Disneyland pictures and trip report, xmas 1986.

[Melonballer]

Hello again. Today I am going to share some pics from my Xmas 1986 trip.
First some background. I was 10 years old and it had been 7 years since I had been to Disneyland. My little sister was born in '81 so she had never been. Unlike my previous trip I remember quite a bit of this trip. We travelled down to my cousin's house in Danville CA (by San Francisco) for the holiday. Christmas morning after opening our presents (I got the Decepticon Trypticon transformer woo-hoo!) my parents and aunt and uncle announced that we were leaving for Disneyland the next morning. WOO-HOO! So at some ungodly hour my father, mother, uncle, my 2 sisters, 3 cousins, my cousin's Teddy Rupskin and I all loaded into the van and started driving. My aunt is an accountant and had business that day so she was going to fly down and meet us there. My mother hated the drive. Why? Well you can imagine having to entertain 6 kids on the way to Disneyland is a challenge in a packed van. To add to her misery 1 cousin had a bad cold and my little sister had left her pacifier at my cousin's house and was going through withdrawls. Oh and have I mentioned that I was coming down with the Chicken pox? lol. Anyways we survive and my aunt is hanging out in the hotel bar sipping wine when we got there. My mother still talks about wanting to kill her for that one.

Anyways here are the pictures.



Here we have the skyway. Notice the crowds. Yep just like now on the 27th of December it was packed. My little sister got separated from the family twice on this trip. Luckily in both cases I was with her so I was able to get us back to our family quickly. I knew to stay in one place and that paid off.



hmm, I don't know where the crowd is here, but I wanted to share this picture because this is the only picture of the Mark Twain my mother ever took (except for in Fantasmic). On my 1979 trip my mom took tons of pictures, but outside of parades and family pictures she took very little on this trip.

Here's the parade shots.



I always liked this float. Interestingly enough this float and the related gingerbread men inspired my mom and dad to create a new yard display with gingerbread men. We decorate our front yard with displays during Christmastime.



One of my biggest complaints about this trip was that I never got to see Donald outside of the parade. The other was that Star Tours had not opened yet and my father and I are huge Star Wars fans so to miss out on that was painful. We wouldn't get our chance to ride until the 90's.



I am posting this picture because it is the same float that they used in the parade in 1979. Do they still use these units in the christmas parade?



SANTA!!!!



In my other 2 picture threads I have posted a picture with my sister on her first trip in 1974 and one of me in 1979. So in keeping the tradition I present my little sister (5 years old) and Minnie Mouse. This is one of my favorite pictures of my sister (others are a snowboarding picture and in her college graduation gown). Anyways that is all for pictures for now.
I'm going to take another look at that album and see what else I can scrounge up.

[barfownz]

Thanks for sharing. Great photos!

[Athlonacon]

Wow, 1986, that's about where my memories of Disneyland really start coming in clearly. It's interesting that the crowds were there back then even without the AP program. And those visors, I remember the visor fad at Disneyland. I used to have this battery powered visor that had little LED lights across the top. It took a 9-volt battery on the side of the visor to power it.

My goodness, Disneyland changes so much and yet so little at the same time.

[Athlonacon]

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[tassie]

soem great memories there! thanks for sharing

[donelurkin]

Fantastic piece of history. Could it really have been almost 20 years ago? I remember that era fondly. Love the parade shots, and the shot of your sister with Minnie. Timeless...

[SaraNoH]

I love how Minnie Mouse was even a little bit 80's. LOL.
Love the pictures. I was 6 atthe time, and just like Athlonacon said, that is when my memories of Disneyland start to become clear.

Thank you for sharing!

[BDBopper]

Wow. A chill just went down my spine. the first and only time I have ever been to Dsneyland was December 26, 1986. I was four. It was the most awesome day in my life. The crowds were massive and I never got to ride anything except the train and It's A Small World but I didn't care. I was at Disneyland!

Thank you for sharing!

[brigeet]

Wow, Minnie had the 80s makeup going on! Cool pictures!!!

Althonacon, when did the AP program start? I know my family had APs in the early 90s and possibly late 80s.

[Melonballer]

Hello again. I am at my parents house and decided to scan a couple more shots from the trip.



a nice tree



My father, sisters and I in front of the Disneyland Christmas Tree.

A little more about the trip.

There are things I remember about this trip and one of them is America Sings. I remember being in the revolving theater and enjoying it immensely. My mother told me they were closing the attraction for something else. I was disappointed.

If you read my earlier comments you probably saw one that said I had the chicken pox while I was there. This is true. I had lots of pox, but never got ill from it. My mother put makeup on me to cover the exposed pox. I have always wondered, given how crowded it was, how many kids got the chicken pox from me that year. I can say that at the very least my 2 sisters and 2 of my cousins got them.

Anyways that is all for now. I will soon start to scan pictures from the trip after this one. Thanks for all the comments by the way.

[Monorail Man]

Fun perspective, especially considering this was when I was born.

[RobotMirror]

Wow - what great pictures! I was going a lot (for me, back then) around this time (85-87), so it's great to see some memories...

and a "1986 trip report" ... that has to be one of the oldest trip reports ever posted on here!

[FantasyWatersDude]

Awsome pics! thanks for sharing!!

[Melonballer]

...and a "1986 trip report" ... that has to be one of the oldest trip reports ever posted on here!

Thanks. Here are some other memories from that trip. I remember I did not want to ride the Haunted Mansion, mostly because of the pop-up ghosts. I couldn't even look at the postcards of the Mansion denizens without being a little scared. One of my parents would wait with my little sister and I while everyone else rode. I did love Pirates of the Carribbean though. I remember seeing the Country Bear Christmas show, the only time I saw it. Probably my favorite attraction was the Disneyland Railroad. I am a train fan and it is still one of the first things I ride when I hit the park. umm, and that's all I remember for now.

[Alpine]

Wow, those are really cool to see... strange to see the sorta juxtaposition of Disneyland looking so much like today and, well, 80's "fashion".

Now wouldn't it be cool if people took hundred picture updates of goings on at the park down to each change in napkins and trash can theming twenty years ago?