Very Merry Christmas Party at Disneyland - December 13, 1985

It’s time for a Very Merry Christmas Party at Disneyland, December 13, 1985. This in-park flyer is printed on thick textured bond paper. I’m thinking this was a cast party, it seems too nice for us regular folks.






Nice holiday entertainment lineup, although I’m not sure how “Krash” fits in.






Bring your camera for a special family portrait with the Characters, where is/was “Small World Meadows”? Check out all those choirs singing Christmas carols throughout the park.






The Disneyland Carolers invite you to join in the celebration.








Don’t miss Disney’s “One Magic Christmas” starring Mary Steenburgen, ok, I’ve missed it for 24 years, in fact, I’ve never heard of it!






Looks like Mary Steenburgen graces the cover of the Winter 1985 edition of the Disney News.






The Disney News had undergone a format change on the prior issue. The magazine is now more Glossy, more Zing, more pages but apparently pretty much the same content. I agree with reader “Dan” who wants more Disneyland articles.






Caption EO looks to be a reality – is history repeating itself?






Back when Disneyland had a real tree. Did I mention they use fake trees now?






“Frame Worthy” page in the center of the magazine. Do you suppose some folks actually framed these?






Nice two page article about the Country Bears new Christmas Show… Can you imagine the PR Disney could squeeze from this show if they still had it?








“Have we got taste for you” That taste would be the New Coke, which was either a colossal failure or marketing genius, depends how you look at it (link).

It's the Space Age Lodge

Time for a look at the Space Age Lodge located near the South Entrance to Disneyland. Take me to your leader… Why to I have a sudden craving for Quisp?






Moon Level Luxury… Down to Earth Prices… The “Space Age Lodge” still exists today albeit with a different name and a few remodels under its belt. It’s now called the “Best Western Pavilions” and even though it’s a budget motel, it gets some pretty good reviews. In this current exterior photo (link) you can still see some of the old under the new. The lobby looks great now (link) but you can tell its still got its old door and windows.






The Moon House if definitely gone, but the pool is still there (link) and now sports a Jacuzzi! I wonder if anyone notices the pool is in the shape of the “Friendship Seven” space capsule? The Supersonic Rocketmobile has been replaced with a standard shuttle bus, how boring.






New styrene lighting, daring new interior colors! The “Motel of Tomorrow” looks like this today (link) notice the ½ height walls dividing the room from the bathroom area are still there, but the lovely "Space bubble dividers" are gone!






The Motel currently has a Denny’s Restaurant; I would guess it’s in this same spot as the “Coffee Shop” used to be. I’m going to check this place out on my next trip to the park, seems likes it's worth a closer look.






This October 1963 Ticket Book came with the Space Age Brochure, but I’m not sure the flyer is from 1963, does anyone know when it opened?






A nicely ½ faded E ticket!






I believe the Swiss Family Tree House would be the newest attraction on the list. Yes the Enchanted Tiki Room was opened a few months earlier, but for the first year or so, Walt personally owned the Tiki Room and it required its own special tickets (link).






Does ANYTHING at Disneyland Cost $3.95? Churro’s and Cokes excluded…

CastleView - December 1981

CastleView is the “Disneyland Cast Magazine”, not to be confused with the Disneylander or the Disneyland Line. Isn’t the cover painting on this December 1981 issue spectacular? It’s as if Charles Boyer knew that someday they would actually put snow on the castle and make it snow on Main Street.






Here’s a note from Dick Nunis. This is issue 1 volume 1 and the only issue of CastleView I’ve ever seen. Does anyone (Jason…) know how many issues were produced by “Cast Communications, Disneyland University, Disneyland”?






That looks more like Main Street in December. In case you are curious, that towering tannenbaum is a white fir, 62 feet tall. Notice the guy-wires (no relation to Guy-Williams) steadying the tree, they don’t use those anymore, come to think of it, they don’t use a real tree anymore either.






The index of the magazine lists this article as “Fantasyland (a brief history)” then proceeds to spill out eight pages filed with tons of super text and 21 vintage photos. Come back on Bonus Sunday to get the entire article.






This page is for my friend TokyoMagic. Doesn’t this awesome photo look amazingly similar to early 1955 photos of Disneyland Anaheim?






This maintenance article has lots of information about the tree replacements on Main Street (the original Elms grew too large) and rebuilding the Frontierland entrance from scratch.






Getting some color back in this post and getting back to Christmas, here’s your invitation to the 30th Annual Disney Family Christmas Party at Disneyland.






The party was exactly 24 years ago today - December 9, 1985. Tickets are based on your dependency listing - Huh? Are they talking about how many kids you have or your drinking problem, either way its kind of weird. Oh look, Dick Nunis signed our card, I recognize most of the other names too, but who is that Michael E. guy?





Come back on Bonus Sunday for the entire CastleView magazine.

Park Operating Hours - December 1971 thru May 1972

According to this little pocket Park Operating Calendar Disneyland is open 10-7 on December 8, 1971. Today, December 8, 2009 the park is open 8-6, I hear there is a cast party tonight!





It sure looks weird seeing so many “CLOSED” days and plenty of 10-6 days, neither of which occur any more.






This Fall-Winter 1971-72 Disneyland Guide has one of my favorite covers; dad is pretty daring with Jr. on his shoulders holding that ice cream!






Frontierland minus the Indian Village. This is the last in park guide before the addition of Bear Country. There’s the Columbia Museum (“B” ticket), the Summer 1971 guide book states the museum is open “winter only”. #13 A Burrito Wagon, any photos out there? The “Wheelhouse” at #16 - what was that?? #17 Delta Banjo Sandwich Shop in the old Don DeFore's Silver Banjo location??? #21 - The Frontierland Camera Shop???? There is so much I don’t know about Disneyland!






Here’s some of the Special Events and Entertainment. Come back on Bonus Sunday for the entire guide.

Jack and Jill Magazine - December 1961

Welcome to this special Christmas edition of Magazine Monday. From December 1961 its Jack and Jill Magazine. Be sure to check out my previous “Jack and Jill” triple bonus magazine post here (link). Yes this cover is trashed, but the rest of the magazine is in great shape.






This is on the inside over – was this a religious magazine or was it simply OK to have something like this in a child’s magazine in 1961? Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great, I’m just not sure you could do this today – invoking “Christ” and the “Lord” in a child’s publication. Maybe I’m way off base here, let me know?






The Disneyland article is six pages long and mostly covers the “Parade of Toys”.






I’m not a big parade fan, but the “French Balloonists March” looks pretty neat. And that giant mouse trap is fun too, HEY - they better keep Mickey away from that trap!






There’s those prancing reindeer with that silly expression on their faces; I used to work with someone who always had that same expression on his face! Nice castle shot, I like the toy soldiers up on the castle balcony – I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone up there on the front side? Notice the little ½ domed light on the lawn, my local miniature golf place used to have those exact same lights!






There are no advertisements in Jack and Jill, so how about a few holiday related articles? Here are a few fun recipes – Is it just me or do the characters on these pages remind you of Kevin Kidney's work?






A “Christmas Picture to Color” the child did a pretty good job with the crayons, I never stayed in the lines like that!






Diz and Liz look like they came right from the late 1950’s News Paper Comics section.






Time to test your wits.





The answers can be found here (link).

Bonus Sunday

Welcome to Bonus Sunday. From Tuesday’s 1968 “Kaiser Family Fun Night” post, here is the Fall 1968 issue of Vacationland.

This issue is short at just 20 pages, but its full of great articles about; The PeopleMover, The Disneyland Roundhouse, Tours Guides, The Mark Twain, Adventure Thru Inner Space, Knott’s Berry Farm (An actual article, plus the usual Knott’s Ad on the back cover), The Kids of the Kingdom, “Matterhorn, Landmark of Disneyland”, Disneyland Dining! That’s a lot for 20 pages!


Vacationland Fall 1968 – 100mb






The Centerfold.






Dolly Madison had this great advertisement. They are still around, but are now part of the Interstate Bakeries Corporation, which also owns Hostess and everything else that's baked.

The Newest Year-Round Vacation Center of America

Did you know that Anaheim, California is “The Newest Year-Round Vacation Center of America"? Of course it’s also “The Home of Disneyland”. This travel brochure is brought to you by the Orange County Chamber of Commerce.





This brochure is (say it with me) undated, however, the Dodger’s are shown at the Coliseum, which would place this between 1958 and 1961. The art work is great on this vintage map and looks very familiar – compare it to the back cover to the Fall 1957 issue of the Disneyland Holiday Magazine (link).






“Its summer year-round in Southern California”, well, that might be a bit of a stretch but it is looking to be another sunny beautiful December day here in the Southland. And don’t forget that “Hollywood Magic”.






Ah good time’s night and day…








The back cover has a nice section for Knott’s Berry Farm and Ghost Town. And there’s your “Fun Emblem” pledging “high standards of hospitality, services and fair practice".

The Survey Says.....

No vintage post today, I ran out of time and I’m at the park today!!!!

Have you seen the "survey" cast members at Disneyland, the ones with the electronic clipboards that hang around the Main Gate? I usually try and avoid these survey folks as if they had the swing flu. I’ve done the surveys in the past and they can be time consuming and kind of boring. We’ll, they moved the survey folks down into Main Street too (they were working both sides of the street!) and they nabbed me!

Fortunately, they just take your email address and zip code. I gave them my work email thinking it would never make it thru the spam filter, but sure enough, it blazed right thru the spam filter and I got the email you see below.

If you have absolutely nothing to do today, follow this link to my Trip Report blog and see the entire (65 screen) survey!

Disneyland Report Survey - Link

If you followed the link and actually read the entire survey, we both need to get a life!!!

Old-Time Christmas Shopping at Knott's

Are you ready to Enjoy Old-Time Christmas Shopping at Knott’s? This great little flyer is undated, possibly from the late ‘60’s? This is the only piece of ephemera for Knott’s at Christmas that I have in my collection. Vintage Knott’s Christmas stuff is almost as rare as Vintage Disneyland Hanukkah stuff!





I hope you’re ready for the Holidays at Disneyland here on the blog; Starting next week We’ve got about 15 vintage “Christmas at Disneyland” posts lined up for December, and that’s not counting the multiple vintage “New Years Party at Disneyland” posts – Tis the Season to be Jolly…

Kaiser Family Fun Night at Disneyland - December 1, 1968

It’s Family Fun Night at Disneyland December 1, 1968. This was the first annual Kaiser Steel and Kaiser Permanente Medical Entities Family Fun Night. I’ve always wondered if the “Steel” Kaiser was the same as the “Medical” Kaiser, looks like they are.

This event appears not to be private party so hang on to this ticket, you're going to need it for admission to the attractions. For $3.75 you get eight hours of unlimited attractions on a Sunday evening, how many can you do? I’m staying in the “New” Tomorrowland all night thank you very much…






How about a stunning Vacationland cover to go with our 1968 ticket? Up until recently my only copy of this Fall 1968 edition of Vacationland was a badly water damaged version. Compliments of the Jack ‘N Jill Motel, we’ve got a much nicer copy to look at.






This is where I’ll be for half of the family fun night, riding the PeopleMover around and around 1968 Tomorrowland.







Have you heard the Tomorrowland Terrace will close on January 4, 2010 for a four month refurbishment? That’s a long time to close. It is getting pretty worn, most of it’s from 1967, oh I sure hope they do it right. Note: The Rivers of America (and its associated attractions) will also be closed for refurbishment from January 4th thru May 6th, 2010. (link)






This is where I’ll be for the other half of the family fun night – I bet there’s a certain Gorilla that doesn’t blog who will be riding ATIS all night…