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Time to stop by the Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner in 1973 and marvel at the "Red X" trash can parked outside. The companion "Yellow X" style was popular in Disneyland’s Frontierland and New Orleans Square areas in the 1970s. // Disneyland Resort, Disneyland, Main Street U.S.A., Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, 1973 [Source: Gorillas Don't Blog. Used by Permission.]

#Disney #Magical Trash #Disney Trash Can #Trash Can #1973 #PUSH #Waste Please #Red X #Anaheim #Disneyland Resort #DLR #Disneyland #Main Street USA #Coke Corner #Corner Cafe #Coca-Cola #Refreshment Corner #Gorillas Don't Blog

#disney #disneyland #alice in wonderland #hatter #the mad hatter #mad hatter #coke corner

Today is a shared Disney happy cry here and on Facebook.

I was late yesterday, and I’m early today because I haven’t gone to bed yet but I have a feeling I may actually be out for a while when I DO go out.

Today's Disney happy cry is a long one (especially if you include the 43-minute Part 2 that goes with this almost 55-minute Part 1).

I met Rod Miller, one of Disneyland's pianists at Coke Corner (officially Refreshment Corner, but we all called it Coke Corner) when I was 12 and watched one of his shows. I had taken an airport shuttle to Disneyland with my paperboy money after taking a cab to the airport and stopped to watch him. When I hired into Disneyland, 7 years later, he REMEMBERED me from that ONE show I had talked with him during.

He had these things called “tap tunes,” where people were encouraged to tap quarters on his piano to the music (and if you didn’t have one, he would give you one). The only caveat was that you had to tap it on the brass hinges on top of the piano, and not on the paint so you wouldn’t chip paint off the piano. And he would complain when he got more quarters back than he gave out (only table-service waitstaff is allowed to take tips, at least as of when I worked there).

By the time I worked with him, his back was hunched from always sitting over a piano, but he was still a very pleasant person.

But the most surprising thing? He couldn't read music. He literally played by ear. You put sheet music in front of him? He'd be lost. You named a song you wanted him to play? He could do it. If he didn't know it, he'd just ask you to hum a few bars and he'd take it from there. I can read music, but not play it very well. He can’t read music, but played it very well (the bit about him not being able to read sheet music may not be widely known; he told me that one day when we were chatting backstage).

I don't think he's "officially" a Disney legend, but he certainly is one in my book. This is one of those things that doesn’t make it into the map you get when you walk in, but while Rod, I believe, has left us now, it’s something that made for great entertainment. I haven't met them, but I hope they're as cool as Rod was.

#Disneyland #Rod Miller #Coke Corner #Carefree Corner #Refreshment Corner