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Disneyland

You can't get in line for these Disneyland treats

Bill Keveney
USA TODAY
A special switch brings night stars, Disney music and Peter Pan accents to the master bedroom at the Disneyland Dream Suite.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Imagine a place where you can fall asleep with stars twinkling above, lights shimmering like waterfalls against your bed’s canopy and Captain Hook’s pirate ship silhouetted against the moon, all to music from The Jungle Book.

Yes, it’s in Disneyland. And no, there isn’t a 105-minute wait time. Actually, there isn’t any wait time, since the Disneyland Dream Suite is closed to all but the occasional prize winner or VIP.

I got the rare opportunity to visit the Dream Suite and another off-limits spot, Walt Disney’s small apartment above the firehouse on Main Street, U.S.A., as part of a park tour preceding a 60th anniversary special, The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60 (ABC, Sunday, 8 p.m. ET/PT). (Frozen’s Olaf, Josh Gad, will show off the private areas during the show.)

The 2,200-square-foot Dream Suite, located above the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and based on designs by Gone with the Wind illustrator Dorothea Holt Redmond, is a plush, two-bedroom apartment with living room, interior patio and a balcony overlooking New Orleans Square.

How's this for a bathroom? The stained glass is above a tub.

The master bedroom channels Adventureland, with the bathroom echoing Fantasyland.

Park creator Walt Disney envisioned the unit, built during a 1960s expansion, as a place to entertain and for family to stay, but plans were tabled after his death in 1966 and not revived until 2007.

The rooms have plenty of intriguing elements, including a replica Franklin stove in one bedroom and a stained-glass window above the master bedroom’s bathtub.

However, the suite really comes to life with the "goodnight kiss," a wall button that turns each room into its own ride.

One push and the master bedroom darkens. The ceiling becomes a star-filled sky, a canopy transforms into a waterfall via shimmering lights and mermaids materialize in a painting of a water scene, their laughs filling the room. The moon appears on a wall, with the Jolly Roger sailing by.

In the adjacent bathroom, stars twinkle above the tub, including a mouse-ears constellation, as music from Fantasia plays.

Choo-choo! A train circumnavigates a  Disneyland Dream Suite bedroom via the shelf just below the ceiling.

A grandfather clock holds court in a blue-and-white, French Provincial living room. With one chiming pattern, caged mechanical birds, an inspiration for the Enchanted Tiki Room, begin chirping. Another leads to Cinderella’s A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, as a glass slipper illuminates.

In the fireplace, faux flames rise into fireworks and the mirror above transforms into Sleeping Beauty Castle, complete with a star to wish upon.

Frontierland inspires one bedroom.

The second bedroom, rich with reds and browns, may have the best goodnight kiss. A continuous shelf near the ceiling contains historical knickknacks, including a model riverboat and an old-fashioned train. A button push sends the train, the Innovation Express, chugging around the room, with bells sounding and warning lights blinking.

Walt's Apartment, the one-room residence for Walt Disney as he watched construction of Disneyland, is quite modest compared to the nearby Dream Suite.

Walt’s Apartment is a simpler place, but one with historical significance. Creator Disney stayed in the single room, which can only be seen via special tours, while overseeing construction of the theme park, which opened in 1955.

The Victorian-themed room, originally designed my Mary Poppins set decorator Emile Kuri, features fold-away beds that accommodated Disney and his wife, Lillian. Family pictures adorn the room, which also features Walt's gift to Lillian, an Edison Standard Phonograph with a floral-pattern horn.

A fire pole once connected to the firehouse below, but that was sealed after an enterprising young guest shimmied his way up.

A lighted window lamp told workers that Disney was present. It remains lit today as a tribute to the park's namesake.

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