Our office has its annual Christmas party at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. This year I decided to bring my camera so I could share the pretty holiday decorations and learn a little more about the history of this American icon.
As soon as you enter the gates of Disneyland you are greeted by Mickey Mouse in flowers along with a great shot of the Townhall.
Walt designed Main Street to be reminiscent of a town at the turn of the 20th century. When Disneyland opened on July 18, 1955 the admission price to enter the Park was only 50 cents. People would stroll along Main Street and browse in the many shops that line Main Street.
Each ride cost between 10 and 35 cents in cash. Vistors complained that they were being "nickled and dimed" to death so by October, 1955, the famous coupon books were introduced.
Many of my Southern Californian-born friends have fond memories of the Disney coupon system. Rides were rated from A to E with E-ticket rides being the most adverturous and most popular with the teens.
A trip down Main Street in this vintage fire-truck was an A-ticket ride.
Walt Disney had an apartment right above this firehouse and his grandchildren recall many fond memories of waking up in Disneyland with the Park all to themselves.
The view from his apartment is so charming. All the buildings on Main Street are built using the concept of "forced perspective" to give an illusion of height. This is done by building the first stories to 3/4 scale, the second stories to 5/8 scale, and the third stories to 1/2 scale.
The horse and carriage really gives Main Street a turn-of-the-century feeling.
The Opera House is being used as an exhibit on the history of Disneyland.
Since we go to Disneyland every Christmas season, I have so many fond memories of sitting under this fantastic tree watching the famous parade. The tree is about 65 feet tall and is a White Fir shipped each year from the Mount Shasta region of Northern California. Disneyland in Anaheim is the last Disney Park to use a live tree.
The double-decker bus is all decked out for the holidays too.
As we approach the famous Sleeping Beauty castle, I turn back and admire how pretty Main Street looks at Christmas. After the firework show, artifical snow falls on Main Street, to the delight of kids living in Southern California.
My son was welcomed into Fantasyland with a kiss on the check from Snow White's wicked witch. I'm sure that was just what he dreamed of in this place that makes all dreams come true.
The flying Dumbo ride is one of the original attractions of Disneyland. The ride got a new coat of paint for the Park's 50th Anniversary celebration in 2005.
The mouse on the top is holding a training whip. For many years, the whip was changed to a "magic feather" to be more politically correct; however with the renovation of the ride for the 50th Anniversary, the feather was changed back to the original whip.
The Mad Tea Party spinning tea cups are another vintage attraction that was original to the opening date in 1955. Since my daughter loves Alice In Wonderland, this is one ride that we must go on every year: despite the fact that everyone over a certain age will get motion sick.
The Casey Jr. Circus Train that goes through Storybook Land makes a fanciful photo and interestingly, the train cars were recycled from the chariots used on the original King Arthur's Carousel designed by William Dentzel.
Here is what the King Arthur's Carousel looks like today at Disneyland. Over the years it has been through many renovations to increase passenger load.
The original Wurlitzer #157 band organ no longer operates, but these horses are original Dentzel factory carved horses from the late 19th century. The carousel used to have a single white horse that was very popular with guests. A 1975 renovation solved this problem by painting all of the horses white.
The Matterhorn dominates the skyscape of Disneyland. When Walt Disney was in Switzerland filming the movie "Third Man on the Mountain", he fell in love with the 14,000 foot Matterhorn mountain and decided to have one built in Disneyland to 1/100 scale.
The trees going up the outside of the Disney Matterhorn become smaller the higher up they are, thus using the trick of "forced perspective" to make the mountain look even taller. "Mountaineers" can often be seen scaling the mountain. Inside the Matterhorn is a thrilling bobsled ride: one of the most popular "E-ticket" rides from the days of Disney coupon books.
The Matterhorn marks the boundary of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
Walt Disney was an optimist of the wonders of the Space Age. He wanted to bring the excitement of advances in technology to the masses.
The Monorail at Disneyland was the first daily operating Monorail in the Western Hemisphere when it mades its premier on June 14, 1959. Walt Disney envisioned a time when Monorails would replaces buses and trains for public transportation.
However, Southern Californians were fully enamoured in the car culture.
My son smiles brightly as he enters his car at the Autopia. The word Autopia combines the words "automobile utopia," a term made popular by Reyner Banham in his book "Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies" which describes our obsession with our cars. Walt Disney's Autopia was an original attraction on opening day in 1955 and it gave visitors a glance at our newly developing Interstate System would look.
My favorite part of Disneyland is New Orleans Square, which was added in 1966. This is a California Disneyland exclusive and is not found at the other Disney Parks.
Right above this Blue Bayou Restaurant, with the yellow windows, is a "secret" club called Club 33, which is reserved for those who can afford the $10,000 per year membership and have the patience to wait several years before getting on this list.
The Christmas decoratations add to the rich feel of New Orleans Square: something everyone can enjoy.
Jazz muscians play live here and the feeling is festive and fun.
The Haunted House is one of my favorite attractions. At Christmas, this Southern antebellum mansion undergoes an overlay inspired by Tim Burton's movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas".
The concept is: What if Halloween is married with Christmas?
The decorations are worth waiting in line to see up close. Many visitors come to Disneyland during the Christmas season just to see the Haunted House.
Since I love the Wild West, Frontierland is another of my favorite sections of Disneyland.
I didn't expect to see real raindeer at Disneyland, but here they were helping add to the Christmas spirit at the Park.
After feeling sorry for this fellow who lost an antler, I learned that both male and female reindeer grow impressive antlers and that they are naturally shed each year.
I convinced my daughter to go on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride with me.
This ride, built in 1979, speeds through an abandoned mine, complete with lots of Southwest inspired scenery and landscaping.
The mountain is designed to look like the hoodoos at Bryce National Park in Utah: one of my favorite places.
And I found something real in Disneyland that normally you can only see in National Parks: a 7.5 foot in diameter petrified tree stump that was once a Redwood over 55 million years ago.
This was a gift to Walt Disney from his wife and it originally came from the Pike National Forest in Colorado.
The Mark Twain Riverboat takes you out to Tom Sawyer's Island in style. This riverboat is a 5/8 replica of the steam ships that used to rule the Mississippi River.
The more elegant Sailing Ship Columbia is a replica of the first American sailing ship to go around the world.
Tom Sawyer's Island, assessible by one of these two sailing ships or by smaller rafts, is a nice place to get away from the crowds and the lines and to just explore and play.
There are hiking trails and lots of places to look in. The Island is the launching pad for the night-time firework show Fantasmic, a spectacular presentation of classical music, fireworks, and hydrotechnics, laser beams, and acrobatic pirate fight scenes on the Sailing Ship Columbia. The show stars Mickey Mouse himself: always a crowd pleaser at Disneyland.
I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of Disneyland.
References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur_Carrousel
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn_Bobsleds
4.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_Monorail_System
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 40
Thank you so much, Ceena. I hope you go there too - it's fun!
I love Disneyland and spent a lot of great times there as a kid. I even broke my arm there in first grade when I got it caught between the dock and the little boats that used to go over to Tom Sawyer's Island.
I loved it so much, that when I was old enough I went to work there. I spent two wonderful years selling balloons, sodas and the other things that are vended from carts around the park. Even though I worked there, it is still a magical place for me.
P.S. We still refer to a grand adventure or an experience as an E-Ticket ride:) Some habits die hard....
Thanks, Larry!
David, I will! I went to check this morning before I had to run off for the day and I saw that you did a whole series of photoessays on Disneyland - that's awesome! You know what? I trying to think if I ever saw the Haunted House without the Christmas overlay. We go every year at Christmas with the office and then sometimes I bring family that's visiting to Disneyland and they usually come during the holiday season too. I probably saw it many years ago and I remember the Haunted House being pretty scary - the Christmas version isn't scary at all. Now I'm curious to go sometime to Disneyland in the summer. Thank you for the connection request too - I look forward to reading your stuff.
Thank you so much, Shaunee.
Elizabeth - your memories are so wonderful! I can just imagine a little boy's impressions of this make believe land. In fact, one Christmas party that we went to Disneyland we brought my Bosnian Mother-in-Law since she was visiting our home. She was absolutely stunned by all of it - she loved it so much. I wasn't sure what she would think since she had nothing to compare that experience to in her home country. Everyone from my office liked watching her reactions to the rides. Her favorite was Pirates of the Caribbean.
Krissy, that's so awesome that you went to Disneyland with your marching band! Were you in the parade? I love watching the parade! We usually sit under the Christmas tree and that's the highlight of the day. I used to love the fireworks show too, but these days, I wear out before 9:00 p.m. :-)
Jessie, you were in Toyko Disneyland? That's so cool! I would love to see that - I bet the Tomorrowland is truly built on new innovations. The Disneyland Tomorrowland is cool though because it's so retro - like what we thought the future would be like in the 1960s with the Jetsons. Thank you so much for featuring this in travel photos! I think the forced persceptive was the most interesting thing I learned. Now I'll notice that each time walk down Main Street. I wish I could go into the Second Story of one of those buildings.
Audrey, I loved finding out about the Secret Club and then I was so happy that I caught a photo of it! I heard that they serve very fancy meals up there -- the food is NOT included in the $10,000 membership! And it's like a country club in that you have to buy a certain amount of food each month or you are charged anyway. Well, this place is for very top CEOs so they can certainly afford it.
Kelly, that's a cool job! I would love doing that! Those monorails are so smooth and so fun to ride on. It really seems so futuristic - it would have been cool if monorails would have really taken off as a form of public transportation.
Thanks, Tonia! I've been to DisneyWorld too - since I was born in Florida and we would go home there to visit relatives all the time. DisneyWorld is actually much much bigger and much fancier and better maintained. Of course, it doesn't have the historical importance of Disneyland though. Disneyland has made a lot of renovations since we first started going there in the early 1990s - at that time it was very dated and paint was peeling and so on. The two Parks are quite different so you can visit both without feeling bored. Thank you so much for all your encouragement.
The Photographers Review
Faith, I wouldn't have known this little fact if I hadn't read some behind the scenes facts about Disneyland. Fortunately, so many people are obsessed with all things Disney that it is very easy to get information on just about any part of the Park. Walt had so many tricks up his sleave. He was personally involved in a lot of these engineering decisions and it is said that he knew where every nail was in the Park.
Joan, it truly is a place that makes people happy. Sometimes I don't understand how they can charge so much money for entrance and people still gladly pay but I've never seen even one person frown when paying those fees. Everyone just seems like they are having the best time. That's the magic of the whole Disney experience. I don't think that has been recreated anywhere else.
Carroll, I did read about how Walt dedicated the second stories windows to the people that made his dream become a reality. Next time I am there, I will look for his name in the second story of the Firehouse. That's where Walt Disney's apartment is too! I bet you never believed that this amusement park that your uncle was building would become this much of a cultural icon. That is so cool that you have that personal connection to the place.
Gwen, oh my gosh! Those boats to Tom Sawyer's Island are so dangerous! If you would have done that in these days, you could have sued for a nice sum :-) My daughter has several ballet friends who now work at Disneyland doing very shows and the parade and that is such a great place to work. We live kind of far to commute - it would take a good hour one way, but what a great experience for a young person to have. My boss would always say: "That's a real E-ticket ride" for everything and then one day he explained the meaning behind that expression and all the other people in my office told of their fond memories from the coupon books. I kind of wish they still had that system because my favorite thing to do is just walk around the place and that wouldn't cost me much with that system in place.
Thanks, ChrisJerry. Like I said to Tonia, DisneyWorld is actually the "nicer" of the two Parks - it's way bigger, newer, has prettier grounds and better rides. But, Disneyland is the original so I'm glad that I had the chance to go there with my office and learn a little of the history of it.
This is great, Jennifer! The pictures are all awesome and the details about what it is you are looking at in each of them really help. I've never been to Disneyland and doubt I'll ever get the chance so this was very cool for me to read and see. I would LOVE to go there and take my kids. They would go insane from glee! LOL
Thanks for posting to "All Photo Essays Here"!
Mike, I'm always wearing a tshirt at Disneyland ;-)
Thanks, Danielle!
Shannon, it's a fun place to go with kids. Kids just love everything about it. It's a shame that the prices to get in are so high now and that there isn't much of a children's discount. I really wish they would go back to the coupon payment method so you only had to pay for the rides you go on - but I'm sure that will never happen!
Victoria, that would be so fun! Come on over here next year in December! Actually, if you don't live in California, I would think that going to the whole DisneyWorld complex in Orlando would be the more fun family big vacation just because there are so many brand new amusement parks in one convenient location. Once we went to Epcot Center for spring break, way back in the old days, and that was so fantastic! My kids have never been to DisneyWorld.
Thanks so much, Michele!
Karen, we were there so many times - every Christmas for many many years now and this was the very first time I noticed the Petrified Tree too. Now I'm wondering if they just set it out for display or if I just passed it without looking. Thanks so much, darling!
I've never eaten in the Blue Bayou but I really want to! It's just that eating in Disneyland Park is *so* expensive that we always sneak in our own homemade lunches. Backcountry off-road driving is a way better E-ticket ride in my opinion any day. I'm wanting so much to rent a 4-wheel drive vehicle and drive down the Racetrack at Death Valley.
I always enjoy going to Disney parks and Anaheim was my introduction...
Thank you For Sharing the proven ' Genuinely the haunted Dreamland !!!
Thanks for commenting on my Book Review of Patricia Gaffney's "Mad Dash"! I greatly appreciate your having taken the time to read, rate, and comment on it.
The Christmas Tree was just wonderful. Beautiful tree.
Hope you're all right - love and hugs - S.
http://hk.geocities.com/hk_disneyland_stickers/