Gala New Year's Party at Disneyland 1966 & 1967

Today’s extra special group of ticket scans was kindly donated by Gorilla’s Don’t Blog, thanks Major!!

From Saturday December 31, 1966 here’s an ultra low serial number ticket for the Gala Party. “Hats & Noisemakers” included with the unlimited use of all Adventures and Attractions.






Sunday December 31, 1967 was the date these fun characters are dancing with such excitement about. They sure are fun to look at, I love that art work. “Crazy New Year’s Hats” for this year, "Surprise Midnight Spectacular", and of course “unlimited use of all Disneyland attractions”.

The pink version was for “advance sale” and cost $9.00.






The blue version cost $10.00 and must have been for purchase the day of the event at the ticket booths. All these low serial numbers and “void” punches tell me these are either test tickets or tickets for the main gate folks to use to know what the tickets would look like, either way that makes them extra cool to me…





Thank you Major for these and the other fine contributions you have donated over the past year, they are much appreciated.

Happy New Year Everyone, Have a Fun and Safe night!

New Year's at Disneyland - December 31, 1977

Here's a fun ticket to Disneyland's New Year's Eve Party December 31, 1977. This complimentary ticket was never used, too bad, that must have been a grand night! Open till 2:30 AM, nice! I hear Disneyland will be open till 2am this New Year's Eve, that's got to be weird being at the park that late, you'd find me sleeping somewhere warm & quiet....





Free Complimentary Parking.






Now for your guide book to match the season, here's the Fall/Winter 1977(78) Disneyland Guide Book. No waiting for Bonus Sunday for the complete guide, it was posted a while back, here's the link.


Compelte Disneyland Guide Book Fall/Winter 1977


The brand new Space Mountain on the cover, while the large palm trees in Tomorrowland look nice, I never understood how they fit the futuristic theme?





Back when Disneyland ROCKED!

New Years at Disneyland - December 31, 1981

There’s only three days to the New Year? How did that happen so quickly? That must mean it’s time for “New Year’s at Disneyland”. December 31, 1981. Mickey and Minnie look ready to celebrate the New Year in style!






The Manhattan Transfer!!! Boy was I a fool not to attend on this occasion. I love The Manhattan Transfer; I still play my 45 of Manhattan Transfer’s “Twilight Zone” from 1979. You can buy the song for a penny here (link). Kool & the Gang at the Space Stage in Tomorrowland most likely singing their 1980 hit Celebration, wow this was quite a night!






This post needs some color so here’s the cover to the Fall/Winter 1981-82 Vacationland. This is one of my favorite “modern” era Vacationland covers, Charles Boyer had a unique and vibrant way of capturing the Disneyland Spirit.






The whole gang is aboard; I always wondered if that Hut thing on stilts can support people, I guess it can.





Come back on Bonus Sunday for the entire issue, there’s a great article “Adventures in Peter Pan Country” featuring a soon to be gone pirate ship.

Bonus Sunday

Welcome to the last Bonus Sunday of 2008! If you can stand it, we’ve got one final Christmas post, it will end after today I promise (I gotta make room for New Years Stuff!).

From yesterday’s post, here is the complete scan of Walt Disney Worlds “Eyes and Ears” from December 22, 1978.


WDW Eyes and Ears December 22, 1978 – 12mb





Starting in January the blog will have a new weekly feature called “Magazine Monday” with Disneyland (or Disneyworld) related Vintage magazine posts. We’ve already previewed a page from a 1956 McCall’s Magazine (link) check back on the first Monday in January for the full McCall’s post. Oh, and yes I do accept magazine scan donations, thanks Wishbook for the great vintage ad, I'll be posting it soon!

Here’s another “preview” this one is Christmas related and I couldn’t bear to hold it for an entire year, so here you go. From December 1957 it Walt Disney’s Magazine (formerly titled Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club Magazine). Tommy Kirk and Old Yeller grace the cover. I cried liked baby when I first saw the movie, heck I still do!






How did they build Story Book Land? Read and find out….





Now a couple of fun Christmas stories; corny- yes, from another time and place – yes, fabulous artwork – you bet! Enjoy...

Today's Good News - December 25 - 30, 1981

Just a few more Christmas items for the season, if you’re all “holiday’d out” it completely understandable to skip this post.

From December 25 thru 30, 1981 there’s lots of “Good News” at Disneyland. Check out the newspaper Mickey is holding, one of the “fake” articles is titled “Kingdom Announces Unlimited Fun”. I believe that was actually true, “unlimited passports" were just months away, bye-bye lettered tickets….






Inside you’ll notice that “Fantasy on Parade” “comes to life again”, this after a four year replacement by the “Very Merry Christmas Parade”. Eddie “Carmine” Mekka (or better know as “The Big Ragu” on Lavern & Shirley). What do you want to bet he sung “Rags to Riches”? Fine trumpet sounds from Les Elgart and plenty of other grand entertainers.






The parade route. Did people start lining up 7 hours ahead of the parade back then?






And because this post needs some color and as a Holiday shout-out to our Florida cousin, here’s the super cover to “Ears and Eyes” the WDW version of the Disneyland Line. What a fun cover! Come back tomorrow for the complete issue, its, well, odd.

Pliovic Vinyl Resin on Caser Jr. - 1955

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, I sure did. I ate so much I'm still full!

Today's quickie post is an ad from an unknown magazine and an unknown date. It was presented to me as 1955 and looking at the barren hills from the the Story Book ride I would say this is 1955 or early 1956. Hey I thought those dragon sleds came from the carousel, maybe this is how they duplicated them?

Anyway, it's a weird ad, did those kids go to Disneyland to watch Pliovic vinyl resin in use, maybe this should have been done in Tomorrowland???

Oh, and where exactly are these folks doing there Resin molding? I can't place the orientation of this photo.... Anyone?

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from Me to You - December 1970

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the wonderful readers of my blog. I hope this holiday finds you safe and well, and in good cheer.  

As many times as I’ve been to Disneyland growing up and as big of a fan that I am, you’d think there would be lots of photos of me at the park. My parents have dozens of photo albums from my childhood but there is only one photo of me at Disneyland.

Here is that one photo, me and my family at Disneyland - December 1970. My dad looking every bit the part of his job as Plumbers/Contractors Union Boss, my mom looking pretty hip considering she is only 25 and had to deal with me and my brother constantly trying to kill each other. My older brother is on the left and the silly little kid on the right is yours truly… Blame dad for the hair cut and mom for the clothes.

Werner Weiss’ great site “Yesterland” recently ran a fun vintage Disneyland Christmas update (link) where he posted this photo below. It looks like the same type of white Christmas tree as in my picture above. Thanks Werner!





I’ll be taking a couple of days off for the holidays, check back Friday and this weekend for some new posts and of course, Bonus Sunday.

Today at Disneyland featuring the "New' Very Merry Christmas Parade

Today at Disneyland, December 21st thru 25th, 1987. Featuring the "New' Very Merry Christmas Parade. They must have tried to spruce up the "Merry" parade, since "Fantasy on Parade" took its place for the previous 5 or 6 years. I wonder what made it "new"?





The parking lot layout looks more confusing on this map than I remember it. An annual pass for $140 for 365 days! The seasonal pass seems like a great deal too at only $75.00.






The "New" Disney Gallery.... I hear the "New-New" Disney Gallery will be located in the bank (AP center) on main street. I guess that's a good fit, I hope there is more space than the current bank/AP center interior shows, maybe they can use some of the upstairs, that would be awesome!






The park was bursting at the seams with entertainment.






Were these the only places to eat listed on the back? I wonder why these were chosen, maybe they needs some extra traffic?

Bonus Sunday

Looking back 32 years, today’s Bonus Sunday offers up a great Vacationland magazine from Fall/Winter 1976-77.


Complete Vacationland Fall/Winter 1976-77 – 67mb





This issue is full of neat articles. There’s a fun A thru Z of Disneyland on the first few pages (you’ll have to download the entire issue to see it). Then there are a few articles about long lost places at Disneyland. “Town Square Cafe” sounds perfect for that area of the park, too bad it’s just another store now!






Aboard Capt. Hooks Galley, who’d a thought you could miss a tuna sandwich restaurant?







Space Mountain Update… Lots of fun facts in here; special “chicken” ramp (used once by me in 1978), “Guests can also view the attraction in actual operation before boarding (the smoke-glass windows in the queue line they later took out) and astronaut Gordon Cooper appears in a short film.






It’s always interesting how the Vacationlands ran ads for other southern California amusement/theme parks. I guess they didn’t feel these other places were much of a threat, and they really weren’t.  I am so digging that mid-70’s artwork, groovy baby.

Home for the Holidays at Disneyland - 1980

Home for the Holidays at Disneyland, December 20 & 21, 1980.

What a nice photo on the front of this holiday gate flyer. The lady in the middle looks familiar to me?





Fantasy on Parade is back after a 3 years hiatus (sorry "Very Merry Christmas Parade", you must not have been "very" popular). Did they do the candlelight procession both night? Lots of great entertainment!




Parade Route and park map.

Another Twain Ticket of a Different Color

On Tuesday's post (link) we saw a forth color for the beautiful original Mark Twain tickets. Today we present a fifth color, the elusive "gray" ticket.

These two scans were sent in by a regular and valued reader of the blog, thank you! This gray ticket (and its yellow sibling below) are ultra-vintage, the date of "Aug. 2, 1955" seems accurate given the low serial numbers. These "grays" seem to be the rarest of them all, this is only the second one I have seen. Although I think my "X" serial number ticket from Tuesday's post it rather rare also.







These are just so fun to look at aren't they? Close your eyes and you can hear the steam whistle and the bell.... "Secure all cargo... Engine room, ahead one quarter, sound off, mark one.... Mark Twain......"





On my last visit to Disneyland I rode the Mark Twain at night, I had a great full day at the park, best memory, riding aboard the Mark Twain at night...

The Gala Premiere of Fantasy on Parade - December 18, 1965

Welcome to the Gala Premiere of Walt Disney’s Fantasy on Parade.  Saturday Evening December 18 – 8:00 PM. (Please be seated by 7:30 PM). There is no year printed on this ticket, but it must be 1965. Several sources list the start of the parade as 1965 and December 18th was a Saturday in 1965.

How in the world did you get one of these? It does not indicate admission to the park, maybe there was special seating for the parade that required one of these tickets? Was Walt at this event? 




Below is a ticket for December 18, 1976, complimentary of course. Fantasy on Parade ran thru the 1976 holiday season and was replaced for 3 years with “The Very Merry Christmas Parade” which was featured in yesterday’s post. Fantasy on Parade would return in 1980.  






A great 1975 Photo of Fantasy on Parade courtesy of Daveland, here a link to Daves post with several photos of the parade (link). Thanks Dave and we miss Madge & Mildred.






It seems clear the parade started in 1965, why did the Disneyland Collectors Series cards place it in 1964? Maybe because they wanted the “Tencennial” on the 1965 card?






If you want to see the entire parade on film from 1972 here’s a post from last Christmas on Micechat that has links to the parade in 4 parts. It super fun to watch (Link). Thanks MerlinJones!

The Very Merry Christmas Parade - December 17, 1977

Parade fans everywhere have been waiting for this, it’s “The Very Merry Christmas Parade” at Disneyland December 17, 1977. I am guessing this was the first year of this parade; I have similar ticket from December 18, 1976 (you’ll see it tomorrow) but it was for “Fantasy on Parade”.

This is a complimentary ticket, good on all adventures and attractions (except shooting galleries). The poor ticket never got used, it still has its stub and the little string is ready to be tied around one of the buttons on your Qiana shirt.






These next three scans were shamelessly borrowed from a super post on the blog “Disney on Parole”. The person that runs the Parole blog was a former cast member and was in “The Very Merry Christmas Parade” in 1977! Be sure to check out this great blog (link) there a post yesterday that has backstage photos of the 1977 parade! Great Stuff, thanks "Disney on Parole"!








And if you want to see the Parade, here’s a fun YouTube video of “The Very Merry Christmas Parade” in 1988. (Link).

A Twain Ticket of a Different Color...

Last month I posted a “Trio of Mark Twain Tickets” (link) showing the beautiful Mark Twain Steamboat tickets in green, yellow (goldenrod?) and pink. Major Pepperidge suggested there may be a gray version and I agree as I think I’ve seen it somewhere.

Well this just in from an eBay find… A Brown version! I wonder why there were so many colors? Maybe “adult, junior and child” were green, yellow and pink. This brown (or is it tan/beige) version has an “X” preceding the serial number, sometimes this to means “courtesy guest”, “complimentary” or even employee tickets.

This ticket is missing the “purser’s check” on the right, but it does have the binder stub on the left, while very plain, its pretty rare or at least I’ve never seen one.






The back is of course a marvelous field of Globe Safety Paper. I can never get enough; I want to wall paper my entire den in this stuff, come to think of it, I have enough tickets, hmmmm.






Here are the backs from the previous Twain Ticket post to compare the colors.






This next scan is a sneak peak to an upcoming weekly feature here on the blog. Starting in January 2009, each Monday will be “Magazine Monday” and will feature a Vintage Magazine with Disneyland related articles. There’s plenty to last us at least until spring.

This is from McCall’s February 1956 issue. McCall’s is one of those big “Life” size magazines. This issue features lovely ladies wearing the latest fashions, photographed on location at Disneyland.






OK, since I know everyone was curious, here are the details on what our lovely lady above is wearing.