Today let's travel back in time to the Disneyland Hotel when it had that vintage vibe that was more akin to a motel than the massive behemoth it has morphed into. Today's first image is from August 1961 and features the hotel's swimming pool. The lifeguard seems pretty chill considering what his job is.
Here's a look at the Hotel Tram which shuttled guests to and from the Park.
A closer look at the signage showing the shops at the Hotel.
This foggy January 1962 image of the Hotel also yields some nice details.
The sign for the Hotel Golf Course:
and the Blue Monorail:
More vintage and current Disneyland Hotel photos at my main website.
6 comments:
Very nice Dave. I like the tram pic. Can't imagine today wearing a suit and tie to Disneyland, especially on a hot summer day.
We used to have to stay in the Peter Pan motel. Back in
the 50s-60s, my parents wouldn't spend the extra money
to stay at the Disneyland Hotel.
@DrGoat. Ditto. Magic Lamp was our favorite, but I have postcards from several others.
I remember that shopping arcade in the background behind the tram, but do not recognize any of the signs.
Thanks, Dave. These pictures improve my memory and help orient to the current layout. It's a nice hotel now, very corporate, but I couldn't easily reconcile my old memories with what's on the ground today.
JG
The simpler times. This takes me back there. Especially the pinstriped shirt of the tram driver. I had forgotten that uniform but it all comes back now. This makes me recall my visit to WDW in early 1972. The openness of the surroundings and laid-back atmosphere. Pretty much gone today. KS
I've stayed at the Disneyland Hotel once in the 1960's with family and twice in the 1970's with friends. It was definitely a special place to stay. I loved the erector set style look and towering palms all over the property. When we checked in it definitely felt like something wonderful was happening. And I do remember the shopping arcade and always having breakfast at the hotel at least once when staying for a four day trip. The updated hotel looks bland to me now and reminds me of the loss of some really cool 1960's architecture. Now it's just another subcomponent of the resort complex.
For most of our visits to Disneyland we stayed at a nearby motel or at my cousin's house, but it was special the few times I got to stay at the Wrather hotel. Now I'm too cheap to stay there. Especially now with how expensive Disneyland itself has become. Thanks, Dave.
My family was too cheap to stay there too. Since my grandfather owned a Best Western in San Diego he was good friends with Jack Stovall. We always stayed at one of Stovall's places along Katella. I do, however, have great memories of visiting the DLH in the 70's and 80's. I bought plenty of things in the gift shop, recall grabbing a whole handful of brochures at the hotel's tram stop ( and being admonished by a monorail queue CM ), I remember Sgt. Preston's of the Yukon bar in the east wing of the hotel, and of course that lake with the pedal boats, the dancing water show and the underground caverns with lights at night. What the hotel has today isn't even a second best to that.
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