Disneyland of the 50's, 60's, 70's, and beyond

[Radiobarry]

Personally, I would have loved to been around in the late 70's when the world started seeing things like Big Thunder and Space Mountain. What a great time to see these Disneyland rides come to life.

Mickey -

I've said it before and I'll post it one more time...I consider myself privileged to have worked at DL at a time when I could watch Space Mountain being built literally from the ground up, in what had been a backstage area directly across from Wardrobe and the men's lockers...and I also got to test ride not only SM but Big Thunder too...those were great days.

But to quote an old song...(gee, that's rare for me )...
"The best is yet to come and babe, won't it be fine..."

[MickeyMania]

I always hear the 80's were the best times. By this era, Disneyland had a solid gold reputation and was really something everybody loved. I also hear it reached its finest point of quality and was a gold landmark. Then it headed into the 90's and everything changed not just for Disneyland, but all the theme parks. Things would never be the same.

Mid 80s was worse than early or mid 90s. 97-2000 were almost as bad as the mid-80s, but not quite.

I love the Disneyland of today, but I just wish it was something even more special to all of us and not just an Annual Pass away. I am devastated to see how Disneyland has become something so common like a visit to the mall. Annual Passes, in my opinion, have made it so less magical and meanigful to a lot of people. I don't see that "I'm going to Disneyland!" excitement anymore because "if we don't see it today, we'll be back next Friday."

THANK YOU!

I just don't like how characters(mainly Pixar ones) are invading everything and attractions are dumbing down to cheap character overlays. There is hardly anything to be found that is educational and insipring to us. Just a bunch of Pixar characters. We never see attractions that look to the future and show us a wonderous future lies ahead...just a big video game.

There's a number of reasons for this. First of all is that most things that weren't tied into Fantasyland existed because they were something Walt was personally fond of. The train system was because Walt loved trains. Adventureland was because Walt was big on these True Life Adventure safari films. Frontierland was because of the success of Davy Crockett (which, in a way, proves that the TV characters don't always live in Fantasyland) and Walt's interest in westerns. Tomorrowland was the natural extension of all these rocket-power documentaries that Walt had been producing. Main Street is supposed to be Walt's hometown, etc.

The problem is that Walt doesn't exist today, and anything built because of someone else's similar passion towards a subject will be met with some sharp criticism about whether Walt would approve of it.

Example: Everyone likes to moan and groan about how Michael Eisner has romanticized memories of seaside amusement parks and that's how Paradise Pier was started. They also like to moan that Walt Disney specifically hated those. But Michael Eisner is not Walt Disney, and it's not like he plopped PPier inside the boundaries of Disneyland. For all we know, Eisner may not have cared about cowboys and westerns, but he didn't use that as reason to rip up Frontierland.

Now, Eisner is not the most creative guy on the planet, and he was actually a detriment to Disney during those years, but the principle remains: Will Disney fans buy a new idea that's been heavily pitched for by a current exec, much like how Walt pitched many of the ideas in Disneyland? Or will they demand that people dream up ideas about things that interested Walt, not necessarily the person doing the dreaming? If so, we'll just continue to see the character franchising continuing to seep out of Fantasyland all over the park.

Disneyland was at its peak between the mid 80s - early 90s. Ironically that was just before Paul Pressler took over.

The first five years of the 90s are really underrated. Indy, Jungle Cruise makeover, Splash, the big 35th Dream Machine giveaway in the hub, etc. The Skyway went away, but we didn't really get to see the mass exodus of attractions until well afterward.

[Mac Daddy]

Personaly I think Disneyland was at its height in the mid to late 70's.
All you have to do is look at the gutted list vs. the added list

America Sings (replaced by Innoventions)
America the Beautifull (First replaced by a que then Buzz)
Skyway (replaced by air)
Motor boat Cruise (replaced by sand bags)
Fantasyland Autopia (merged with Tom Autopia)
Tahitian Terrace (replaced by Aladin something)
People Mover (replaced by Rocket Rods then leaves)
Rocket Jets (replaced by space junk and turned into Dumbo 2 and artery blockage for Tland)
House of the Future (replaced by neptunes slippery sidewalk adventure)
Country Bear Jamboree (replaced by Poohs Honey Pot)
Swiss Family Tree house (replaced by Tarzan)


Now for some possible upside additions

Adventure thru Inner Space (replaced by Star Tours which is now just a bumpy movey and needs to be replaced or changed)
Haunted Mansions side yard and Bear Country's restrooms (replaced by Splash Mountain)
Mine Train thru Natures Wonderland (replaced by "the widow maker")
Space Mountian (replaced by .... Space Mountain)
Back lot storage (replace by Indiana Jones) allthough this ride make me a little queezy


Jury still out

Subs (replaced by Nemo)

In the 70's Dinseyland was amazing. Taking the skyride through the Matterhorn... America the Beautiful was one of my favorite attractions. People mover, America Sings, Rocket Jets, Subs, and finally Space Mountain (premiered in 1977). Back in those days, Tomorrowland was one happening place!

The old Tomorrowland is one of the things I miss most about Disneyland.

[Speedway]

I was reading today in the PotC book that when Marc Davis was bought over from animation to WED that he was sent to the park by Walt Disney, to look for improvements. He apparantly didn't like the place at all. Now this may be Marc being harsh, but he made it out to be a very serious place with no humor - his first jobs were making Nature's Wonderland, the Jungle Cruise and something else which I forget, more funnier. Yep, that simple. This was in the late 1950s, just before Marc set about working on PotC.

[travelmom]

Interesting perspective, and so many of you know so much about each "era" so to speak. Thats pretty much my memories also. I think I am fond of the 60's and 70's because that was my childhood and teens. I mean there are lots of things I miss for sure, but I am enjoying new things happening also. I am still making lasting memories, and so I am still loving it as much as I ever did.

[DisneyMickey]

I agree the early 90's were good times as well.

[DisneyMickey]

Mickey -

I've said it before and I'll post it one more time...I consider myself privileged to have worked at DL at a time when I could watch Space Mountain being built literally from the ground up, in what had been a backstage area directly across from Wardrobe and the men's lockers...and I also got to test ride not only SM but Big Thunder too...those were great days.

But to quote an old song...(gee, that's rare for me )...
"The best is yet to come and babe, won't it be fine..."

Oh rub it in why don't you?

I'm kidding with you. But yes, that would have been so amazing to see Space Mountain rise above Tomorrowland. How emotional and incredible.

[Tinkerbell]

I've come close, Tink, with the first visit I remember being in the very early 60's when I was four or five.

Of course, if I vote for the Disneyland of old, you'll just write it off to the fact that this was the park I grew up in, and worked at, and that, as I like to say, I'm just an old analog guy in a young, digital world.

Having said that, I hold out hope that Disney's new management team can erase some of the mistakes of the past decade or so, and create some new excitement at DL (heck, even the old excitement is still packing the place at 60 bucks a pop, 350 bucks a year, whatever).

And DCA can still be salvaged, although I realize a lot of folks like it just like it is.

Do I prefer the Disneyland of 30 years ago to what I'm seeing now? Sadly, yes. But there is hope for its future for the first time in years.

Walt Disney's dream remains the guideline, but it's been almost 40 years since his death...and I assume he would want the current team to be inspired by his vision and not shackled by it.

Excellent post! I couldn't agree more!

[Tinkerbell]

Personaly I think Disneyland was at its height in the mid to late 70's.
All you have to do is look at the gutted list vs. the added list

America Sings (replaced by Innoventions)
America the Beautifull (First replaced by a que then Buzz)
Skyway (replaced by air)
Motor boat Cruise (replaced by sand bags)
Fantasyland Autopia (merged with Tom Autopia)
Tahitian Terrace (replaced by Aladin something)
People Mover (replaced by Rocket Rods then leaves)
Rocket Jets (replaced by space junk and turned into Dumbo 2 and artery blockage for Tland)
House of the Future (replaced by neptunes slippery sidewalk adventure)
Country Bear Jamboree (replaced by Poohs Honey Pot)
Swiss Family Tree house (replaced by Tarzan)


Now for some possible upside additions

Adventure thru Inner Space (replaced by Star Tours which is now just a bumpy movey and needs to be replaced or changed)
Haunted Mansions side yard and Bear Country's restrooms (replaced by Splash Mountain)
Mine Train thru Natures Wonderland (replaced by "the widow maker")
Space Mountian (replaced by .... Space Mountain)
Back lot storage (replace by Indiana Jones) allthough this ride make me a little queezy


Jury still out

Subs (replaced by Nemo)

I'm so with ya!