Disneyland Comin' at Ya! Summer 1955, The Grand Finale!

We’ve covered Main Street and Fantasyland, now it’s time to see the rest of the Park circa July/August 1955 in glorious Faux©D! This view of Adventureland was taken at the entrance, looking inside the themed area. As always, the 3D version and the stitched panorama below. That little boy was thirsty!



A closeup of the Tiki's Tropical Imports souvenir stand:



A shot of the stand and its wares from March 1956:



A view of one of the Bull Elephants from the Jungle Cruise attraction:



Not as exciting without the 3D effect!



The Indian Village was once located near Adventureland, in the approximate spot that Indiana Jones would eventually take over:





Below is the New Orleans Street area of Frontierland, which now houses the River Belle Terrace Restaurant.





This location housed Casa de Fritas (opening August 11, 1955) until it moved in 1957 and was replaced by the Silver Banjo BBQ. Initially, I thought the singing group was the Gonzales Trio (with a fourth member added in for good measure), but let’s just say I’m not 100% sure on that!



The Mark Twain riverboat:





It is so jarring to see autos inside the Park in many of these early shots taken during the first few months of operation:



Last one shows the entry area to Tomorrowland, featuring tile from the Clock of the World at left and the atomic symbol on the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry at right:





And that’s all, folks! I hope you enjoyed this FauxD© look at early Disneyland!

 See more photos at my main website.

Shopping with Jayne and Mickey

Just when I thought there couldn’t be any more vintage shots of Jayne Mansfield’s May 1957 trip to Disneyland with husband Mickey Hargitay, another gem pops up! Here the stunning couple go shopping in Adventureland. It could be the Bazaar, or it could be Tiki’s Tropical Imports. Lots of thatched roof structures in Adventureland at the time.



An exterior shot of Tiki’s from 1959:



See more Jayne Mansfield photos at my main website.

Thursday in Adventureland, circa 1950’s

Welcome to Adventureland, circa 1956! No crowds, no strollers, and very young landscaping. This is my kind of day at the Park! The poor little boy in the nerd outfit wants to stop posing for photos and get on an attraction.



This 1958 image shows the back of what is currently the Jolly Holiday restaurant, themed for Adventureland. You can call this the Jekyll & Hyde building with two faces:



This undated 1950’s image shows the same angle, but from farther back. Tiki’s Tropical Imports looks like a great place to shop!



For all you signage geeks:



Anything look good?



I’m not quite sure what the sign says; Stocking Caps?



In other news, I was asked to be a guest on the “Had A Magical Day” podcast, put together by Scott Oddo. Wearing the shirt I bought for New Year’s 2000, I do my best to be entertaining while talking about the Park. The shirt is probably more exciting.



To listen to the podcast instead of seeing my high-tech computer room, you can access it on soundcloud or iTunes. See more Disneyland Adventureland photos at my main website.

Where's My Tiki?

This September 1959 shot of a gent standing next to a Tiki statue got me wondering; what happened to it? This next shot from January 1959 looks like the same statue, but with a different paint job. Is it the same one but moved to a different location, or were there multiple versions of the same carving?



This dark June 1958 image would make one think that there were either three of these in the Park or else this guy really got moved around a lot!



This September 1962 shot is the most recent one in my collection; after that, it would seem that this poor guy got booted out of Disneyland. Anyone out there know his story?



More Adventureland fun at my main website.

1950's Disneyland: The McLeod Photos

I have no idea who the photographer named McLeod is, but I do know that he captured some cool shots of the Park. Starting off with my favorite, here's one of the A-Frame in front of the Main Street Cinema, advertising a Will Rogers movie from 1924 called "Two Wagons Both Covered." This particular photo is from 1958, which one can tell because of the banners along the Main Street gaslamps proclaiming the debut of The Columbia.



This view of the Coke Corner was hand-dated August 29-30, 1959 (that's one heck of a long exposure!). You can see the banners at this time are announcing the 1959 attractions.



Not too much to say about this 1958 Sleeping Beauty Castle shot:



Last one for today is from August 29-30, 1959 and shows the Tiki's Tropical Imports stand in Adventureland.





Here's a color shot of the same stand from the 1960's; you can see that "Tiki's" was dropped from the name and the stand itself has been remodeled.



See more vintage & current Disneyland photos on my Disneyland web pages.

Disneyland, July 28, 1958, Pt. 4

Today our July 28, 1959 series shifts over to the wilds of Adventureland! The Amazon Belle is ready to take you on a thrilling excursion of The Jungle Cruise (hope we get a good skipper).



Gators and snakes...get me outta' here!



A rare front shot of the backside of water:



A zebra that is either gone or shifted around; couldn't tell you where this is located:



Everybody loves the hippos...almost as much as they love taking pics of the castle and Main Street Train Station:





Personally, I prefer the natives!



Today's Disneyland doesn't hold the franchise on gift shops at the end of an attraction! Here, frenzied guests (worked up from their Jungle Cruise adventure) are blowing their hard earned paychecks at the Tiki's Tropical Imports shop:



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