Trip Report

Time for a small (ok, not so small) trip report. I arrived at the park at 7:45am on Thursday and the lines at the main gate were not to long at all. While in line the overhead music was playing (as usual) an in between Winnie the Pooh and When you wish upon a star they player this song shown below. I tried to record it on my camera, but all I got was crowd noise. I’m thinking I was the only person in line that knew it was the Elliott Brothers! Very nice touch Disney, even if 99.7% of your guests have no idea what’s playing.

On my usual run to get breakfast at the River Belle I spotted this cast member with an animal cage and it appears to be moving!!! I wonder what was in it? Probably unrelated, but when I first came thru the gates, Disneyland Security was walking around a “K-9” German Sheppard., both kind of odd.






I had a strong craving for pancakes and Laura was making me a fresh batch. If you time it right (5 minutes after the park opens) you will always get fresh pancakes! Laura has worked at Disneyland for 23 years and has been at the River Belle for over 10, be sure and say “Hi” to her next time your there, she is really sweet and makes some mean pancakes.






Believe it or not it was still a little cool and overcast at 8:15am so I ate inside, I do love this view.






Even in overcast weather the River looks great, helps that no one is on it!






I like how the Mark Twain “warms up” its engines for a while before the first journey of the day.






Interning choice of flooring…. They could have done a better job with the “blending” but I bet they figured you rarely see this anyway, there’s usually a mob scene here.






How about some tranquil flowing water? It was so quiet on the backside of Thunder Mountain that I hung around for about 10 minutes just soaking it up.

I call this one “weeeeee”.






For TokyoMagic, a nice theme going on here!






Wow, even the ashtrays have there own theme!






This theme is a little out of place, but no doubt it’s a necessity.






Some very unhappy guests. The “lady” guarding the gate gave no answers as to why it was closed or when it would open, just “Please walk a ¼ of a mile out of your way to get to Fantasyland”.






The theme in the back park of Thunder Mountain really is extensive and somewhat overlooked.






These appear to be new and not very summer like.






One of the bridges over in the Plaza Gardens, the “middle” bridge, is getting much needed repair work, it was literally rotting away (link) and (link). I heard it might get replaced entirely.






Let’s hope they don’t replace it with a bridge like this Home Depot Special they recently did on one of the other bridges.






I turned to get a photo of the castle and saw this! I hope this just happened and has already been fixed?






As seen from the other side, the broken off chunk appear to just be cosmetic (Paper Mache?) the rebar looks to be ok.






As a tribute to Michael Jackson, here is the rock he stood on while singing When You Wish Upon a Star from the 25th anniversary special (link).






I never noticed this fun life preserver before and I freely admit I want it!






“One Day” Daveland and I are going up that hill, we may lose are AP’s or just get kicked out, but I gotta get up there.







The backside of Retroland. Just outside of the frame on the right was a man feeding the ducks and taking pictures from the dock. I went do to say hi and realized it was the infamous “DarkBeer” David Michael. David takes amazing photos of Disneyland and is a self described “theme park reporter”. Check out his work on Smugmug (link). David also writes a weekly column for Miceage “David Michael in the Park” (link). It was super meeting him, a very nice man, sort of a hero to me; I’ve been following his photos since before I started my blog.






Around 9:30 the parks starts to swell up, time for a brief rest here.






Its fun to sit in those chairs for a few minutes and watch the masses go by, you really get an interesting perspective from this chairs, its surprising how narrow Main Street really is.






OK, this last photo is pretty useless, it’s just an excuse for me to talk about the Gully Whomper Keel Boat. She’s there off to the left in this photo that was taken from the moving tram. I walked back to the parking lot (dang that’s a longer walk than it looks) to get a better look at the Gully Whomper. I was going to try some photos from the path, but I had a feeling I was being watched.

I did get a good look thru the break in the fence. Her hull is bright yellow fiberglass and looks pretty shiny & new, her rigging, latter, lanterns and all the goodies appear to be in place and in decent shape. Yes she is just sitting backstage up on blocks, but I have a feeling something is going on. I’m stepping out on a limb and predicting you will see the Gully Whomper sailing the Rivers of America for Disneyland’s 55th Anniversary. I know, I hear the laughter and Nah-Sayers now. Just remember, among laughter and jeers I predicted the Sleeping Beauty walk thru would return, so just maybe I'm on to something…

Welcome to Disneyland - 1963

Welcome to Disneyland in 1963! We’ve got two super ’63 items in today’s post.

This “Welcome to Disneyland” brochure came in a few different varieties, I’ve got a blue one (’62?) somewhere. Fun drawings on the front and that’s a pretty big flying saucer there in Tomorrowland.






Don’t those Main Street exhibits look neat? Are there interior photos of the Yale & Towne shop out there?






Daveland has an amazing animated version of this map on his website (link) I can watch that thing all day.






Here's a classic issue of Vacationland – Summer 1963. Its 24 pages are jam packed with great articles. Ambassador of Happiness; Disneyland’s Summer Spectacular; Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room; What’s New in “Fun” with the Movieland Wax Museum; A to Z at Disneyland; Dateline Disneyland and more!






The non-color paper hasn’t held up so well over the years, but the color paper is looking great, I love that original artwork.






Look who I found! Andre Tahon with Papotin’s Revue (link). Yes more fun with the quizzical, mop-haired marionette named Papotin. And for Major, Mr. Tahon prefers to call his puppets “marottes”. Personally I think Andre’s puppets belong in the Trilogy of Terror.







“From Disneyland to Zanzibar” sounds like a great movie title.





Come back on Bonus Sunday for the entire issue.

Come back tomorrow for a mini trip report. Please tell me this just happened and it's already fixed [hide small children] (link).

Disneyland Ticket Prices - 1964

Here’s a fun look back at the good old days of Disneyland Tickets. From January 24, 1964, this price sheet has all the details you’ll need to purchase tickets. What great choices; Guided Tours, 10 and 15 Adventure Books and General Admission tickets.

It’s interesting to note that children under three are admitted free to all rides and attractions except the Carrousel, Pack Mules and Midget Autopia. Check out my previous post of a different price sheet from April 1964 (link). There's no mention of the "children exceptions" in the other price sheet. Did Disneyland retract that exception after a few months?





Wish me some “Crowd Magic” today, I’m making an early visit to the park!

Walt Disney Audio - 1965

From a reference in Al Lutz's latest column over at Miceage (link), here is an amazing audio clip of Walt Disney from 1965. Its just 10 minutes long, listen to it when you have a quiet moment. I've heard and seen lots of Walt stuff, but this has a special warm feeling to it, made my day.

Walt Disney 1965 Speech to "Club 55" at the Disneyland Hotel - YouTube (link)

Universal Studios - Notes on Tour

Here’s a silly little item I just happen to think is really cool. A simple note pad souvenir from Universal Studios. Undated, but since jaws is featured I’d place this at 1975/76.






The 24 assorted pages are really six different assortments four times! Anyway, here are the six different pages by Vagabond Creations. We went to see Jaws the summer it opened at Universal, somewhere around here I have a super8 film I took of the event, gotta look for that.

Disneyland Trip - January 1960

For today’s post I’m pretending I’m a real vintage slide blogger by presenting some vintage Disneyland slides. These slides (Processed January 1960) are on “Arizona” film", film that turned somewhat dark and murky over 59 years. My scanner saw them as dark smudges so I enlisted Daveland for some help. Thank you Dave! Now we can see these and the look great!

Is that Vesey Walker leading the band?

Where’s all the cables sprouting out of the top of the Matterhorn?






Things are “In Motion” over at Tomorrowland.






Who else misses the Speed Ramps?






Fantasyland with lots of trees!






You can see the "behind the scenes" area in the Pre-waterfall photo.






The Columbia has set sail on the river. Is that spot on the right side of the river bank the area that would become Cascade Peak? Who else misses Cascade Peak????






Not the most flattering shot taken on deck, but the red feathered hat is nice and centered.





Thanks again Dave!

Wonderful World of Disney Magazine

Welcome to Magazine Monday. Today is “Three for One” day, three issues of “Wonderful World of Disney” Magazine, brought to you by your friendly Gulf dealer. There were so many different “Disney” magazines it’s hard to keep track!

Up first from early 1969 its issue 2 of Volume I. These are certainly “Kids” magazines, with lots of puzzles and easy to ready articles.






“Fabulous Friends at Disneyland”. A fun look at the characters that walk around the park. 120 degrees in side those costumes, whoa! It’s interesting how this article takes a peak behind the “magic”, it even shows one of the costumes zipper!!






Each issue has a “Monster of the Month”, this month we’ve got one groovy looking troll.






There is also sheet music in each issue, anyone know this tune? ttfn..






And the back covers have some far out artwork as well.





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Next from the Spring of 1969, its issue 3 of Volume I. The space program is front and center with long six page article, which surprisingly is kind of boring and focused on the Gemini program? If anyone wants to see it on bonus Sunday let me know, I take requests.






“Disneyland, a 70-acre clean up job”. An interesting article on the major clean up each night at the park.






Did you know there are ten different types of floor coverings at Disneyland?






This month the “Monster of the Month” is Abdul the Genie. Odd little story.






Hey I think I might know this tune.






More groovy artwork for the back cover.






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The last issue for today is from January 1970, issue 1 of Volume II. The cover is a drawing by Disney artist Ken Anderson from the featured article “Sketchbook in Africa”.






“The Disneyland Band”. Lot’s of information about the makeup of the band, Vesey Walker (Founding Director) and composer-arranger-conductor James Christensen.






Here’s a great 6 page article “Sketchbook in Africa” by Ken Anderson.







I am totally digging all these fun animals. The crocodile looks like he belongs in America Sings!






This months “Monster of the Month” is the Centaurs Cheiron, fascinating modern adaptation…






I dedicate this sheet music to Dave over at Daveland, just in case he’s not familiar with the exact words… (The train is going the wrong way in the wrong spot!)






Pluto Says “Good Bye and thanks for joining us on Magazine Monday”.