Disneyland in Slides February 1959 - Part One

Time for a few more vintage Disneyland slides. This set is from the same photographer as last weeks December 1962 Disneyland slide series (link). This set from February 1959 was in much worse shape than the 1962 slides, these were completely awash in magenta and they have lost much of their sharpness.

There are a total of about 20 slides in this batch, today we’ll be looking at the first four. Hopefully we can present part two next Saturday, I will confess I did not “fix” these myself, I employed (for free) someone who knows more about this stuff than me. Thanks “Mr. Fix it”!

Even a washed out photo of the parking lot brings a smile to my face, how about you?






There’s that magical drinking fountain! What’s growing in the planter, spinach?






Looks like the Keystone Cops are playing outside of the Opera House.






Not much color left in this one, but hey, I see a 1958 Cadillac in the parking lot!!

Elks Nite at Disneyland - May 8, 1970

Those folks over at The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks had their very own Private Party at Disneyland 40 year ago, May 8th 1970. Do you think the serial number represents 14,380 tickets sold? That number seems about right based on the “estimated attendance” figures for private parties on weekends as shown in my recent post of the Parkalendar (link).





There’s that weird wording we’ve seen before about “excess monies” being "retained by the Lodge for its services". What excess monies are they talking about? How could you ever have excess money, its sure never happened to me!






Here’s the cover to an excellent Vacationland from Winter/Spring 1970. The 1970 Vacationlands are some of my favorites, and this is the first 1970 version I’ve posted.






This issue has only two main articles; however they are lengthy and detailed. Knott’s Berry Farm Revisited is SEVEN pages long, almost unheard of in a Vacationland magazine. Eight pages if you count the Knott’s advertisement on the back cover!






“One Step at a time” is a five page article all about the Matterhorn Mountain climbers. Come back on Bonus Sunday for the rest of these two great articles and the entire magazine.






Why don’t you go a head and “Take Disneyland Hone”…






A dandy of a centerfold. Check out that line for the New Haunted Mansion!






And lastly here’s a scan for all you sugar sack on a drinking fountain fans (we know who we are).

Disneyland Passport - May 4, 1988

Somehow this post got mixed up, it was suppose to be on Tuesday, oh well, just pretend its May 4th. By 1988 the tickets sure weren’t very exciting. Lack of color and could Goofy be any smaller? Even the card stock itself is cheap; it’s not glossy like the older tickets.






$21.50 does seem like a good deal compared to today.






For anyone tracking the parking fees at Disneyland over the years (that would be me and probably Jason) parking was $3 in 1988 - I would pay ten times that amount still see that old parking lot again.






The gate flyer is all about “Blast to the Past” – you’ll be seeing more of “blast” in upcoming posts for May.






Clearly the emphasis is on the 2 & 3 day passports. Hey, the Queen Mary appears to have sprouted wings, I didn’t know she could fly!






The “Blast to the Past” entertainment listing.






Oh boy, Circle Vision is offering two different shows every day! They had one hour to swap out nine reels of film, I wonder how many people it took to perform the switch over?






Blast to the Past “Trivia Game” is an entire post itself. Look for a post on the game next week and you'll see how it was possible to “tilt” the odds in your favor.






Can I still rent a 1956 Chevy Belair from National Car Rental? I wonder how much it was to rent it?






And lastly, Your 1988 Souvenir Guide book, which has been previously post on Bonus Sunday (link).

More Knott's Stuff

Are you ready for some more Knott’s? I sure am! From the “Would a – Could a” department, these first two images are from April’s Knott’s Preserved event. This general admission ticket could have been used in place of the Ticketron style tickets actually used (link).






This would have been the lanyard from the Grand Avenue Tour, similar to the Ghost Town Tour (link), however that tour ended up not having any lanyards at all. If you’re wondering why these scans are so clear, it's because they're not scans, they're the originals! - “Thanks Chris!” and “Awesome Book”!






Following up on Magazine Monday’s Ice Capades post, the farm didn’t want miss out on the ice fun either so they formed the Knott’s Ice Spectacular – Here's the 1980 Edition, its fifth year!






They added an ice floor on the stage of the Good Time Theater? I bet that didn’t come cheap.






Presented by Knott’s Berry Farm and Pepsi-Cola. That Tommy Walker guy sounds familiar?






Oh, that Tommy Walker “Disney Director of Entertainment ‘Tommy’ Walker left USC and became the Magic Kingdom's first director of entertainment and customer relations. Disney used to tease Walker, "Everything you do is fireworks, balloons, pigeons and flags." Certainly these were four key elements in the extravaganzas Walker was known for. Walker's father, Vesey (honored as a Disney Legend in 2005), formed the original Disneyland Band.” (Wiki-link)





1980, need I say more?.






The show looks better in text than in these photos. I wonder what it was like in person.





The "centerfold"...







Al-righty-then, this is where I sneak out of the theater, just a few steps away is Knott’s Bear-y Tales and I’ve got a handful of “B” tickets! (I really do have a handful of "B" tickets)






There are plenty more photos in this program, but you can get the basic idea from the back cover. I need to go dust off my Solid Gold VHS tapes - Dionne and Andy, here I come!

The Sphere - July 1955 / Ice Capades - 1957

Welcome to Magazine Monday. Today’s post is one of those magazine articles that has lost the rest of its magazine! And to make matters worse, its only one page. At least it’s a big page as this must have been a Life size magazine. From July 30, 1955 its The Sphere Magazine. “The Sphere was a British magazine published by London Illustrated Newspapers" (Wiki-link).

Do you suppose £6,000,000 was $17 million dollars in 1955? If not, then they are off on their estimate just like everyone else was. Here’s a high resolution scan (20mb link) for you to gaze at while enjoying your tea and crumpets.






Did you notice the odd “Creatures of Walt Disney’s imagination” in the lower right photo in the above article? They of course were borrowed from the Ice Capades. Here’s the cover to the 1957 Ice Capades program.






7-8. “By Special Permission of Walt Disney”. Disneyland






Who is “Little Patti” and why is she wearing Dorothy Gale’s dress???






Looks like fun?

Train Menu - Disneyland cover

Here's a a fun little item. This menu features Disneyland on the front and back covers. The date on the inside shows "Thursday May 22nd". There was a Thursday May 22nd in 1958 but that's too early, there's a monorail photo on the back cover! The next available Thursday May 22nd was skipped (1964) blame leap year. So this must be from Thursday May 22, 1969.






I'm not 100% positive this is a train menu, but the Streamliner Fruit Plate is a clue. Pickled Herring in Sour Cream, I just lost my appetite. OK, the Lemon Sherbet might get my appetite back.





If this is from 1969, that 1958 Cadillac is looking just a bit dated.






Here's both front and back covers scanned together.

Popular Science November 1963 - Magic Skyway Article

In my never ending quest to read every Popular Science and Popular Mechanics ever printed, I stumbled across this neat little article I wanted to share.





From November 1963, here’s fun look at the testing in Glendale, CA for the Fords Magic Skyway that would appear at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. I want to ride in the Lincoln Continental! What, they don’t have engines???