Vintage Disneyland Christmas

Let’s travel back in time with this assortment of vintage images showing Christmas at Disneyland through the years, beginning with this December 26, 1955 image. It almost boggles my mind to see the simple decorations that initially hung on Main Street. In this December 1956 image, we see the area that is now Indiana Jones Adventure. Once known as Magnolia Park, it had a bandstand in the center that featured the Christmas Bowl show, which eventually morphed into the Candlelight Celebration.



Dancers, musicians, and a choir were all part of the show:



The Y’s Men was the name of the band; get it?



This family shot inside the INA Carefree Corner from December 1959 looks anything but carefree.



Three lovely carolers in the Park, from December 1960, are standing near Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House:



The legendary Matterhorn Christmas Star, as seen in December 1961:



This December 1969 Town Square shot has me perplexed; the area where the white Christmas tree is located appears to be backstage. Was it moved out into the Park after it was decorated?



These ornaments aren’t going to hang themselves!



From my first visit to Disneyland on December 27, 1970, my oldest brother’s photo shows the Sleeping Beauty Castle decorated for the season:



I’m on the right, sitting in front of the Castle with my Grandmother and my cousins, wearing those damn “corrective” shoes which didn’t correct a damn thing. Just made me look goofy.



The white Christmas tree in the background has a few barely visible ornaments hung on it:



Since the 80s are now vintage (yikes!), here’s one of the Castle from December 1980:



Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

See more Disneyland at Christmas photos at my main website.

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 Disneyland, 1963

Too early for Christmas photos? Too bad, as today celebrates the upcoming holiday as it looked back in December 1963. The tree in town square is HUUUUUUGE! But not big enough to distract me from that fantabulous feathered hat worn by the festive Mom wearing a Christmas corsage to boot!



The Horse-Drawn Streetcar is the perfect way to get to the Castle and get a nice leisurely glimpse of the sights along Main Street, U.S.A.



This shot was probably earlier in the day, before the hats were purchased.



Over at the Matterhorn, the Christmas Star is in position.



I wonder if it receives UHF signals? Anyone remember UHF? The Matterhorn Christmas Star probably helped boost the TV signal inside the House of the Future at its base.



Final one for today shows the original round Skyway buckets floating through the Matterhorn:



See more Disneyland Matterhorn photos at my main website.

Wallace on Wednesday

It’s December 1963, and Mr. Hyde has a pretty young girl by the clutches in front of the Main Street Cinema. LOVE the feathered hat!



The movie on the A-Frame behind the festive young lass is “Her Awakening,” a 1914 silent movie starring Wallace Reid (below) and Blanche Sweet.



Reid was a handsome matinee idol whose career was cut short by an addiction to morphine, caused by an injury he sustained from a train wreck in 1919. In order to keep him working, the morphine was prescribed by the studio to numb his pain. He died in a sanitarium at age 31 in 1923, attempting to beat his addiction.

See more Disneyland Main Street, U.S.A. Cinema photos at my main website.

Monday Castle Medley and Bonus!

As I was adding recently acquired vintage images, I realized I had not updated some of my Sleeping Beauty Castle photos since 2015. Yikes. First up is the vintage image circa Christmas 1956, followed by a few I shot in December 2015.



Where are the people? Maybe they were already getting in line to see Star Wars Land.



Nope, it was just an early morning at the Park as the sunlight was perfectly hitting the Castle.







And two from May 2016:



This cat has a 24/7 year-round lifetime Annual Pass.



From the same set as the initial vintage shot comes this 1956 King Arthur Carrousel image:



…and one of the Post Office from Fairyland in Oakland, which is apparently still in business!



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

Christmas in April

I know, I know…Easter is barely over and here I am posting Christmas photos. This first shot was taken on New Year’s Eve, 1961 (that’s December 31 for those of you not good with dates/numbers!). The Matterhorn Christmas Star looms over Snow White’s Wishing Well. This image calls for a few detailed views.



Check out those ornaments on the Christmas tree near the well!



And finally, had to get a closer look at Snow and the Dwarfs:



From January 1961, we see three lovely Dickens Carolers posing on New Orleans Street, outside Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House:



See more Disneyland at Christmas photos at my main website.

House of the Future for Christmas

Here's a rare night shot of the Monsanto House of the Future at Disneyland from December 1959. You can just see the bright red of the Christmas ribbon/ornamentation at the top right of the photo. Zooming in we see a young couple standing by the window, with a "live" Christmas tree in the foreground.



Here's a previously posted shot of the HOTF and its Christmas decor:



See more Disneyland House of the Future photos at my main website.