Holiday 1963 Miscellany

Time for the grand finale of this December 1963 Christmas batch. Feathered Hat Gal is at the gate of Frontierland. The tyke is tired and in the stroller now. Or maybe she just wants to be close to her Mickey balloon.



From the Mark Twain, we have a view of the Rivers of America dock; looks like a foggy morning!



Feathered Hat Gal poses aboard the Twain.



Two views of the thundering falls of Cascade Peak:





The last one shows the Yellow Monorail at the station, with the Skyway Buckets overhead.



The Yachtsmen Quartet have abandoned their post:



This 1965 image shows where they would normally be performing:



See more vintage Disneyland photos at my main website.

Christmas at Convair

In honor of Christmas Eve, I am posting a few more shots from my Stepmother's days at the San Diego Wind Tunnel (aka Convair). These gems from the 1950's show her and her friend/coworker with the rest of the gang that worked there. First shot is from 1951, followed by 1952.



Decorating the tree for 1952:



Moving ahead 2 years to 1954, we see an unexpected office shot; no computers…just a typewriter. Anyone out there heard of those?



Zooming in for a closeup of the Pinup Calendar on the wall; sure wish the person who took the photo had a steadier hand!



In the next two group shots from 1955, my Stepmother is the one in the festive Christmas Tree skirt:





Gotta' zoom in for a closeup of that skirt. This could be the new trend, replacing the recent Christmas Sweater craze!



See more Daveland Convair photos at my main website.

48 Years Ago: December 1961, Pt. 3

Before I delve into Tomorrowland, I realized I left one out from Town Square. No, this man isn’t checking his Blackberry! C’mon people, remember this is 1961!

For all you fans of camel colored coats, this slide will drive you bananas—for the rest of us, please just look past him and enjoy the view of the Moonliner!



The Submarine Voyage is in full swing today, and we’re going to see quite a few images of it—hope you don’t mind!



In this Skyway shot, the track is visible as well as all of the rocks and coral inside of the lagoon...but no mermaids today.



Anybody care to ride The Triton today? Looks like you might be out of luck as it appears to be docked for the time being.



A few views taken from the portholes:



Who could resist getting a shot of this adorable creature? He was pretty much the star of the attraction:



Back on dry land we see all kinds of things: The Matterhorn, The Skyway, the General Dynamics platform for the Yachtsmen, and the sign for the Monorail station.



The crazy gray "arms" that you saw in the previous shot belong to the Astro Jets. It’s either very early in the day and the kids haven't had time to run over here yet, or they aren’t working either.



Last one for today shows the Autopia entrance and Ticket Booth:



See more Disneyland photos at my website.

November 1959: In Living Color, Pt. 3

At the time these photos were taken, guests had a choice in Autopias; unfortunately for our photographer, he was probably just a little too big for the Junior Autopia. Can you imagine taking the time for a goofy shot like this today? You’d probably be run over by angry guests.

Scarf-Gal seems to be having a blast in her jaunty little Autopia car.



In this closeup, you can see the badge of this tie-wearing cast member who is assisting Scarf-Gal:



A beautiful blue Monorail is zooming over the Submarine Voyage lagoon. At this point, the Monorails were less than 6 months old.



The General Dynamics sponsorship for the Subs is far from subtle here!



Scarf-Gal actually looks a little seasick as she gets back to dry land from her voyage on the Skate sub.



More to come tomorrow! See more Disneyland Tomorrowland photos at my website.

Disneyland in Focus: '59 & The Matterhorn, Pt. 2

As promised, here are some colorful shots of the Matterhorn. These three were taken 10 days after opening, on June 24, 1959.





See more vintage & current Matterhorn photos at my regular website. Meanwhile in media-land, “Sleeping Beauty,” the Platinum Edition, is being released on 10/7, and boy is it a beauty (pun intended)!









The section of extras on the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama is not to be missed.

Trip to Disneyland, Sept. 1959, The Final Chapter

1959 was an exciting year for the park; the Matterhorn, the Submarine Voyage, and the Monorail all debuted at the same time. Today, we are going to take the Horse-Drawn Streetcar to Central Plaza which will leave us at the entrance to Tomorrowland, and then board the Skyway to get a birds-eye view of the park. Although slightly blurred, these have to be 2 of my favorite Skyview shots, as they definitely give you a feeling of sitting smack-dab-in-the-middle of the round buckets.





Down below is Storybook Land:



And now we begin our descent back to the Tomorrowland Station:



Hope you enjoyed this series from a pivotal year in the park’s history.

See more vintage Disneyland Skyway photos at my main website.

Submarine Voyage: Part 2

This batch of slides was severely faded, and might even be a set of dupes, the quality seemed so bad. However, some of the shots are interesting, and today I will feature the group at the Submarine Voyage, starting off with a shot of the Ethan Allen sub. Shot 2 shows the Blue Monorail buzzing by overhead.



Shot 3 features the intrepid family standing near the Ethan Allen (dig those ka-razy hats!).



The final faded view has the Red Monorail, The General Dynamics sign (who sponsored the sub attraction for a time), as well as the original round Skyway buckets.



See more vintage Disneyland Submarine Voyage photos at my main website.