It's always nice to find some views of the Disneyland Hotel - and here are two that a guest took from their room in the Sierra Tower, perhaps five or six stories up. They had a now-coveted room facing toward the park. Well, the parking lot, but if you swiveled your head to the left (I just found out I can turn my neck! You guys should try it, it's amazing!) you would see a few bits of the park poking up above the trees.
Meanwhile, below us is an inviting blue pool, and I think that bit of grass just beneath it was a putting green.Why go to the park when you can putt until midnight? The buildings between the pool and the parking lot might be part of "restaurant row", or it might be the Embassy Center". You guys will know!
The circular planter is where I have hidden a golden treasure. But be careful! It's booby-trapped. I believe that the building behind the palm tree fronds is the Plaza Building, with shops and a broom closet that nobody talks about. The yellow Monorail is speeding away from us (was it something I said?), while the snow-capped Matterhorn looms on the horizon.
That leaning telephone pole in the foreground is rather distracting... 'bad show'. Major, that would be the "gorillasdontblog.blogspot.com" putting green. I didn't realize you were so famous and influential that Disney named a putting green after your blog.
ReplyDeleteThat "golden treasure" hidden inside wouldn't happen to be an egg, would it? "Eggses, my precious! The answer is eggses!!!"
The Park seems so far away in these photos. I always picture it much closer. I mean, it's right across the street!
Thanks for the Monday pics, Major.
I’ve heard about a hidden treasure there …. Right under the crossed palm trees …. I heard once Sid Ceaser , Ethel merman , Dorthy Provine , and others tried to actually unearth the fortune. Yup! It’s a mad , mad , mad world.
ReplyDeleteNice distance shot of the yellow Mark III enroute to Tomorrowland! I wonder if “AMERICA SINGS “ is open yet?
Oh! I just saw it’s November 1974: “America Sings” is indeed now open! November: explains why nobody is using the pool!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first moved to Orange County from San Diego sone friends and I wound swim in that DL Hotel pool . We got free parking then at the hotel ( Disneyland & WDW too) using our Disney ID …. We would drive over park , put out bathing suits on … swim and layout in the sun. Nobody them ever asked to see if we were guests. You couldn’t do that anymore!!
I apologize my phone literally changed every other word I typed….. I hope I didn’t sound like a hillbilly !!
ReplyDeleteWhy is Space Mountain siting in the parking lot, next to the high-tension wires? I know, I know.....it's not Space Mountain. It's Smellody Land, and it's not in the parking lot, it's across the street from the parking lot.
ReplyDeleteIn the second pic, we can see the tallest turret on the Castle, the top half of the Rocket Jets' rocket, the cupola and flag over the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean, and the nautical flags on the Sailing Ship Columbia. Wheeeeee!
It's the big W Mike.
ReplyDeleteStill get a laugh from Arnold Stang and Jonathan in the gas station scene. My parents brought us to the movies to see that when it came out and right from Jimmy kicking the bucket we all had good laughs.
Thanks Major.
Didn't stay in the Hotel until the 80s. The Peter Pan Motor lodge was my parents place of choice in the 60s. Before that, I don't remember where we stayed.
That gray circular pavement to the left of the swimming pool, with tables and umbrellas on top. . . wasn't that originally a mini pool, for the Junior Gorillas? If so, they started ruining everything a lot earlier than we thought.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major, this Hotel always had a lot of 1950s-60s allure for me. Might even have seen Auric Goldfinger sitting by the pool, cheating at cards.
Five trash cans in photo 1, and four of the same five in photo 2. Looks like the DH was classed as Tomorrowland theme since the cans are the same style. Seems appropriate to the MCM architecture here.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoying that long shot with the Monorail. Wish we had stayed there then.
Thanks Major, these are very nice.
JG
JB, back in those days, leaning telephone poles were all the rage. Zsa Zsa had seven of them! So Walt needed one for his hotel too. I have putting greens, restrooms, and even a few trash cans with my name of them, my parents are so proud. As for the golden treasure, well no, it’s not eggses… it’s actual gold, man. GOLD! How did I acquire it? It’s nobody’s beeswax!
ReplyDeleteMike Cozart, Ethel Merman used to follow me everywhere. I’d see her peeking out behind the shelves at the grocery store, or watching me with binoculars from across the street. BUT I’M NOT CRAZY. I don’t know if “America Sings” is open yet, I’d think that you would know!
Mike Cozart, oh, see? You did know! That’s pretty amazing that they did not check to make sure you were actually hotel patrons when you went to the pool. As you said, that would never fly these days.
Mike Cozart, what’s wrong with sounding like a hillbilly??
TokyoMagic!, I do remember seeing Melody Land (or “Smellody Land” as Shakespeare called it) when I was a kid and thinking that it HAD to be a part of Disneyland. Buildings in “real life” didn’t look kooky like that. I love seeing those little bits of the park, even from this distance.
DrGoat, the fact that Arnold Stang never earned an Oscar is proof that the Motion Picture Academy is a joke. Wow, wasn’t “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” over three hours long? Or it was very long, at any rate. I’d think that would be tough for a kid to sit through. I know I always started to fade as it went on, but I was watching it on commercial TV, which added an extra hour. I’ll bet the Peter Pan Motor Lodge was a nice place to stay!
Stefano, hmmm, now that you mention it, I do think that there was a “wading pool” for young children. Maybe you’re right, that gray area might have been where it was. I wonder why they got rid of the pool? Glad you enjoyed these! I can picture Gert Fröbe with his earpiece right now!
JG, it doesn’t look like they used Walt’s “hotdog rule” at the Hotel, unless he ate hotdogs much slower there. I suppose that the plainer, more modern Tomorrowland style worked best at the Hotel, though it would have been fun if they used a variety of park styles from all of the lands.
Major,
ReplyDeleteThe Peter Pan Lodge was nice from what I remember. The only memory that is solid is Dad waking us up to go to the park or waking us up to hit the road for Knott's. Or waking us up to hit the road down to San Diego to the Zoo, which my sister said was the last stop before a night in some motel and back home.
The only way to get through It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad world is on TMC or record it and zip through the commercials. Yeah, it's a long movie. Haven't watched it for many years. The last part with the high rise buildings, fire trucks and the Three Stooges isn't a bad place to put an end to it if you've seen it before.
Stefano, they’ve been ruining everything ever since there was anything to ruin. Everything’s basically pre-ruined. What can you do?
ReplyDeleteDr. Goat...living in Orange County I never had to stay at a motel while c=visiting or even driving through the area down Harbor Blvd. But I distinctly remember the Peter Pan Motel...a couple block south of Katella, down Harbor Blvd. It was set away from the action amidst what I recall was an orange grove. Of course 60 years makes stories of those times becoming embellished.
ReplyDeleteThe view from the hotel provides a human scale to the Park and Parking Lot. Back then, the parking was free at the hotel...nobody questioned your activity or presence there. It was so much more relaxed. KS
DrGoat, wow, you would stay at the Peter Pan Motor Lodge for a day trip to San Diego Zoo?? That seems like a long drive! I wonder if your dad was like mine - waking us up way earlier than we would ever want! But of course once we were at Disneyland it was all good, we forgot about being tired. I’ll bet I haven’t seen “Mad Mad” for at least 25 years, so I have probably forgotten a lot of it. I do remember as a kid being amazed at how many famous people kept popping up.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I love pre-ruined things, it’s such a convenience! Why ruin things myself?
KS, yeah, the time in my life when I went to the park the most was when my family lived in Huntington Beach, which was maybe 20 minutes away? So naturally we didn’t stay in a hotel. I always liked the playful themes of those “ugly” hotels and motels, though - at least they made some effort to distinguish themselves from each other by being unique in some way. Free parking, what a strange and wonderful concept!
I’ve stayed at the Disneyland Hotel about 8 times since high school , but once with my grandparents in 1973. We drove up from San Diego and stayed several days visiting Disneyland , Knott’s and Cars of the Stars. Driving up I remember being under the impression we were going to be actually sleeping INSIDE Disneyland. The next day was our first Disneyland visit and in the morning it was raining …. We ate breakfast and I remembered being told “that Disneyland might not open because of the rain” ….. a fib I was being told because my grandparents didn’t want to in if the rain was too bad . I assume we are at the DL hotel coffee shop because at some point I could see the monorails pass by and I screamed with excitement!!! If the monorails are working Disneyland MUST be opening!! We went back to the hotel room after breakfast and I kept running to the window and announcing to my grandparents every time I saw a monorail….. so that my grandparents would understand DISNEYLAND IS OPEN IN RAIN!!!! We did go into Disneyland and there was a little rain … I also threw up on the walk over to the Monorail station. When I was little I was famous for throwing up entering Disneyland and Knott’s Berry farm …. Mainly because I would just get too excited.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally that 1973 Disneyland Hotel trip was the one I saw all the models for Walt Disney World and Disneyland expansion on Main Street that evening at DISNEYLAND SHOWCASE : A LEGACY FOR THE FUTURE…. Causing me to want to be one a model maker / architectural designer!!
MAJOR : it’s a Mad Mad World is INDEED a very long movie!! One time in the 1990’s for a movie nite I was being that film to a friend’s house to watch …. Most of the group had either never seen it or had only seen parts of it . As the video tape ( yes video tape) was about to be put in several people asked “oh what was the other movie I brought on the other video tape ??” I was “ other movie?? … THAT’S the second half of the ITS A MAD MAD WORLD!! Everyone was OMG it’s on TWO TAPES it’s THAT LONG!??!? “ lol!!
ReplyDeleteIn the 1990’s there were plans to redo that film , but it proved to be impossible to get the amount of actors and performers to be in appear or make cameos in the film … the modern actors only wanted BIG PAY and BIG PARTS. In the original 1965 version all of Hollywood wanted any part just for the fun of being in it …. And nominal pay. The redo was reworked and watered down and was released as THE RAT RACE.
Major,
ReplyDeleteWe didn't stay at the Peter Pan on the San Diego leg. We would leave Disneyland and Knotts and our stay at the Peter Pan, then drive down to San Diego and stay there for the zoo and Balboa Park, with a some beach time in between. Take me back, Wayback Machine!
Smellodyland...that is a new one for even me. When I passed Smellodyland, for some reason I always thought it was kind of an AMWAY, cultish, strangely organized place, and not so much "Les Brown and the band of Renown!" The building always looked unoccupied and in disrepair...I didn't drive that way very often as I was coming from the 5 from the North. I think you could still smuggle yourself into the Disneyland Hotel pool...however, I'm not sure that I would want to. I much prefer the understated elegance of the Olympic sized "Coral Club" pool. The pool today is quite..well...family oriented...with it's own set of "energy". A lot of shrieking and screaming...and that's just from the lifeguards. Just having a room facing it is loud. I miss those old building of UNOCO/offices/etc. They would be still relevant today. What they replaced them with is a big bag of absolutely nothing. The planter in front of the tower I think is still there (?) I reviewed some photos and I can't tell. There are certainly many palm trees and such on the walkway to the Bonita tower...it actually is a peaceful place down there. The Disneyland hotel still has many non-TRE elements if you really look for them...including the bubble domes as you check in. I wouldn't call the Wrather version the height of sophistication, but it did have a cocktail-party-Joie-de vivre that is now missing when they put ears on absolutely everything. The Disneyland Hotel never had the greatest views...most of the time you were looking at parking lot, and now you are looking at a big mess of low-brow shopping. It seems like HOJO's is the way to go for a somewhat "viewee view"....but even that is blocked by a lot of go-away green. What you get at the Disneyland Hotel is some OG nostalgia, but it is much in need of a re-vamp going into the next 10 years. Perhaps with the new tower for the Disney Vacation whatever people, some new energy (read: $$) will be pumped in. I have ideas. Thanks for the photos Major.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I stayed at The Disneyland Hotel was 1974. Loved that hotel and the grounds - green and lush, with multiple koi ponds. Thank you, Major, for today's pictures.
ReplyDeleteMike, I feel bad that Disneyland would make you throw up. You poor kid. If I'm really excited and looking forward to doing something, I usually can't sleep the night before. I'll bring you Pepto-Bismol the next time we go to Disneyland. ;o)