"Information" Brochures, 1955 & 1956

It's vintage ephemera time! As you know, I am an avid collector of vintage Disneyland paper items. I don't claim to have a great collection, but it's at least good.  Going through some boxes, I picked out two early "Information" brochures that are scarce but not super rare. With a little patience you can find them on eBay eventually!

Here's the front panel of this 1955 example - fairly minimal really. No Tinker Bell, no Dumbo, just a line drawing of Sleeping Beauty Castle and a bit of text. It's interesting that I almost always see these in excellent condition, which makes me assume that they were handed to guests as they entered the parking lot. The brochure stayed in the car and did not get folded to fit in dad's pocket or mom's purse, or get mangled in somebody's sweaty hands.

Unfolding it, we can see all 4 panels of one side, including answers to basic questions that prospective visitors might have. How much will it cost? How about cameras? And so on. The right two panels have an interesting graphic layout, with black and white photos of highlights from Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Adventureland. Sorry, Main Street!

The other side features a map with the major freeways delineated in red, information about public transportation, and fairly-accurate descriptions of the things you can find in each land.

Next is the 1956 version of this brochure, which is actually considerably harder to find than the 1955 version. It's largely the same as the previous example, although the blue-gray is lighter.

You'll find only a few minor changes on this side....

... and even these panels show few (if any) changes.