Disneyland Erects New ‘Happiest’ Sign

After more than 30 years of welcoming the young and the young at heart, the sign that has greeted visitors as they enter Disneyland will be retired next week and replaced by a jazzier version featuring a fiber-optic message board.

Disneyland officials announced Friday that the old sign, which has graced the main gate of the Magic Kingdom since 1958, will be taken down and placed in storage.

“The old board has been around for a while and we just felt it needed updating,” said John McClintock, a Disneyland spokesman. “The old sign (with a now-outdated electronic message display) had on more than one occasion” displayed misspelled words announcing attractions, McClintock said.

The new sign will include the familiar slogan “The Happiest Place on Earth” and feature fiber-optic lights behind a large screen. Coming attractions will be announced on the screen, which will also be capable of projecting photographic images at the command of an advanced computer system, officials said.

“The equipment is capable of doing a number of different functions and we’re pleased that we are able to have it ready at this point,” McClintock said. “We’ve been planning to get the sign for the last two years, and it just so happened that it came through this year.”

The old sign will be dismantled. Park officials hope that one face of it may be donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, while many of the remaining letters might be sold at an auction during Disneyland’s 35th anniversary in 1990.

“These plans are tentative at the moment, but we are hoping to move full-speed ahead, particularly with the Smithsonian and the various other ideas we have,” McClintock said.

But for a few more days, both signs will welcome theme park visitors. The new sign is scheduled to officially be put in use Friday.