Old New York and Chicago

The first image shows some of the street characters in Old New York. They look like extra's from The Gangs of New York film. The second image shows the Firehouse seen in Chicago. Chicago's main attraction was the burning of the town. The third image is of the steam boat The Canadian. As you can see the attractions were loosely based upon attractions seen at Disneyland. One of the reasons was that C.V. Wood was one of the main driving forces behind the design of the park.

Entrance to Freedomland and Old New York

Starting off the slide images of an August 1960 trip to Freedomland is the first sight visitors saw; the entrance to the park and the ticket booths. Posted on the entrance is what looks like an attraction poster. I have never seen an attraction poster from this park on the market.

The next image is of the two boys proudly wearing their Civil War era hats. During this time period the Civil War was having its Centenniel and the country went a little Civil War mad.

The next two images are from the streets on Old New York. I like the one with the small China Town in the background. Chicago was right next to Old New York where the train station was located which is in the background. I will show the menu from the steak restaurant shown in the top image.

Souvenir Friday- Freedomland Pre-Opening Brochure 1960

To start off a long posting series on the New York City amusement park Freedomland is this scan of the first two foldouts for the pre-opening brochure. The graphic design and original design art in this brochure is amazing. Look for more Freedomland posts throughout the week and maybe beyond.

Magic Mountain Rides 1972

More snapshots from Magic Mountain in 1972. What is so striking about the park is the emptiness and the wide open spaces of the park. Unlike so many amusement parks these days with rides twisting in and between each other. The rides do appear to be fun rides and the roller coaster built on the hill is pretty fun. I think it is still there and is the Gold Rusher. Unfortunately the cameral used to take the images causes a slight blurriness.

Magic Mountain Trolls and Wizard

Taking a quick road trip north up the 5 freeway brings you to scenic Valencia home to Magic Mountain. What started out as a small theme park has now morphed into a giant coaster park. It was once surrounded by nothing but fields and more fields and is now home to houses and strip malls. But back in 1972 they had their own costumed characters, furry trolls and the wizard who ran the place. The characters are almost as scary as the Fuji Folk seen at Japanese Deer Park.

Frontierland Souvenir Slides

Another set in the same series of souvenir slides are these four views of Frontierland. The slides date from 1958/1959 time period and features some great views. The slides are listed as Eastman Transperencies. The first three have not faded but are a bit blue. The last one of the Columbia had turned bright red.

Four Interior Views of the Old Alice In Wonderland Attraction

Always late for a very important date was the Alice In Wonderland attraction. Opening in 1958, three years after the rest of Fantasyland was complete this attraction featured some of the wackiest interiors filled with impossible characters. And then the second version opened one year after the 1983 construction of New Fantsyland. The views seen in the slides are no longer in the attraction, especially the favorite upside down room. These slides are souvenir slides which unfortunately turn red over time.

Disneyland Hotel Golf Course Scorecards

I thought I would do a long post showing the inside of the various Disneyland Hotel Golf Course score cards. The first is what I believe is the oldest, before the holes were themed to Disneyland.

Next is the one with the castle on the front. It is dated 1961 and the holes are now themed to various Disneyland locations.

Finally is the blue one with the Mickey Mouse fountain on the front cover. It is dated 1964.

Finally to add some color and to show the Disneyland Hotel as it used to be is this set of four souvenir slides. Unfortunately the souvenir slides have a nasty habit of turning red and making it hard to re color so they come out looking like nostalgic photos. My favorite shot is of the Coral swim club with a person actully using one of the bamboo and paper umbrella's. A very nice souvenir.

I hope you enjoy my post on the hotel and have a happy Sunday.

Disneyland Hotel Golf Center Items

To follow up on a post I made about a week ago, here are some variations of the Disneyland Hotel Golf Centre miniature golf score cards. Here are the fronts of a couple different ones. I will show the insides in tomorrow's post.

Here is a nice matchbook from the golf centre as well.

Souvenir Friday- Mission Control Back Patch

From the extinct attraction Mission To Mars comes a back patch for Mission Control. This was worn on the back of the lab coats seen on Mr. Tom Morrow and the other audio animatronic figures in the Mission Control room before entering the spaceship for launch. The patch is a big patch being 8 by 4 inches in size.

Moose on the Rivers of America 1958

A black and white panoramic shot of the moose who used to be on the Rivers of America. Before all the additions of the Nature's Wonderland Railroad, the passengers on the Mark Twain and Columbia would see static figures in the water to add a scenic element. This element is of a mother moose and her calf. At quick glance this does not appear to be at Disneyland but maybe in the wild. However written on the reverse is Disney Land, Calif.

Fuji Folk at Japanese Village Deer Park October 1972

A quiet competitor to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm in the Orange County Theme Park world was Japanese Village Deer Park. The park was a quiet park modeled after the famous Nara Deer Park in Japan. The grounds featured Japanese landscaping, a large tea house, deer you could feed out of your hands, koi ponds, Karate shows (Steven Seagall worked there in his early years), Basketball playing bears and for a while costumed characters called the Fuji Folk. The park closed down not too long after the photos were taken and is now an industrial park.

This shot shows the kid at home showing off his souvenir T-shirt while riding his toy motorcycle somewhere in Orange County.

For more information on the Japanese Village Theme Park and its successor Enchanted Village as well as the current status, visit the Orange County Memories site.

Striking A Pose Sister and Brothers

Two shots of a happy set of kids posing at Disneyland. The first is the famous Mickey Mouse floral portrait that even to this day is one of the most photographed sites. The photographer did manage to get one of the early train sets in the background.

The kids also posed at Sleeping Beauty Castle right in front of the Castle Arts Shop.

Cascade Peak April 21, 1963

This image of Cascade Peak has been kindly dated to the day the photo was taken. In the background can be seen the masts of the Sailing Ship Columbia and also the top of the Haunted Mansion which was constructed and then laid empty for many long years. Now this scene is completely gone and even the old Mine Train which sits on the track is beginning to become overgrown.

The Fleet is In Town and Visiting Adventureland

I am now back home after a long drive yesterday. It was great to visit Disneyland on the birthday and also to visit with some of my old and new friends in California. Continuing the series of pose shots at Disneyland is this adorable image of two brothers and a friend posing at the entrance to Adventureland circa 1962. It looks like construction walls are up at the Tiki Room. The boy wearing the sailor hat is fun and hopefully he had it embroidered on the back with his name.