Hey guys - I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon scanning old photos from when I was a kid. I've been slowly going through all of the negatives and photos from my youth and getting them scanned. It's been a long process, but eventually I'll get them all done.
Barry's recent trip down memory lane prompted me to specifically look for some old shots that I had, and I thought I'd share a few here with you all - especially since the majority of you are strictly east coast visitors and haven't been to DL yet. My parents didn't take a ton of pictures (no digital, remember? So my selection to share is limited).
Yesterday I got to 1978 and a trip to
Disneyland when my aunt & uncle were visiting us from Seattle, WA. Those were the days when if you were at Disneyland and suddenly remembered that you forgot to get your dear aunt so and so, or your grandmother or heck, even the next door neighbor's dog a birthday card - OR - you just needed to get an anniversary card for your best friends - OR - you really just needed to get a get well card for your friend back home who was sick in the hospital... there was NO PROBLEM - simply walk down to the corner of Main Street, USA & Center Street to the Hallmark Card store and bingo - your theme park day could be complete with that special souvenir. They even sold stamps, and you could just walk down to the end of Main Street and drop that completed card in the mail and get that special Disneyland postal cancellation while you were at it.
(Of course that's nothing really - since in the first year of operation (1955), ladies could browse through Hollywood-Maxwell's Intimate Apparel Shop {the "Wizard of Bras} and pick-up some nice undies if they so choose. I know I think of underwear while shopping at Disney parks...don't you? Back in '55 there was also a real working pharmacy and an organ shop too! I can just hear it now... "Clear out the trunk Henry - put anything in there in the back seat." "Why Myrtle?" " 'Cuz I just got us an organ to take home for our front room, that's why." )
These were also the days that you could ride the Skyway right through the center of the Matterhorn Bobsleds.
1978 was also the year that DL added the Abominable Snowman into the heart of the Matterhorn... you could hear his roar as your sky bucket slid on through the mountain.
My parents DID take pictures of my brother and I with characters, though the CM's did not stand around as they do today, and certainly there was no line-up to meet them, as evidenced by this photo with who knows who else standing around in OUR picture. Sheesh, some kids...where were there manners? I mean really.
The Rocket Jets still flew above the PeopleMover platform (they were moved down to ground level at the entrance of TL in 1997 (DUMB!!!)
The Main Street Electrical Parade (coming back to the MK this summer btw) was still very much all the rage each holiday season and all summer long.
Captain Hook's Chicken of the Sea restaurant was anchored in Fantasyland
You went into the restaurant on the lower level, and then could up to the upper deck to eat, or cross a rope bridge to the patio next to Skull Rock where Peter Pan often came out for photo ops.
The "ship" was demolished when NEW Fantasyland was built in 1981-83. The original Dumbo the Flying Elephants attraction was removed and a new, larger one, was moved to the location of the former restaurant. This is a view of the Dumbo attraction that replaced the restaurant.
And 1978 was the final year before the sedate town of Frontierland hosted the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! Big Thunder Mountain debuted at DL in 1979. Here the Mark Twain, coming into port, passes in front of the old Rainbow Caverns Mine Train that was replaced by BTMRR. (WDW got their BTMRR in 1980 or I think 1981.). I have NO idea what was up with me for this photo - whether I was being shy, the sun was in my eyes, or I was upset about something... but I was 7 that spring... what can I say?
Here's a similar view from a solo trip out there in 2008 - 30 years sure does make a difference with the vegetation, and a mountain of steel - but otherwise, it's still very much the same view.
THEN I found another trip with a different aunt and my cousins in 1980 during DL's 25th celebration.
Back in those days the celebrations weren't as big and prolific as they are today ... but still cool. I don't remember a whole lot of decorations or special marketing for it - but it was clearly marked on the parade's lead float.
1980 was the final year for the original Fantasyland that debuted when DL was opened in 1955. In 1981 the drawbridge leading over to Sleeping Beauty's Castle was hoisted and the land completed walled up - until NEW Fantasyland debuted in 1983. WHAT a difference those 2 years made too.
Here you can see the original teacups with the old Fantasyland Theatre (that actually was the DL home of the original Mouseketeers in the '50's in the background.
When New Fantasyland debuted, the FL Theatre was gone - replaced by the unique Pinocchio's Daring Journey dark-ride attraction
Here's a view of the Mad Tea Party from 2008. During the renovation it was moved from the center of FL over to the eastside next to the Matterhorn. Note the OBA track behind between it and the Matterhorn.
Finally - here's a glimpse of the Indian Village along the banks of the Rivers of America, as viewed from an upper deck of the Mark Twain.
With the exception of a few additional figures added after World of Motion closed (and then redressed) this scene is very much the same in 2010.
when i smoked 3 packs a day i clocked in at 150lb. that was 8 years ago, now, this thing says im 186lb!!!!
anyway, im gonna rob some peanut butter eggs and go to bed!!!!
...I weighted 165 when Shari and I got married in 2000...she cooks like Paula Dean...now I see lots of 2's when I get on the scale...oh well....fat and happy I guess.
Glad you found us and look forward to hearing about your plans for the 2011 trip! You are member # 450! 
WELCOME TO THE DIS DAD'S CLUB! 
aahhhemmm!!!
Plenty of time.... 
