Disneyland Resort is full of nostalgia for times in American history that people look back on fondly. Of course, since Disneyland is over 65 years old, the park itself is a nostalgic location for many. Guests return again and again to see how Disneyland has changed, and how it is still the same. And for the park’s 100 Years of Wonder Celebration an iconic piece of park history is back after being lost for over 40 years.
2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company and so the Disney Gallery, outside of the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln show has been given over to artwork and props dedicated to the story of how Disney movies become attractions, and how those Disney attractions become movies. I spoke to Walt Disney Imagineering’s David Caransi about one particular item on display, a model of the hag from Snow White, that lived on Main Street for decades but had been believed to be lost until very recently. Caransi explained...
The hag that used to live on Main Street. She’s from Snow White, she used to live on Main Street in the jewelry shop in the ‘60s and ‘70s. She was moved in the ‘80s to Fantasyland, and in the late ‘80s, she was lost. She hadn’t been found until Kim Irvine and I were walking through a warehouse two months ago, and she was there. And so we’re featuring her here because she was a fan favorite back in the day.
Considering that Disney has had an official archive for decades, it’s hard to believe that anything produced by the company that recently had been lost, even if Disney has been doing this for 100 years. And yet, at some point, it seems the hag was put in a box and sent to a warehouse and then everybody just lost track of it. It took two people, and a little luck more than likely, to actually find the hag in whatever Imagineering warehouse corner she’d been stuck into. Even just a couple of months ago this particular item wasn't planned to be on display because it hadn't been found yet.
The hag is certainly a highlight of the Disney Gallery installation but there’s a lot more for fans to see. There’s a lot of concept art, some fans will likely have seen before, but a lot more that they have not. It’s worth stopping by just to walk through and see what there is to see.
Of course, the Disney Gallery is just one small part of the 100 Years of Wonder celebration. You’ll need to check it out in between riding the brand-new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and watching two brand-new, and excellent, nighttime spectaculars in World of Color - One and the Wonderous Journey’s fireworks show.
