Movieland Wax Museum - Haunted House & Frankenstein

Since Halloween is just about two weeks away, I thought we would do a SCARY post (sort of) today. Does anyone remember when Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park had a Haunted House? Well, they did!

Movieland's Haunted House sat on a dirt lot that was adjacent to their parking lot...pretty much right next to where the photographer stood to take this postcard shot of the Movieland sign.

Today, The Courtyard by Marriott sits on that property.

Here is what the property looked like back in the Spring of 1979. The Movieland sign and the driveway into the parking lot would be behind us in this shot. Notice how it is mostly adults that are going into the Haunted House.

The entrance was underneath the pitched roof in the center of the facade and the exit was underneath that turret on the far left. As for what was inside the Haunted House, I only recall lots of dark hallways and "monsters" jumping out and making loud noises. I don't remember there being any specific rooms or sets. I also remember that the pathway through the structure slowly sloped upwards, making the exit at a slightly higher elevation compared to the entrance. You can just make out a stairway that was outside the exit.

Oh, and incidentally, this was an "unseasonable" attraction since it was not specifically set up for Halloween.

Here's a close-up of the sign.

Now we will go inside Movieland and take a look at the museum's Frankenstein figure and examine how he has changed over the years.

First up is this postcard of a photo-op inside the museum, where visitors could purchase a souvenir photo of themselves with "Frankie". Note the three sample photos on the table in the foreground.

A friend of mine was kind enough to allow me to post his family's souvenir photo, which was taken in the early seventies. It appears to be the same figure as in the shot above, but the color of Frankenstein's skin has been changed to green.

During a childhood visit, my brother actually posed with this same figure, while I posed with the Wolfman figure. Unfortunately, my brother can't find his Frankenstein photo, but I have my Wolfman photo and I'll include it in a future post about Movieland's "other monsters."

This is what the back of the paper photo frame looked like.

Next we have this postcard of the museum's Frankenstein set. What I can't remember is if this set existed at the same time as the "photo-op" and there were two Frankensteins in the museum, or if at some point they moved the photo-op figure into his own set. I do remember that the "Monster Gallery" photo-ops were gone by the end of the seventies.

Here's another postcard shot. By this time, the set had been changed to an "outdoor" scene.

I took this next photo back in 1979, on the same day that I shot the Haunted House pic.

And I took this one in October of 2005, which was the last month of operation for the museum. By then the set had been changed back to an "indoor" scene. If you look at the details on Frankenstein's jacket (the rips, the blood, etc.) and compare them to the two previous photos, you can see that it is the exact same jacket.....over a span of more than 25 years.

So Movieland has been closed now for exactly one decade. Starbuck's still exists out front in what used to be the museum's "Starlite Gifts" souvenir shop. And a couple years ago, something finally moved into the main building. It is a dual exhibit of "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" and "Bodies: The Exhibition".

Both of these exhibits however, are scheduled to leave in January and a "butterfly pavilion" will be moving onto the property, along with a movie theater complex. The following article about the old museum sign and the current and future exhibits appeared in the L.A. Times earlier this year. It doesn't state whether or not the existing building is going to be reused for the new attractions, but I spoke with an employee in the box office and was told that it will be demolished.

I love how the towering sign has managed to survive since the Museum's closure in 2005. I understand how it might be confusing for tourists, but the article mentions how some people end up visiting the new exhibits because of the old sign. I hope the city does decide to keep it. In my opinion, it is a work of art and it should be preserved!

I wish they would also get the lights running again. From what I remember, the diamond shapes not only lit up, but they "twinkled" too....very vintage "Las Vegas"!

If anyone has memories of Movieland's Haunted House or any other memories of the museum that they would like to share, I would love to hear about them. Feel free to leave a comment below!

Walt Disney World Board Game - 1972

Today is the 44th anniversary of the grand opening of Walt Disney World. In honor of the anniversary, I'm posting pics of the Walt Disney World board game from Milton Bradley.

It was December of 1972 and my mom and I were in the toy department of Sears. She told me to pick something out to give to my brother for his birthday, and this is what I chose. My brother and I both loved everything "Disney", so even though it was something that I would have also chosen for myself, my brother liked it just as much!

Hey, the Haunted Mansion is located in the wrong "land" on the game board! It also seems to resemble Disneyland's Haunted Mansion more than Walt Disney World's!

Whenever a playing piece landed on a "haunted" red spot on the board, the player would have to drop a little wooden disk through the roof of the Haunted Mansion. The disk would then roll down a ramp and out the front or back door and roll across the game board. Wherever it stopped, that is where the player was to move their playing piece.

If you landed on one of the four spots marked "Monorail Spin", you would discard a Monorail "ticket" and then you could slide the Monorail car along the track to advance your playing piece to the other end of the board.

Each of the "lands" and attractions that need to be visited during game play, are designated with an orange. Interesting. They should have just done a cross promotion with the Florida Citrus Commission and included the Orange Bird!

I love the graphics used on the game board!

For the "Tea Cup Ride", the instructions state, "A player arriving at the Tea Cup Ride entrance must board this ride. He spins the spinner and moves the Tea Cup Ride the same count. In order for a player to leave the ride, his spin must land him at the Entrance/Exit by exact count".

The turntable was to be rotated a quarter turn for each number spun, however, the instructions never say whether you had to consistently turn the Tea Cups to the right or to the left. I wonder if we ever thought of that as kids?

Could that be Anita Bryant in front of the "orange juice" refreshment stand? Hmmm, I don't see any whip cream on her face, so probably not!

If a player landed on a space that was already occupied by another player, he/she could move that other player to one of three refreshment stands on the board (including the Ice Cream Station) and that player would then have to continue their game play from that spot.

I forgot to mention that in order to ride the Monorail, a player would first have to use the spinner and the arrow would have to land on a Monorail space.

Here are some of the "tickets". Each player had their own color that corresponded with their playing piece's base. I wonder why every ticket has the Monorail on it?

The object of the game is to visit all the park attractions and use up all of your tickets. The first one to do so, wins. For anyone that wants to take the time to read all of the game instructions, here you go!

We even saved the Assembly Instructions insert!

The original price tag is still on the box, showing that it cost a whopping $3.59 back in 1972!

Happy 44th Anniversary to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom!

(To see another children's game from 1972, that was based on a Disneyland and Walt Disney World attraction, click here: Whitman's Mad Tea Party Game.)

Knott's Berry Farm - Calico Print Shop

Once upon a time, visitors to Knott's Berry Farm could purchase a souvenir newspaper with custom headlines, or an old-time "wanted" poster with their name on it.

The photo below shows an example of one of the "wanted" posters that were printed and sold in Knott's very own Print Shop. (By the way, the name "Bad Barlow" is a nod to Max Barlow, who was the "Marshall" and Manager of Ghost Town for three decades!)

In this publicity photo of actors Mike and Judy Farrell, Mike is being presented with his own personalized wanted poster.

The Calico Print Shop was located on Main St. in Ghost Town, between the Drug Store and the Sheriff's office.

Unfortunately, the Print Shop closed years ago. Since it's closure, the space has had various tenants, including a Teddy Bear shop. This photo was taken in 2007.

Note the banner that reads, "Celebrating 100 Years of Teddy Bears." (Incidentally, the first Teddy Bear was created in 1902 and was named after then-president, Teddy Roosevelt.)

Later, the space changed to "Inspirations" and sold wind chimes, flags, painted rocks, and hand-dipped candles.

Today the shop is called Miss Doolittle's and sells make-it-yourself necklaces, bracelets, keychains, "princess wands", and a variety of other crafty-type items.

I wish I had thought to photograph the Print Shop myself, at some point before it's closure. Here are two photos showing the exterior and interior of the shop, courtesy of Major Pepperidge over at Gorillas Don't Blog.....thank you, Major! Both photos were taken in 1960. Note the two sample wanted posters hanging on either side of the doorway to the shop.

Compare this pic to the current interior shot and you will see the same overhead beam in the upper right hand corner of both photos. (Or maybe it's a new beam that replaced the older one at some point?)

And lastly, here is my very own souvenir poster from the Print Shop. My aunt and uncle had gone to Knott's in the early seventies, and brought back custom-printed wanted posters for my brother and me. Before giving them to us, my aunt tacked them onto wormwood planks to give the effect that they were posted on a rustic fence.

My poster hung in my bedroom from about the time I was 5 years old, until I was in my teens. Unfortunately, the posters started to "crumble" as they became brittle with age. I eventually mounted mine on a piece of poster board to keep it from completely disintegrating, which is basically what happened to my brother's. His was the "Stage Robber" poster like the one in the first photo. Many years ago, I removed the poster from the wood mount and tucked it away for safe keeping, but I recently found the wood in my mom's garage, so I tacked it back up for this photo. Actually, I think I will just keep it this way! I wish I could go to Knott's today and purchase a replacement poster as a gift for my brother! :-(

Here are some close-ups of the artwork:

We will end today with this small tribute to actor Dean Jones, who passed away earlier this week. Mr. Jones acted on the stage of the Bird Cage Theater at Knott's back in the 1950's. He is pictured below with Walter Knott, standing in front of the ticket windows of the Calico Railroad Station. Note the reflection of the train's water tower in the windows. I believe this photo would have been taken some time after he became established on the stage and screen, rather than at the time he would have been working at Knott's.

Of course, Dean Jones eventually went on to make over a dozen movies for Disney, including two of my favorites, "That Darn Cat!" and "The Million Dollar Duck."

Rest in peace, Mr. Jones!

Haunted Mansion 46th Anniversary & The Bride

Today is the 46th anniversary of the Haunted Mansion's official opening at Disneyland. In honor of this anniversary, I'm posting an older photo of the bride in the Mansion's attic scene. I took this photo in either 1978 or 1979, but I actually didn't see it until many years later because someone at Fotomat didn't include it in my original set of prints!

A few years back, I was looking at some of my old negatives and realized there was an image on one of them that I had never seen. I'm not sure why they didn't print this one, but I discovered the same thing had happened with another set of negatives. I had taken two interior shots of the original Alice in Wonderland attraction in 1982 and didn't receive those prints either. It's almost as if someone was punishing me for taking flash pictures inside of a Disneyland attraction! I'll be posting those Alice pics in the near future.

The photo is a little overexposed. Note the candle in the bride's right hand and the wilted flowers in her left hand.

For a comparison of how the bride has changed over the years, here's a photo I took of her in 1996 when she "floated" in the attic. Both of these versions of the bride had the red "beating heart" effect inside her chest.

And here is the current version of the bride (minus the projection of her face and arms). I debated whether or not to post this photo because I do NOT like this version. If Madame Leota, Little Leota, and the singing busts in the graveyard are all projected onto busts that have three dimensional faces, why is the new bride's face projected onto a flat surface? It really is a horrible effect and is pretty much the equivalent of having a flat screen television monitor with her face on it.

I was hoping with the recent addition of the Hatbox Ghost, that this version of the bride would be removed....or at least improved upon. If it had been up to me, I would have brought back one of the earlier versions of the bride (since the current one seems to be universally hated), and moved her to the other side of the attic where she used to stand and then put the Hatbox Ghost on this side of the attic where he originally stood (albeit very briefly) 46 years ago.

Just for fun, here is Tokyo Disneyland's bride. Tokyo's bride still has the plastic "shower curtain dress" that the Anaheim version used to have back in the early days. And if you look carefully, you will see the faint red glow of her heart inside her chest.

Happy 46th Anniversary to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion....the place that in the words of E.J. Peaker, "Makes me feel creepy all over!!!"