The telegraph that keeps clicking at the New Orleans Square railroad station is actually the first two sentances of Walt's Disneyland opening-day dedication speech ("To all who come to Disneyland, welcome. Here, age relives fond memories of the past, and here, youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future.") It is not modern Morse Code but land line telegraphy as used by railroad telegraphers to communicate with train dispatchers and other telegraphers at other stations. Although the Morse code message at the telegraph office of the New Orleans railroad station only plays a small part of Walt's Disneyland Opening Day speach, it used to play an even smaller part until an error below was pointed out to Disney. A ham radio operator noticed the sound from the telegraph office of the New Orleans train station seemed to repeat a definite "message" and not just random dots-n-dashs like a lot of places do. He decided to try and figure out the message. He searched the web and only found this page which originally stated erroneously that the message was Walt's entire opening day speech, but the message was way too short to be that. Some years ago Disney had converted the system from a long looped tape system to a digitized recording. Apparently, the engineer who did it listened to the old tape until he decided that the message was repeating... but he got it wrong. But, thanks to the work of George Eldridge (N6RVC) it now plays correctly and non-stop at the New Orleans train station. To learn the details read Decoding the Disneyland Telegraph reproduced here.
REPORTED: Tavis Perkins 23 MAR 95
CONFIRMED: Ken Stross 28 JUN 96
REPORTED: Meg 29 JUL 96
CONFIRMED: Roger Colton 17 AUG 96
CONFIRMED: Eric Basaker 30 DEC 96
CONFIRMED: Randy Gonzalez 13 JAN 97
CONFIRMED: Mike 18 JAN 97
CONFIRMED: Jon Herrmann 16 APR 97
CONFIRMED: CaliKID 27 DEC 97
Walt Disney's opening day address at the New Orleans Square train station was supposed to have been tapped out by Lillian Disney, who I have heard was a telegrapher before she starting working at the Disney Studios.
UPDATE: Amanda Pettitt 18 JUN 98
CONFIRMED: JUAN FREGOSO 19 JUL 98
CONFIRMED: Andy 18 AUG 98
CONFIRMED: Steven Taylor 28 DEC 99
CONFIRMED: Geoff Miller 25 OCT 00
CONFIRMED: George Eldridge (N6RVC) 25 OCT 00
CONFIRMED: cindy sundes 07 MAR 01
CONFIRMED: Tim Rasmussen 06 JUN 01
CONFIRMED: Jay Nau 06 JUL 01
I just wanted to make a correction...Yes, the "morse code" telegraph is Mr. Disney's opening day speech...Whether or not it is the first two lines or not, they technically aren't the first two...the first two are: "To all who come to this happy place, welcome. DISNEYLAND IS YOUR LAND."
CONFIRMED: Shawn 04 OCT 01
A few years ago, our family went to Disneyland. Near the train station in New Orleans Square, we heard some clicks. After researching, I came to find out the clicks are actually the Morse code version of Walt Disney's opening day speech.
REPORTED: Hayden 15 MAY 06
Located accross the track on the left side of the telegraph station at the New Orleans Square Train Station, you can see a tall switch signal with 2 switches on the top of it (one red, aad one white). If you watch it, the white switch will drop from it's straight up position, to a 90 degree angle, this indicates that the train is nearing the station. About 30 seconds after the switch drops, the train will pull into the station. As a cast Member of the Steam Trains, when I'm working at that station, I often like to tell the kids waiting in line that I have a magical power to be able to know when a train is going to be comming into the station about 30 seconds before it actually gets there (it amazes the kids, and delights the parents), I also get asked the question "when is the train gonna get here?" I like to tell the guests about the secret of the swtiches, so they can tell themselves when the train will be there.
REPORTED: LilStarlet 26 OCT 99
The building across the track from the station is the original Frontierland Station building. It was moved to the opposite side to make way for the new structure, which freed up more queue space.
REPORTED: AprilDecember 13 JUN 99
There is an engineer breakroom in the Frontierland train station, it is in the building where the telegraph is. Right before you enter the tunnel look to the left and you will see a door which is mostly open and you can see engineers inside .
REPORTED: Ricky Jordan 01 AUG 97
I have seen engineers walk into the break room quite a few times.
CONFIRMED: Bryan Raney 02 JAN 01
Next to the Men's restroom near the train station in New Orleans Square there are saloon style double doors for Cast Members only. This path leads to the Westside Diner--an dining area for Cast Members only. The interesting thing about this is that the whole place is themed as a 1950's diner. The female cooks wear poodle skirts,the whole place is decked out in red vinyl, and there are bar stools where one can sip a shake. There is actually a 5 cent jukebox in the shape of the tailfins of a '57 chevy. This place is fun.
REPORTED: Tony Mendes 10 JAN 97
The "Diner" that is evidently a 50's style place for the Cast Members to eat located in New Orleans Square was once known simply as "The DEC". We Disneylanders called it by the way it looked (The Deck). It obviously stood for Disney[land] Employee Cafeteria.
CONFIRMED: Chris 15 JAN 97
Just before the Disneyland train pulls into the New Orleans Square train station, behind the restrooms in the new orleans square alleyway, there is a platform with a Mardi-Gras style head on a stick and some prop boxes of fireworks. I noticed that in California Disney Adventure on the Hollywood backlot there are some similar props (more Mardi Gras heads) by the restrooms. Are these props left over from an old parade?
REPORTED: Pahool 22 May 03
On the Train I was riding from I beleive Fantasyland to Tommowland. There is a fence with animatronics for Fantamic (kind of where the Hunchback show used to be). Well I was looking there and I saw the Alligator from Fantasmic and the Ursala that used to appear in th same show. I don't know why they wont put her back in Fantasmic because its still in the resort.
REPORTED: Ashleyp 29 MAY 06
("To all who come to Disneyland, welcome. Here, age relives fond memories of the past, and here, youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future.") It is not modern Morse Code but land line telegraphy as used by railroad telegraphers to communicate with train dispatchers and other telegraphers at other stations. Although the Morse code message at the telegraph office of the New Orleans railroad station only plays a small part of Walt's Disneyland Opening Day speach, it used to play an even smaller part until an error below was pointed out to Disney. A ham radio operator noticed the sound from the telegraph office of the New Orleans train station seemed to repeat a definite "message" and not just random dots-n-dashs like a lot of places do. He decided to try and figure out the message. He searched the web and only found this page which originally stated erroneously that the message was Walt's entire opening day speech, but the message was way too short to be that. Some years ago Disney had converted the system from a long looped tape system to a digitized recording. Apparently, the engineer who did it listened to the old tape until he decided that the message was repeating... but he got it wrong. But, thanks to the work of George Eldridge (N6RVC) it now plays correctly and non-stop at the New Orleans train station. To learn the details read Decoding the Disneyland Telegraph reproduced here.
Where to next?