This shot of the white swans in the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle moat from approximately 1957 yields some interesting info. When zooming in, you can see the banner promoting the Richfield Autopia Fantasyland Autopia. Yes, the myths are true. There were once multiple Autopia attractions at Disneyland!
Don’t believe me? Just take a look at this December 1956 image:
I’ve always wondered if that Eagle “landed” anywhere?
Back to the first image…if you shifted your camera to the right, you would see the Monsanto House of the Future, as long as it was June 1957. I am guessing the swan shot was taken before construction on the HOF had begun.
This panorama from December 1956 gives you an idea of what the area surrounding the moat looked like at that time.
No Matterhorn…no Snow White Wishing Well…no House of the Future. Just a mound of dirt and some trees, “themed” as Holiday Hill, Lookout Mountain, Snow Hill, and unofficially “Lover’s Lane.”
Snow White’s Wishing Well joined the landscape here in 1961:
So many tangents from one image.
See more vintage & contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.
Those small trees and bushes. The complete absence of grass in most places... Some would see that as a negative but shots like this are why Disneyland survived. Everything was done on a budget and yet it worked. Some modern parks go out of business because they spent so much assuring it was all perfect on opening day. Only Disney would turn that mound of dirt into an attraction or label the weeds to give the place class. Reasoning like this allowed them to open in a reasonable condition and expand at a controlled pace. It's cool but also weird to see all that undeveloped landscape. Great shot of the short-lived circus in it's original location, too.
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