65 Years Ago: Disneyland, August 1960, Pt. 3

The final installment of the August 1960 series begins with a shot of the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship restaurant. The Skull Rock tableau had not been added yet. The below shot was most likely taken from a speeding Casey Jr. car.



A cast member does a little watering at left to keep the landscaping green. Below, you can see that the canal boat is named after Walt himself!



A back view of the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, taken from the Storybook Land attraction:



That beautiful mermaid! I wonder how many cans of tuna she sold?



Toad Hall in its original location:



How it looked in 2012 in its “new” location:



A nice closeup of Gepetto’s Village; no, that’s not the Matterhorn behind the Village. Those are miniature mountains that seamlessly blended into the 1959 attraction when it was built.



Final shot shows two little girls looking into the jaws of Monstro, wondering if anyone ever comes out alive!



See more Disneyland photos at my main website.

Main Street Model Monday, Part 2

Faithful readers knew that at some point I’d get around to part 2, and here we go! This recently listed vintage image from ebay shows the model that was created for Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. If you look closely at the original model, you can see that the original intention was to call the store below Crystal Palace. At some point before opening it was changed to Crystal Arcade.



The model also shows the building below as being a Sporting Goods Store; Coke stepped in at the right time with a sponsorship and won this coveted location…



where it still resides today. Could the Crystal Palace and Candy Palace co-existed peacefully on the same street? I guess we’ll never know.



Eagle-eyed readers will see the concept art for Storybook Land on the back wall…



and Peter Pan’s Flight…



and the Jungle Cruise.



See more Disneyland Main Street photos at my main website.

Storybook Land/Casey Jr. Evolution

This undated 1950’s image shows two intersecting attractions, the Casey Jr. Circus Train and Storybook Land. Most likely taken by a guest near the exit of Casey, you can see the very young plants and landscaping, placing this shot around 1956/1957.

How this area looked in 2015 when I was last on the attraction:

The Skyway buckets provided this June 1958 overhead view of Monstro the Whale and the Storybook Land attraction:

Look at all that undeveloped backstage area!

A unique view of the mountains behind Pinocchio/Gepetto’s village and the Three Windmills:

Another June 1958 shot from my collection shows how that part of the attraction looks while on the ride itself:

From 2013:

…and I realized my library of vintage Storybook Land Windmill shots is mighty scarce! Here’s an undated one from 1957/1958:

…and another one from August 1959:

and finally from 2007:

See more Disneyland Storybook Land photos at my main website.

1957 Skyway Sequence

Welcome to 1957! I am always interested in seeing the sequence a photographer shoots; what story they are possibly telling, and what they chose to capture, especially for vintage film shots when each photo was expensive and couldn’t be redone if it came out wrong (vs. digital shots of today). In today’s four-shot sequence, our Disneyland Guest Photographer was shooting from their Skyway bucket as they flew from the Fantasyland Skyway Station towards Tomorrowland. Monstro and Storybook Land were apparently of particular interest. A closeup view of the Wendy boat entering Monstro’s mouth:

Only a few seconds later the photographer decided to snap again:

…capturing some backstage construction going on. Look how deserted it is back there!

Now the photographer is facing forward on the way to Tomorrowland. This time they captured Holiday Hill/Lookout Mountain, which is where the Matterhorn would appear in two years.

And true to its other nickname, “Lover’s Lane,” I see a couple meandering around the mountain below in this detailed view:

The last shot I have in this sequence shows the short-lived Viewliner:

How about that vintage gas station in the background, too?

Last one for today is a bonus shot of the Tomorrowland Skyway Station, also from 1957:

This one warranted two zoom shots, with the first showing the passengers:

…and Harbor Boulevard in the background. Hard to believe it’s the same road of today!

None of these shots could easily be duplicated today, as the loss of the Skyway has taken away that vantage point of the Park and Anaheim.

See more vintage Disneyland Skyway photos at my main website.