1989 Souvenir Guidebook! Part 1
Today is PART ONE of a series of five posts featuring scans of every page of a 1989 Pictorial Souvenir Guidebook. "1989? Wasn't that just a few years ago?". Why, no, Timmy! It was over 30 years ago. (Math is my thing, as you know). And a surprising amount of stuff has changed in that time. Oh, did I mention that this guidebook was scanned by GDB friend JG? I can't imagine how much time it took to scan 52 pages (including the front and back covers)... probably at least two hours. So THANKS, JG!
Let's start with the cover - a star field (plenty of luminous spheroids of plasma to wish on), with a photo of THE CASTLE, with some of our favorite characters.
"Disneyland will never be completed". Oh Walt, why did you have to say that? You should have said, "Disneyland is complete, and if anybody touches a thing, especially Nature's Wonderland, I'm gonna be mad". Rolly Crump shows up in the illustration, holding a doll that I believe is the likeness of Imagineer Joyce Carlson, while the Mary Blair doll is at his elbow. A nice tribute to three legends.
Why was Disneyland built? Here's the story, told and retold until it might as well be carved in stone. Thank goodness he took his daughters to Griffith Park for "Daddy's Day", he might have taken them for chili cheeseburgers. And then: no Disneyland. (Maybe he would have wanted to create the perfect chili cheeseburger for families).
I don't know about you, but I've heard the audio of Walt's opening-day dedication speech so many times that I can't read the words without hearing his slightly-tinny voice in my head.
These were the days when the pre-"Nemo" Submarine Voyage was running, though the vessels had been painted a cheerful yellow. Fish are famous for ignoring school buses, allowing a better viewing experience for guests.
Let's get into the individual lands, starting with Main Street, U.S.A. I've never eaten a pickle at Disneyland, and realize that my life is but a hollow mockery. Notice that guests could still see "silent-era cinema stars" at the Cinema, instead of endless loops of classic Mickey cartoons.
Here comes a Horse-drawn Streetcar! And a Horseless Carriage.
Everyone loves fuzzy Pluto (and he loves everyone). The rest of the scenes pictured are "classic Main Street".
The Market House was years from being turned into a Starbucks. And (in the lower right) it appears that the Penny Arcade was still full of Mutoscope machines and other old-timey ways to spend your nickels.
That does it for Main Street, and for this first installment, but never fear! We'll move on to Adventureland next time. Thanks again to JG for sharing these scans!
26 comments:
Major-
It's nice to see that finally the 'printing process' for these sorts of brochures attained a level of quality worthy of scanning, thus producing these clear images.
Thanks so much JG, for doing the heavy lifting enabling you to share these with us.
Thanks Jay Gee, from Jay Bee. I bet the Major is exaggerating; probably took no more than an hour and a half to scan all 52 pages. ;-) And thanks to Major P as well.
As Nanook noted, these scans are pristine. I don't see the graininess or dots here that one usually gets when scanning print material.
I especially like the horse-drawn streetcar and horseless carriage image. I think it's the CM hanging, Harold Lloyd style, at that angle on the running board.
And four more posts of colorful, fun, nostalgic images! I'm amazed by your math prowess, Major.
Yeah, I wish Walt had said, "Disneyland is a museum!"
I wonder if we'll ever be looking at a guide like this and say, "Wow, too bad they bulldozed Main Street for Marvel Campus North! Or for another Star Wars planet, which was never featured in any of the movies.
I wonder if Bu knows the balloon vendor, dressed in the "yellows" costuming?
The park still looks pretty nice in these 1989 pics! Thanks for sharing with us, JG and Major!
The Disneyland guidebooks by the late 80’s and till about the mid 90’s featured very nice quality printing .....but after and until the last guidebook ( 2005?) the quality was awful!! The color is flat and dull and muddy. How in the age of digital and laser printing was the color so bad?? It’s the same when having digital photo prints made ... they look great on the computer and camera .... but the print quality is always crap! I miss the days of actually photo processing and camera stores where trained people could make beautiful prints from almost anything ... a slide .... a transparency or a digital file. Now the people monitor machines in between their positions in the garden center and getting batteries out of a locked case for customers.
It’s sad that nice quality souvenir guidebooks are no longer produced .... did guests stop buying them? I hear the complementary gate guide maps are expected to be phased out..... the end of yet another era ....
These are wonderful! In my world 1989 was 10 to 15 years ago. I'm pretty sure time stopped advancing in the early 2000s.
I concur that the quality is stunning. Oh that the park was thus today, 'twould be a impetus for a sojourn. But, alas...
By the way, fish ignore busses because they're already in schools! (insert cheesy rim shot)
Thanks JG! (and Major) I'm looking forward to the rest!
Well...I wrote a comment...and it vanished...perhaps it was too much for the system! It was long. There was a lot in there! So, yes TM, I do remember that balloon vendor as I was IN that same shoot, but ended up on the cutting room floor. Her name was Lisa and I recently re-connected with her- she looks the same, I do not. I found a photo this morning with me and those 2 girls Mom. Renie Bardeau took the photos...he has a window on Main St. and was famous for the "Footsteps" photo of Walt, and also the last Walt photo taken in Disneyland. I asked Renie many years later why they didn't use my photos...he said "they all want the pretty blondes." So, there ya go. That photo has been used (and is still used) thousands of times. I remember most all of these employees in this booklet. I used to buy bulk chocolate from the candy maker- they used Callebaut. There was a story about him somewhere, and he also has been in some previous GDB posts. Those candies we called "nuttles"...I'm not sure what DL called them at the time- but fresh, they were delicious, along with the fresh English Toffee they also made there. I had some other musings in my last post, but unlike the past memories, my short term memory lacks....it was something about the pickles at the Market House or something. Thanks for sharing and posting :)
Thanks, JG! And Major, too.
Zach
Wow, Major, these look great! Absolutely worth slaving over a hot scanner for my friends. Did you touch them up at all?
Bu, amazing that you were just out of the shot in the balloon pic. After meeting you here at GDB, I’ve thought of you in connection with that photo. What are the odds. The yellow costumes never registered with me until I read other CM’s comments. I think they would be fine in Tomorrowland but odd anywhere else.
I’m enjoying Main Street before it became a psychedelic test pattern.
Callebaut is top flight chocolate, Belgian I believe. Mrs. G used to buy it to make Christmas candies.
This might be the 1989 edition of the book, but this copy was bought a few years later when we visited with our kids for their first time. Lots of changes since then, few for the better at Disneyland. Bu was probably there when we visited. 1992 i think.
Of course the paper guide maps will be discontinued. Everything will be in the App, and Disney can charge you for power cells to recharge on the run.
Stu, I see what you did there. “Facepalm”
Please enjoy, everyone. Thanks Major!
JG
Nanook, they certainly bumped up the colors! Not sure how they did that in the days before Photoshop, but i like the saturated look in this case.
JB, I guessed “two hours” conservatively! I’ll bet JG spent a LOT more time than that. Four hours? A long time, anyway. These do have very nice print quality. They must have liked that Horse Drawn Streetcar image as well, since they gave it its very own page! Your mention of Harold Lloyd made me remember a photo that somebody posted on Facebook, taken by Harold himself as his family ate their lunch. Pretty neat! I don’t like to brag about my math abilities, but I got as far as algebra.
TokyoMagic!, these days nothing the company does surprises me that much. “Oh, they raised the prices today? That’s only the second time this year, right?”. I know that almost everything there can be subject to the wrecking ball, even things that I used to consider “untouchable”.
Mike Cozart, I wonder if they still had guidebooks printed in the U.S. back then? You’re right, if anything you’d think that the books would look better as the years wore on. I’m also surprised to hear that guidebooks are not produced anymore… I just assumed that I just hadn’t seen any, but that they were still selling like hotcakes. As for the complementary gate guide, just think how much money they will save not giving those to each guest!
Stu29573, you must be doing that “new math” that I keep hearing about. I need to use “t’would” a lot more in my speech and writing, people will know that I am fancy. I admit that I liked your fish/schools joke!
Bu, blogger doesn’t allow comments that exceed… I forget, is it 1400 words? Or 1400 characters? If I have to respond to a lot of comments, I have to split it up into two parts, or they won’t let it publish. I’m sorry that blogger lost whatever you wrote. I can’t blame the Disney folks for wanting to use pretty blondes, I like looking at them too. And pretty redheads, and brunettes, and….! Yum, English toffee is one of my favorites, even now I buy some for my mom at See’s - that way I can have a piece or two myself. Again, sorry about your lost comment.
zach, you’re welcome!
JG, I hope the wait was worth it. For those of you reading this, JG sent me these scans many months ago, and it has taken this long for them to finally appear on the blog. At some point many of the CMs were wearing these orange and yellow costumes that I didn’t hate, but they made me miss the old traditional shirt, vest, and straw boater look. The orange and yellow destroyed any illusion of “yesteryear”, and just looked like “the 1970s”. Thanks again for taking the time to scan this guidebook… stay tuned for next week - part 2!
Thanks JG, wonderful way to start the morning. And thanks for the comments and stories to everyone.
Bu, thanks especially for your memories. We went to the park at least several in the 80s, so I guess I probably have your visage somewhere in the unobtainable, deep recesses of what I call my mind.
Nice guidebook. I kept a couple from the 60s, but I never bought one after that. Wish I had.
Thanks Major, producer and conduit of many good things to feast our eyes on.
Major, I think the pre-digital process of bumping up the colors started with "load camera with Kodachrome film."
Thanks, JG & Major. These are wonderful.
I remember the early days with the wonderful artwork. The excitement and anticipation of a day at Disneyland. These are great, and I will be enjoying them all day. Thanks Major.
Forgot to mention how cool that second scan is. Plus the nice tribute to the legends. Wonder who that is working on Dumbo. He definitely is drawn to resemble someone. Not familiar enough with the 9 old men to hazard a guess.
Thanks again.
Just FYI, I have this guidebook as a PDF suitable for viewing on a PC or a tablet/mobile.
Send an email to Major, and i will send you a download link.
You can see from the cover, this book was well-loved by my kids, purchased on their first trip.
Cheers all.
JG
@ JG-
Yes, the Barry Callebaut Group [may be] the world's largest manufacturer of bulk chocolate. They call themselves "...the world's leading manufacturer of high quality chocolate and cocoa products..." No argument, here. Cacao Barry is the French division; and Callebaut is the Belgium division. 'Belgian chocolate' is a term often thrown-around by folks having little knowledge to its meaning - present company excepted. [I suspect many people believe the cocoa beans are actually grown in Belgium-! Good luck on that score]. Technically, for chocolate to be labelled Belgian Chocolate, the chocolate is supposed to adhere to the "Belgian Chocolate Code", but I wonder how often it is co-opted.
This is a long way of saying I'm surprised Disneyland actually used Callebaut bulk chocolate(s) in the making of their confections. I would've thought their choices to include Nestlé, Merckens, or Peter's Chocolate. But at least when you were there, Callebaut seemed to be the chocolate of choice.
Okay - today's chocolate lesson is over.
"...too bad they bulldozed Main Street for Marvel Campus North!"
Tokyo!, I'm sure they'll deposit an animatronic horse pie in the middle of the street as an homage to the Main Street that was.
Mike, as the park went downhill, so did the guidebooks, apparently.
I groaned at Stu's groaner about fish/busses/schools, as I was meant to do.
Bu, wow! There is no end to your fascinating Disneyland info and stories. Shoulda used peroxide on your hair. I always type my comments in a temporary Notepad file and wait to see if Blogger decides to have a stroke or not.
Major, I always hated algebra; didn't really get it- or find a use for it. I'm better at geometry.
All this talk of chocolate is making me crave some fine candy... I think I'll go eat a Tootsie Roll.
DrGoat, looking at one of these old guide books is kind of like looking at one of the souvenir wall maps - you get to take a mental trip to the park, without the lines, or the cost! At some point I was determined to get all of the guidebooks from the “Walt years”, though to be honest I’m not sure if I ever really did get ‘em all.
Chuck, I think you are probably right!
Jonathan, I wonder if Charles Boyer, who was famous for painting so much Disneyland art, had anything to do with that portrait of Walt on the first page? I wish they credited their artists.
DrGoat, I was also trying to figure out who that man (working on Dumbo) is supposed to be, but my guess is that it was one of the hundreds of employees that are not known to us today. At first I’d hoped it was Bob Gurr! But it doesn’t look like him.
JG, I have seen plenty of guidebooks that are in very poor shape - considering that your kids loved that one so much, it is in remarkably good condition.
Nanook, I need to buy my chocolate in bulk! The Belgian Chocolate Code helped us win WWII. The Germans couldn’t break it.
JB, now I actually want a singing, blinking pile of horse poo in the middle of Main Street. Think of the photo opportunities. He (or she?) will be the most lovable poop in the world, and that’s saying something. Somehow I think that Bu could have had platinum-blonde tresses, and they still would have gone with the pretty girl. That’s just life. Also, I hated math class. It didn’t help that my dad was a math whiz who could do it all with no effort, while I struggled! Instead of a Tootsie Roll, may I suggest a Tootsie Pop - cherry, preferably?
Major, funny that you mention a cherry Tootsie Pop. I happen to have one on hand. It came in a bag of "Child's Play" Halloween candy (which became available sometime in August, I think.)
@ JB-
Although a harder task in this country than in Europe, you might try setting the bar a bit higher when selecting "fine candy" than the lowly Tootsie Roll. The closest it comes to 'chocolate' is: Cocoa, Artificial and Natural Flavors. Ummmmm.... yummy-!
My 1974 guidebook was so well-loved it literally fell apart (as did my first map). Who needs a plush when you could have one of these things?
Nanook, I was joking about the Tootsie Roll. I love 'em, but fine chocolate they are not. I'm surprised that they have any chocolate ingredients listed at all, I thought it was all artificial.
Post script: I DID go to blonde...and...they still went with the pretty girl :) I had to dye it for a job and just kept it. I did get my fair share of "screen time" with Walt Disney Productions, and the Walt Disney Company...and strangely: Hallmark cards (shot in Disneyland) but in the end, never during my short time as a blonde. Appearance guidelines state that hair color must be "natural"...they may have turned a blind eye with me... I vacationed in Jamaica and my hair turned almost white....with dark roots :) I dyed it back. My supervisors were happy. How nice of them to allow me to go through my "blondes have more fun" time. Major...no problem about the delete...if I wrote more than 1400 words, probably wasn't worth reading! Tootsie pops! If you want attention guys: have a tootsie pop in public...it is like a magnet. Kojak knew what he was doing. Regarding "Yellows" being worn outside of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland: it was the costume for Leads and Reliefs, so you may get see photos of them all over the place. There was one picture from Sue that I swore had to be me giving a break to the ONLY full time Vendor in the park on Main Street- 40 hours a week for years at the Hub popcorn wagon. That was the only full time position that existed. Don't know if I could do that. God bless Gene at the hub.
The older style balloons seen here photograph much better than the modern ones, IMO. I see that one of the kids with the balloon vendor is wearing the 1970’s-style Mouseketeer hat.
I recognize several photos in this guide book that date to Mickey’s 50th and Disneyland’s 25th Anniversary and have appeared in Disney News, Vacationland , and the Disneyland hard cover book by Valerie Childs.... so that might explain the New Mouseketeer green style hat .... that I think we’re still sold into the mid 80’s.
Bu, PLEASE tell Lisa that we'd LOVE to hear anything she'd like to share with us. It's great you've re-connected! Thanks for sharing your experience with this photo shoot.
LOVED today's post - thanks, Major, JG and all!
P.S. Stu - your fish joke IS funny!
Dress codes that specify “natural” hair color usually just mean that it should be a color that naturally occurs in human hair, so not blue or pink or anything. Otherwise, a lot of us would be out of luck! (I’ve been coloring my hair since my twenties; my father’s family are almost all prematurely gray.)
I have heard of some fairly draconian haircolor policies, though. I know a woman who was originally from Singapore. Her hair was naturally a lighter shade of brown, which is unusual but not completely unheard of in people from that part of the world. Her high school made her dye it black because they insisted it looked unnatural.
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