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!
4 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!
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