Major kudos to the Disney History Institute for their latest contribution to our knowledge of early Disneyland. They’ve compiled a video of color footage from 1955. The video is more than just home movies edited together, it reveals how the park would have looked to the typical guest.
It’s really worth going back and viewing again. Here’s a list of 14 things you may have overlooked in your initial viewing.
BoingBoing reader Greg did us all a great service by pulling down frames from the video and stitching together a panorama of Town Square as it apppeared in the video.
Man, I wish I had a time machine right now. But this video is the next best thing. What is your earliest memory of Disneyland?
1972: I was 7 and my family lived in the suburbs of Chicago, IL. That summer, my dad had to take a business trip to California and he took all of us, my mom, my three brothers and I, with him. We flew to San Francisco (those were the days of United Airlines 747 non-stops between Chicago and the west coast with the lounge on the upper deck of the plane, etc) and after a couple of days there and driving south, we wound up at Disneyland for three days, stayed in the Disneyland Hotel, divvied up E-tickets to ride the better rides. Little did I know that three years later, we’d move first to California and Disneyland would become an emblem of my childhood.
I was in Disneyland ads as a child in the late 1950’s. If anyone has links to those I’d love to know.
When I was nearly 7 years old, my family watched the live on TV grand opening, which then was broadcast in glorious black and white. Then actor Ronald Reagan was one of the many Hollywood co-hosts for the show.
About a week later we drove down the newly opened Santa Ana Freeway, past the many orange groves .soon to be taken out by all of the development that followed Disneyland.
Admission that first year was 1 dollar. That’s not a typo, it was just 1 dollar. Tickets for the rides were sold separately, none (if I remember correctly) cost more than 25 cents. Walt Disney wasn’t out to empty your bank accounts on every visit like the corporation does today.
I remember those long gone rides (most of which only lasted a year) like the Phantom Boats, Stagecoaches, Capt. Hook’s Pirate Ship, etc. that you see in that home movie. There was still a lot to finish when it opened. At least half of Tomorrowland wasn’t ready for visitors yet. The back part of Fantasyland still had chainlink fences covering the unfinished portions.
But overall it was magical to this child and the rest of his family. My favorite ride then (and still one of my favorites) was “Mr Toad”. What a day!
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