Wallace’s latest masterpiece.

On August 1, Wallace made his first public appearance at Disneyland to announce the creation of a new work of art. A piece that reveals a project of Walt’s that never saw the light of day and celebrated other great minds that inspired him – Edison Square.

As far as most people know, Walt intended Edison Square to be another land, just off of Main Street, centering on the influence of electricity on America. Along with this seemingly pleasant American neighborhood, three depictions on Wallace’s piece call attention to three separate locations throughout Disneyland.

An illustration of the Mark Twain Riverboat in Disneyland has the following caption: CATCH THE VIEW FROM THE WHEELHOUSE.

An illustration of the PeopleMover track in Tomorrowland has the following caption: BEST ENJOYED FROM ABOVE.

And…

An illustration of a phonograph has the following caption: LOOK BEYOND THE LAMP.

Some of you who made it to Disneyland hopped onto the Mark Twain Riverboat and asked to ride in the wheelhouse. Upon completing the cruise, you then received a certificate, stamped with a specific time and date – 12:00PM SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1932 – the day Amelia Earhart completed her transatlantic flight.

Next, the shapes surrounding the image on the upper right corner of the page reminded a number of you of the Astro Orbiter in Tomorrowland. For those who rode the Astro Orbiter and looked onto the track of the PeopleMover, you found three shapes painted onto the track of the People Mover – a large circle, a large diamond, and another large circle.

Last and certainly not least, most everyone who saw Wallace speak on August 1 were treated to a quick visit to Walt’s Apartment. Wallace depicted the phonograph inside the Main Street apartment on the lower right corner of his Edison Square piece. Once inside, some of you looked beyond just the lamp and noticed a wax phonograph cylinder package with the image of the Eiffel Tower.

Unfortunately, some of you fellow Optimists spent much of the day searching for more clues. Trying to figure out what any of your findings meant. And finding nothing more. Many of you left discouraged, frustrated, confused.

Then this arrived in some of your mailboxes.

A number of you discovered that the link Wallace included – disneycartography.com/es – leads to an animated depiction of Edison Square made by Wallace’s assistant. It’s kind of adorable, if you ask me. BUT… like many things Wallace, there’s more to this depiction of Edison Square than one might first notice.

Each circular frame on the Edison Square map has some sort of arrow that points to one of three specific buildings on the assistant’s depiction of Edison Square. And if you click on one of 3 specific symbols that are somewhat hidden on the corresponding buildings (An anchor, a ringed planet, and a phonograph), you unlock 3 puzzles. The only way to solve the puzzles is to use what some of you discovered in Disneyland – Amelia Earhart’s birthday on the gift certificate; the painted circle, diamond, and circle on the PeopleMover track; and the image of the Eiffel Tower on the wax cylinder package in Walt’s Apartment.

Solving the puzzles unlock animated scenes that reveal what seems to be previously unknown attractions meant for Edison Square. And they look to be inspired by possible society members!

There was one other recent event worth noting that I haven’t yet covered. Wallace hosted a live chat, where he attempted to answer many of your questions. And he confirmed a few things:

• Wallace is a recruiter whose “mission” is to find people “dedicated to building a better tomorrow.”
• A group of “artists, engineers, futurists” worked on and held special demonstrations of top secret technologies.
• He didn’t know my Grandpa but was aware of him.
• His favorite color is sky blue.

Then Wallace patched legendary Imagineer Bob Gurr into the conversation who confirmed the existence of the secret society! Then his connection was abruptly lost and Wallace left the chat.

Anyway, I know there’s a lot for you all to be proud of. AND a lot to look forward to. Especially with everything that many of you are about to experience down in Anaheim, CA. Thinking about those things are good for me. I welcome the distraction.

Since our last recap, Mom agreed to sit down for an interview with me.  It was so much fun! She talked about Grandpa being like a big kid in many ways, always dreaming, telling stories, not worrying one bit about responsibilities. Mom and I shared a moment when we realized that the same bedtime story Grandpa used to tell her as a kid was the same story he used to tell me! We enjoyed recalling some interesting details together about this dream world Grandpa dreamt up.

Then the following day, this happened:

Yeah. Wallace released his latest work of art – a map of Walt’s Haunts – and friends from around Southern California immediately set out to investigate. First stop: Chili John’s.

Folks who ordered their chili with “a side of pinto beans to go” got a free can of chili. If they were hungry, it might’ve been a bit disappointing. But if they had an appetite for knowledge, I’m sure they walked away very satisfied, because inside the can was a message from the society – a note about “recruiting tactics.” And apparently there was more than one message, as by my count, people reported finding five different notes!  It sounds like this society was recruiting only the best and the brightest in many disciplines from around the globe.  I wonder: have these cans been there since the 60’s? (If so, probably a good thing there was no chili inside!)

The Carousel at Griffith Park in Los Angeles also appeared on the map.

Walt used to take his own daughters there before he started creating carousels of his own. The map of Walt’s Haunts also included a picture of a horse with a ribbon, and on that ribbon were the words: RIDE THE LAST DARK HORSE.  Our fellow optimists found a dark horse near the center of the carousel, which had a leather belt stamped with seemingly random letters. If you wrapped this belt around the pole, the letters on the belt lined up to spell out this message:

SOCIETY MEMBERS – WE EACH PLAY A ROLE IN BUILDING TOMORROW – REMEMBER OUR GOAL TO FORGE A BRIGHTER PATH FOR THE FUTURE & KEEP THE WORLD GOING ROUND

It seems to be a reminder for members of the society, to keep them on the right path, so to speak. I wonder if the Carousel was a place where they met regularly?  Maybe this was the real reason that Walt was on the bench that day?

Which takes us to our next stop on Wallace’s map: Le Grand Courtyard.  After being led into Club 33 (!!), some of you discovered glassware, each with its own set of initials.

Debra was the first to post whom the initials belong to:

AME = Amelia Mary Earhart
JGV = Jules Gabriel Verne
SLC = Samuel Leghorns Clemens (Mark Twain)
TAE = Thomas Alva Edison
AGE = August Gustav Eiffel
HGW = H.G. Wells
NT = Nicola Tesla
And last but not least, WED = Walter Elias Disney

Ricky first posted on the blog that he believed these were all members of the rumored secret society that we all have been discussing.  It looks like this society had some pretty illustrious roots!

The next destination on Walt’s Haunts brought many of you to Walt’s Barn at the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society.

Along with the “Red Barn” where Walt tinkered with model trains and came up with big ideas, many of you visited the “Combine Car” and found a poster of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad. A note on Wallace’s map revealed a “flash photo opportunity inside.” And when you took a flash photo of the poster inside, “New Orleans Square” and a telegraph sign magically appeared on the poster.

Upon seeing that, a number of you trekked back to Disneyland to record the telegraph message at New Orleans Square, and Ricky deciphered it:

“Welcome society members of 1966 and our new inductee RDB.”

Is RDB referring to Ray Bradbury?  Was he part of this society as well?  Before this was all discovered, I didn’t even realize he knew Walt Disney!  Can you imagine hanging out with that group of brilliant minds?

And then yesterday!  The last stop on Wallace’s map – the Bench.

What an incredible journey from meeting Wallace (I’m so jealous!) to going into Walt’s apartment.  We are still tracking down what it all means, but I feel like we are getting closer to understanding that something very big was going on.   And it wasn’t just Walt and the Imagineers – it seems like they were part of some society that stretched across the globe.  For quite some time.  But how can we confirm that?  What was it they were all working on?  And how in the world did grandpa fit in?  It’s almost like we need to find someone who had an inside scoop.

This is so much fun to uncover with all of you, my fellow optimists.  I feel like we are on the verge of putting it all together.