Wednesday, January 03, 2018

Special Guest Post - Disneyland, July 1982

Today I have six photos from Disneyland, circa 1982, shared by GDB reader Warren Nielsen. These pictures feature his wife (Kyle, or "Kai") and children. Here's Warren:

These pics are from July 1982. We were visiting her (Kai's) folks who lived in Glendale at the time. Yes, a trip to DL in July can be a welcome stress reliever.

A Favorite Place 2 (Warren's title for this photo) is the Grotto with Kai and our 2 boys. Erik, the oldest, is about 2 1/2 and Bjorn is 9 months or so.


Here's a better look at the Grotto itself, with waterfalls splashing and statues... er... statue-ing.


Disneyland Erik and Steve 4 (again, Warren's title for this next picture) is actually the first pic in the series. We got on the horse drawn streetcar and Steve, the driver, immediately had    Erik stand (yes stand!) next to him as we made our way down Main Street, and he then proceeded to introduce Erik to his steed.


Steve was absolutely the nicest guy. It really floored us a little on how smooth he was dealing with kids and crowds. Very neat.


There are two more with Steve, who sounds like an exceptional CM. I wonder where he is today? Write in, Steve!


And here's one final shot of Steve patiently showing Erik the gentle horse that pulled the Streetcar. His head is bigger than Erik!


Many thanks to Warren Nielsen for sharing these family photos! He's sent a lot more (including more from Walt Disney World), so stay tuned for those.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for dropping in with your photos, and nice commentary, too, Warren. The shots of Steve and your younger one are terrific. Really what Disneyland is all about. Thanks again... You made my morning, at least.

Nanook said...

Warren-

What a great moment the CM provided for Erik allowing him to get up-close and personal with the streetcar-pulling horse. It seems inconceivable with the crowds these times that sort of service can take place anymore.

Thanks for sharing your images from THPOE. Looking forward to more.

K. Martinez said...

Warren,

These photos of Steve the CM interacting with your son Erik are really wonderful and priceless. They remind me of the types of photos found in a Disneyland brochure or pictorial booklet showing the magic of Disneyland through CM/guest interaction.

Thanks for generously sharing your personal family photos. I'm definitely looking forward to what you have in store for us in the future.

Melissa said...

Fine-lookin' pair of kids you got there, Warren & Kai! I especially love Erik's little hat and overalls.

Awesome pictures of Steve and his horse.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Warren, for sharing pictures of your family. Really great to see these.

Snow White's Grotto is a favorite of ours too.

Thanks Major for providing the means to see and share.

JG

Anonymous said...

"A trip to DL in July can be a welcome stress reliever"?

Eh, I can't speak for Disneyland, let alone in in July, but Disney World is insanely busy during that time, and it's been really busy lately during the holiday season. So I'm not sure how much of a "stress reliever" such a trip can be nowadays, unless things were less busy back in the 80s.

Either way, a trip to Disney is still fun, if not hectic.

Chuck said...

Forgive me, but the angle on the waterfall in the second photo makes it look a bit like rocket exhaust blasting out from under Snow White's skirt, sort of like a cross between an Atlas rocket and Scarlet Overkill in Minions. Now I'm imagining Ms White launching from her secret forest base to rescue people from hapless hypersonic passenger liners and fight kaiju.

Thanks, Warren, for sharing your precious memories with the rest of us.

Warren Nielsen said...

Thank you all. I'm glad you enjoyed this group of pics. And Disney Dudebro, the stress relieving part is getting away from family for a little bit of 'us time.'