Monday, November 13, 2006

Disneyland Aerial View, February 1966



Today I present to you an aerial view of the park from February 2, 1966. You will also notice that this photo is about 3 times the size of what I normally post, because I figure everyone will want to zoom in on different areas (bandwidth be damned!). I am also adding a close-up that is of particular interest to me, showing the Haunted Mansion under construction. It was also pointed out in the comment field by Matterhorn that Pirates construction is going on, so I have included a close-up of that as well.





See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.

13 comments:

Matterhorn1959 said...

You can also see the large show building for Pirates.

thepicklebarrel said...

i zoomed in on the Disneyland Hotel miniature Disneyland putting green!

a great overall view of that rare sight!

nice!

Anonymous said...

Is that some of the newer administration buildings being constructed on the train route over by the Diorama show building?

Awesome pic, thank you for the large version!

DisneyDutchman said...

Great Detail Dave!! This is one cool pic. Hey Major I believe the new construction also houses the Pimeval World expansion. DD

Anonymous said...

Now I am wondering if "It's a Small World" construction is going on at the extreme left? It opened on May 26, 1966....

Lots of busy stuff at the park during this time!!

FoxxFur said...

I'm not sure that's Mansion under construction so much as them using the tunnel under the house to store construction stuffs! As we know, Mansion was built in 1963, before the rest of New Orleans Square proper, and it is much debated among the Mansion faithful what was intended where and when. This image and several that the E-Ticket published years ago to me confirms that they never intended the whole show to just fit in that house as they already had built in a tunnel back in 1963. Don't forget Walt showing off the stretching portraits in 1965 on TV, too. So the oft-repeated statement that the Stretching Galleries were a brilliant solution to having the show not take place in the constructed Mansion and that this was a post-Walt innovation (repeated even in Jason Surrell's book) turns out to be patently not true. The house was built for those show scenes from the first.

Best thing about this image, tho, is the shot of the Disneyland Hotel mini-golf. Fantastic stuff.

Daveland said...

Whoa, Foxxfur! I sense issues - sounds like something you should take up with Jason! I stand by my description of construction at the Mansion - for whatever reason.

FoxxFur said...

Only rarely do I have an axe to grind. ;)

Great shot tho - I love aerial views of Disneyland. Has something to do with my obsession with blueprints and diagrams. Really helps me understand spatial relationships and such.

Chris Merritt said...

Hey Foxfur -
I've never heard that they intended the show to fit in the house - it was always a shell as far as I know!

Love that Mansion shot - you can match up the supports & retaining wall under the berm with that queue shot I ran a few weeks back. Awesome photos Dave!

Chris Merritt said...

My God! The Disneyland Hotel Golf Course!!!! In all my Mansion exuberance, I missed it!

FoxxFur said...

Tangaroa -

Well they obviously didn't, I was just kind of ranting incoherently that people often misreport that they did. =)

William Kelley said...

Wow, wonderful! And major pepperide is right, Small World is under construction too. Although, I have to agree that Haunted Mansion is not under construction just yet.

But NOS and Pirates! That's excellent. Although I can't see the French Market eating area. I see the building. I wonder if maybe the eating area would just be the last thing put in.

Very cool! More please!

Mr. Mouse Monthly said...

Absolutely love aerial views of Disneyland and this one is really special.

It looks like the original train roundhouse beyond Frontierland was still in operation, probably in it's final days before the new one was built behind IASW. The end of a train car is sticking out towards West Street, now Disneyland Drive. You can see the spur leading to the new roundhouse building, right next to the Harbor Blvd freeway on-ramp. They also extended the monorail track along the same route.

The Avenue of Flags and the World Clock are still there, though their days are also numbered as construction for Tomorrowland '67 must be right around the corner. The same goes for the House of the Future.

Again, great pic, thanks for sharing!