Pictures from the Disneyland Hotel.. late 60's / early 70's

[Melonballer]

I remember the underwater aracde from my visit in 1992.

[ExJungleSkipper95]

I never knew that had actual sailboats in the marina. Were they there for just show or did they actually sail in them?

[Yendorb]

Used to love going to the hotel and the underwater arcade.

That old maritime antique shop was always cool, and we used to always stop for ice creame at Maisy's and there was that Fantasmic shop. with really great unique Disney merchandise, right next to the toy shop.

Ah memories

[NWRREngineer]

oldhotelguy should be reading this. Hey, oldhotelguy!

[OogieBoogie]

My first memory of Disneyland is actually of the Monorail Cafe at the Disneyland Hotel. My grandfather had a motor home and we would come down to the park in it and stay at Vacationland (The campground that was about a block up from the hotel). We would walk down to the hotel every morning and have breakfast in the Monorail Cafe while watching the monorail and all the people going up the steps to it and the smiles on everyones faces.

As I became older, I remember St Prestons Yukon Saloon (having my first drink there when I turned 21), The White Rabbit 1 hour photo at the back of the main gift shop, the underwater arcade when it first went in, and Small World of Toys, the toy shop that was at the base of the northern tower and the hair salon that was next to it. Yah these pictures bring back memories for me as well.

[captain sparrow]

Cool pics! I especially like the last one. I can barely remember the parking lot actually being in front of Disneyland.

[DisneyDancer]

Those pictures are amazing! Although i love disneyland as it is right now...original disney is so cool to look back on

[tloolgb]

The red hurts my eyes but I love that chandileir!

[RobotMirror]

Tried to lessen the red and decrease the contrast on some of these. They look good in Black and White, however.

[OogieBoogie]

Thanks Frogberto...I tried playing with the colors on them last night while trying to not wash out the image using my HP Imagescan software. I gotta get photoshop. lol.

[travelmom]

My first memory of Disneyland is actually of the Monorail Cafe at the Disneyland Hotel. My grandfather had a motor home and we would come down to the park in it and stay at Vacationland (The campground that was about a block up from the hotel). We would walk down to the hotel every morning and have breakfast in the Monorail Cafe while watching the monorail and all the people going up the steps to it and the smiles on everyones faces.

As I became older, I remember St Prestons Yukon Saloon (having my first drink there when I turned 21), The White Rabbit 1 hour photo at the back of the main gift shop, the underwater arcade when it first went in, and Small World of Toys, the toy shop that was at the base of the northern tower and the hair salon that was next to it. Yah these pictures bring back memories for me as well.

We stayed at Vacationland also!
I miss the Monorail Cafe, I loved sitting by the window, looking up at the Monorail, and hearing it go overhead. Thanks for the pics and memories.

[FantasyWatersDude]

I never knew that had actual sailboats in the marina. Were they there for just show or did they actually sail in them?

\

The sail boats didn't sail, but they did have paddle boats for the guest to ride around in.

[figment1986]

Thanks Frogberto...I tried playing with the colors on them last night while trying to not wash out the image using my HP Imagescan software. I gotta get Photoshop. lol.

B&W gives it a more old feel.. Sepia Toning gives it an olde feeling.. I use Paint shop pro for my stuff.. (Cheaper.. wish it had animation in it though)

Ah.. The hotel from before i was born.. Memories that don’t exist..

-Invents time machine and sees it for 5 minutes before realizing he changed the future and made it more bronze and sci-fi- woops...

[lisaboo]

Whoa! That lobby was psychadelic man!

But can someone explain to me the underwater arcade that everyone keeps talking about? I went to Disney a lot when I was a wee lass but we lived in the LA area so we never stayed at the hotel.

[Athlonacon]

I stayed at the Hotel in the summers of 1989 and 1993 (structurally it was pretty much unchanged since the 1960's back then) and I miss it so much. It was beyond words how amazing it felt to stay there as a kid...Disneyland, 2 days in a ROW! Just hearing the name was enough to bring tons of excitement. I remember there was so much to do there, you could spend half a day just at the hotel back then.

I've never understood the whole "resort" mentality in Anaheim, but one thing I really don't understand is why they would knock down tons of shops and restaurants around the hotel, only to put up shops and restaurants just down the walkway. I think they should've kept the Disneyland Hotel as it was and scrapped the whole Downtown Disney idea. Does anyone know why they changed the hotel so radically? I remember there was an area where you could control small remote-control Jungle Cruise boats (for $1, yipes). And the $1 tokens used at the hotel could sometimes be found in places like it's a small world's trench. The entire marina just gave a sense of relaxation...the fountains, the waterfalls, the paddleboats, the remote-controlled boats, and awesome diners at the entrance. The perfect end to a long and tiring day at Disneyland.

I really think the extra hotels and Downtown Disney really diminish the Disneyland Hotel's old sense of exclusivity and granduer. I walked around the hotel for the first time since 1993 and I was shocked about how they filled in the marina with walkways and turned the fountains into planters. Without the beauty and exclusivity of the old Disneyland Hotel (not to mention the Monorail doesn't even come close to it anymore), I just don't think the extra price is worth it now when you can stay across the street for much less.

I thought that "waterfall walkway" was absolutely gorgeous. Was that always there? It just seems too dreamlike and sublime to have been created in the last 15 years.