The Golden Girls at Disneyland

Today’s images show a trio of ladies from the 1960’s that I am going to dub The Golden Girls. Two of them are admiring the landscaping outside the House of the Future. I am loving the gloves, visible here in this closeup. If you try to grab those attraction tickets out of her hands, she will cause serious damage to your cranium with that purse.



How do I know these ladies were at the Monsanto House of the Future? Because I recognize the edge of the sculpted chair and the display panels nearby, visible in this previously posted 1963 shot. The House of the Future seemed to attract those Golden Gals; notice the two on the left wearing a white sweater? That’s the standard uniform for that generation. It’s true.



Here are all three Golden Girls departing the Submarine attraction; one dared to remove her gloves. I’m sure she will be shunned by the other two.



Our adventurous gals took a ride on the Skyway during the golden hour of sunset. How about this gorgeous shot of Skull Rock Cove?



it’s a small world appears to be in operation, and the House of the Future is still around, so I’m going to guess that these images are from 1966.



I know somewhere in my collection I have a better shot of that toy train contraption seen on the right side of this detailed view, but I’m too lazy to dig it up. Anyone? Anyone? [UPDATE BELOW]



The Matterhorn appears to be down for the count:



A pickup truck can be seen on the left and the water has been drained from the attraction:



UPDATE: this photos may be much later than what I thought...or could be part of different batches. I found two April 1977 shots of the toy train outside of small world:





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

February 1970 at Disneyland, Pt. 1

Today’s tour of the past begins in Disneyland’s Town Square, circa February 1970. These lucky tots got to see Mickey himself as they entered the Park. Let’s zoom in for a look at the ticket book:



It appears that these kids were EXTRA lucky, as they were part of the Magic Kingdom Club, which ran from 1957—2000. It was an early Annual Passport program to the park that offered memberships free of charge both for companies and their employees, encouraging families to visit the parks by giving them discounts. Meanwhile, get a load of the topper on Mickey’s cane!



In the next shot of the batch, the kids have multiplied. The little girl on the right has a matching purse; it looks big enough to buy out Main Street, U.S.A.



Another closeup of Mickey’s cane:



Next up: it’s a small world!



By this time, the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant had morphed into Captain Hook’s. Bye-bye outside corporate sponsorship!



For the second shot, Mom is all smiles.



How about a closeup of the vintage Disneyland shopping bag?



And poor Dad; his middle finger is in a splint.



Last one for this batch today drops the families off at the Castle.



Come back for more gems from February 1970!

See more vintage and (semi) contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.

Melinda Goes to Disneyland, Pt. 2!

Today, Melinda shares photos from Fantasyland, taken during her family’s 1980 trip to Disneyland. In case you weren’t aware, the banners in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle should clue you in to the fact that it was the Park’s 25th Anniversary. Note the extremely faded color of the Castle. Obviously before Kim Irvine got her paint brush on it.

These photos show Fantasyland in its original Tournament Festival design state, albeit with a few 1970’s touches of ornamentation.



The arches around the Mad Tea Party attraction went up some time around 1969 and lasted until it was moved during the 1983 Fantasyland remodel.



Before Pinocchio moved in, The Fantasyland Theatre occupied that real estate:



The family takes a spin on the Tea Cups:







Zooming in to see the Dumbo ticket booth in the background:



Dumbo, with his ears firmly attached to his head:



An overhead shot of the Alice attraction, taken from the Skyway:



The intersecting Casey Jr. and Storybook Land attractions:



The favorite car of most kids on the Casey Jr. attraction:





Another Skyway shot, this time showing the it’s a small world attraction:



From Melinda:

it’s a small world was, and is still, one of my most favorite rides to this day. I listened to the record and read the storybook that went with it probably hundreds of times. I worked hard to learn all of the words to that song, and all of the others that went with the many Disney records I had. “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” was another of my particular favorites. I just adore the colors and styling of Mary Blair’s small world to this day, and I would have ridden it as many times as I could. 



This picture of my sister and I shows us sitting in the boat headed into small world and waving. I noticed that neither of our parents is in the boat with us, and when I asked my mom about it she said that they wouldn’t have had a problem putting us on the ride by ourselves so they didn't have to go in and listen to the song again! So, despite the disclaimer on the back of the ticket book about kids not being able to ride that one without a parent, it did happen at least on occasion!



More Melinda at Disneyland to come! See more Disneyland photos at my main website.

Bye-bye Alweg

The Monorail cruises by the it's a small world attraction, circa June 1970. Zooming in to see the bubble (another detail obsession of mine), I noticed that “Alweg” was still part of the attraction name.



Still there in August 1975:



…and the bubble, too!



But as you can see in the genuine ©FauxD image from July 1978…



Alweg had gotten the boot!



See more Disneyland Monorail photos at my main website.

EarzUp on The Disneyland Resort, Part 1

Through one of those serendipitous twists of the Universe, I virtually met Jason Petros from EarzUp Podcast. I have been a guest on their show twice, and had a blast both times. The first episode was a lot of loose chat about the Disneyland resort and my vintage collection of shots. My second visit centered around the vintage attraction The House of the Future. After my portion of the podcast, the rest of the show was a discussion about “5 Disneyland Details We Love (and 5 we hate!).” It’s always interesting to me to hear the opinion of others about the Park. I thought it would be fun to illustrate the EarzUp quartet’s comments with photos from my collection. I will begin with the areas that they hated need some help (trying to put a positive spin on it!), and follow up with those that elicited feelings of love. There were a total of 17 areas that the EarzUp team thought needed help, and I have to say I agree with every one of them.

1. Defunct attractions that are never funct! Carousel of Progress became America Sings which became…nothing...then Innoventions...then Star Wars Launch Bay... The Disney Corporation keeps putting something in the Carousel building just to fill the space, but not something people actually want to go to.  Something of substance should be put there instead!

2. U.S. Mail Boxes: Love that they have them, but hate dislike that they don't sell stamps at the Park or postmark the letters from Disneyland anymore. What's the point of having them? Without the Disneyland postmark, they have lost their magic.

3. The blocked off Court of Angels in New Orleans Square: which is now the waiting room for Club 33, proving once again that the wealthy will always take from the common folk! A class warfare kind of thing. But… it is fun when you're on the other side!

4. Star Wars in multiple places. Star Wars has an entire area, but still has overflow in other lands. “The joy of Star Wars is the unknown of Star Wars. We don’t want it rubbed in our faces.”

5. Pixie Hollow: For us vintage Disneyland geeks, this one is extremely painful, since the House of the Future was once located here (seen below in this November 1959 image):

Pixie Hollow is the worst…you stand in line, go to different sections, and take photos with the “fairies”; it’s shady, but still sunny, and it’s just plain dumb.

6. The small world attraction ceiling: it’s just painted black and you can see the air vents, HVAC tubing...why not put up a false ceiling or a drapery to hide and help the immersion?

Want to “see” the unedited podcast and get a sneak peek of the rest of the show? Here you go…

More needed improvements to come…

See more photos at my main website.