Disneyland's Biggest Mistake (Of The Last Year)

Disneyland gets a lot of things right. Occasionally they do something wrong. (Sometimes they make a move that seems to go sideways.) The biggest mistake Disneyland made in the last year was the removal of the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show from the Golden Horseshoe Saloon. Why remains a mystery but my own theory (and it is only speculation) is that a group of highly trained musicians and showmen, some who have played at Disneyland for two decades, probably was a pretty expensive act to produce. Disneyland retired the Hillbillies as part of a cost cutting measure. Nothing else makes sense since the Hillbillies performances were played before packed houses every day, rain or shine. Their popularity was extraordinary.

I bring all this up because we have extended our November trip by one day primarily to go over Knotts Berry Farm is see the Hillbillies perform. Knotts is the new home for the Hillbillies. For some reason, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler wouldn't feel a trip to Disneyland would be complete without seeing the Hillbillies only now a trip to Knotts is necessary to see them. She has a point.

More things the Disneyland Traveler will ponder when he returns from this Disneyland trip.

• Saw Billy Hill and the Hillbillies yesterday. Will see them again before we leave as the clock is ticking before Disneyland executive chowder heads send them to.... (probably Knotts Berry Farm).
• Long wait for the "Jingle Cruise". Was it worth it? (no)
• Finally saw the "running of the goats" - real cute. Cross off bucket list.
• World of Color Christmas show - it helps to know Olaf and see Frozen first.
• The Disneyland Traveler's experience with lunch at the Carthay Circle Restaurant.
• It took 3+ days of being here before setting foot in DCA. For me, that's about right.
• Still looking for that perfect souvenir or two.
• And still continuing to lose at both Buzz and Toy Story Mania to Mrs. DLT.

The Billy Hill Petition

There is a petition drive to save Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were several petitions going around and would sign them all to keep this fine act going. Here is the one posted by Mrs. DisneylandTraveler that she found on Facebook. Keep signing.

Don't forget the first rule of Chicago elections - vote early and vote often.

https://www.change.org/petitions/disneyland-resort-anaheim-ca-continue-to-provide-billy-hill-the-hillbilly-shows

Pardon My Language - WTH??? Billy Hill Act To Retire Jan. 6

A Disneyland institution from the early 90's - the performance of Billy Hill and the Hillbillies at the Golden Horseshoe is set to retire January 6, 2014 following this holiday season (and the Billy Hill Holiday Spectacular). If this popular act gets replaced by something meant to generate a revenue stream, I'll be pissed.... My hope this is a Billy idea for graceful retirement and not Disney giving them the boot. Right now there are about 80 negative comments on Disney Parks Blog against this idea. 

Over the years, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler have seen Billy Hill and the Hillbillies perform more than two dozen times. We haven't haven't seen a performance that wasn't completely enjoyable yet.

A Very Special Billy Hill Performance

Over the years, I've probably seen Billy Hill and the Hillbillies perform maybe 2 dozen times on the stage of Frontierland's Golden Horseshoe Saloon. It's one of my favorite things to do at Disneyland and as one website called Billy Hill, one of Disneyland's real gems. (Note: I haven't seen them perform on the outdoor stage at Big Thunder Ranch which they do now during busy seasons).

Anyway, Billy Hill and the Hillbillies are highly skilled musicians that mostly play for fun, laughs, and wonderful entertainment. As with any performing band, much of their material, both in songs and comedy routines, remains the same from performance to performance relying a lot on interaction with their audience to keep things fresh and lively (and funny). But once in a while, Billy changes things up and one of the 4 Billy's is allowed to really show what they can do.

It should be noted that while there are 4 Billy's on stage, there are about 9 Billy's performing in teams (green team, blue team, gold team) to accommodate days off, vacations, and such. The 3 Billy's that are most frequently performing are the groups founding members Kirk Wall (front man/MC, guitar, fiddle, fake buck teeth, and fiddle bow up the nose), Dennis Fetchet (fiddle, Orange Blossom Special, and that Train Thing), and John Marshall (stand up bass).

Billy's - Kirk Wall and John David

On our last trip, on a day Kirk Wall wasn't fronting a Billy Hill and Hillbillies, an opportunity to solo was turned over to guitarist John David. Below is his great rendition of Mason Williams guitar classic appropriately named Classical Gas. Apparently he does perform the song in Billy sets every so often but it was the first time I had seen it and was blown away by his picking skills.

If you haven't been to Disneyland, make sure to make time to see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies perform. If you go to Disneyland regularly and haven't seen Billy, skip a ride and go see them do their thing. Each performance is about 25 minutes and a whole lot of fun.

The Golden Horseshoe Experiment

Though I haven't confirmed it from any official Disney source, there is a rumor that the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Frontierland will revert back to a version of it's original stage show that ran for many years following the park's opening. The revival show will be part of Disneyland's  2013 Limited Time Magic promotion and will only run from January 10 - February 4. It's a grand show complete with dance hall girls and cowboy comedians and as a young boy, I remember seeing the good time fun entertainment with my parents... way back when.

But as a young boy, I was all about rides back then so the Golden Horseshoe stage show never really triggered any real sense of romance or nostalgia in me (unlike the Tiki Room or Lincoln). Many Disneyland veterans wax poetically about the thousands of performances of comedian Wally Boag as Pecos Bill and Betty Taylor's Slue Foot Sue. As often mentioned, Wally Boag performing at the Golden Horseshoe was one of comedian Steve Martin's primary influences (Steve worked at Disneyland for a period of time).

So while this revamped show is eagerly anticipated for many Disneyland fans, I could easily give it a pass. At this stage of my life, for me, the Golden Horseshoe belongs to Billy Hill and the Hillbillies and the show they brought to the Golden Horseshoe. Since last summer, Billy has been relegated to performing outdoors at the Festival Arena and while I have not seen outdoor Billy, there is a part of me that wants them back inside the Golden Horseshoe, where they belong, where I have seen them countless times over the last 10 or 12 years.

Someone on MiceChat is already soliciting people to go down to Disneyland's City Hall and fill out an official suggestion request to make the vintage Golden Horseshoe show a permanent fixture once its temporary run begins. That's kind of like voting that Iron Man is the greatest attraction in Disneyland before the ride is even built. Besides, in my many Billy Hill viewings, I have yet to see and empty seat in the house. Billy Hill and the Hillbillies appearing 5 times daily at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Disneyland - that's the way it should be.

Tis The Season Of Bad Decisions At Disneyland

They are starting to mount up - the number of poor decisions by Disneyland Park Management for this upcoming holiday season:

Bad Decision #1

Doing away with the traditional cast member holiday Christmas parties. Nothing brings good holiday cheer around the resort than cast members who have been callously jilted out one of the highlights of their hard working years.

Bad Decision #2

Announcing a 20 night Candlelight Processional complete with dining packages to the public then turning around and having to admit that park management really didn't have a clue on how to properly implement a well designed plan around the CP events. It now comes down to invited VIPs and an annual passholder lottery system for seating. Everyone else, you are on your own.

Bad Decision #3

No Reindeer Round-Up. Another Disneyland Christmas tradition tossed aside for unknown reasons. Maybe the transporting of the the magistic animals from their regular home in the Pacific Northwest along with the care and feeding of some rather large animals had just gotten to be a little too steep of price tag for a rather small park tradition. Maybe. You kids out there...go see Santa and pet a goat...

Bad Decision #4

Billy Hill and Hillbillies taking their Holiday Spectacular to the outdoors (in freakin' December). You know December in Disneyland can be a bit nippy when you remain in one spot for a period of time, sometimes downright cold. And yes, it has also been known to rain like a son of a gun in Disneyland in December. On a cold, wet, day there was just something special about seeing Billy Hill and the Hillbillies do their holiday show in the warm confines of the Golden Horseshoe. Not this year as the Billies continue to play outside in the Festival Arena area. Burrrrrrr....

Bad Decision #5
Tacky ToonTown holiday decorations. I don't have much use for ToonTown myself but it was fun to walk around the place at Christmas time because of the whimsical holiday decorations. Well some wise park manager thought the decorations were in need of some change last year and instead of upgrading the ToonTown decorations, brought in some of the cheapest look holiday decorations this side of the sale aisle at K-Mart. Everyone who cared complained. Guess what? In their infinite wisdom, they brought back the same horrid cheesy decorations. Ugh!

It's November 6. Disney still has plenty of time to add to this list.....

Disneyland Sticks a Fiddle Bow Up Its Nose

So there it is, the standout moment of any performance by Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, the moment when Billy gets a fiddle bow stuck up his nose. "I feel bad for the little kids who have to see something like this on their trip to Disneyland" or words to that effect Billy says as he tries to figure out how to get the bow out of his nose.

I've seen Billy Hill and the Hillbillies perform probably two dozen times at Frontierland's Golden Horseshoe over the years and the bow up the nose bit never gets old. Most of the shows are just a variation of each other (the exception being the "Christmas spectacular") with a slight change in song selection and each performance greatly dependent on audience reaction and participation. It's a lot of fun. And inside the small but wonderfully ornate Golden Horseshoe, Billy Hill feels at home, both the band playing and the audience watching, clapping hands and stomping feet.

So this summer Disney had grand plans of massive amounts of people hitting their Disneyland parks with the relaunch of Disney California Adventure, Cars Land, and the like. And it's true, the bustling crowd levels have had Disney people wearing big smiles on their faces. There was only one slight miscalculation apparently. Large crowds have been turning up on a daily basis at DCA and surprisingly, the park has been able to withstand high crowd volumes much easier than expected. The crowd levels over at Disneyland on the other hand, with only the re-opening of the Matterhorn to boast about, have been quite manageable for a change. Some have used the word "flat" to describe Disneyland crowd levels this summer. Disney had visions over overflowing guests at both parks so in preparation they made the decision to take the popular Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show and move it outdoors and into the cavernous, mostly unused, Fesival Arena where more people could be seated compared to the cramped quarters of The Golden Horseshoe. The only problem is, the people and fans of Billy didn't follow.

The foot traffic around the Festival Arena area is off the beaten path as they say. The only reason to go back there is if you plan to eat at the Big Thunder Bar-B-Que (where reservations are almost never necessary) or use that back pathway to get from Thunder Mountain Railroad to Fantasyland as a shortcut. (There is also a spot back there that is one of Disneyland's last remaining designated smoking areas). So here is where they stuck Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. Below, MiceChat took a picture of the common result:

Billy Hill & the Hillbillies perform to a sparse crowd at the Festival Arena
A MiceChat In The Parks Photo

Now that's sad. The spirited packed house of a Billy Hill performance inside The Golden Horseshoe is reduced to a shadow of what it normally is playing to small crowds in a large area. It's been such a disaster that Disney, in an effort to attract a crowd, any crowd, put up a hastily constructed pin trading stand. Hopefully when summer draws to a close, this incredibly bad decision, is forever filed away.

Billy Hill and a Ticket to Ride

I grew up in San Francisco, CA in what is now categorized as the Classic Rock generation, when the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and all the rest released records as 45's and made albums that were printed on vinyl. Old school stuff. I didn't have to travel to San Francisco in the late 60's in what became known as the hippie movement. It was already my hometown.

Now many years later, I still listen to those same classic rock songs from a generation that has now begun to die off only now the tracks are stored on iPods and cell phones. The kid from San Francisco growing up had little regard for corn spun humor music from something like Hee Haw but now I'm confronted on my trips to Disneyland with Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. Too cool for Billy? Not on your life. These guys are great even after seeing them probably a couple of dozen times.

Me and Mrs. DisneylandTraveler have all kinds of Bill Hill clips from their performances at Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe. In the life of this blog, we'll share them and hopefully you can remember and enjoy a wonderful and entertaining little show.

This first clip is Billy playing it pretty straight, except for the introduction, with The Beatles classic - Ticket to Ride.