Thursday, August 14, 2008

New Orleans Square a Land or...? An Attraction...? An Area...?

A recent post on Disneyland Nomenclature asked about New Orleans Square and if it is was a new “land” or an attraction. (link)

This got me thinking about the Summer 1966 edition of Vacationland.






Just inside the cover is the introduction page and this neato artist rendering of the stair case in New Orleans Square. Notice the text: "This major Disneyland attraction will open this summer."






Two pages discuss New Orleans Square. Obviously New Orleans Squareland sounds silly, but you will notice the writer(s) are careful not to use the word “land”. This fun artist rendering seems a little different than the actual version as built or is it just me?






In fact, the restaurants’ are in an “area”. Let's call it “New Orleans Squareland Area Attraction” or NOSLAA for short. They are also calling it the "French Quarter" my head hurts...






Come back this Bonus Sunday for the entire magazine. Here’s a great ad for the “new” Universal City Studios Tour. They still had the McHale's Navy "make your on movie set" when I first went to Universal in 1975!


4 comments:

walterworld said...

Super post---

Wouldn't it be Nice if NOS were still pursuing the total Southern immersion theme from 1966...I think the shops would do just as well in their original configs.

At least there isn't a roller coaster blasting through overhead like you'd see at Knott's...

And...I wish I could have taken the original tram tour at Universal! I remember seeing that advertisement in the Vacationland magazine and wishing I could go!

The Artwork of Christi Bunn said...

Well, while I did really enjoy this post and looking at the brochures, I am still perplexed as to what NOS really is. NOSLAA is definitely not short.

:-) Christi

Jason Schultz said...

Tim, I think the people publishing Vacationland were the same ones publishing Disney News! The text in the two issues is fairly similar. In Disney News they also call it "Old New Orleans"!

Westcot2000 said...

Progressland-Both Disney News and Vacationland were published by Disneyland Marketing and some issues in the seventies even used the same cover photos! My understanding is that in the sixties Vacationland was distributed to SoCal hotels and travel agent; Disney News was sent to Magic Kingdom Club members.

If you look at this issue of Vacationland you'll notice that the editor is Jack Lindquist, who was also in charge of the Magic Kingdom Club.

That artist rendering of NOS (by John Hench?) was prominently featured at the Disney Gallery in the eighties.