Vintage Disneyland Ads & "Loose Ends" From Previous Posts - Part 1

While looking through my old newspaper advertisements last month, searching for ads for Thumper's Easter Egg Hunt at Disneyland, I came across some other ads that I had forgotten all about.  Many of them related to other subjects, which I have already posted about in the past.  I've decided to scan those ads and include them all here, but I have also added them to those earlier posts.  I will include the links to those posts, just in case anyone wants to go back and revisit them, or perhaps read them for the very first time.

First up, is this colorful Toontown advertisement from a 1993 edition of The Los Angeles Times.  It has now been added to my "Disneyland's Toontown - 30th Anniversary" post, from last year.  Notice all of the costumed Disney characters, standing around in this publicity shot.  I count nine!

In September of 1981, Disneyland was hosting a "Country Weekend."  The previous September, they were calling it, "Cowboy Weekend."  I remember Jerry Reed.  He was in all three of the "Smokey and the Bandit" movies, although I never saw even one of them.  He also sang and co-wrote the theme song for the first of those films, "Eastbound and Down," which was a number two song on the Billboard Country Chart.  I had to look up Don King, since I was pretty sure that Don King "the boxing promoter" wasn't appearing at Disneyland.  It turns out there is another Don King, and he received the 1981 Academy of Country Music award for "Top New Male Vocalist."

Just five months later, in February of 1982, Disneyland was hosting another "Country Weekend."  I never knew that Mel Tillis and Reba McEntire ever performed at Disneyland!  It wasn't the Christmas season, but I wonder if Elmo 'N Patsy sang their signature song, "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"?

This advertisement for the original "Tron" film is from the July 4, 1982 issue of The Los Angeles Times.  It has now been added to Part 2 of my "ElecTRONica Is Here!" posts, from 2010.  I have a full-sized color poster very similar to this ad, which I purchased in Tomorrowland's Character Shop at Disneyland, back in 1982.

Next we have an advertisement from the December 16, 1984 issue of The Los Angeles Times, for the 1984 re-release of "Walt Disney's Pinocchio."  This has now been added to my "Walt Disney's Pinocchio - Mega Post!" post.  Note the special logo at the bottom of the ad, for Disneyland's 30th anniversary.  The following month, the park's year-long 30th anniversary festivities would be kicking off.

I found this ad after writing my recent Japanese Village & Deer Park post.  Enchanted Village replaced Japanese Village in 1976, but it was only open for about a year and a half, before shutting down forever.

This advertisement has now been added to my "Raging Waters Waterpark" post, from 2018.  The ad was from a seasonal supplement to The Los Angeles Times, and dated June 8, 1984:

An article about the park and it's new attractions for the summer, appeared in the same newspaper supplement:

One year later (June 14, 1985), this advertisement was included in the summer entertainment supplement of The Los Angeles Times:

And there was another article, about the park's new attractions for 1985:

Getting back to the Disney-related ads, this one was from September of 1983, and claimed that Disneyland's summer season was "still going strong."  However, if you look at the hours listed at the very bottom of the ad, the park was going to start closing at 6 p.m. on weekdays, beginning September 12th.  The following weekend, Disneyland was hosting, "Viva Mexico" days.  The "Flights of Fantasy" parade (which had debuted that summer), was still being presented on weekends, but it would soon be ending it's performances in time for the holiday season, and would never return.  I've added this article to both my "Viva Mexico/Cinco de Mayo" post, and my "Flights of Fantasy" post.

This Los Angeles Times ad from July 1, 1984, ran just four days prior to the debut of "American Journeys" in Tomorrowland's Circle-Vision Theater.  However, the name of the attraction had now been changed to "World Premiere Circle-Vision 360."  And shortly after the grand reopening of the attraction, the EPCOT Center film, "The Wonders of China," was included in the theater's line up.  This advertisement has now been added to my "American Journeys & Wonders of China" post, from 2016.

I hope everyone enjoyed these "loose ends."  I may be posting more vintage ads, in the not too distant future.

Post Update!  I have done a "Part 2" to this post, with more vintage Disney advertisements, as well as other theme park ads, newsletters, and miscellaneous items.  You can see that post by clicking here!

 

Circle-Vision at Disneyland: American Journeys and Wonders of China

In January of this year, we took a look at Disneyland's Circle-Vision Theater and the film, America The Beautiful. Today we will be looking at the films, American Journeys and Wonders of China, which replaced America The Beautiful in 1984.

The photo below, shows the marquee with the name of the theater's sponsor at the time, Delta Airlines. It's a little washed out, but below the name "Delta Airlines" the marquee reads, "Now Playing American Journeys." Wonders of China would play in the theater first, from early morning until early afternoon. American Journeys was then shown the rest of the operating day. There was a short period of time in the middle of the day, when the theater would have to close in order to change the marquee and switch the reels of film on the projectors.....all nine of them! This rotation of the films continued until 1996 when both films were replaced by America The Beautiful, which had a special return engagement.

This next photo shows the marquee after Delta Airlines had stopped it's sponsorship. A strip of metal was placed over the spot where the sponsor's name had previously been. Wonders of China is listed on the marquee as the film that was playing....or would be playing once they opened the doors. The attraction poster for the film can also be seen in the display case just to the left of the glass doors.

Here is a closer look at that display case and the attraction posters for both films. At the bottom of the Wonders of China poster, it states that the film is "Showing Until 1:30 P.M."

I don't have any photographs of the theater's pre-show area, but I did shoot video of it and I am including it at the end of this post. If you look at the walls around the room, you might be able to locate cut-outs of a moon and a sun. The screen shot below shows that the moon was part of the Circle-Vision sign, which hung over the doorway into the theater. I still haven't been able to locate the sun in my video, but if someone out there knows specifically where to look for it, please chime in below in the comments.

Both the sun and the moon cut-outs ended up being placed inside of Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, the attraction that currently occupies the old Circle-Vision Theater space in Tomorrowland. They are a little difficult to spot, but they can be seen just above the tunnel that you exit as you are entering the second to last room in the ride (the room with the final Buzz and Zurg animatronics). After the camera flash goes off and your souvenir picture is taken, turn to the right and look above the tunnel that you just exited from. They are mounted on a recessed wall just above the tunnel. I hope that description helps anyone who wants to locate them!

Here are the links to the Circle Vision Theater's pre-show area and film, and both American Journeys and Wonders of China in their entirety. Enjoy!


Circle Vision Theater (Pre-show Room & Film):




American Journeys (Full Movie):




Wonders of China (Full Movie):

*****Post Update (April 2024)*****

I recently came across this advertisement, promoting the debut of "American Journeys" in the newly named "World Premiere Circle-Vision 360" theater (which was originally presented by PSA, before switching to Delta Airlines).  The ad is from the July 1, 1984 edition of The Los Angeles Times.

 

Walt Disney's "America The Beautiful" at Disneyland

America The Beautiful was a 360 degree film that was presented at Disneyland, in Tomorrowland's Circle-Vision Theater. Over the years, there were several films with that same name that were shown, but the version that played the longest debuted in 1967, along with a whole new Tomorrowland.

The film played at Disneyland for 17 years until it was eventually replaced by American Journeys and The Wonders of China in 1984. However, in the summer of 1996, America the Beautiful returned to Disneyland for a limited engagement that lasted into 1997.

This was still a time before everyone was on the internet, so I didn't have any advanced notice about the film's return. I can still remember the excitement I felt back in 1996, when I first saw this new banner hanging over the entrance to the theater. The banner reads, "Celebrating 40 Years of Circle-Vision - The 1960's Classic - Walt Disney's America the Beautiful - Special Return Showing"

Let's go back now and take a look at the Circle-Vision theater building (and surrounding area), through a series of "then and now" photographs. This first photo was taken in 1983. It doesn't show the actual theater (which would be just to our left) but it does show what the costumes looked like for the hostesses working the attraction.

This next photo is from 1996 and was taken while standing just a little further west, allowing us to see a portion of the theater marquee. Note the two banners announcing the return of America the Beautiful. One of them is the Statue of Liberty banner that we saw above. We'll get a closer look at that red, white and blue one in just a minute.

Not to depress anyone, but here are a couple "later" shots of the building taken from almost the same spot. The first one is from Wikipedia. I have very few of my own photos of the "Brown Tomorrowland of 1998" because I found it too repulsive to photograph.

And this is the current view:

Next, we have some shots of the theater entrance that were taken while standing underneath the PeopleMover beam. This is from 1983:

If we lighten the photo a little, we can see the design on the wall just inside the doorway a little better.

This is the same angle, from 1996. Note again, the two new banners. Also note the strips of metal that have been added to the marquee to cover up the former sponsor of the theater (Delta Airlines).

I don't need to lighten that photo to see the wall inside, because I took a close-up shot of it back in 1996.

Once again, I don't want to bum anyone out, but this photo was taken from the same angle, so I'm including it here. I shot this one through a hole in one of the construction walls that were put up during the destruction of Tomorrowland in September of 1997. (The hole in the wall just happened to line up perfectly with the shot I had taken back in 1983. You can see just a smidgen of the PeopleMover beam in the upper right hand corner of both photos.)

And the same view today:

Going back to 1983, this close up shows the smaller sign that was tucked into a corner just to the left of the entrance.

And here's the sign's replacement. This was taken in January of 1996, prior to the return of America the Beautiful. The Wonders of China would play in the theater first, from early morning until early afternoon. American Journeys was then shown the rest of the operating day. There was a short period of time in the middle of the day, that the theater would have to close in order to change the marquee and switch the reels of film on the projectors.

This is the same display case in July of 1996. The sign on the right mentions that America the Beautiful was the last Circle-Vision film personally supervised by Walt Disney. There is also a mention of the "next generation of Tomorrowland attractions". What a joke! The Circle-Vision theater didn't even get to remain as a stand-alone attraction in the new Tomorrowland of 1998. It was turned into a queue for an attraction that lasted only two and a half years! Argh!

Now we will head inside the building. The waiting area had large square upholstered seats. Sometimes you would see guests sprawled across them taking a nap. In the photo below, they have been pushed together in groupings of two. The PeopleMover had not permanently closed at the time this interior shot was taken in 1995, but it's operation was "spotty". Here, we can see that there is one car lined up right behind another on the track. Also, if you look at the wall below the PeopleMover track, you can just make out a world map. This photo goes back to when Delta Airlines was still a sponsor of the theater.

I'm including this next pic just for fun. If you look carefully in the photo above, there is an upside down popcorn box under one of the seats (far left and in the back). This isn't THAT exact popcorn box from the photo (I don't usually pick up trash off of the ground), but it is one just like it that I had saved from back then.

This photo shows what the pre-show area looked like during the time that America the Beautiful was having it's special return showing. The state flags were a little reminiscent of the way the room was decorated back in the early days of the Circle-Vision Theater. Too bad they didn't replicate the modern flags that used to hang from the ceiling.

Now let's go inside the theater and watch America The Beautiful. I've posted two links below. I shot this footage in 1996, during the film's return engagement to Disneyland. This first link includes the building's exterior and also the pre-show ("Hey everyone....at the count of three, shout out what state or country you are from!").





This second link is for a video of the actual film, in it's entirety.





I do have footage of both American Journeys and The Wonders of China that I will post in the future, if anyone is interested.

****POST UPDATE****
I have now posted footage for both American Journeys and The Wonders of China. That footage can be viewed here: Circle-Vision at Disneyland.

Buzz'd In Tokyo

Just across the way from Tokyo Disneyland's Space Mountain, is Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. This attraction replaced their Circle Vision theater the same way that Anaheim's and Paris' did. I do enjoy this attraction, but it's a shame that the only remaining Disney Circle Vision theaters are located at Epcot. I miss the 1967 version of "America The Beautiful"!!!! I still can't believe that Disney actually brought it back for one last year before converting the theater into Rocket Rods queue. I guess they do something right once in a while (I mean bringing America The Beautiful back, NOT the part about converting it into Rocket Rods queue). Oh, but I digress. This is Tokyo and they do just about EVERYTHING right.

Take a look at those Fastpass machines. And take a gander at the cast member costumes. Check out those crazy saucer shaped caps!

The photo below is of a photo-op found near the entrance to Tomorrowland. The Little Green Man with his back to us is holding a camera, while the others are posing for him. Oooooooooooooooh!