Eighth Grade Disneyland Trip - 1978

Hey kids, it's time for another Vintage Disneyland Trip Report! Thirty three years ago today, my eighth grade class went to Disneyland for "Grad Party '78". This was different than the "Grad Nite" events. This event took place all day long up until park closing. Here is my ticket from that day.

I saved a copy of the parental consent form that was typed up and handed out to all eighth graders. That's right, typed as in on a typewriter and then Xeroxed.....or would it have been mimeographed? Well anyway, I'm pretty sure it wasn't copied on a ditto machine!

Tickets AND transportation only $8.00!!! Lunch can be bought at the park for $1.50!!!

I also saved my school receipt for the ticket. This really was an important trip for most eighth graders. It was something that many of us looked forward to all year because we would get to spend the day in the park without direct supervision. There were adults that accompanied us on the bus trip, but once inside the park, we never saw them again until it was time to go home.

I took my Kodak 126 Instamatic Camera on this trip and out of a roll of 12 exposures, I only took 6 pictures that day...I'm not sure why I didn't shoot the entire roll at the park. The rest of the shots on the roll were taken during my eighth grade graduation ceremony. Sorry, but those shots WON'T be seen here!

I mentioned in an earlier post that after Space Mountain opened, it was always the first attraction we headed for. In the shot below, it would have been only one year old and already part of the glow-in-the-dark decals on car number 5 had been peeled off! It was probably done by some eighth grader that was "not mature enough to meet the trip's conduct requirements" and "brought discredit to their entire class"! The flash cube really wasn't powerful enough to reach as far as I was hoping it would. I'm posting the original pic and a scan of the negative. It's weird how the cast member outfits came out looking red in the new scan when they were actually a horrible orange color.





We've met some of my childhood friends in my past Vintage Disneyland Trip Reports. Today we'll be meeting....well, let's just call her Carrie B. We had known each other since Kindergarten, but we had become even closer friends in Junior High. We had planned to go on this trip together since the beginning of the eighth grade school year. I actually located her about 10 years ago through Classmates and we exchanged emails for a while. Since she doesn't appear to be on Facebook, maybe I should go through my old email addresses and ask her permission to post her picture here. For now we'll just have to settle for Jane of "Dick and Jane" fame (that's actually BEFORE my time....I tried to find a decent picture of Janet from the "Janet and Mark" books, but didn't have any luck.)



I don't remember what it was that she bought that day, but it must have been a lot since she purchased the heavy duty Disneyland shopping bag with handles. I have one of those bags and I will eventually get around to posting it.



This next photo is probably a good place to tell my "New Matterhorn" story. Once again, the year was 1978, so most DL fans probably know that this was the year the "New Matterhorn" was unveiled. At this time, the 19 year-old attraction became more "enclosed" and special effects were added such as "glistening crystal ice caverns" and "howling winter storms". The bobsleds were also redesigned and were now tandem instead of single. And of course the Abominable Snowman himself began making an appearance within the attraction.

I had already been to the park twice since the beginning of the year and had seen the construction taking place on the mountain. I had saved the special color Disneyland advertisement from the newspaper and I had seen the "New Matterhorn" commercial playing repeatedly on TV. The new attraction was even featured on the front of the Grad Party ticket. It had opened almost 2 whole weeks earlier (May 27th) and I was soooooo ready to ride it. Then a friend's father who worked at the park told me just days before the class trip, that the Matterhorn had shut down because they were having technical trouble with it and they didn't know when it would be up and running again. AW NUTS!

Okay, so at least we knew before our trip that it was going to be closed, but then at some point during the day while riding on the PeopleMover, we noticed one of the brand new bobsled trains traveling down and around the mountain with people in it and we got very excited. We got off of the PeopleMover and immediately ran over to the Matterhorn, only to have a cast member tell us that they were just testing the ride and that it would not be opening to the public that day. Yep, at second glance we noticed that everyone riding in the bobsleds was wearing "office attire" and Disneyland name badges. DOUBLE NUTS!

Well, time goes by very slowly when your that age, so it seemed like forever before I was finally able to experience the new attraction, but the reality was that I got to see it within a month or two when my friend's father got us into the park. That will have to be a story for another post....but that friend's father worked on the construction of Big Thunder, so I have construction shots and backstage shots that I will be posting in the future!

This photo was taken while riding the PeopleMover and shows the "test subject" cast members going for a ride on the New Matterhorn.



One last New Matterhorn detail.....while riding the Skyway, we happened to notice that the Abominable Snowman was visible while passing through the Matterhorn. We passed by him too quickly though and I just had to get a picture, so we went on the Skyway again. Actually, we went on it two more times and I have a second photo almost identical to this one. Alas, my attempts to capture him on film were all in vain since I didn't know that the flash cube wouldn't reach that far. Of course I didn't realize it until I got the prints back from Photomat. TRIPLE NUTS!



Oh, and speaking of Big Thunder construction, this sign was hanging on the construction wall over in Frontierland so I had to take a picture of it. There was a more colorful version of this artwork that later replaced this earlier version. Note the geysers which did not end up in the attraction at Disneyland.



Other memories that I have from that day are, calling home from the "Chatterbox" speaker phones in the Bell exhibit in Tomorrowland and purchasing this souvenir book at The Character Shop across the way (now The Star Trader).



Here are a few scans from the inside of this 74 page hardcover book.





At the time this book was purchased, these Matterhorn pictures were already outdated. The piece of Matterhorn track seen below, was an outdoor portion that became enclosed after the remodel.




If you have read this far, I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane....and thanks for going with me!

Disneyland Trip Report....From Christmas 1979!

Let's travel back in time once again, for a vintage tour of Disneyland. We'll just set the Way Back Machine for December 27, 1979 and VOILA, we're there!

While we're at the main gate, don't forget to pick up a copy of today's entertainment schedule!

Big Thunder is only 3 months old right now, so let's go over there first before the line gets too long. I'm armed with my Kodak Instamatic camera and a roll of 110 slide film and I'm ready to take pictures. Well, maybe not too ready. The first pic of the day is an "oops" taken accidentally while waiting for our train to pull into the station.

Now I'm ready!

Here's a shot of the dynamite-chomping goat, taken from the front seat of the train.

Now we'll take the brand new Big Thunder Trail over to Fantasyland where we find Skull Rock and Spawn of Skull Rock. Okay, here's the deal....in past vintage trip reports, you've seen the reflection of my friend Alvin and you've heard about my friend Tonya. Well, today's visit includes two more friends, we'll call them Marie and Kenny just to protect the innocent. Since I have not yet asked their permission to post photos of them, this is what we have for now. I could have left these photos out, but I thought they were worth posting.

A ride on vintage Dumbo.....Wheeee!

Let's now board the Skyway and take it over to Tomorrowland. Fantasyland sure does look empty, but it's not going to stay that way. It is two days after Christmas and it will soon be PACKED! Notice how Space Mountain (far right side of pic) is visible from the top of the stairs leading to the Skyway chalet. Also visible are the Rocket Jets and beyond that is the Grand Hotel of Anaheim. These stairs still exist, but are now blocked off, so don't attempt to recreate this photo today kids....you might get kicked out of the park!

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There's the Abominable Snowman. He used to be visible from the Skyway. See him? He's there! He's just too far away to get a good shot with this camera. By the way, this was my period of experimenting with 110 slide film. Yep, these are slides with itty bitty sized negatives....or I guess they would actually be positives.

Now we're in Tomorrowland. We may as well head on over to Space Mountain since the line for it won't be getting shorter anytime soon. See how the park is already getting busier? Hey, I wish they would bring back the Speedramp that used to take you to the second level. Tokyo Disneyland still has theirs.

Let's go on Autopia next, but we'll each drive our own car, thank you very much. I see a Rolly Crump ticket booth and the Rolly Crump Stage over at Tomorrowland Terrace. Hmmm, and the PeopleMover appears to be open. Gee, I LOVE the 1967 Tomorrowland!

How about taking a cruise on the Monorail? Only two of us can fit up in the bubble dome on top with the monorail driver. I don't have to have MY arm twisted....I'll do it! There's the Disneyland sign, although between the distortion from the glass bubble and the crappy camera, it's not a great photo, sorry!

Uh-oh, we better get back and find a place along the parade route for The Very Merry Christmas Parade. Well, it looks like it's too late to get a good spot, so now we are going to have to stand behind several rows of people. I'll have to aim high for the taller floats because I won't have a clear view of any of the performers on the the ground. It's a shame too, because a guy that I sat next to in Geometry class was in this parade. He actually convinced me to try out for the Christmas parade since you only had to be 16 years of age to be hired for parades.....however, I would still have to wait a couple more years until I turned 16.

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The Dumbo and Santa Claus floats above were both used again two years later in Fantasy On Parade '81. That year, I would be cast as one of the Christmas Trees in the parade (there was a team of eight) which are visible here in this close-up of today's entertainment guide.


Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this visit to the park from 30 years ago. I will leave you today with two views showing the Christmas decorations on Main St....and a VERY crowded park!