grounds became known as Kensington Palace and beautiful manicured lawns and formal gardens were also created on the estate. Later, two more extensions were added, the King’s Gallery and the Queen’s Gallery, for William and Mary’s extensive picture collection.

After the death of Queen Mary in 1694 and King William in 1702, Queen Anne became the principal resident of the palace. During her reign, she had 30 acres of beautiful gardens added to the property and she also commissioned the addition of an Orangery that was built in 1704. Queen Anne occupied the palace for a short ten years and she died there in 1714.

In 1722, during the reign of King George I, three lavish state rooms were painted with trompe l’oeil ceilings and walls. The relatively unknown architect, William Kent, designed the Cupola Room which was an octagonal room with a domed ceiling painted with the Star of the Order of the Garter. He also designed two additional rooms, the Privy Chamber and the Withdrawing Room. Kent had the original King’s Grand Staircase repainted with a mural that depicted 45 Georgian court figures.

The last reigning monarch to occupy Kensington Palace was King George II. He made no interior changes to the building but his wife, Queen Caroline, had the royal gardener completely redesign the gardens. The features that were added to the design can still be seen today, they are the areas known as The Serpentine, the basin called the Round Pond and the Broad Walk.

After King George II died in 1760, Kensington Palace was only used by minor members of the royal family. The fourth son of King George III family, Prince Edward (Duke of Kent), was the most notable. His daughter, Alexandrina Victoria, was born at the palace on May 24, 1819 and her christening took place in the Cupola Room. Sadly, the Duke of Kent died nine months after the birth and the Duchess of Kent and her daughter continued to live at the palace. The Duchess proved to be an extremely protective mother and the Princess was isolated from other children and made to adhere a strict set of rules.

Then, in 1837, Princess Alexandrina Victoria, was awakened in the early morning after her uncle, King William IV, had died at Windsor Castle and she was told that she now the Queen. The petite young girl, she was 18 years old, held her first privy council in the Red Saloon at Kensington Palace. During the meeting she took the name of Queen Victoria and one of her first royal decisions was that she would move to Buckingham Palace as a means of distancing herself from her over protective mother. From this time forward, Buckingham Palace became the permanent official residence of the British monarch. (For more information regarding the life and reign of Queen Victoria, please click on the link. As if you are interested in the history of Buckingham Palace, please check out the travel post from August 2013)

Later, the Duke and Duchess of Teck, who were relatives of Queen Victoria, lived at the Kensington Palace. Their daughter (Princess Victoria Mary, later Queen Mary and the grandmother of the current Queen) was born there in 1867. Queen Victoria had been very fond of Princess Mary who eventually married her grandson, Prince George (later King George V). For more information about their wedding, please click on the following link, British Royal Weddings – Part Two.

During World War I, Kensington Palace was used to house Irish soldiers temporarily home from the front and ration restrictions were in effect not only for the soldiers but also for the royal residents. Then, in World War II, the palace was severely damaged during The Blitz in 1940. Anti-craft guns, sandbags and trenches were dug on the grounds of the palace and repairs to the palace were delayed for several years.

In 1960, after the wedding of Princess Margaret to Antony Armstrong-Jones, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II moved to Kensington Palace. The newly married couple temporarily took up residence in Apartment 10 while extensive renovations were made on the much larger Apartment 1A. By 1962, the remodeling was completed and the apartment had 20 rooms on four floors, consisting of several large reception rooms, 3 bedrooms and bathrooms, a nursery, 9 staff bedrooms and bathrooms, kitchen, laundry and even a dark room for Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret’s husband who was a photographer. After their divorce in 1978, the Princess continued to live in the palace until her death in 2002.

Other recent notables to live at Kensington Palace are the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester (the current Queen’s first cousin) who moved into Apartment 1 after their married in 1972 and the Prince and Princess Michael of Kent (another cousin of the Queen) who moved into Apartment 10 after they married in 1978 and the Duke and Duchess of Kent (another cousin of the Queen) moved into Wren House on the grounds of Kensington Palace in 1996.

One of the most famous member of the royal family to live at Kensington Palace was the Princess of Wales. After her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981, they moved into a part of the palace that was formerly Apartments 8 and 9. The two apartments were combined, renovated and redecorated to accommodate the new royal couple and their growing family. Sadly, Prince Charles and Diana’s formal separation was announced in 1992 and later the divorce became official in 1996. Diana and her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, continued to live at Kensington until her death in 1997. After Diana’s tragic death in a car crash in Paris, the area at the gates to Kensington Palace became a spontaneous memorial with thousands and thousands of flowers, pictures and personal notes left there in tribute as the public mourned the death of the well-loved “People’s Princess. Prince William and Prince Harry eventually left Kensington Palace to live with their father, Prince Charles, in Clarence House.

Following the wedding of Prince William to Catherine (Kate) Middleton in 2011, it was announced that the newly named Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would move into a temporary home in Nottingham Cottage which is located on the grounds of Kensington Palace while repairs and renovations were being made their permanent home in Apartment 1A, the former residence of Princess Margaret. Finally after 18 months, the work was completed and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge along with their newborn son, Prince George, moved into their official residence in late 2013. Their new accommodations has become their official residence and includes five reception rooms, three bedrooms and bathrooms, a two room nursery with adjoin bedroom for a nanny, and one kitchen for the family and two for the staff. During the renovations, the heating, water and electrical systems were updated and dangerous asbestos was removed. After the Prince William and his family moved, his brother, Prince Harry moved from Clarence House into Nottingham Cottage.

Information for planning a visit to Kensington Palace

Just in time for the Queen II Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the Kensington Palace State Rooms had a $19 million two-year renovation. Visitors to the palace can now choose several different tours and there are also several interesting exhibits and interactive displays. Some of the special presentations currently happening at the palace are: The Glorious Georges exhibit which is a multi-media exhibit that covers the reigns of Kings George I through IV. The Fashion Rules exhibit which features a collection of dresses from Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret and Diana, the Princess of Wales ranging in time from the 1950s to 1980s. The Victoria Revealed exhibit takes visitors to the room where the young Queen held her first Privy Council and also on display are several items of her clothing ranging from a dress with the small 18 inch waist that she wore to that first Council meeting to one of her undergarments with a 50 inch waist that she wore later in her reign.

The King’s Apartments in Kensington Palace are entered by climbing the King’s Staircase which is painted with a grand mural that depicts 45 Georgian figures from the court of King George I. (be sure to look for the king and the mural artist, William Kent, dressed in a turban!) The tour continues into the King’s Apartments, which includes the Privy Chambers, the Drawing Room and the Cupola Room. The Cupola Room is where Princess Alexandria Victoria, the future Queen Victoria, was christened. The largest room is the King’s Gallery where George I originally displayed an extensive collection of paintings, look for the famous Van Dyck portrait of Charles I on horseback. Also displayed in the room over the fireplace is a clock which was commissioned by King William III, surprisingly it still works! In the Queen’s Apartments, accessed by the less grand Queen’s Staircase, is the Queen’s Gallery which was once filled with priceless treasures such as Turkish carpets and Oriental porcelain.

Kensington Palace - the King's Staircase

After touring the rooms of Kensington Palace, be sure to take some time to walk the grounds to see the various gardens. The Sunken Garden was originally planted in 1908 and features terraced flower beds and a pond with a fountain. During the spring, the garden is filled with tulips and pansies in bloom and in the summer there are geraniums and begonias. The formal gardens, designed during the time of Queen Caroline, features the Board Walk with a round pond and the Serpentine.

For information regarding Kensington Palace hours, prices and more details about the various tours and exhibits, please see www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace

Celebration – British Royal Weddings (Part 3)

Posted on June 17, 2014 by barbara

In the previous posts of the British Royal Weddings series, I discussed the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840 in Part One and the weddings of Prince Albert (later King Edward VII) to Princess Alexandra of Denmark and Prince George (later King George V) to Princess Mary of Teck in Part Two. In this post, I will discuss the weddings of a father who was unexpectedly made King and his daughter who is the current Queen of Great Britain. The father was Prince Albert (later King George VI) to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and his daughter was Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and Prince Phillip.

Prince Albert (later King George VI) to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother)

Date and location: April 26, 1923 at Westminster Abbey in London

Prince Albert, known to his family as Bertie, was the second son of King George V. Bertie had fallen in love with Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and proposed to her several times over the course of several years but she was very hesitant to accept because she had great misgiving about joining the royal family, but finally she accepted in 1923. Like all royal marriages, this union needed the approval of the King and the bridal choice was very unusual at the time because normally princes were expected to marry princesses; Elizabeth was not considered royal and she was only the daughter of a British peer.

York Wedding

Upon the announcement of their marriage, the people of Wales presented the bridal couple a rather large nugget of Welsh gold from which Elizabeth’s wedding ring was made. This same piece of Welsh gold also has traditionally been used to make the wedding rings of several other members of the royal family, such as Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II), Princess Margaret (sister of the current Queen) and Prince Charles (son of the current Queen) and most recently for Catherine Middleton on the occasion of her marriage to Prince William (grandson of the current Queen)

As it has seemed customary for British Royal weddings, the weather was projected for rain but over a million people gathered along the parade route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. As the invited guests began to arrive, the bells of the Abbey had already been ringing for four hours prior to the start of the service. Shortly before the start of the service the aged but still elegant Queen Alexander, grandmother of the groom, arrived with her sister, Dowager Empress Marie of Imperial Russia. (Sadly it is her son, Tsar Nicholas II, along with his wife and family who had tragically died six years earlier during the Bolshevik Revolution which brought an end to the reign of the Romanov Dynasty)

On the morning of the wedding, the twenty-two year old bride departed for Westminster Abbey to meet her twenty-seven year old groom from her family home on Burton Street located near Berkeley Square in London. The maroon and gold 1920 State landau was pulled by four perfectly matched grey horses and as it arrived at the Abbey the sky cleared and the sun came out casting light through the beautiful stained-glass windows.

Then, prior to the start of the wedding ceremony, an unexpected and spontaneous gesture by Elizabeth was to start a royal tradition that has continued throughout the years. On her way to the altar, Elizabeth set her bouquet of white roses, lilies of the valley and heather at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which is located near the entrance of the Abbey. She wanted to honor her brother, Fergus, who had died in World War I and she placed the bouquet there in his memory. Since then, the bouquets of royal brides have traditionally been placed at the tomb with the one exception that is done after the wedding ceremony rather than before.

Lady Elizabeth’s wedding dress was unlike other recent royal brides and it was designed in a simple medieval style made from ivory chiffon moiré designed by Madame Handley Seymour. The dress featured a square neckline with a bodice that was cut straight to the waist and decorated with horizontal silver lame panels that were heavily gold embroidered with pearl and paste beads. The antique ivory point of Flanders lace veil was secured with a simple wreath of myrtle leaves with a cluster of white York roses and white heather positioned on either side of her head. The veil was presented from the bride’s future mother-in-law for the bride to wear on the wedding day.

This photograph is for slide/reference use only. Not for reproduction.

After the wedding ceremony, the bridal couple and their guests gathered at Buckingham Palace for a lavish breakfast. Then the new Duke and Duchess of York left London for an extended honeymoon first in Surrey at Polesden Lacey and then at Glamis Castle, the bride’s ancestral home of the Strathmore family, which is located in Scotland.

The wedding of Prince George and Lady Elizabeth also set another precedence for royal weddings when it was filmed with the footage of the event shown later in theaters throughout the country. Prior to then, royal weddings were strictly private events and the bridal party was only seen traveling to and from the venue and sometimes there was the occasional public appearance on the balcony at Buckingham Palace after the ceremony.

Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and Lieutenant Phillip Mountbatten

Date and location: November 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey in London

Princess Elizabeth meet her future groom when she was just a young girl, she was only 13 years old when she fell madly in love with the dashing naval officer and the two began to exchange letters. Almost ten years later, in July of 1947, after Princess Elizabeth returned from a long trip to South Africa with her parents their engagement was officially announce to the public.

Princess Elizabeth received a beautiful diamond engagement from Phillip. The large 3-carat diamond originally came from the tiara that had belonged to Phillip’s mother. Phillip was personally involved in the designed that also included eleven additional diamonds.

At the time of the Royal wedding, World War II had recently ended two years before but coupon rationing was still in effect. After the engagement was announced, thousands of clothing coupons were received at Buckingham Palace to assist in making the wedding dress but it was illegal to transfer coupons and they were rightfully returned with a personal letter from Princess Elizabeth thanking them for their thoughtfulness.

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillips wedding 1

Norman Hartnell, the Royal Designer, received the commission to create Princess Elizabeth’s wedding dress. He designed a lovely gown of ivory duchess satin with a fitted bodice and full skirt that extended into a 15 foot train. Princess Elizabeth completed her bridal attire with white silk tulle veil held in place by the diamond King George III Fringe Tiara. While preparing for her wedding day the frame of the tiara broke in half but luckily the royal jeweler was called in to quickly make the repair before the ceremony.

Princess Elizabeth’s bridal bouquet was made by the local British florist Longmans from three different kinds of British-grown orchids; cattleya, odontoglossum and cypripedium. A sprig of traditional myrtle was picked from the garden at Osborne house and was also added to the bouquet.

On the day of the wedding day Prince Phillip arrived dressed in his naval uniform and accompanied by his cousin David Mountbatten, the Marquess of Milford Haven. The next to arrive at the Abbey were the bride’s mother, Queen Elizabeth and grandmother Queen Mary, then the bride’s eight bridesmaids, including Princess Margaret, who were wearing dresses designed by Hartnell. Finally, Princess Elizabeth and her father, King George, arrived from Buckingham Palace traveling in the magnificent golden Irish State Coach. Finally, on the arm of her father, as the trumpets played, they slowly walking down the nave to the altar steps to meet Prince Phillip. The hour long ceremony included vows from the Book of Common Prayer and per the bride’s request, the service was the same as her parent’s wedding service which happened almost twenty-five years earlier in the same Abbey.

At the conclusion of the service, the new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh entered the Chapel of Edward the Confessor to sign the register officially recording their marriage. King George, Queen Elizabeth and also Queen Mary and Princess Andrew, the groom’s mother, also signed the register. Immediately following the service the bridal party exited to the sound of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March and then their guests went to Buckingham Palace for a grand wedding breakfast. Afterwards, Elizabeth and Phillip left for their honeymoon spent partly at Broadlands, the Mountbatten home located in Hampshire.

The wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip set a precedence for royal weddings when it was broadcast live on the radio. (Royal Note: In 1961, the wedding of Princess Margaret (the sister of the current Queen) to Anthony Armstrong-Jones was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on the television)

For more information about additional British Royal Weddings, please click of the following links: Part One – Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Part Two – Prince Albert (later King Edward VII) to Princess Alexandra of Denmark and Prince George (later King George V) to Princess Mary of Teck. Part Four – Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer and Prince William to Catherine Middleton.

The Enchanted Manor

a lifestyle blog by Barbara Jones

Tag Archives: Barbara Jones

Travel – Disneyland (Part Two)

Like this:

Travel – Disneyland (Part One)

Like this:

Dave Barry’s Birthday

Like this:

Travel – Kensington Palace

Like this:

Celebration – British Royal Weddings (Part 3)

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this:

Share:

Like this: