Golden Dreams

This article is about the film at Disney's California Adventure, for the song "Golden Dream" played in The American Adventure and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln see Golden Dream (song).

Golden Dreams
Golden Dreams facade
Ride statistics
Attraction type	Educational film
Music	Official Album 2001
Duration	22

Golden Dreams a film about the history of California, is a featured attraction at Disney's California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It opened with the park on February 8, 2001. It stars film actor Whoopi Goldberg as Califia, the Queen of California. In 2007 it was announced that in a major re-vamp of the park, this attraction is scheduled for removal to make way for the "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" dark ride attraction rumored to open in 2011. However, the exterior replica of the Bernard Maybeck's Palace of Fine Arts is expected to remain. The attraction's final day of operation was September 7th, 2008.

Synopsis

Guests enter the theater which is a replica of the previously mentioned Bernard Maybeck façade of San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, a famed Bay Area landmark constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.

As the show begins, two tall art noveau statues of a single goddess-like woman, one on either side of a film projection screen, are bathed in golden light. The statue on the right "comes to life," personified by Ms. Goldberg, through a video of her face, which is projected from the rear into the translucent head of the figure. The statue introduces herself as "Califia, the Queen of California." Califia explains that she is the spirit within California, and an inspiration to many famous Californians. Goldberg appears within some of the filmed sequences which follow as Califia -- in disguise -- to comment or offer encouraging words to various characters who find themselves in challenging situations. Occasionally one or the other of the faces of the two Califia statues lights up to make additional observations.

The 70-mm film highlights admirable and regrettable eras and incidents in the history of California, including vivid picturizations of injustice which do not sanitize reality. Scenes featuring Chumash Indians living a peaceful life on the shore, for example, are followed by the same Indians being held captive by Spanish missionaries and conquistadors.

After the establishment of California, events such as the troubles endured by Chinese laborers working on the railroad and miners during the Gold Rush of 1849 are presented. The immigration issue faced by Japanese women seeking to live in the United States, more specifically California, is also shown. Japanese and many other Asian people were denied entry, although wives of established immigrants were allowed to enter. Many women became "picture brides," agreeing to marriage on the basis of exchanged photographs in order to come to the United States. A powerful dramatization of the crushed hopes of one young picture bride whose husband is far older than represented in the photo he has provided, is particularly affecting. The film continues into the 20th century, with the stories of the famed and infamous water and civil engineer William Mulholland, the hardships of those seeking a new life during the Great Depression, film producers of the 1930s, and women taking over "men's jobs" to achieve victory in World War II. Still photos of the Japanese brides and of impoverished women in a migrant camp in the 1930s are the work of noted photographer, Dorothea Lange.

After the war, thousands of people moved to California to seek good living, sunny weather, and suburban life. The new luxuries of freeways, amusements (more specifically - Disneyland), and easy life are shown. After the 1950s, the turbulent counterculture of the 1960s is depicted. Finally, the technology boom of the later part of the 20th century is featured, with the story of Steve Jobs and the creation of the personal computer.

The film, among the most sophisticated in any of the Disney parks, ends with a montage of notable events and Californians. The montage is reminiscent of a similar finale to the American Adventure film in the U.S.A. Pavilion in the EPCOT Center, World Showcase, in which a cavalcade of fading images of noteworthy Americans and historical incidents is similarly and effectively set to a stirring orchestral score. A concluding salute to discovery, fortitude and imagination is given by Califia. Her eyes then close as her face falls back into statuesque repose, the light within the statue fades, and the house lights come up.

The 22-minute film was directed by Polish director Agnieszka Holland

Attraction facts

• Seats: 347
• Seating: Theater chairs

External links

• Official page
• Golden Dreams at IMDb
• MousePlanet page