Disneyland Hotel, May 1984
Our friend Sue B. sent me some photos of the Disneyland Hotel, circa 1984! As usual, they were taken by her father, Lou Perry. This was from around the time that Michael Eisner had hoped to buy the Hotel from Jack Wrather. Wrather refused, though the deal was finally accomplished in 1988 (after Wrather and his wife had passed away).
One of the features that was at the Hotel around this period is something that I forgot about: In 1982, The Off-Road Raceway opened in front of the Bonita Tower and featured 1/10 scale remote cars that could be rented by guests. Crazy!
Here's a lovely shot of the old pool area, surrounded by tropical plants, and the old Hotel architecture. Brochures from that era encouraged guests to stay at the Hotel, and take a mid-day break at the park, come back for a swim, perhaps a meal or a nap, and then return to Disneyland later in the afternoon. I have to admit that it sounds pretty great!
I guess this was next to some of the Garden Apartments? Early on, there were orange trees outside most of the rooms, and guests were encouraged to pluck ripe oranges whenever they desired! As you can see, much care was taken to ensure that the grounds were beautiful and well-manicured. The tall light poles make me think that one of the golf courses (or a driving range) might be just past those white oleanders.
THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
19 comments:
Major-
The Disneyland Hotel was awfully enticing back then.
Thanks to Lou and Sue for sharing these images.
Is that West St. in the first photo? I think I'm turned around again. We can see one of the big power towers on the right.
Second photo, that jacaranda(?) tree makes a beautiful setting for the "Neuland Hotel". ;-)
In the pool picture, that guy (left foreground), basking in the sun reminds me of Mr. Arrowshirt 'napping' outside his burning cabin. What fun it would be to place him on one of the lounging chairs here at the pool! >;-)
In the last pic, I like the striations on that white rock, and the gnarled trunks of those olive(?) trees.
Thank you, Lou, Sue, and you too, Major.
Great pictures! Well they are from Lou! In the 1990’s I spent lots of time at the Hotel with friends … as employees /castmembers we got free parking at the DL HOTEL …. Large groups of Disneyland castmembers would hang out in the evenings at The Lost Bar .. The Wine Cellar …. And there was still a bar/lounge in the main lobby … it had waterfalls - fountains really - outside that flowed under a massive glass floor inside - guests sat along with a piano - on the glass floor while the water flowed underneath.. at night it was lit with changing colored lights! It was great!! Many days of some friends and I would drive to the hotel … park near the monorail station , go into one of the many empty boardrooms or event halls , change into out swim suits and head to the pool and have cocktails and relax! Sometimes we’d have lunch … then change again then head into the park for a bit… as if we were guests .. nobody ever asked if we were guests or not …. And they saw our ID’s when we ordered lunch … we didn’t get discounts on liquor… man, that time seems centuries ago now . Thanks Lou, Sue and Major !!
JB, yes...that's West St. in the first pic. And that land in the foreground was being used to grow strawberries, but it had once been the location of the Hotel's miniature golf course.
In that last pic, I believe we are looking north, so just beyond those cars in the hotel parking lot, would be Cerritos Ave., and then the parking lot for the former miniature gold course site. We can also see one of those weird light posts, in the first photo. And beyond that thick line of trees way off in the distance, would be the KOA and Vacationland campgrounds.
I remember reading about how Eisner threatened Wrather and/or the family by saying if they refused to sell the Hotel to the company, he would end the Monorail service/stops at the Hotel, so they could no longer promote that in advertising and potentially lose business. Why didn't he just take it all the way and put a Mickey Mouse head next to them while they were sleeping?
Thank you Lou, Sue and Major, too, for sharing these great Hotel pics!
Lou and Sue, thank you for these views of the Hotel. I never saw it in these years, so this is all new to me. Even in the 70’s my experience was limited to the shopping area near the monorail and the pool. Never ventured into the lobby or the garden rooms area.
Mike, thanks for the descriptions, the Hotel sounds like a wonderful place. Glass floor! Wow.
And thanks Tokyo for the outdoor tour, this makes sense to me based on what little I can remember.
JB, yes, I think those are olive trees.
Thanks Major! I’m going back to look at all these again.
JG
That West Street shot shows a parking lot in the foreground. That was the vicinity of the old LAA helicopter pad as well. Great scenes from not so long ago to me! KS
Strawberry fields forever: these lined West street...some of which Walt Disney Productions owned, and some an OG Japanese family owned...if I recall. It would always be speculated that the strawberry field would become "Westcot"....and then things changed 100 times over. I also have fond memories of the Disneyland Hotel as an employee: and it was quite the hangout. Many a night was spent at Sgt. Prestons....some employees would go over there on the tram to see "Dancing Waters" which was always kind of "meh" to me....I was always a bit too tipsy to have that type of staying power to watch the show. I never swam in the pool however...the beach was a bit too close, and my friends and I would rather be amongst the surfer crowd in Huntington, rather than the guest crowd at the Hotel. The erector set shops et al....at the time I thought were a bit old fashioned but now I love them. These old Olympic size swimming pools are a thing of the past, although the Anaheim Hotel on Harbor still has theirs, with garden rooms to go along with them. It may be one of the few last vestiges of a 1957-ish experience. The tree is a Jacaranda, yes: so pretty when in bloom and soooo very messy. Everyone puts up with the mess because when these trees are big they are quite spectacular in their purpleness. The high street in Nairobi is...or was...or still is...lined with these trees that connected across the street...so very pretty...I'm sure there are other streets like this around the (hotter) parts of the world. Not sure if I was a kid I would have the wherewithall to hang at a pool when a Disneyland was steps away. I like that Olives have taken over the Oranges here...a good choice, however the oranges I like better. I was at a hotel in Scottsdale that had this same Disneyland Hotel vibe, and it had walkways also lined with orange trees: this was in the mid-2000's....what was that hotel? It was also very retro-tastic. I don't remember the remote cars...or at least I don't think I do. I remember remote control Jungle Cruise boats...and paddle boats....and full size sail boats...but never knew how people were sailing about the marina (?) I don't see Eisner as the threatening kind really....Frank Wells: yes. Michael: not really. Wrather being sold to Disney kind of changed the course of my life in the late 80's. I'm not sure where I would be now...and I'll end it there! Thanks Lou and Sue and Major!
@ TM!-
"... just take it all the way and put a Mickey Mouse head next to them while they were sleeping?"
What a ghoulish mind you have... I like it-! (Are your services available for hire-?)
Nanook, I sure wish I’d been able to stay at the Hotel in its heyday!
JB, No idea about which street is which, I’ll have to rely on the folks who know the Hotel area better than I do. “Neuland Hotel”?? I think they should put LOTS of simulated dead bodies next to the pool at all times. It’s what Walt would have wanted. “Striations”? What is this, school?? I would use the phrase “stripey parts”.
Mike Cozart, how far away from the Hotel did you live? As a young person, I always wished I wasn’t so far away, I probably would have gone to the park a lot more often than I did, and maybe would have even explored the Hotel features. I’ve seen photos of the waterfalls, it is a real shame that those were removed, and that they have not put in at least one or two other waterfalls. Couldn’t you have just changed into your bathing suits in a bathroom??
TokyoMagic!, I seem to remember reading a number of articles about Disney wanting to acquire a strawberry field, and that the owner refused to sell. Of course they eventually got it. Even with you saying the names of the streets, I don’t have my bearings - I guess I just don’t know that area (including all those side streets) at all! Gee, Eisner sounds a lot like somebody else I’ve read about. Who could that be?
JG, I think I first went to the Hotel (just to explore, with a friend) in the 1990s, so things were quite different. We ate at a restaurant, but I can’t recall which one, there was nothing remarkable about it. Afterwards, my friend took me to a shop in the area that specialized in merchandise that hadn’t sold at the park. I was tempted by some pin sets, but ultimately didn’t buy anything because the prices were high.
KS, aha, that’s a great detail! Thanks!
Bu, yes, the family who refused to sell was Japanese. I wish that they’d somehow held on to the land and that Disney didn’t get it! My understanding is that the older man in the family was very distraught when it was finally sold. I have a brochure for the proposed “Westcot”, and have to admit that it didn’t look that exciting. Dancing Waters would be fun once, but repeated viewings would get old. I used to love swimming pools when I was a kid, but then my sister worked as a lifeguard at a day camp, and she told me enough horror stories about the pool that now I have a phobia. Chlorine won’t help! That’s OK, I don’t need to bask in the sun these days. Jacarandas are messy, but in the prettiest way - there are streets in LA lined with jacarandas, and the streets are purple with fallen petals. Wisteria is another popular plant with purple blossoms, pretty but also messy. I do remember those RC Jungle Cruise boats, and have seen some in auctions. One guy wanted to trade me one of those boats for one of my posters, but what the hell would I do with a large RC Jungle Cruise boat?? He also offered me a batch of ticket books, but I already had better examples than the ones he offered. Then he finally said some rude things and we didn’t make the deal, though in retrospect I should have probably just done it. Now that you mention it, you have told stories about Frank Wells, he sounds like a real great guy.
Nanook, TokyoMagic! is available for hire, but someday he will ask you a favor,, and you have to do it. Usually it involves “icing” somebody!
Well I lived close to Disneyland when I worked there .. I had two places in Anaheim and later a place in Garden Grove … so I was always about 3 or 4 miles away. Major … since we were not hotel guests we had to approach the pool area in out swimsuits …. And during the day there was always lots of empty meeting rooms ( now the Adventureland Tower) and the restrooms in these areas were small and I think it would be gross changing in the bathrooms - even at the Disneyland hotel . Also the meeting /event rooms were perfectly situated between our parking and the pool. Another thing you might not be aware of , these meeting rooms often had bathrooms and bars and kitchen spaces . They were designed to be rented out for executive meetings and could be set up to provide catered food or beverage service and a few had their own restrooms attached- they were basically like apartment suites with a giant boardroom. Often they were being used for storage or prep rooms for other meeting rooms. The current “Frontierland” tower also had these meeting rooms . These were not the giant event halls over near the hotel Parking garage/convention facilities.
In the 70’s and 80’s over at The Disneyland Hotel there were remote control “harbor patrol “ boats both of the Ship Yard Inn at the front of the hotel marina. They went around a model of The Queen Mary and a few little islands - one with a lighthouse another with a little dock and a warehouse that caught fire… by maneuvering the boats and spraying the boat’s fire hose you could make the light lighthouse flash , put the warehouse fire out , or make The Queen Mary’s horn blow …. Among other interactive features. Someone in the 80’s there was an off-road “Baja Racers” remote control area between the two south towers .. the off-road vehicle remained until not long before the WONDERFUL WORLD OF WATER was removed .when the marina was converted to the Never-Land pool , the Wrather era remote control
Harbor Patrol boats were removed. The remote control
Jungle Cruise boats were then added in a new area nearby the LOST BAR. At about the same time duplicate remote Jungle Cruise boats were added to a section of the Swiss Family Isle Treehouse water way in Adventureland at Walt Disney World . ( so tacky )
I believe the Disneyland Hotel remote control Harbor patrol boats had been purchased by HOBBY CITY - ADVENTURE CITY in Anaheim and were operating over there ( sans the Queen Mary model) I’m not 100% sure if Hobby City is still open ..I use to frequent the model railroad shop and hobby shop there … it seemed most of the shops like the toy, dollhouse - miniatures .. the leather craft and rock and coin shops were closing or empty . The toy museum I think is still there… and the amusement park I think opens in the weekend.
Those RC boats at WDW were operated from the open are between Swiss Family Treehouse and the Jungle Cruise. They were there the first few times I went there around a decade ago, but have been removed for more stroller parking. I always thought the coin-op things felt a little like a Six Flags or travelling carnival more than something for a Disney park.
Major, the "Neuland Hotel" is the Disneyland Hotel, but we can't see the first part of the sign... or the bottom of the "y". :-)
"Eisner sounds a lot like somebody else I’ve read about. Who could that be?". Haha. I was gonna say pretty much the same thing, but thought better of it... so I'm glad you did. :-p
I’ve probably rhapsodized about the DLHotel here before, as it is a real favorite! It was affordable enough back in the day for a kid from South Bay to stay there at least once a year for my birthday. The water features in the main lobby were so cool, shallow pools with stylish tiles and planters that flowed around sunken seating pits and underneath the glass walls to be more of the same ponds outside, on the marina side. This effect carried over to the Sierra Tower with a series of rectangular pools encircling the building, feeling very much like a very modern moat. How many of those rooms in photo2 did I stand at those sliding glass doors throwing ice into the moat below? Many, I’m delighted to recall - always had to have that view towards Disneyland! I would use the pool, it was too nice not to. Deep pools were fun for diving into.
Many years later the Wine Cellar was the site of many good times with friends, when it was the best booze break to be found at the park. It had free cheese and snacks for the cost of a glass of wine, and quiet respite from the hoards. Talk about magic in the kingdom.
MS
Even with you saying the names of the streets, I don’t have my bearings
Major, those were the former names of those streets. Disney had the names of Cerritos Ave. and West St. (at least the portions that border their property) and also Freeman Way, changed to Disneyland Drive, Disney Way, and Magic Way. I gave up trying to keep track of which street was which, a long time ago, and just refer to them by their old names. It's kind of shocking that Disney didn't rename one of those streets "Wonder" or "Wishes."
Mike Cozart, 3 or 4 miles, you could walk it! Well, OK, maybe you wouldn’t want to, but you could. I suppose a bathroom can be pretty gross. I wonder if anybody could get away with swimming in the pools (while not staying at the Hotel) today? My guess is that there is some considerable security. Subcutaneous microchips or something. I’m not aware of anything about the meeting rooms, but am a little surprised to learn that they had kitchens. You’d think they could just have an event catered! In-N-Out, howsabout? I am NOT surprised that they had bars. The Mad Men ethos lives on. Thanks Mike.
Mike Cozart, huh, I don’t think I remember that there was a model of the Queen Mary in the Disneyland Hotel Marina; it makes sense of course. I love the little details you mentioned, like the flashing lighthouse, or the warehouse fire, very clever, and something I would have been way into had I been a kid. In fact, I’m impressed that so many things (such as the Baja Racers and the waterfalls) were sort of “value added” features for guests, something to look at or enjoy, or they could just sit by the pool, or whatever they wanted to do. Very cool!
Mike Cozart, I’m happy to hear that a hobby shop has managed to survive all these years… my favorite local hobby shop (“Kit Kraft”) closed a few years ago, they’d been in business since the 1940s. The city was doing so much street work that nobody could park near their business, I’m sure it eventually was not worth the expense to remain open. I went in and told the proprietor how much I would miss this place, and he could not have been less interested! Oh well. I’m sure he was going through some stuff.
Dean Finder, they had RC boats inside the park in WDW? I guess those were put in after the Swan Boats were no longer there? It’s kind of a fun idea, but as you said, maybe a bit more “Six Flags” than “Disney”.
JB, ah, now I understand “Neuland”! I know that you are I are both referring to Jerry Lewis, and nobody else.
MS, it’s cool that you have so many wonderful memories of your time at the Disneyland Hotel, you are very lucky. I would of course love a park view room, but at least these days they apparently charge an additional arm and leg for such an upgrade. I once visited somebody who was staying in the Presidential Suite, I guess Ronald Reagan liked to stay there. It was nice, but not so incredible that my mind was blown. Water features are the best, though maybe not in today’s drought-prone California. You can’t have too many pools, ponds, creeks, waterfalls, etc!
TokyoMagic!, you forgot the word “imagination”. The most important word of all! “Imagination Alley”, hey I like it. Disney, you can’t have that one for free.
^ And dreams! Can't forget that one!
My dad took pictures of that Queen Mary model in the pool/marina....didn't we already post those a long while back?? I can't remember. (Old age.)
I love all the info and stories that everyone shared today. It makes my dad's pictures much more interesting and fun. Thank you.
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