1950's Disneyland Gems, Pt. 4

More treasures from this batch of approximately 1957-1958 Disneyland vintage photos, with today's post featuring Adventureland. Love these Oceanic Arts Tiki/Tribal masks! The skull on top of image 2 is a very nice "plus."



The skulls in the park today are a bit more ornate and less white-washed:



One of the first buildings that you see as you enter Adventureland:



Back in the day, it was known as Casa de Huespedes, which means Rooming House/Guest House.



Today, it has no identity.



Last one for today shows the back side of water; a very rare shot for this time period!



See more Daveland vintage & current Disneyland Adventureland photos at my main website.

TPE: Welcome to Adventureland!

I've finished my errant wandering and am taking my readers' suggestions of starting at the Adventureland Gate. Today is an absolute FEAST of early Adventureland shots. The first five photos were taken on July 18, 1955.



Back in the day, Adventureland really looked rustic and less manufactured; but then again, so did the rest of the park. There was much more of a hand-crafted appearance. Perhaps because it was hand-crafted!



Today, it's easy to tell that the signage is designed on a computer with out-of-the-box fonts and that the signage itself is on some type of weather-resistant plastic.







Care to buy a rustic chair? I hope they had storage lockers back in the day!



A few shots of the entry gate. I sure do love all those skulls, shields, and other tribal pieces.





Note that there is no Tiki Room on the left; this is August 1956. I'll have to change the dial on my time machine for a future post to access that attraction.



Give me that guidebook!















Where's the plush?



Now THIS is unique shopping!





More unique details in these shop interiors designed by Rolly Crump:





This guy creeps me out but I still love him!



Before it was the Tahitian Terrace, the backside of the Plaza Pavillion was a counter-type restaurant:







Zooming in on the previous 1955 shot, you can see the Jungle Cruise dock:









How about that? Even Adventureland has fire hydrants!





More Adventureland fun to come!

See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland Adventureland photos on my Adventureland web page.

Adventureland: Switching Sides

This crystal clear image of the Adventureland Gate/Bridge got me thinking...I wonder if any of these original masks/tribal decor still exists? I also happen to have an image of Walt himself, inspecting these very same masks:



This July 1960 shot shows them, still hanging for all to see:



Still around in 1966:



Traveling forward to today, all of the decor appears to have been replaced:





Yet, when you look at the OTHER side of the gate, it appears that one of the designs has been retained:



Can you match the shield from the first shot with the shield in the present-day shot?

I guess one out of three ain't too bad!

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

November 1959: In Living Color, Pt. 5

Get ready for Adventure, as we meet Scarf-gal at the gates to Adventureland. Our little buddy, the Tiki Statue, is there to greet her. Those two little boys are sure checking out the Oceanic Arts carvings along the fence.



Tomorrow we visit Frontierland! See more Disneyland Adventureland photos at my website.

July 1960 Visit: Adventureland

We have entered Adventureland, and this guest is fascinated by the Oceanic Arts Tribal stuff (for lack of a better all-encompassing word) located at the entrance gate. Here is a present-day comparison shot of the same area:



The Jungle Cruise shots have the obligatory Rhino and Hippo shots, so I will spare you those. Here are a few of the more "rare" (albeit blurry) pics from this batch:







If you’re a glutton for faded and blurry JC shots, you can see the rest of the batch on my website.