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Photos by Werner Weiss, 2013 |
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Disneyland Park has Mad Tea Party, loosely inspired by Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951). |
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Yester California Adventure has Mad T Party, loosely inspired by Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010) for Walt Disney Pictures. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Entrance from the Hyperion Theatre end of Hollywood Land |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Foggy “rabbit hole” portal from the center of Hollywood Land |
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Whether you enter Mad T Party under the big sign or past the pocket watch, you’re in for a evening of DJ music, live music, unusual entertainment, arcade games, dancing, and—if you so choose—drinking. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 White Rabbit DJ |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Mad T Party band performance |
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Unlike other nighttime parties in this part of the park, Mad T Party offers a live band in addition to a DJ. The band members represent Alice in Wonderland characters—Alice and Mad Hatter doing vocals, March Hare on bass, Dormouse on guitar, Caterpillar on keyboard, and Cheshire Cat on drums. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Vocalists Alice and the Mad Hatter |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum |
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Your hosts Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum sport Mohawks, wear platform combat boots, and have “Dee” and “Dum,” respectively, tattooed on the backs their heads. This is clearly not the 1951 version of Alice in Wonderland. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2013 Fantastical world |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Stilt-walking flamingos |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2013 WHO R U at the House of Cards stage |
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WHO R U, a performer in a rainbow-colored slinky outfit, dances into all sorts of amazing positions. His slinky arms and legs change length, cascade in arches, become human-like, and then become utterly abstract. It’s a mesmerizing show. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Drink Me cocktail club |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Drink Me drink menu |
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If you feel like drinking, and you’re old enough, try a Croquet Tini, Mad Hat-Ito, or Mad Long Island Iced T Party at Drink Me. The House of Cards bar on the other corner of the courtyard offers the same drink menu, but offers something else… air hockey. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Air hockey at the House of Cards |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2013 Mad Arcade entrance |
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If you’re a game player, Mad Arcade is the place to go for arcade games, themed for Mad T Party. Are you ready to play “Whac-a-Hat,” “Queen of Hearts Royal 1/2 Court,” “Frabjous Day Frenzy,” “Bandersnatch Ball,” and other clever takes on classic games? Then let’s go inside. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 “Queen’s Crouquet” skeeball |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 “Cheshire Cat’s Smile Smash” |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2013 Attire for the party |
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Are you planning to return to be part of another evening of Mad T Party? Then buy a tee-shirt or other attire “to dress the part.” |
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June 15, 2012, was a big day at Disney California Adventure—the grand opening of Cars Land, Buena Vista Street, and the Carthay Circle Theatre. Lost in the excitement about these fundamental changes to the park, Mad T Party officially premiered that evening (after previews on Friday, May 25, 2012 and weekend nights before the official premiere). Mad T Party replaced ElecTRONica, which had closed April 15, 2012—just two months earlier. Hollywood Pictures Backlot was renamed to Hollywood Land. Unlike previous nighttime parties that also included Hollywood Boulevard, Mad T Party was limited to the land’s backlot courtyard. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 House of Cards and its side stage during the day |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Plenty of unused seating in the daytime |
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The party area looked spectacular at night. However, by day, the courtyard was even more of a thematic mess than usual. The final evening of the original version of Mad T Party was November 30, 2014. Its replacement was Freeze the Night! A Family Dance Party, running January 7, 2015 to April 30, 2015. For the 60th anniversary of Disneyland, a scaled down version of Mad T Party—called Diamond Mad T Party—returned May 22, 2015. Its final night was March 30, 2016. In summer 2016, the next nightime party was Jammin’ on the Backlot, without the elaborate story elements of its predecessors. With that party, Disney California Adventure ended the series of nightime parties that began with Glowfest in 2010. Of course, there could be another nighttime party in the future. Such parties draw guests who are willing to pay Disney prices for alcohol. |
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© 2022 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated October 21, 2022 |
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