Storybook Land Scenes

Two snapshots featuring scenes along the bank of the canal through Storybook Land. The attraction reflected Walt's love of miniature and also Ken Anderson's hobby of miniatures. Instead of building just one doll house, Walt and Ken created a whole land featuring doll houses from the animated cartoons in the company's library. The first picture today shows the castle where Cinderella attended the ball and met the man of her dreams. Halfway down the mountain, her carriage was changed back to the pumpkin. Surrounding the high castle is the town which Cinderella is not allowed to visit by her wicked stepmother.

The second photo shows the forest cottage that is the home to the Seven Dwarves. This is the house Snow White finds after fleeing the huntsman and finds a home.

Flying Elephants and Teacups

Once upon a time there was a magical ride that went from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland over the lands. And from this magical ride, many a great photograph was snapped. The ride was the Skyway and these two images show two attractions from Fantasyland. First up is Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Lucky riders are having fun using their magical feather to fly through the air.

The second picture is of the tea cups where riders who do not suffer from vertigo go around and around very fast. This moment is when the teacups are being loaded with everyone picking their favorite color.

Trains At Disneyland

One of the Walt Disney Company's tagline is remember that it all started with a mouse. For Disneyland, the park started with a train. Walt's love of trains is well documented with several full length books written on the subject. When Disneyland was just an idea, Walt wanted a train to encircle the park. Most people believe Walt just wanted a full size railroad to run. With Disneyland, the train is one of the most visible attractions at the entrance and every visit to the park is not complete without a train ride. This is true for this family as they waited in line at the Main Street station and snapped photographs of the C.K. Holliday, Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad engine number 1.

The engine was pulling the freight train combination with the boxcars. The circular sign with the castle on the boxcar is a nice touch based upon similar signs placed on boxcars on regular railroads. I believe at this time the railroads were still being run with the freight operating and loading and unloading at Frontierland Station and the passenger train loading and unloading at Main Street station.

Indian Village Dancing

In the early years of Disneyland, the Indian Village was a very popular attraction. One of the main draws was the dancing demonstrations on the main stage. Most photo collections of the time period have some images of Indian Village and most are of the dancers. These two photographs do capture the crowd watching the Native American dancer. In the background there is a camera bug taking photos with his expensive camera and also a poor dad holding two Mickey Mouse balloons.

And a note, I stated the restaurant yesterday was the Red Wagon Inn, but rather it is the sister restaurant the Plaza Pavilion. The Pavillion (as called in the early years) was a buffet restaurant and had two dining areas, the Victorian theming on Main Street and tropical on the Adventureland side. Thanks to K. Martinez for pointing this out. I should know better than to rely on my brain early in the morning to remember the details....

Movie and a Lunch

Two pictures of attractions on Main Street. First up is a poster for a Rudolph Valentino movie at the Main Street Cinema. The Main Street Cinema once showed classic silent cinema, unlike the Mickey Mouse only shorts seen today. I am sure many kids first saw the classic Phantom of the Opera for the first time after using their A ticket to enter.

Next up is the lunch spot in the early days of Disneyland, the Red Wagon Inn. Outfitted with fantastic furnishings from a local Los Angeles Mansion, the restaurant served Swift's quality meats exclusively. This was the high end dining spot with a lounge for sponsors.

Characters on Main Street

One of the earliest characters on Main Street was Trinidad the White Wing of the Disneyland Sanitation Department. This snapshot is of Trinidad by the Gibson card shop heading onto Main Street, pushing his cart. I like the feather in his cap. He appeared on his own early Disneyland postcard.

The next image is of a very young ice cream vendor. The vendor also made it onto one of the earliest postcards. I was hoping that the vendor would be wearing one of the early ID badges, but he is not. I do think that everyone would look dashing in his belted outfit.

Entering Disneyland April 1957

The family after checking into the Disneyland Hotel rode the tram over to Disneyland. First up is the obligatory photograph of Main Street Station and the Mickey Mouse Floral.

The boy is holding the 1957 guidebook.

Walking under the left side tunnel, the family explored firefighting in the early 1900s by visiting the fire house. The horse drawn fire engine appears to be parked for the day.

Disneyland Hotel Parking Lot 1957

Two snapshots of the original Disneyland Hotel parking lot. Upon arrival, guests staying at the adjacent Disneyland Hotel would park in this lot to check in. One of the first structures seen was this great mid century modern building housing the Hotel Restaurant and Bar. Operated by Gourmet (who had other restaurants in Los Angeles), the restaurant had a classic coffee shop menu of food. I have always been entranced by the steel girders used for decoration.

Girl Scout Troop 48 Visits Disneyland February 20, 1972

I am back as part of my New Year's resolution.  I plan to post more often (my last post was July 17th....)  Today's post is from a photo album created by a troop leader for a San Diego area Girl Scouts Troop.  The troop visited Disneyland on February 20, 1972.  According to Jason's Almanac, the park was open on this Sunday from 9 AM to 12 AM.  The high temp was 73 degrees and the low was 48 degrees Fahrenheit.  The special event was the Star Spangled Holiday as the next day was Lincoln's Birthday.  The first image is of three scouts with Practical Pig.  The caption is funny with Kathy, Janinne, Pig, Linda (I like that the pig had to be named as pig...as if the viewer could not see that he is a pig.)  Also on this page is a Jiminy Cricket ticket from a Magic Kingdom Club ticket book.    The next two images are all taken around it's a small world.  The group shot includes the following Girl Scouts- Dianna, Nancy, Erica, Brianna. 
 
  The girls visited Tomorrowland and rode the Peoplemover, taking this nice shot with both Autopia and Submarine Voyage. 
    Of course the African Veldt was visited by the troop. 
  The last photograph is of the lovely Mark Twain pulling out from the dock in Frontierland.  Though not noted in the Almanac, this image shows a somewhat busy day. 
 

Opening Day 1955

Today is the 62nd anniversary of Press Preview Day for Disneyland. Opening on July 17, 1955, Disneyland ushered in a new entertainment form that is still evolving. I have pulled various press preview day items to present today. First up is the rare parking sticker for that day.

Next up is the scarce gold pass. Usually given to other studio executives, financial and other mover and shakers in the film world. This ticket allowed the bearer to write how many guests, I have seen one with 99 written on it...

Selected individuals received tickets and memos to ride on the trains during the opening ceremony. This is for the freight train, I have not seen one for the passenger train, but I would think there would be one.

For those participating in the parade 62 years ago, they received a rather plain ticket. Much more scarce than any other opening day ticket, but not as graphic.

And a couple of related documents. First up is a thank you letter to Jimmy Starr who was the entertainment reporter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He may have been biased as he also had a shop located next to the Opera House called Show Business.

One of my favorite pieces is this advertisement that ran in a San Diego area newspaper with the opening day to the public listed as Monday July 18th. Make sure you read the ad copy. This most likely ran on the Saturday or Sunday prior to the 18th.

Happy anniversary Disneyland and everyone who will be in the park today, have a great time!

1967 Disneyland

Although I have not had much time to update the blog, I am still out looking for pictures and other Disneyland items. This batch of slides I found locally in Denver and documents a 1967 trip. First up is a you are there in the monorail view of the parking lot, complete with a rare shot of the Monorail door pillar.

A band (I am not sure if this is a visiting band or the Disneyland band) marches down Main Street.

A pretty portrait of the mighty Matterhorn mountain bathed in the sun.

A couple of different views of the Chicken of the Sea pirate ship. First the family seems too involved in counting the remaining tickets to notice the lovely view.

And a dusk view showing the poop deck of the ship.

One of the then new attractions, it's a small world, also shines in the sun.

A view of Sleeping Beauty Castle from the courtyard.

A parade of characters coming down the street. This image captures the Pinocchio group and a few others.

The three little pigs with Alice and Snow White in the background.

The entrance to the New Tomorrowland with a space girl at the front greeting guests.

She delighted in posing with guests (and I assume guests delighted posing with her, especially male guests...)

The photographer truly enjoyed the encounter with the space girl, following her to the Space Stage.

I hope you enjoyed this quick trip back to 1967.

B'rer Animals in New Orleans Square

In preparation of Mardis Gras, a lovely image of B'rer Fox and B'rer Bear dancing in New Orleans Square. At this time period, Song of the South was still considered acceptable and released regularly to movie theaters. One of my all time favorite films with wonderful characters and a heart warming story. The costumed characters appear to be having a dance off. My money is on B'rer Bear as he has a tendency to use larger moves. In the background is a nice street sign. I will have to check if the street signs are still up the next time I am at Disneyland.

Matterhorn Madness

Sorry about the sporadic posting on the blog. I am spending more time adulting...but I will still strive to post on the blog. Today is Matterhorn madness with three pictures of the fantastic attraction. First up is a general view of the mountain. The photo is dated January 1968 but I believe it was taken in December of 1967. Looks like a nice sunny and uncrowded day at Disneyland.

The second image is from the same set showcasing the fabulous star that was placed on top of the Matterhorn during this time period. I really wished the rumors of an LED version would have returned. Note the climber almost at the peak...maybe he is going to change out one of the light bulbs? The perspective of the Skyway buckets is nice.

The last view for today is a newer picture showing the Swiss aspect of the mountain...the hole in the mountain to allow the Skyway to pass through. The photographer kindly let us be there with the interior of the top of the Skyway bucket.

Lost Safari and Ethan Allen

Two fun views today. First up is the original tableaux of the lost safari being treed by a rhino on the Jungle River Cruise. The antelope in the background have been moved and the scene is not as large in today's Jungle River Cruise.

The second image is of the Submarine Voyage and the Ethan Allen submarine starting on the voyage under the polar ice caps. I do miss the battleship gray coloring of the subs. In the background is the Douglas Rocket to the Moon (after TWA stopped their sponsorship.

Souvenir Friday on a Monday and Two Frontierland Views

My Friday morning was a little hectic and I was not able to post my Souvenir Friday post. So here is the University of Disneyland Newsletter for July 1966. Lots of promotions this month and no one wanted to see the Dodgers play baseball.

The next two photographs are unrelated. First up is the final Indian Village photograph featuring Melody from my January 25 post. Melody proudly poses in front of the Buffalo still holding her groovy bag.

The second image is of Tom Sawyer's treehouse with a rather dapper gentleman getting ready to relive his childhood days of playing in a tree house.