Disneyland 1955

[The Wiser Hatter]

[video=youtube_share;HUV4Bxh3zn4]http://youtu.be/HUV4Bxh3zn4[/video]

 

[3fingers]

I'd rather go there than to the one they have now.

 

[dhermann1]

I was born between the 1939 NY Worlds Fair and the opening of Disneyland. It's a little jarring to see how much these films remind me of the color films of the 39 Fair. Look how dressed up everyone was! Faskinatin'. It's also striking to me, never having been there, how small the scale of everything seems. I've always heard that Disneyland was small, but this surprises me.

 

[Gingerella72]

Gee, I wonder why they didn't continue with the stagecoach rides?

The Jungle Cruise looks almost the same as today.

I'm partial to DisneyWorld myself, but that's what I'm familiar with from childhood.

 

[Jack Armstrong]

Lordie, Lordie, how I wanted to go to Disneyland when I was seven years old! It was always the star of the Disneyland TV show, and featured heavily in the Mickey Mouse Club most of the time.

But my family lived in Pennsylvania, and money was not that easily come by for us. I never did get to Disneyland. And with all its changes in the years between 1955 and now, it isn't the place I dreamed about so long ago. Maybe the fantasies of a seven-year-old are the best place for it after all.

 

[Stormy]

Very nice!

 

[Gingerella72]

Lordie, Lordie, how I wanted to go to Disneyland when I was seven years old! It was always the star of the Disneyland TV show, and featured heavily in the Mickey Mouse Club most of the time.

But my family lived in Pennsylvania, and money was not that easily come by for us. I never did get to Disneyland. And with all its changes in the years between 1955 and now, it isn't the place I dreamed about so long ago. Maybe the fantasies of a seven-year-old are the best place for it after all.

I almost feel the same way about Disneyworld. My mom is originally from Florida, so that's where we went for family vacations and a trip to Disneyworld was always a part of it. But so many things have changed, the Disney I long to return to, from the early 1980's, doesn't exist anymore. It's been 13 years since my last visit there and while I harbor hope that I'll get the chance to visit it again at least once more in the future, I know it will be bittersweet because of all the changes.

 

[3fingers]

Maybe the fantasies of a seven-year-old are the best place for it after all.

I never got to go either, but I think you are right. The picture I had in my mind of the Magic Kingdom 40 years ago watching Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights is probably where it needs to stay.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I almost feel the same way about Disneyworld. My mom is originally from Florida, so that's where we went for family vacations and a trip to Disneyworld was always a part of it. But so many things have changed, the Disney I long to return to, from the early 1980's, doesn't exist anymore. It's been 13 years since my last visit there and while I harbor hope that I'll get the chance to visit it again at least once more in the future, I know it will be bittersweet because of all the changes.

I grew up a few hours from Disney World, and went there a few times as a kid (back when you had to buy tickets to exchange for rides and exhibits), but that was not long after it opened. I went once as an adult, right after Epcot was built (which would have been mid-80's?), but I have not been back since. I have no idea what it's like there now, but I'm guessing just more of the same. I'll say this for Disney World...it was planned, planned and planned some more. They thought of virtually everthing.

On a side note, my grandfather owned a bunch of land where Disney World is now. He sold it all back in the late 1950's and early '60's, for next to nothing, as it was just swampland with an occasional orange grove. A few years later, Disney came in and bought it all up and the price shot up 1000% in a few years. Of course, Disney bought it all in secret. No one knew who was buying up all the land or why.

 

[Marcus]

Great video. We were there on Monday for my boy's 10th B-day. So great to see how much the place has and has not changed. Love going there.

 

[Sloan1874]

Disney Girls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63NBh0NqaLY

kinda evocative of that lovely little clip.

 

[fashion frank]

Just returned from Disney World last week and man is it geared to get your $$$$.

They have "gift shops" everywhere in all of the parks and when you factor in how much a ticket is for a day at the park and how long you stand in lines I guess it's a toss up.
Must admit we did have fun !

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[vintageTink]

I grew up a few hours from Disney World, and went there a few times as a kid (back when you had to buy tickets to exchange for rides and exhibits), but that was not long after it opened. I went once as an adult, right after Epcot was built (which would have been mid-80's?), but I have not been back since. I have no idea what it's like there now, but I'm guessing just more of the same. I'll say this for Disney World...it was planned, planned and planned some more. They thought of virtually everthing.

On a side note, my grandfather owned a bunch of land where Disney World is now. He sold it all back in the late 1950's and early '60's, for next to nothing, as it was just swampland with an occasional orange grove. A few years later, Disney came in and bought it all up and the price shot up 1000% in a few years. Of course, Disney bought it all in secret. No one knew who was buying up all the land or why.

I lived there from 84-92. Epcot opened in 1982. I was two.

 

[Simons]

The last time I was there was the mid 80's. It was a very enjoyable place back then.

 

[fathergoose]

True story. *My second visit to Disneyland, late '65 or early '66. *I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old. *That night, my mother told me she'd met and chatted with television icon Harriet Nelson in the powder room. *Rick's mom, there with her granddaughter, had looked long into the mirror and remarked, "I'm SO old." Earlier in the day, my brother had somehow talked my mum into buying him a red plaid Pendleton in Frontierland. *I don't know how he accomplished this. *The mark-up must have been tremendous. *But it was my 7-year-self that spotted Walt in heated conversation with two Japanese businessmen. *I approached him as one would a deity, because to kids of my generation, he was just that. *He seemed very angry at these two Japanese men, and he towered over both of them. *For some minutes I stared up at him, the father of Mickey and patron saint of amusement parks. *Suddenly he glanced down and spotted his supplicant. *Placing his big hand on my shoulder, he gently shoved me backward. *"Go away kid" he said, "I'm busy.". Monsanto's House of the Future was my favorite attraction. I wanted to sell our place and move in there.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

*But it was my 7-year-self that spotted Walt in heated conversation with two Japanese businessmen. *I approached him as one would a deity, because to kids of my generation, he was just that. *He seemed very angry at these two Japanese men, and he towered over both of them. *For some minutes I stared up at him, the father of Mickey and patron saint of amusement parks. *Suddenly he glanced down and spotted his supplicant. *Placing his big hand on my shoulder, he gently shoved me backward. *"Go away kid" he said, "I'm busy."

Maybe they were the guys who built this place: Nara Dreamland, a ripoff of Disneyland built in 1961. It closed in 2006 and is now abandoned. lol

 

[fathergoose]

The Prefab Kingdom. NHK is continuously running stories on instances of Chinese and Korean theme parks populated with popular but copyrighted Disney and Japanese amine characters. Not that any park in Japan would ever do anything like that. Would they?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

 

[panzerfan]

I am surprised how many old people are in that first video. Where are all the kids?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The Haunted Mansion: Behind the Scenes