Today at Disneyland: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Today was an exciting day for someone who has loved Julie Andrews since she was very young...we had the opportunity to see her in person at Disneyland. Viewed from a few feet away, Julie was just as lovely and gracious in person as one would expect having seen her on film over the decades.

Julie was visiting the park to have a newly refurbished horse at King Arthur's Carrousel rededicated in her honor.

She also signed copies of her new autobiography, HOME: A MEMOIR OF MY EARLY YEARS. Although we arrived at the park at the appointed time for distribution of the wristbands needed to participate in the booksigning, we were told some people had been in line for over four hours and apparently many of those people still did not receive wristbands. Obviously, Julie Andrews matters to a lot of people. :) No worries, though, as instead we went and were among the first guests who gathered for the Carrousel ceremony.

A view at the Carrousel:


We were among the first of what turned out to be quite a big crowd surrounding the Carrousel. Although our view was partially obscured by cast members, we were happy to be there and we managed to get a few nice photos of the event.

Here's legendary Imagineer Tony Baxter waiting for the start of the ceremony:


Julie was just as lovely off the screen as on:


Admiring Jingles:


Here's a closeup of Jingles. Julie was given a gorgeous, smaller-scale replica of the horse:


I have a feeling future riders are going to be racing for the chance to ride the carrousel horse belonging to Mary Poppins herself!

The rededication was held in appreciation of Julie acting as Disneyland's 50th anniversary ambassador. She gave a nice speech talking about what Disneyland means to her and reminiscing about her first visit, in 1962, with Walt as her tour guide.


And another shot:


Imagineering Ambassador Marty Sklar was present at the ceremony. Here, he greets some fans:


Marty, incidentally, just released an open letter addressing the It's a Small World controversy.

Below, Julie with Disneyland President Ed Grier (the tall man with his back to the camera). Unfortunately, based on what I read Ed is only seen in the park for ceremonies such as this, which is quite a contrast from his predecessor, Matt Ouimet.


Finally it was time for Julie to leave -- I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she was headed to a pre-book signing lunch at Club 33!


It was a wonderful way to spend a spring morning at the park.


The Orange County Register's 9-photo slideshow can be found here.

April 14th Update: Scroll down here for more photos and information on Julie Andrews' day at Disneyland.

July 2009 Update: Here are closeups of the carrousel horse.