Part 2 of my 1988 Disneyland Hotel post begins with a photo of Papeete Beach and the perfect 80’s family enjoying a day at “the beach.” For fine dining, Granville’s was the restaurant of choice at the Disneyland Hotel in 1988. Specialties included Long Island duckling, Wisconsin vela, skillet-blackened redfish, Maine Lobster, and California Quail. Dang, I’m getting hungry just reading about it...except for the Quail part. Glass etchings around the restaurant depicted “Great Moments in American History.”
Today, Granville’s has become Steakhouse 55. Although Napa Rose is still my favorite, 55 is a very nice restaurant and the food was quite good. I can’t compare it to Granville’s, as I never ate there. Anyone? Anyone?
Back to 1988: The Golden Horseshoe wasn’t the only Saloon in town. Sergeant Preston’s Yukon Saloon & Dancehall featured the “Yukon Follies Revue,” which was a continuous live stage show with songs, comedy, and audience participation from Tuesday through Sunday starting at 8:30pm. And can you believe the show even had a madam, Klondike Kate? She must have had a heart of gold!
So what prompted all these 1988 photos? At the time, The Walt Disney Company finally owned the Disneyland Hotel, which had been formerly owned by The Wrather Corporation (Jack Wrather, Bonita Granville’s husband). Disney bought the Wrather Corporation and began a big push of advertising the hotel as a complete vacation experience. See more vintage & current Disneyland Hotel photos at my website.
7 comments:
Something I just learned the other day: the bear in the last photo is Yukon Klem, and was billed as the Disneyland Hotel's mascot.
Bonita was just a little particular about how you used her last name. For most conversation, "Mrs. Wrather" was just fine, but if you were introducing her, or there was some public aspect to the proceedings, she preferred "Mrs. Grandville-Wrather", at least initially.
She was a Hollywood starlet in the 1930's under her maiden name and obviously wanted to keep the recognition.
Yukon Clem is clearly related to Chuck E. Cheese. Not sure how a rat is related to a bear, but that's mother nature for you.
I assume that the Yukon Follies Review was somewhat similar to the Golden Horseshoe Review.... interesting!
I made a DisneyLOL from the first picture, here
I was just looking up the Hotel because I used to wear the Yukon Klem costume. They carried the theme through out the hotel and I wore the costume in the lobby greeting people checking in, in the Saloon and in three puppets shows a day that had live characters and puppets who interacted with the kids.
I also wore the Yukon Kelm costume in the lobby at the Disneyland hotel. I didn't get to go into the saloon because I was too young, but I did have a blast greeting people as they arrived at the hotel.
The costume was a modified Smokey the Bear. I was in the show in 82.
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