And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
That's the old gate off of Katella, looking north. Probably circa the park opening in '55. At the time, there was really nothing like it.
Now this parking lot is California Adventure, and parking is across the street, with the decimal moved two places to the right for price.
A thing that amazes is the growth of all the trees after 68 years. The ones along the Jungle Cruise (which sits roughly below the letters I through E in the gate sign) are now nearly as tall as the Matterhorn. The top of the castle is only 77'.
Used to be able to see the Matterhorn, towering above the orange groves, from the LA-OC county line several miles away.
Now, you can't see it until you're at the park, and the surrounding hotels tower over the park on most of all four sides. Real Walt Genius: the train tracks circling the park sit on a 15' high berm for most of the perimeter of the park (with a couple of service pass throughs at the back). It keeps the bugs out, blocks sightlines, and from inside the park, you can't hear Orange County nor the I-5 freeway just yards away, and vice versa.
Amazing that he came up with this place and only worked at it the last 10 years of his life, and touched more people that way than with everything he ever did before it.
To bad the family died out and left it to the Woketards to run into the ground.
It was in '66 or '67 that I first went there. My dad's brother, and his family; my mother's sister, and her family; and our family. That made twenty in our group. We were all giddy to some level.
That feeling died away a bit whatwith the cost of the ticket books. Uncle Bob got real angry, and felt duped, because a ticket for the overhead tram was one way only; another ticket for a round trip.
I remember getting scared that they really shrunk the people on that ride. I noted what each person in line in front of me was wearing and their order in line. And darn if I didn't see shrunk people wearing the same color clothing and in the same order! We learned real fast to hold on to the E tickets, don't spend them too fast.
The Matterhorn ride was the best. The movie taken by a bunch of cameras slung under a B-25 as it flew low across the country was spectacular.
The last time I went was to take foreign exchange students. They had their own money but it cost me $500 for two adults, one child. Plus the lines, oh man, the long lines. That was mid-1990s.
Went there when I was 8 in '74. I really didn't think it was all that special. I went with my kids in '09 to Disneyworld--I still didn't think it was all that special. We actually had more fun when we went to Cape Canaveral--the boys found the science stuff, space suits, real "space ship" displays more interesting than Disney.
Wow, that pic really shows the famous LA smog that launched air-quality environmentalism! I haven't been there for 40 years now, but news feeds and such indicate it has really been cleaned up.
Now if they could just do something about the streets and underpasses being polluted by bums and freaks.
Nope. Nothing of the sort. That's the morning overcast from an onshore fog, which burns off in this part of OC by about 9AM. That pic is probably from after dawn and before sunrise, likely 5-6AM depending on the time of year. The ocean is only about 15miles south of here, give or take. L.A. smog is about 50 miles north. Your tip-off is that Harbor Blvd. the parks front door, actually leads to the Harbor.
L.A. smog is more notable where it smacks into the San Gabriel mountains north of Pasadena, which peaks are bright and clear at 6AM, and disappear by early afternoon.
One of the things I thought interesting about those early days is that they never seemed to have all the E-ticket rides open at the same time. There always seemed to be one that was closed the day we visited, which was about once a year. One of the unspoken benefits of the ticket system was that it forced people into the lesser attractions, keeping the lines somewhat shorter for the E-ticket rides. The shooting gallery was a C-ticket, the trolley an A-ticket, Mr Toad's Wild Ride ? You might skip those but you had all those tickets that needed to be used. My Dad had a stash of leftover A and B tickets that would be taken on subsequent trips, hoping they'd be spent.
"Inner Space" - a ride sponsored by Monsanto that pretended to take you inside a microscope down to the size of microscopic organisms and even inside of an atom. Their tag line as you were leaving "Monsanto - rearranging molecules for the benefit of mankind" fittingly in Fantasyland. What a load.
Adventure Through Innerspace was in Tomorrowland. Your comment is from Fantasyland. And the ride was the origin of the Doombuggy, the rolling seats in continuous use on the Haunted Mansion shortly after that.
As for Monsanto, try to remember they pioneered aspirin, vanillin, laundry detergent and LEDs, alongside PCBs, Agent Orange, and the atomic bomb. Science is a tool. Intent and implementation is in the hands of the persons using it.
I just looked it up, the original Disneyland opened in July 1955. My family took a cross country camping trip in the summer of 1956 and visited Anaheim, CA, and Disneyland. What a thrill for a 10 year old kid!!!
That's the old gate off of Katella, looking north.
ReplyDeleteProbably circa the park opening in '55.
At the time, there was really nothing like it.
Now this parking lot is California Adventure, and parking is across the street, with the decimal moved two places to the right for price.
A thing that amazes is the growth of all the trees after 68 years.
The ones along the Jungle Cruise (which sits roughly below the letters I through E in the gate sign) are now nearly as tall as the Matterhorn. The top of the castle is only 77'.
Used to be able to see the Matterhorn, towering above the orange groves, from the LA-OC county line several miles away.
Now, you can't see it until you're at the park, and the surrounding hotels tower over the park on most of all four sides.
Real Walt Genius: the train tracks circling the park sit on a 15' high berm for most of the perimeter of the park (with a couple of service pass throughs at the back).
It keeps the bugs out, blocks sightlines, and from inside the park, you can't hear Orange County nor the I-5 freeway just yards away, and vice versa.
Amazing that he came up with this place and only worked at it the last 10 years of his life, and touched more people that way than with everything he ever did before it.
To bad the family died out and left it to the Woketards to run into the ground.
I enjoyed reading that. Thanks for posting.
DeleteIt was in '66 or '67 that I first went there. My dad's brother, and his family; my mother's sister, and her family; and our family. That made twenty in our group. We were all giddy to some level.
ReplyDeleteThat feeling died away a bit whatwith the cost of the ticket books. Uncle Bob got real angry, and felt duped, because a ticket for the overhead tram was one way only; another ticket for a round trip.
I remember getting scared that they really shrunk the people on that ride. I noted what each person in line in front of me was wearing and their order in line. And darn if I didn't see shrunk people wearing the same color clothing and in the same order!
We learned real fast to hold on to the E tickets, don't spend them too fast.
The Matterhorn ride was the best. The movie taken by a bunch of cameras slung under a B-25 as it flew low across the country was spectacular.
The last time I went was to take foreign exchange students. They had their own money but it cost me $500 for two adults, one child. Plus the lines, oh man, the long lines. That was mid-1990s.
Load up the family truckster and hit the road…
ReplyDeleteWent there when I was 8 in '74. I really didn't think it was all that special. I went with my kids in '09 to Disneyworld--I still didn't think it was all that special. We actually had more fun when we went to Cape Canaveral--the boys found the science stuff, space suits, real "space ship" displays more interesting than Disney.
ReplyDeleteWow, that pic really shows the famous LA smog that launched air-quality environmentalism! I haven't been there for 40 years now, but news feeds and such indicate it has really been cleaned up.
ReplyDeleteNow if they could just do something about the streets and underpasses being polluted by bums and freaks.
Nope. Nothing of the sort.
DeleteThat's the morning overcast from an onshore fog, which burns off in this part of OC by about 9AM. That pic is probably from after dawn and before sunrise, likely 5-6AM depending on the time of year.
The ocean is only about 15miles south of here, give or take.
L.A. smog is about 50 miles north.
Your tip-off is that Harbor Blvd. the parks front door, actually leads to the Harbor.
L.A. smog is more notable where it smacks into the San Gabriel mountains north of Pasadena, which peaks are bright and clear at 6AM, and disappear by early afternoon.
One of the things I thought interesting about those early days is that they never seemed to have all the E-ticket rides open at the same time. There always seemed to be one that was closed the day we visited, which was about once a year. One of the unspoken benefits of the ticket system was that it forced people into the lesser attractions, keeping the lines somewhat shorter for the E-ticket rides. The shooting gallery was a C-ticket, the trolley an A-ticket, Mr Toad's Wild Ride ? You might skip those but you had all those tickets that needed to be used. My Dad had a stash of leftover A and B tickets that would be taken on subsequent trips, hoping they'd be spent.
ReplyDeleteRemember when the phrase "an E ticket ride" was universally known as to its meaning?
DeleteWhere go to meet by the Devil Mouse now.
ReplyDelete"Inner Space" - a ride sponsored by Monsanto that pretended to take you inside a microscope down to the size of microscopic organisms and even inside of an atom. Their tag line as you were leaving "Monsanto - rearranging molecules for the benefit of mankind" fittingly in Fantasyland. What a load.
ReplyDeleteAdventure Through Innerspace was in Tomorrowland.
DeleteYour comment is from Fantasyland.
And the ride was the origin of the Doombuggy, the rolling seats in continuous use on the Haunted Mansion shortly after that.
As for Monsanto, try to remember they pioneered aspirin, vanillin, laundry detergent and LEDs, alongside PCBs, Agent Orange, and the atomic bomb.
Science is a tool. Intent and implementation is in the hands of the persons using it.
I went in '75. Dropped some acid and had a good time.
ReplyDeleteI just looked it up, the original Disneyland opened in July 1955. My family took a cross country camping trip in the summer of 1956 and visited Anaheim, CA, and Disneyland. What a thrill for a 10 year old kid!!!
ReplyDelete