A Vintage Disneyland Trip Report - August 1976

It's time for another vintage Disneyland trip report! 

Forty-five years ago this week, an elementary school friend of mine invited me to go with him and his family to Disneyland.  I have a fairly good memory about many parts of this visit.  I also saved both the park guidebook (which was handed out to guests when purchasing tickets), and the main gate entertainment guide (which was available to guests as they walked through the turnstiles).

This was the entertainment guide for the week of August 22nd - 28th, 1976.

The country was celebrating it's bicentennial, that year.  In honor of the milestone birthday, Disney created "America On Parade," which performed twice daily, starting in the Summer of 1975, and running through the Summer of 1976.  Incidentally, the nighttime performance of the parade resulted in a hiatus of the Main Street Electrical Parade, for the first time since it's debut in the Summer of 1972.

The entertainment listing mentions "Ragtime Rod," who had been playing piano at the Coke Corner on Main Street, for over 6 years at this point.  There is also a "Ragtime Ray" listed.  I have never heard of him before.  I have also never seen Rod Miller listed specifically by name, on an entertainment guide.  He was usually just listed as, "Coke Corner Pianist."

And this was the guidebook for that summer season.  The cover featured one of the parade units from "America On Parade."  I have scanned the entire guide, and will include it at the end of this post.

I shot a whole roll of film that day (12 exposures).  I've posted a pic of my childhood camera before, but I'm including it again, here.  The camera was a Kodak Instamatic X-15, and took a "126" size film cartridge.  It was a gift from my dad, for Christmas of 1974.  This trip was only the second time that I had taken my camera to Disneyland.  I have previously posted the very first photos I ever took at the park.  To see those, you can click here:  Easter Vacation 1975 - A Vintage Disneyland Trip Report.

Here are my photos, shown in the order that they were taken.  First up, we have the obligatory shot of the Castle.  We got to the park early in the morning, and I remember how it seemed very uncrowded, compared to all the other times I had been at the park.....especially for the summer season.

I remember running over to the Matterhorn, for the first attraction of the day.  The Matterhorn was still the park's only "thrill ride," and it would get a rather long line as the day went on.  It was also still kind of a "new" ride for me.  I had only been on it once before.  Note the solo mountain climber, nearing the Matterhorn's peak.  A bobsled can also be seen, crossing over the stone bridge just above the Monorail beam.

In this next picture, I am wearing my childhood Mickey Mouse watch.  Also, I made the mistake of standing behind that tree branch.  ;-)

The watch had been a Christmas gift from my mom, a couple years earlier.

This shot of Monstro shows how empty the park was, since I was able to take the picture without any people in the frame.

I remember going on most of the Fantasyland dark rides, that morning.  My friend's sister and brother-in-law did not go on Peter Pan's Flight with us.  She said that she would hold my camera for me, while we were on the ride.  Then as we were exiting the vehicle, she snapped this photo of us.

Next, we headed over to the Skyway......

This picture of Cinderella's Castle came out a little blurry.

However, I was pretty happy with this "artfully" angled shot of the Mad Tea Party.  We can see that the park was still not very crowded, but it would get more crowded as the day went on.

I remember being VERY excited to see Space Mountain under construction.  My brother and I had seen it listed for years as a future attraction, on our souvenir Disneyland "wall maps."  The finished product did look different than the artwork on the maps, and the name, "Spaceport & Rocket Flight," had also been changed.  I'm assuming that was a "placeholder" name, anyway.  I was also excited to see the construction, because Walt Disney World's version of the attraction had already opened, and I had watched Mike Douglas ride it on his afternoon talk show, the previous year.

We got off the Skyway and hit Tomorrowland, next.  I'm not sure why I didn't take any more photos of Tomorrowland, especially since it was always my favorite land.....at least up until 1998, WHEN THEY TOTALLY RUINED IT!  ;-)

Later in the day, we rode the Mine Train thru Nature's Wonderland.  I remember how nice the cool mist from the geysers of  "The Living Desert" felt, on a hot summer day.  Sadly, this would be my last time riding the attraction, since it closed just 5 months later (in January of 1977).

After exiting the Mine Train, I remember seeing this tableau of a stagecoach, parked in front of an extension of Rainbow Ridge, and liking it enough to want to snap a pic.  At the time, I did not realize that this Stagecoach was a vehicle from an extinct Disneyland attraction.  I also did not realize that these buildings had been the backdrop for the former Pack Mules attraction.  While I was aware of the Pack Mules during the time they existed at Disneyland, we somehow never rode them.  We always chose to ride the Mine Train, instead.

Next, we rode the Mark Twain around the Rivers of America.  Is it just me, or does the Friendly Indian Village look small here?

For the remainder of our visit, we went on many of the same attractions that my family always went on, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Country Bear Jamboree.  I also remember watching "America On Parade."  I really loved this parade.  It ranks right up there, as one of my all-time favorite parades.

This was the very first float in the parade.  Note the blue and white Small World Souvenir Stand, on the far right.

I remember at this point, my film was running out and I only had one more exposure left, so my last shot of the day was of "Betsy Ross" and her giant flag.  I wish I had been able to take more pics of this parade.

As for souvenirs that day, I bought this caricature of myself, at the Fantasyland Caricature Stand.  The stand was located directly behind me, as I was taking the photo, above.  I remember when the artist drew this, the last thing he included was the cliff that I was about to "go over."  My friend also had his caricature drawn.  The artist depicted him dunking a basketball through a hoop.  As he was finishing up, he drew a ladder underneath him, with him standing on the top step.  It seemed like the artists always added "the gags" to their drawings, at the last minute.

Here's a photo showing the Fantasyland Caricature Stand (from the blog, "Disney On Parole").  It was taken in 1979, but I'm including it because it's the best one I have seen out there on the internet.  In the photo, we can see that there are about 5 samples of framed caricatures, displayed on the counter.  A customer is standing in front of the counter, and turned to the side so the artist can see his profile.  The artist is seated behind the counter, and in between him and the customer, we can see the top of an overhead projector.  As the artists drew the caricatures, guests could watch the progress, projected onto that white screen behind them.

On our way out of the park, we stopped at the Candy Palace on Main Street.  Both the Candy Palace and the Castle Candy Shop used to sell these clear plastic cubes, filled with various kinds of candy.  Some of the plastic cubes came with a ceramic figurine of a Disney character, glued to the lid.

How about that price of $1.55 for five ounces of candy!

I have several of these plastic boxes, which I saved from different visits to the park.  I always bought the ones that were filled with the "Swiss Petite Fruits."  I even remember coming home with this same type of candy, after a childhood visit to Universal Studios.

I hope everyone enjoyed this time traveling visit back to 1976!

****BONUS****

Here is the Disneyland Guide from this trip, in it's entirety.

Note the message below, about Disneyland being closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, in the off season.  Disneyland did not start being open everyday, until the early eighties.

In the "General Information" below, I see that there are two references to Disneyland "employees," and two references to "Disneylanders."  I guess at this point, Disney was not yet calling their employees, "cast members."

I always loved the tiny graphics used in these guides, for each of the attractions:

The PeopleMover had been temporarily removed from the list of "D" attractions.  The construction of Space Mountain had forced it's closure.

Note, the location of the Fantasyland Caricature Stand, below.

The back cover had an ad for the re-release of Peter Pan, and two new "live-action" films, from Walt Disney Productions.

Theme Park Stagecoaches: Part 1 - Disneyland

Once upon a time in Disneyland's Frontierland, guests could ride aboard a Stagecoach along the shores of the Rivers of America and thru the Living Desert. The Stagecoach attraction opened in 1955 and continued operation through 1959.

Below, Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, seem to be enjoying their trip aboard the "Arizona" coach.

Here, Walt Disney poses very proudly with the "California" coach. (Incidentally, there was a third state-named coach designated as the "Colorado.")

These next photos were taken at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, where the Stagecoaches were constructed. This first one is from LIFE Magazine.

This one is from December of 1954 and is used courtesy of the Orange County Archives. According to the Archives, the gentlemen seen here are Orange County officials that were invited to the studios to hear Walt discuss his plans for Disneyland.

(Note the name "Arizona" on the side of the coach, as well as the corresponding painting of a butte or mesa on the door.)

And this next photo is used with permission from blogger "Matterhorn", author of "Stuff From The Park". Thank you!

(Note here, the "California" name, and the painting of the Santa Barbara Mission on the door.)

During a childhood visit to Disneyland in 1976, I took this pic of a stagecoach that was parked just to the left of the Mine Train thru Nature's Wonderland attraction. This is pretty much the same location where the Stagecoaches used to load and unload when they were in operation.

Here's an obscurred view of a coach sitting in the same spot. (Again, thanks to "Matterhorn" from Stuff From The Park.) This shot was taken from the Mark Twain as it was about to arrive at the dock (out of view and to our right).

I didn't know it at the time I took my photo, but those buildings were remnants from the loading area of the former Pack Mule attraction. And the stagecoach was an authentic ride vehicle from an old attraction that I didn't even know existed. I wouldn't learn about the Stagecoach attraction until around 1980, when Disneyland was celebrating it's 25th anniversary. That year, one of the Stagecoaches was brought out of retirement and used in the Family Reunion Parade. It can be seen in the parade video below, at the 0:50 second mark:



Fifteen years later, one of the Stagecoaches was brought out again during the park's 40th anniversary and was on display at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles as part of a special exhibit titled "Disney's Wild West."

In 2003, Big Thunder was shut down following the derailment of one of it's cars, causing the death of one rider and injuries to ten others. A construction wall immediately went up around the attraction while the incident was investigated and remained in place while maintenance procedures (that had previously been neglected) were performed. During this time, one of the Stagecoach vehicles was parked in front of the wall.

Two years later, during the park's 50th anniversary, the Stagecoach appeared again, this time behind Big Thunder near the entrance to Big Thunder Ranch. A Disneyland "50th" logo was positioned above the coach as part of the fifty "Hidden 50's/Mickeys" that were placed throughout the park. The Stagecoach did not remain on display for the duration of the 50th anniversary however, and it's hidden 50/Mickey was moved to another location in the park.

(One final side note with these coaches: Notice how in the photo below and also in the two previous photos, the vehicle is labeled as the "California" coach, but instead of the Santa Barbara Mission, the painting on the door is the butte or mesa artwork from the "Arizona" coach. It appears that the person who did the restoration on this coach, did not do their homework!)

This next photo appears in Randy Bright's 1987 book, "Disneyland - The Inside Story". It is explained in the book that "occasional mishaps along the stagecoach route" caused the eventual closing of the attraction in 1959. I had heard that reason before as to why the Stagecoaches went away, but I had never seen a photo of that particular style of coach before. I did wonder why it looked different from the other coaches I'd seen. Had one of the coaches been altered at some point?

Flash forward to today, 2015. I went to the park on July 17th for the 60th anniversary and discovered that some special "photo-ops" had been set up just for that day. One of them was this stagecoach vehicle that was parked along the Big Thunder Trail. There it was! The odd looking stagecoach from Randy Bright's book!

A sign was posted next to it, labeling it as the "Mud Wagon" Stagecoach. According to the sign, the Mud Wagons were added in 1956 to the existing Disneyland Stage Line (which already included the California, the Arizona and the Colorado). There were three Mud Wagons added altogether and they were simply labeled as coaches "4", "5" and "6".

The sign also explains that, "The coach you see here is referred to historically as a "Mud Wagon" as it's frontier ancestors were well suited for traversing rough and murky mountain roads." That's funny, I would have guessed that the name came from the fact that having the lower and wider windows on the sides of the coach, led to passengers being splashed with more mud than they would have in the coaches with the smaller and higher windows.

Seeing this coach in person gave me the answer to something I had been wondering about, ever since I had read "Disneyland - The Inside Story" back in 1987.

So I came home from the park that day, logged onto "Gorillas Don't Blog" and conducted a search through all of Major Pepperidge's posts that included the word "stagecoach" hoping to find pics of this vehicle in use. Low and behold, I came across the following three photos. They are used here with permission....thanks again, Major!

In this shot, the Mud Wagon is pulling into the loading/unloading area. Note the Pack Mules in the background and also the train tunnel for the Rainbow Ridge Mine Train.

This professional pic is from a panoramic postcard that was sold in the park.

And here we get to see the Mud Wagon traversing actual mud!

Last up for today, we have one more from blogger, "Matterhorn", showing the Mud Wagon out along the furthest border of the Living Desert. Note the paint pots in the foreground. And just above and to the right of the driver, we can see the top of a train tunnel on the hillside. This shows just how close the Stagecoaches came to the tracks of the Disneyland Railroad. It has been said that the "occasional mishaps" along the stage route were due to the horses getting spooked by the train whistles. I wonder why they couldn't have just told the train engineers not to blow the whistle when going past this spot?

I'm just glad that when the Stagecoach attraction was discontinued, someone (probably Walt) felt the need to save a couple of the coaches, and that they have continued to be saved and restored. Too bad the Mark III Monorail/Mouseorail didn't have a similar happy ending. :-(

I hope everyone enjoyed this post. There will be two more posts in this series, which will include stagecoaches from two other theme parks. Stay tuned!