Yesterland The Happiest Faces On Earth…
 
A Disney Family Album
The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Did you submit your favorite Disney photo memory for “The Happiest Faces on Earth” mosaic collages? Each collage is made up of thousands of photos submitted by guests like you. The collages are part of “The Happiest Homecoming on Earth” at Yesterland.


Based on their average color and brightness, guests’ photos are used as mosaic tiles to make collages—like pixels making images on computer displays, but more artistic. The results are impressive. The locations are well-chosen for each collage. The framing is creative. And it’s all temporary.

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Blue

Some photos are predominantly blue. Perhaps someone wearing a blue shirt is posing with Sulley, Genie, or Cinderella.

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Some photos are predominantly orange. For example, Winnie the Pooh, with his yellow fur and red shirt, averages out to a nice shade of orange from a distance. Tigger, with his black stripes, is a good start for a darker shade of orange.


There are 35 “The Happiest Faces on Earth” collages around the Yesterland Resort campus—29 in Yesterland Park and six in Yester California Adventure.

Let’s walk around and take a look at some more of them…

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Snow White and the Single Dwarf

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

It’s a Mary Blair World

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Mickey’s Trailertown

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

“Some imagination, huh?”

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Baloo and Mowgli floating at the Treehouse

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Experiment 626 in Area 714

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

To Infinity, Tomorrowland, and Beyond!

There’s even a collage made up of Cast Member photos that are themselves collages of Cast Member photos. That might not make sense… but maybe it will when you see it.

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Steamboat Willie on Main Street, U.S.A.

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Cast Members…

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

…made up of Cast Members

The 900-square-foot mosaic Steamboat Willie collage is made up of 900 larger images of Cast Members and nearly half a million photos in total.

Now head over to Yester California Adventure where four murals at Sunshine Plaza showcase Disney-Pixar movies. As you look at them, consider that the mural honoring A Bug’s Life (1998) contains 7,565 images; for The Incredibles (2004), there are 7,772 images; for Finding Nemo (2003), 7,656 images; and for Monsters, Inc. (2001), 7,565 images.

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Catch a Flik at California Adventure

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

They Call Me Mr. Incredible at California Adventure

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Nemo has Been Found at Disney’s California Adventure

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Mike and Sulley Scare Because They Care at California Adventure

If you submitted a photo, you probably want to find it. It’s easy to do so—but first you have to find a Photo Finder.

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Photo Finder on Town Square

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Photo Finder near the California Zephyr at California Adventure

Enter your name or the email address that you used to submit your image file. The display shows you your picture and its location. You can get a printout with the location, row, and column. Don’t be surprised if your photo was used a dozen or even two dozen times.

It’s a pity that some guests just wonder why there are weirdly grainy images all over the parks—instead of looking closely to see that they’re each made up of thousands of photos.


A year before the 50th anniversary of the 1955 opening of Disneyland Park, Disney issued an invitation.

The Happiest Faces On Earth at Disneyland

Screen capture of Happiest Faces On Earth webpage © 2004 Disney

Request for Faces webpage

A press release on July 17, 2004 began with these four paragraphs:

ANAHEIM, Calif., July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- In a visually spectacular kick-off ceremony this morning in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Southern California, Disneyland Resort President Matt Ouimet joined over 1,000 Disneyland Cast Members, plus their friends and families, in formally launching an exciting new program that will be a major part of the global celebration of the 50th anniversary of Disneyland next year.

“The Happiest Faces on Earth… A Disney Family Album” is an unprecedented invitation to people around the world to send in their cherished Disney memories (especially their favorite Disneyland memories) in the form of photographs, snapshots or digital images (both old and recent). The hundreds of thousands of anticipated submissions will be woven together to create “The Happiest Faces on Earth… A Disney Family Album,” a series of extremely unique photo collages of Classic Disney characters and images from the last half century.

By contributing their favorite Disney photo memories to the oversized photo collages of “The Happiest Faces on Earth… A Disney Family Album,” people the world over will become active participants in the milestone “The Happiest Homecoming on Earth” 50th anniversary celebration of Disneyland, officially launching on May 5, 2005. The collages will then be on exhibit throughout the Disneyland Resort for 18-months during the entire duration of the celebration.

“Starting today on the 49th anniversary of Disneyland and extending through December 31 of this year we invite everyone in the world to send us their most treasured and special Disney photos, especially those of their unforgettable visits to Disneyland,” said Ouimet. “This is an amazing program that will allow everybody to become part of this one-of-a-kind tapestry of memories during our upcoming milestone 50th anniversary.”

Guests were encouraged to submit color or black and white photos through the end of 2004—online; through the U.S. Postal Service, or FedEx; or at Disneyland.

How many photos did Disneyland receive? The Orange County Register quoted the woman who knew the answer (“Jackie Wong is an online kind of woman: Part nine of a 50th anniversary series on Anaheim Hills people who work for Disneyland,” by Diane Reed, Oct. 6, 2005):

Jackie Wong helps put the “magic” into the Magic Kingdoms’ online experiences.

If you’ve ever emailed a photo from the Buzz Lightyear kiosk at Disneyland, to a relative in another part of the world, the Anaheim Hills resident has had a hand in it.

She worked on the Tower of Terror game, too.

And, if you’ve found your photo in any of the “Happiest Faces on Earth” collages—celebrating the park’s 50th anniversary—Wong was involved in that project, as well.

“We received more than 60,000 photos online and 120,000 by snail mail,” she said. “It was a big job.”

For the alchemy of transforming nearly 200 thousand guest photos into mosaic collages, Disney turned to Roy Feinson, the South African-born artist, author, and graphic software engineer who pioneered “impressionist mosaics” (as such collages are called).

The collages of “The Happiest Faces on Earth… A Disney Family Album” were displayed at the Disneyland Resort for 18 months beginning May 5, 2005. In addition, the 50th anniversary added these other temporary and permanent features:

  • Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams
  • Remember… Dreams Come True fireworks
  • Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years exhibit and film
  • Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
  • Sleeping Beauty Castle with “Crown Jewel” finery
  • 50 “Hidden 50s”
  • Golden attraction vehicles
  • Block Party Bash street extravaganza (at Disney’s California Adventure)
  • Re-“Imagineered” Space Mountain (officially opened July 15, 2005)
  • Fresh paint and general sprucing up
  • And plenty of merch (Golden Mouse Ears, anyone?)

“The Happiest Homecoming on Earth” ended September 30, 2006. Some of its features stayed, but the collages went away, as planned.


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Updated September 26, 2014.