Here's a trio of scans from photos taken by Lou Perry, courtesy of his daughter, Sue B! They are from July 17, 1980 - the actual day of Disneyland's 25th Anniversary, though things look surprisingly uncrowded. Where is everybody? Other than those subdued blue and silver banners, you'd hardly know this was anything but an ordinary day. Notice the "Fun Rope", which was a B-coupon attraction in 1980, and we can see why. I'd love to know what was on display in the storefront to the left. I'd also love some eggs.
More guests are hankerin' for a big plate of eggs. Not cooked, just cracked raw into a glass, the way Rocky Balboa liked them. Gonna fly now! I'm still baffled by the lack of crowds - maybe they celebrated the 25th anniversary on July 18th, when the park opened to the public?
There's Mickey and Minnie! With what might be a line of people waiting for their turn for a photo. You'll often find Mickey and/or Minnie in the park right around this same area today.
THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
Major-
ReplyDelete"... things look surprisingly uncrowded. Where is everybody?"
I was there that day, too. I was the one holding "everybody" back - I wanted them to enter in an orderly fashion, after all. People can be so unruly-!
Thanks to Lou and Sue.
Gee, I'm bummed that I missed experiencing the "Fun Rope". I've heard so much about it over the years. It was the most talked about attraction at this time, and only a 'B' ticket! [sigh]
ReplyDeleteThe sign above the left-most storefront looks like it says "...Magical Years". But It's probably "Nautical Tears"... I'm sure there's a story there somewhere.
Let's see... I count... one(1) trashcan.
Looks like Mr. Perry wanted to get a 'people watching' photo here. That foreground stroller is waaay too small! How on Earth are they gonna make it through the day without all the essential stuff? Like a 4-man tent, an espresso machine, and an inflatable pool. I see the Mad Hatter lost his hat (upper right).
Two(2) trashcans.
Are the Mice doing some sort of dance? The white-shirt boy (to the right of the Mice) was caught by Lou's camera, with both feet off the ground! (sort of). The foreground guy in the [heart] Canada t-shirt is angry because he couldn't find a restaurant that serves poutine.
Aaaand, we're back to one(1) trashcan.
Continued thanks to Lou, Sue, and Major.
The DISNEYLAND SHOWCASE 25th Exhibit featured an updated illuminated ( these illuminated panels were left over from the Wurlitzer product wall) attraction timeline featuring major additions like “Matterhorn ice caverns - chilling domain of the abominable snowman!!” And Big Thunder … there was also information on current plans for a fantasyland expansion … with the Pinocchio’s Village extension … and some revised panels regarding The Hall of Presidents coming to Disneyland. But still the Discovery Bay & Dumbo Circus model was the centerpiece of the exhibit … the model had been in the exhibit since about 1977/78 … but the art panels and the Disneyland map with the Discovery Bay & Dumbo Circus lands had also been revised . Still mentioned is the FANTASIA attraction … the show building to be directly to the left of the Small World building. A small wall also showed some other non-Disneyland projects like Independence Lake , Tokyo Disneyland and Epcot Center .
ReplyDeleteThis was the day of Disneyland's 25-hour party. The park was open from 12 midnight on the 17th until 1 a.m. on the 18th. Maybe at this point, people were napping in their cars, or their hotel/motel rooms? Here's a newspaper ad with a ticket order form from The Los Angeles Times:
ReplyDeleteDisneyland's 24-hour Birthday Party
Thank you, Lou, Sue, and Major!
Those were the short-shorts years as documented by Lou. Never heard of the American Egg House. If it weren't for the distinctive trash can I wouldn't believe it was Disneyland.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Major Lou and Sue
Zach
The Fun Rope was highly sought after, it was the forerunner of Rope Drop today, which now costs a lot more than a B coupon.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture of the Coffee Garden, even after the Hills Bros deserted it. Even the most prosaic of Park views makes me happy.
Mickey is always popular, A Mouse of the People, you might say.
Thank you Lou, Sue and Major!
JG
Nanook, thank you for your service! :-D
ReplyDeleteJB, the Fun Rope was beloved by all who actually experienced it; younger Disneyland fans can’t really “get” what it was like. That sign should have said, “24 Magical Years and One That Wasn’t So Great”. It really is strange how people somehow survived with small strollers for years, until the giant SUV strollers became the thing. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing the huge strollers on my last two visits. Though sometimes a parent pushing a double-wide would plow through the crowd like they owned the place. White-shirt boy actually never touches the ground, it’s an interesting phenomenon, and saves on buying shoes. I’ve never had poutine, but would love to try it someday!
Mike Cozart, I wish here were good photos of that 25th Exhibit. That’s the kind of obscure thing that, unless you were lucky enough to see it at the time, is pretty much forgotten. Is there any chance that the Archives has such records? I’m OK with the Hall of Presidents never coming to Disneyland. I know you personally were very enthusiastic about Discovery Bay, do you think that is your top “Never Built” feature?
TokyoMagic!, I forget, did you ever go to any of those very long parties? They should have had a 70-hour party for Disneyland’s 70th. I wonder if the park will ever do one of those multi-day things again? It feels like “no”. Thank you for the link to that ad; Skiles and Henderson, Rupert Holmes, Syreeta, and The Dirt Band (no “Nitty Gritty”?)… all my favorites! Hey, Billy Preston played with The Beatles, so that was a pretty good “get”.
zach, I have a little tip tray from the American Egg House, but otherwise don’t have anything in the way of personal memories of that place. I’ll bet it was magical.
JG, I heard that the original Fun Rope sold at auction five years ago for $250,000. A bargain! Where will you ever get a piece of cotton clothesline like that? I’ll bet Hills Bros. regretted leaving Disneyland. Sure it was expensive to be a sponsor, but it made them cool, and afterwards they were just common chumps.
Thanks Lou and Sue for the photos! I was absolutely there that day, for every second of the 25 hour party (started the night prior, so there was no "push" in the morning with people arriving "en masse" and no rope drop: which is why things look "Spartan" in crowd size...I need to do deeper forensics, but Lou has captured some real Disneyland history here, as that is none other than Anaheim Rancher Ron Dominquez walking across Town Square in the first photo. The third photo: I see a VIP Tour Guide with Sunglasses in the back: can't recognize who it is, and there is "something" going on with Mickey and Minnie: possibly some kind of photo set up....there is a guy in a white shirt there holding people back from the frame. As I've said before, they did use "real guests" for set ups, and possibly MB could glean some data from this photo that I wouldn't ordinarily see. Also in pic #3 Mr. Canada has tied his Guided Tour Tag onto a belt loop: this got you onto rides with your group. Some of my personal tags wound up on another site: forget which one it is...but possibly others know. I know they were mine because they were labeled "Bu". and the handwriting was very familiar. All the leads had their own "mark" when they gave you your tag: with how many people in your group written on them. There is more to discover here, and hopefully I can circle back for more digging in! Thanks again Lou and Sue and Major!
ReplyDelete@ TM!-
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I note the 'vaunted' LA Times wasn't immune to typos, as it indicated David MacPherson "... arrived at Disneyland about midnight June 17, 1955, and was the only person there. He said by dawn there were 6,000 people in line..." Yeah. I hope he brought-along a lot of provisions-!
@ Bu-
Mr. eagle eye. Good show-!!
Bu, I feel like you could write some fun stuff about that 25-hour party! I’m sure there were shenanigans aplenty. I’m so used to giant hoards of fans showing up for any Disneyland event that it is shocking to see such modest crowds. But of course this was 45+ years ago after all, and things were different. VERY COOL that you noticed Ron Dominguez, and so cool that Lou caught him on film! Just an amazing coincidence, I assume. I thought that maybe people were just waiting in line to meet Mickey and Minnie, sort of like they do today? Do you think there was something bigger than that going on? I remember that your Tour Tags were on the old “Stuff From the Park” blog, but all of his photo links are broken, so we can’t look at them anymore. I was the one who noticed “Bu” written on them (as well as “Bu hoo”), and figured that it HAD to be you!
ReplyDeleteNanook, that typo is a doozy, but I always think of the line in Jurassic Park: “When Disneyland opened in 1956, nothing worked”. How many Disney fans’ heads exploded?
I love breakfast food, so was fond of Egg House. Great description of the DL Showcase. I spent so much time in there. How many dreams were found and made in there? ...I'm sure it was inspiring to many of we Disneyland aficionados. I'm not napping yet that day, but will find the cinema cool and uncrowded later that night.
ReplyDeleteMS
MAJOR : I’m sure somewhere images of the full DISNEYLAND A LEGACY FOR THE FUTURE and DISNEYLAND SHOWCASE exhibits 1973 - 1988 ( splash mountain was the last featured project ) exist … wed interiors , Disneyland decorating would have made documentation binders. However the Disney sign shop kept photographs of ALL the display plaques, description plates , maps and signage from the displays …
ReplyDeleteWhen WDI had its special services department ( picture framers , print and lithographers , and display specialists ) there all kinds of reference binders that showed what framed or mounted artwork and displays they mounted or framed … there was also corresponding data to reference what and where art images at the WED/WDI art research library were located . Almost all departments kept these visual binders for reference … sign shop .. the staff show , decorating , interiors , facilities & engineering … but in the 2000’s Disneyland sent some of these things to storage at WDI and the archives … ( assuming most of the information was digitized - IT WAS NOT) … and lots of it got trashed …. But honestly ; modern Disney company could give a rats -ass if anyone ever knew what the “Disneyland Showcase 25th Anniversary Special Exhibit” looked like ….
"Fun Rope" LOL!
ReplyDelete"Nanook, that typo is a doozy, but I always think of the line in Jurassic Park: “When Disneyland opened in 1956, nothing worked”. How many Disney fans’ heads exploded?"
Major, I caught that while watching the movie, and cringed.
Thank you, Bu, for pointing-out Ron D. I'm certain that my dad didn't realize who that was. I'm still hoping to find you and other Jr. Gorillas in some of his pictures. It has to happen! BTW, you and Nanook mentioned you were there that day....but I wasn't certain if TokyoMagic or MS were there, too? I'd love to know if any other Jr. Gorillas were there, at the same time. (Sadly, I wasn't there.)
Thanks for all the fun info and laughs, everyone.
Thanks, Major.
Yes, and so glad you share photos!
ReplyDeleteMS
The Egg House will be in Disney's upcoming live-action "Three Little Pigs 2" feature. It's part of Big Bad Wolf's origin story that takes up the first 90 minutes of the movie.
ReplyDeleteTechnically Hills Brothers was still served at Disneyland after its “coffee house” sponsorship … but it was a division of Nestle in the 1980’s . The official park coffee became COLOMBIAN COFFEE GROWERS 100% ColOMBIAN and the coffee was spectacular! Employees of The Plaza Inn and other locations used to say guests were constantly asking what brand coffee was being served - and they never really did that prior. If you asked the waitress or waiter or restaurant cast member would show you a large pillow type foil bag maybe 9” square marked “100% Colombian Coffee -not for resale “ along a seem was a series of numbers and letters … but that was what the employees used to brew the large coffee urn batches for park guests …
ReplyDeleteRonnie Reagan accepted the Republican Nomination For PREZ on that day, so a lot of folks stayed home to watch I'm guessing :D
ReplyDeleteThanks as always Major!
Nanook, I don't think I had ever noticed the typo in that newspaper article. That was a very long time to wait in line! ;-)
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, I forget, did you ever go to any of those very long parties? They should have had a 70-hour party for Disneyland’s 70th. I wonder if the park will ever do one of those multi-day things again? It feels like “no”.
Major, I went to the 24-hour party on July 17, 1985, for Disneyland's 30th birthday. I also went to the park's 24-hour "Rock Your Disney Side" party, in May of 2014. And even though Grad Nite wasn't necessarily long, it was an all-night event, which went to 5 a.m.!
Sue, I desperately wanted to go to the 24-hour party that year, but I didn't make it because I couldn't find anyone who was able to go on that specific day.....and I wasn't driving yet. Fortunately I was able to go to the park a couple times that year and see the special 25th parade and shows, and buy some of the special merchandise.
I do remember that 25th exhibit very well, with it's rear-lit panels. Something else that I remember about that space is that it had a long upholstered window seat, and you would sometimes see people sleeping on it late in the day. Mike mentioned that the rear-lit displays were left over from the Wurlitzer shop. Well, I've seen a photo of the interior of the Wurlitzer shop (maybe here on GDB), showing that bench seat, so it was also a carry-over feature. It was eventually removed when that space became the Disney Showcase shop. They should have kept it, and that way they could have charged guest $50 an hour to rent it for naps. They could have also rented out pillows for an extra $20 an hour, but made guests feel like it was all worth it by giving them a free Zinger®.