Disneyland Hotel Brochure, 1961
Hooray for Disneyland emphemera - paper ephemera, that is. My favorite. This brochure is from the Disneyland Hotel, circa 1961. I love the bold arrow graphics, they remind me of movie credits by Saul Bass. The salmon and black color scheme is unusual - interestingly, this brochure was also printed in blue and black.
The hotel Monorail station hadn't been completed, so we have a sketch instead of a photo. Also new (!), a 40-acre golf center. Wow, 40 acres of precious Anaheim real estate right next to the park, for golf. Those were the days.
Here's one side - I love that back panel to the left, with all of the family friendly activities available nearby. Room rates were anywhere from $16 to $51 a night. That translates to around $133 to $424 a night when adjusted for inflation. My understanding is that a night in today's Disney hotels can easily exceed $500, and for anything premium, way way above that price.
Those mid-century graphics are pretty awesome. I wish I could have seen the hotel as it was in this era.
I actually have two variations on this brochure - if you'll notice, the one on the right has a pink asterix next to the words "linked by"...
... along with a note that the "monorail" and golf center were scheduled for completion in June of 1961. I love variations!
19 comments:
Major-
Nice brochure. I loved that miniature golf course - "The Magic Kingdom Golf Course". Each hole was based on a feature found at Disneyland - even Skull Rock at hole 13-!
Thanks, Major.
These are great just from a design and layout standpoint. Look at the little “Sport Fishing” guy! And the seashell watermark behind the pool info is neat, too.
40 acres, eh? I guess Boxcar Willie will have enough room to turn his golf cart around.
That brochure is Mid Century FANTASTIC!! I’ve seen the monorail rendering before in vintage magazines , but NEVER that brochure!! I love it!
I love the way you carefully made your watermark fit with the graphics of the brochure. Maybe you always do that and I'm just not paying attention. I'm not always the best with details. Still, I love your website. Daveland rocks!
I think we paid about $133 for a night on the top regular floor on our second anniversary in '95, which included an anniversary cheesecake (the front desk staff sent up a complimentary chocolate cake and a card, too). That works out to about $216 today, or ฿6,727.32.
I only ever saw the outside of the Disneyland Hotel. We lived in North Hollywood so we never stayed there. But I remember when the Monorail was extended to the hotel. So cool. With prices ever going up, at both the resorts and the park, I fear that the average family will not get the same experience that we had. I have such fond memories of Disneyland and I hope that this generation will have them as well. Thanks Major for keeping the magic alive.
Nice graphics. I especially love the Mark I monorail being shown at the Disneyland Hotel Station since it was actually the Mark II monorails that were added when the monorail extension to the hotel was built.
I was fortunate to have stayed at the Disneyland Hotel a few times in it's Wrather days. It was a wonderful experience. Funny thing is I lost the desire to stay there again once Disney purchased it. Thanks, Major.
Nanook, yes, I’ve seen photos of that miniature golf course, and it looks like it was really great. Who doesn’t love a round of putt-putt golf?
Melissa, the interior graphics are similar to earlier Hotel brochures - but that doesn’t make them any less wonderful!
Mike Cozart, I’m glad you liked this brochure!
Chuck, it is true, Daveland does rock. I am impressed that you knew how to do the Bitcoin symbol!! It would take me some studying.
Jonathan, I didn’t go into any of the Hotel buildings until probably the 1990’s, when a friend who lived in Brea suggested that we go over and check things out. It was kind of fun, but I feel like I had missed the best stuff by then!
K. Martinez, you were lucky to stay there; back in the early 80’s, my grandfather wanted to take the whole family to Disneyland for 2 days - it would have included a stay in the Hotel. But he had health problems that prevented it from ever happening, which is sad on several levels. It does seem like the Wrather days were the best for the hotel, for sure.
I always grab handfuls of free paper "souvenirs" like maps and brochures, but I usually end up losing most of them. Or having tubes of sunscreen explode all over them in the suitcase.
...and KM has pointed out the Monorail Mk. II discrepancy that was going to take me doing a little research to be sure about. Nicely done.
I'm in the same group of folks who never stayed there because we lived to close. Too bad... Nice work Major, and a great piece of memorabilia.
Major: you said you liked “variants” so I gave you a variant of my first response but for some reason it didn’t post ....
That should, of course, be "too close"...
Patrick, when I worked at McDonald's in college, I knew people who lived to close. I was partial to store opening myself, but it takes all kinds.
I thought we were supposed to always be closing.
I always envied the people that got on the monorail at the hotel in those early days. I did once get off at the hotel stop - sometime in the early 80s. It was fun wandering around. I remember a game arcade in a small building that was set in a pool of water. I even remember the game we played - it was a little chef guy chasing hamburgers and fried eggs with a salt shaker. So simple but so fun.
That game was BurgerTime. Easily one of my 10 favorite arcade games
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BurgerTime
It was fun getting on the Vegas Monorail at the Hilton station, which was part of the SpaceQuest Bar and Casino that formed the buffer between the hotel and the Star Trek Experience that was there at the time. The station looked like something out of Tomorrowland, with Star Trek fonts on the arrival boards. One of the gigantic drinks you could get in an oversized souvenir flute was called the "Monorail Madness." I remember it had a creamy coconut texture and different colored layers. And enough rum to make Robot Lincoln see double.
And there were newlywed couples still in their wedding clothes on the train, and it was sooo sweeeet.
Melissa, you need to use a rigorous system to file and archive your freebies, and then have them hermetically sealed. Let me know how it goes!
Patrick Devlin, I didn’t even really notice the use of the old Monorail on the flyer. Yes, like you, we lived too close to stay in the hotel, but not close enough to go a lot more often.
Mike Cozart, oh sorry, I saw the variant, but sometimes people post a comment, and because it doesn’t post for a while, they’ll post it again. I thought that is what happened - I apologize!
Patrick Devlin, I am glad that I never make a mistake. It’s a grate feeling.
Chuck, I can’t imagine any employee living to do anything at McDonald’s!
Melissa, I just want the steak knives.
Sunday Night, an arcade set in a pool of water? Really? That is something I never heard of. I had a dream about chasing hamburgers and fried eggs, I’m sure Dr. Freud would have something to say about that.
Dean FInder, I didn’t make it much past Asteroids when it came to arcade games. Probably because I was no damn good at them.
Melissa, the one time I ever went to Vegas, I wanted to ride the Monorail just to be able to say that I did it, but I was overruled. Is it still there? I remember seeing people walking around with those giant alcoholic “flutes”, usually in bright colored plastic. My mom and dad honeymooned in Las Vegas in 1958!
#Sunday Night
That arcade 'under water' was placed in the Hotel Marina area below water level, right outside the Marina Tower back exit. I was there slightly late to enjoy it as a kid, but saw it in 1993 or 1994 when I took my little kids to Disneyland for the first time.
Back in my young days and being a video game kid, I spent a lot of time in 1981 at a 'temporary' arcade that had been set up in one of the Garden buildings facing the pool, right next to 'The Bottle Shop'(?)...before the fancy underwater arcade was built at the height of the Arcade Era around 83' or 84'. Sadly, my family had troubles and we stopped going by then...
Thanks Major!
Major, you can rest easy - Las Vegas is still there.
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