"Lost" Jungle Cruise

Today, let's visit Disneyland's Jungle Cruise and take a look at two scenes that no longer exist.
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Prior to 1995, the boats used to enter the jungle at the start of the cruise, and then veer to the right just a bit in order to view three Toucans sitting in a tree. As the boats would pass, these three birds would turn their heads back and forth.
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Next, heading just a little further west, the boats would encounter three small crocodiles jumping at a Hornbill bird sitting on a branch just out of their reach.
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After this scene, the boats would pass the familiar Cambodian ruins and then continue on to follow the same route as they do today. In 1994/1995 however, these first two scenes were removed and replaced with an entrance way and queue for the new Indiana Jones Adventure. At that time, the Hornbill bird from the second scene was relocated to a beam above the queue in the new boathouse (just above the stairs that lead to the second level). Fourteen years have now passed, and this little audio-animatronic bird continues to flap it's wings, turn it's head and squawk at the guests below.
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Both of these "lost" scenes actually still exist at Tokyo Disneyland. The next three photos were taken earlier this year while riding on their Jungle Cruise attraction.
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Sorry for the blurry photos.....sometimes it's difficult taking a picture from a moving boat! This next one is really bad, but I wanted to post it because it shows the third crocodile.
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Here's a close-up shot of their Toucans.

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I hope everyone enjoyed this little flashback post. The next time you're in line for the Jungle Cruise (even if the upstairs queue isn't open), look straight up as you pass by the stairway and say "hi" to a surviving member of the "lost" Jungle Cruise.

A Great Big Beautiful....Stairway

Here's a vintage photo of the The Carousel of Progress in all of it's 1967 glory. Notice the blue and silver railings on the top floor, the ground floor and the exit ramp.


And here is a photo that I took of the building after it's America Sings makeover (this was actually taken after America Sings had closed). Again, notice the blue and silver railings.


Next, we have a photo of the building after it's 1998 Innoventions makeover. Notice the new brown and gold railings that were added. (Ugh!)

This shot shows the new railings and the stairway that's on the south side of the building (next to the Pizza Port Restaurant.)

Now this photo was taken just two days ago and shows the stairway on the north side of the building (next to the Hatmosphere Shop) which for some strange reason, has never been updated. This is the same blue and silver railing dating back to 1967!

Here's a shot that I took of that same stairway back in 1995.

And finally, we have two current close-up shots.

I don't know the reason why this stairway wasn't updated, but I do like the fact that it still exists. Now if only the rest of the building looked the way that it did back when Tomorrowland was a fabulous new "world on the move."

1 Year Anniversary & The Cave Of Wonders

Today's post is sort of related to my 1980 Trip Report (the post before last.) In that post, I did a "mini-rant" about the changes to Disneyland's Storybook Land Canal Boats and mentioned how the cave that is now referred to as the Cave of Wonders, used to be referred to as "the very same cave that the Witch traveled through to bring her poisoned apple to Snow White." I think that line used to work, since the first thing you encounter after exiting the cave is the cottage of the Seven Dwarfs. The first time I heard the new storyline, I didn't think it really worked because who could forget that in the movie "Aladdin," the Cave of Wonders was a huge tiger's head with it's gaping mouth as the entrance?
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Well, in Disneyland Paris, the canal boats do have the tiger's head entrance for their Cave of Wonders and the boats do enter through it's mouth. The Paris version of the attraction opened in 1994, the same year as the Cave of Wonders addition/change was made to Anaheim. Other differences in the Paris version are a pre-recorded narration instead of a live host, forward facing seats on the boats, and miniature characters included among the miniature settings.

By the way.....today is the one year anniversary of my blog!
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Vintage Disneyland Parking Entrance

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Today we have a photo of the old Disneyland parking lot entrance gate that used to be located on Katella Avenue, across from the Anaheim Convention Center. I shot this photo in January of 1994, when there was talk of a second gated park (then WESTCOT) being built in the Disneyland parking lot. I was afraid that this structure would probably not survive and unfortuntely, it didn't. (Note the snow on the mountains way off in the distance under the "LAND" part of the sign.)

Disneyland Trip Report....From 1980!

Once upon a time....well, November of 1980 to be exact, I drove myself to Disneyland for the very first time. Having just gotten my driver's license a few days earlier, I no longer had to depend on my family or my friends' families to take me to the park. So, I headed out with a friend (we'll call him Alvin) in my mom's 1974 Ford LTD....hey, it's the car that I had just passed my driving test with! Sure it was like navigating a cruise ship down the street, but it was also the car in which I learned to drive, so it was no problem for me to drive it without sideswiping every parked car alongside the road.
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So I picked Alvin up, and off to the park we went. We had met each other 2 years earlier in Jr. High School and became friends when we discovered that we were both HUGE Disneyland fans. By this time, we had been to the park several times together already, but only because his mother had been nice enough to drive us there.
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Even being a new driver, I guess I was feeling brave enough to stop in the middle of the road long enough to snap a photo of the entrance sign. I know I didn't take this while driving with one hand....I wouldn't even do that today. Notice how the sign had a special panel for the 25th birthday. This was the very end of the year long 25th Birthday celebration. The birthday parade was actually getting ready to end for good and the Christmas parade would be starting up soon.
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The park doesn't look very crowded in the shot above, even though it was Thanksgiving Weekend.
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Here's a shot taken from Casey Jr. Notice how back then, the boats did not travel under "the same arches that Aladdin and Jasmine flew under on their magic carpet ride." Who wrote that line anyway? They never flew under any floral arches in the film. It's like when they say that the thin little strip of land in the middle of Storybook Land was "the exact same park where Peter Pan taught Wendy, John and Michael how to fly." THAT didn't happen.....he taught them how to fly in the children's nursery. And if that tunnel really is now the Cave of Wonders, then where is the tiger head-shaped entrance? They confuse me so, because they used to tell me that it was the very same cave that the witch traveled through to bring her poisoned apple to Snow White. Oh, but I digress!
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Next, we have a photo of Big Thunder Mt. Railroad taken from the queue. The attraction would have been just a little over a year old here. Maybe I should take the time here to apologize for the quality of these photos. They were taken with a Kodak 110 Instamatic camera. It would be 5 more years before I would buy myself a 35mm camera!
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The Mouseketeers were also celebrating their 25th anniversary that year and they were appearing on the Space Stage in Tomorrowland on select weekends in October and November. The next four photos are from their show.

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I really miss the Space Stage and the whole look of the ORIGINAL Space Mountain complex. Guests could watch the shows from seats within the amphitheater, or from the dining areas adjacent to and above the stage area. The shows could also be viewed from above while waiting in line for Space Mountain. Boy, have they destroyed that area of the park, or what?

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I remember the Mouseketeers singing, "I Wish I Was A Kid Again" at this point in the show.....hence the jungle gym on stage! They had sung that song during their 25th Anniversary Reunion on the Wonderful World of Disney earlier that year.
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This depiction of the castle was a paper sculpture that was made for the 25th Birthday and was on display in the window next to the Candy Palace. Notice the China Closet across the street reflected in the glass. And there's my friend, Alvin! This sculpture was also used on the cover of the Spring 1980 issue of Disney News Magazine, as well as on other promotional items that year.

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My last photo for today was taken just before leaving the park. This large model of the castle was on display in the Emporium for the 25th Birthday. It rotated on a big turntable in the center of the store. I believe it remained there for a while after the 25th Birthday celebration was over. If you look closely on the right side of the photo, you can see the old brass elevator doors that used to be towards the back of the Emporium. We were told by cast members that this used to be a functioning freight elevator, but I can't remember if they said it went up one floor or down to a basement. They told us however, that it had not been used for anything other than storage for quite a while. At some point in the late eighties or early nineties, this was removed when the Emporium was remodeled and expanded into what had previously been a stock room and also the guest "Locker" area next door.
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Here is the entertainment guide for that weekend. Frankie Avalon was also appearing at the park!

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I hope everyone enjoyed this trip report from almost 29 years ago. This was the Disneyland that I grew up with and loved going to so very much!

Meeska, Mooska, Mouseketeer!

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Ooops! This was supposed to be included in my last post. It's an entertainment schedule that was "effective all weekends" in October of 1980. It was printed on heavy paper stock and is basically a large postcard with the park's entertainment information printed on the reverse side. The Mouseketeers that were performing on the Space Stage that month were Bonnie Lou Kern, Sherry Alberoni, Sharon Baird, Cubby O'Brian, Lonnie Burr and Tommy Cole. Of those six, the Mouseketeers that are shown in the photograph are, from left to right, Bonnie, Sherry, Tommy and Sharon.
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My next post will definitely include the photos I promised of the Mouseketeers performing on the Space Stage in November of 1980!

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Mousekedays At Disneyland!

. I thought I might stay with Disneyland's 25th Birthday celebration a little longer. This is an ad from October of 1980. The year long birthday festivities at Disneyland were winding down and would be over by the time the Christmas season began. The Mouseketeers were appearing at Disneyland that October and November, and they were celebrating their 25th Anniversary as well. There was even a special "Wonderful World of Disney" episode earlier that year that served as a Mouseketeer reunion/anniversary show. If anyone's interested, here's what's on the reverse side of the clipping....the "backside of a Disneyland ad," so to speak. . Here's a little something relating to the Mouseketeers. I don't have a date for this short article, but from what I remember, it's from sometime in the nineties. It seems about right since it mentions "those once adorable, now 50-something, Moseketeers....." I believe most were right around 10 years old when they were on the show, give or take a few years. .

. Meanwhile, back to Disneyland and the year 1980....I did go see the Mouseketeers when they were performing at the park that year. I have some photos of them on the Space Mt. Stage and I will include them in my next post! .

Happy Birthday Disneyland!!!

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Twenty nine years ago, Disneyland held a 25 hour party for their 25th Birthday. Upon entering the park, guests attending the party received the button picutred above. . Tickets for the party could be ordered through the mail using the Mickey-shaped form in the advertisement below. The newspaper ad is from the Los Angeles Times and it is dated June 22, 1980.

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Once again, my scanner is not large enough to scan pages out of the newspaper and this ad was a full page, so I've had to split it in half. Syreeta was performing! So were Skiles and Henderson. They already had an intersting past history with Disneyland that dated all the way back to 1956! To read more about their Disneyland career, click here: Skiles and Henderson.

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To see the actual tickets, entertainment program and a birthday hat from from the 25 hour party, go to Vintage Disneyland Tickets' recent post by clicking here: Disneyland's 25th Anniversary. .

I don't have a date for the following newspaper article, but it obviously ran within days of the 25 hour party.

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Hey Vintage Disneyland Tickets, I wonder where ticket number one is today?

I've heard people debate as to when the actual anniversary date falls since Disneyland was open only to invited guests on the 17th and open to the general public for the first time on the 18th. I say.....who cares! CELEBRATE it whichever day you wish. Personally, I'll be at the park CELEBRATING today! . HAPPY BIRTHDAY DISNEYLAND!!!! .

Castle Candy Shoppe Revisited

Once upon a time, there was a magical little shop located deep within Sleeping Beauty Castle.....okay, maybe not so deep, but within the castle. It was called the Castle Candy Shoppe and it sold fudge pies , giant all-day suckers, chocolate bars, and delicious rock candy crystals. Then one day it closed and the space became occupied with other tenants. First it became the Castle Heraldry Shoppe, but they eventually moved across the courtyard to the former Disney Villains Shop....formerly Mickey's Christmas Chalet......formerly Merlin's Magic Shoppe. Geez, you need a score card just to keep up with the changes! After "Heraldry" moved out, an outside vendor moved in that sold weird and creepy three-dimensional portraits, that were created and contained all within a solid chunk of glass. Think Michael York in Logan's Run....his disembodied head saying, "there is NOOOOO SANCTUARY!" Well, with that shop's recent departure AND with the wonderful and welcome reopening of the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, this space now serves as a handicap "accessible experience" for the attraction.
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The doorway located just inside the castle archway is now closed. Only the door facing the castle courtyard remains open.
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Just inside is a glass cabinet chock full 'o goodies.
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Flora, Fauna and Merryweather can be found among the treasures.
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Further into the room, guests will find a comfortable place to sit down.

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Across the way is a mirror which doubles as a movie screen. Animated footage of the walkthrough is shown on this screen.
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One of the "Sleeping Beauty" books from the attraction is on display below the screen.
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A tapestry and a mural depicting forest scenes are also on display in the room. The mural below appears to be inspired by artist Eyvind Earle who worked on both the film and the original walkthrough that opened at Disneyland in 1957.
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I must say that I still miss the Castle Candy Shoppe, but this "accessible experience" is something that was definitely needed for those guests that are unable to ascend the many stairways of the castle. Also, the air conditioning in this space feels WONDERFUL....especially this time of year!

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