Amazing LIFE Magazine Pictures of Disneyland on Opening Day ! - Part Three : Frontierland

Here we go for the part three article with these amazing pictures of Disneyland at opening day shot by LIFE photographers. This time we will have a closer look at Frontierland as it looked on opening day thanks to pictures shot by LIFE photographer Loomis Dean. As usual, click on each picture to see them in big size. If you've missed the part one with pictures of Main Street and Fantasyland on opening day you'll find it HERE and the part two with the Tomorrowland pics is HERE.

The first interesting thing that we can see on these pictures is of course how the vegetation is different now than it was on opening day. It's not a surprise, sure, but it also gives you an idea of the tremendous work that has been done by Disneyland horticulturists since Disneyland opening day!

Below, a picture of opening day guests waiting for the arrival of the Mark Twain at the "Disneyland Steamship" pier.

And there goes the Mark Twain for one of its first journeys along Frontierland river!

As the vegetation was not that high on opening day, you still could see Sleeping Beauty Castle from the banks of Frontierland. Also note the Frontierland Stagecoach passing by  in the background.

Let's move to the Golden Horseshoe Saloon as the beloved Golden Horseshoe Revue was there from opening day - and as you will see on the show curtain its sponsor Pepsi Cola, too!

Up on the terrace on the first floor the girls from the Golden Horseshoe Revue could relax and have a beer - something unthinkable today.

Even more unthinkable: having their young children drinking beer, too!... or may they were drinking root beer or Pepsi Cola! Note: the LIFE picture was reversed - probably the negative was backwards when they did the print - so i fixed it.

And now we move to another part of Frontierland for very rare pictures - always shot by Loomis Dean - of the now long time extinct and almost forgotten  Rainbow Ridge Pack Mules and Conestoga Wagon rides!

Not only the Conestoga Wagon was crossing a little river but at that time the Indians were not Audio-Animatronics, they were real human beings! Not sure all of them were real Indians, though...

Uh-Ho, it seems that we have a little problem of 20th century intrusion in a supposed 19th century environment!

I'm adding to this article two more LIFE pictures shot by photographer Ralph Crane, but these were not shot on opening day as it shows the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland which was introduced in1960!

See you tomorrow for the final part with amazing pictures showing Adventureland Jungle Cruise on opening day! Don't miss it! If you've missed the part one with pictures of Main Street and Fantasyland on opening day you'll find it HERE and the part two with the Tomorrowland pics is HERE.

Pictures: copyright LIFE - Time Inc


If you like "opening day" pictures the Disneyland Paris book - in which you have the whole park in 320 pages with 750 photos including 250 WDI renderings - has plenty of pictures of Disneyland Paris in its early days and the book is still available in its collector edition! I also remind you that unfortunately there is now less than FIFTEEN copies of the Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality book available in its english collector's edition - french edition is also available - so if you don't own the book yet, it's really now or never! 

And there is a special price right now with a $45 / 40€ discount on the normal price, so order your collector copy while there is still copies available as it's really the last english collector copies. You'll find below a one click Paypal button as well as a video showing the whole book. Also, you can have more infos about this gorgeous 320 pages book HERE.

Choose between french or english edition -Price include shipping

1 copy ENGLISH edition Disneyland Paris book, include shipping €100.00 EUR 1 SIGNED copy FRENCH edition Disneyland Paris book, inc shipping €115.00 EUR 1 NON SIGNED copy FRENCH edition Disneyland Paris book +shipping €90.00 EUR

Click on the image below to jump to the book presentation page.

" Here is your first view of Disneyland "

Just found on the web this scan of a 1954 American magazine double page "Here is your first view of Disneyland" with a great artwork of the park as envisioned at that time which is in fact Peter Ellenshaw famous painting of Disneyland. The scan is in high-res so click on the picture to get in in larger size!

Artwork : copyright Disney

Editor's Note: After reading the great "Tomorrowland at Disneyland opening day" article below, don't miss Mice Age today's update as the article will tell you more about upcoming attractions for Disneyland and DCA - as well as confirming what i announced to you a few weeks ago about the Soarin' and the Star Tours updates.  

Also, I know that most of you are awaiting my article about DLP future - and i will post it soon - but if you want to know a bit more about why new DLP attractions investments have been put on hold this quote from Mice Age article will give you a clue of the reasons why, that i explain in details in my upcoming article: 
"And Jay Rasulo as Disney’s CFO has been telling New York bankers for the past year that Disney is scaling back on their parks investments after going big with over 1 Billion at DCA in recent years, plus two new cruise ships, Aulani, and New Fantasyland. After that much capital expenditure, the Wall Street crowd wants to see a company scale back and earn back some of that investment before they announce more spending."

As i was saying last week to someone on the D&M Facebook page: to understand what is happening for DLP future you have to look in the right direction which means: don't think about DLP, but about the WDC. 

More about all this soon!

Amazing LIFE Magazine Pictures of Disneyland on Opening Day ! - Part Two : Tomorrowland

Here is the part two of the article with these fantastic LIFE Magazine pictures shot at Disneyland on opening day, July 17, 1955, and this time we will have a look at Tomorrowland as Disneyland guests discovered it when the park opened. If you've missed the part one showing Main Street and Fantasyland on opening day you can read it HERE and the part three with Frontierland on opening day is now online HERE.

Below, a great shot showing Disneyland entrance and the crowd walking towards the TWA Rocket, which you can see also on the picture above. At that time the TWA rocket was the highest structure in the park! Also note the "Clock of the World" right in the center of the picture below.

As you will see, just like yesterday's pics these Tomorrowland pictures are precious as they allow you to "feel" the atmosphere, the people, the energy of the era.

At the other end of Tomorrowland guests were amazed by the TWA rocket and also could enter the Space Station X-1 and Rocket to the Moon attractions. They also could sit in the shadow under these typically 1950's structures.

At Disneyland opening day the "Flags of theNations" were located in the back of Tomorrowland near the TWA Rocket. they will move to the entrance of the land in 1956.

But the attraction which was a hit from day one was Autopia and its "highways". 

Note on the picture below the Disneyland Railroad passing by in the background. And of course, the lack of vegetation in this part of the park!

Nearby, guests could find some refreshments at the "Space Bar".

And not far from Autopia were the Tomorrowland boats which will be renamed "Phantom boats" in 1956. Apparently the boat engines were unreliable, and the Phantom Boats became later the first permanent attraction to be removed from Disneyland.

A last look at Tomorrowland with this great shot from above, and tomorrow in the part three of the article we will go to Frontierland and you will see very rare shots of  a long extinct attraction! If you've missed the part one showing Main Street and Fantasyland on opening day you can read it HERE and the part three with Frontierland on opening day is now online HERE

Pictures: copyright LIFE - Time Inc



If you like "opening day" pictures the Disneyland Paris book - in which you have the whole park in 320 pages with 750 photos including 250 WDI renderings - has plenty of pictures of Disneyland Paris in its early days and the book is still available in its collector edition! I also remind you that unfortunately there is now less than FIFTEEN copies of the Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality book available in its english collector's edition - french edition is also available - so if you don't own the book yet, it's really now or never! 

And there is a special price right now with a $45 / 40€ discount on the normal price, so order your collector copy while there is still copies available as it's really the last english collector copies. You'll find below a one click Paypal button as well as a video showing the whole book. Also, you can have more infos about this gorgeous 320 pages book HERE.

Choose between french or english edition -Price include shipping

1 copy ENGLISH edition Disneyland Paris book, include shipping €100.00 EUR 1 SIGNED copy FRENCH edition Disneyland Paris book, inc shipping €115.00 EUR 1 NON SIGNED copy FRENCH edition Disneyland Paris book +shipping €90.00 EUR

Click on the image below to jump to the book presentation page.

Amazing LIFE Magazine Pictures of Disneyland on Opening Day ! - Part One : Main Street U.S.A & Fantasyland

Hello Everyone! I'm back on Disney and more and i have something pretty exceptional for you, and with so many pictures that it will be a four part article! 

What you will see today and the next days are very rare pictures of Disneyland shot by LIFE Magazine photographers Allan Grant and Loomis Dean. Most of them were shots on Disneyland opening day or July 1955 as indicated by LIFE and some a bit later but most if not all of the pics were shot during Disneyland first days, in 1955. And they're all in glorious 1950's colors, so as usual click on each to see them in larger size! 

Not only these pictures show Disneyland as it looks at its very beginning but, even more precious, they allow you to "feel" the atmosphere, the people, the energy of the era... Fantastic pictures, really. 

Edited: The Part Two of the article showing incredible pictures of Tomorrowland on Disneyland opening day is now also online HERE and the part three with Frontierland pictures on opening day is online HERE

We will start by pictures shot by photographer Allan Grant on opening day with the famous shots of Mickey and the children running through Sleeping Beauty Castle and then back from Fantasyland.

Disneyland was open, and the first guests step in Main Street U.S.A!

Two rare pictures of Disneyland first parade - not shot the same day!

The picture below showing the end of the parade was shot on opening day.

At Main Street Station guests embark in the Disneyland Railroad trains.

The two next pictures show two different trains, with the parking lot and Katella Avenue in the background. And as you can see, strictly nothing else existed or was built around Disneyland at that time.

It's hard to think that DL guests embarked in what looks like a full size replica of Walt Disney's Carolwood Pacific miniature train but yes, it did exist! The picture was shot apparently from the back of Tomorrowland, like the one above.

Let's move to Fantasyland with another shot showing the kids running to the castle. You can see that it was shot on opening day because of the scaffolding in the background on the top of which where the TV cameramen.

Here we come, Fantasyland, with a picture shot from the top of the pirate ship by Loomis Dean, like most of the shots below!

Let's do a zoom on the Mad Hatter tea cups - at that time located near the Carousel.

Let's move to Peter Pan's Flight with pictures of the mural painting of the loading room...

...and an amazing picture showing how basic was the load / unload at that time. Unbelievable. Now, due to safety regulations they couldn't do this anymore but, yes, that's how it looked on opening day!

We move now to the Snow White dark ride with two pictures showing Disneyland guests in the ride vehicle, which as you will notice have changed a lot since opening day!

Let's do like these children moving out of the "Sleepy" vehicle and let's go to Mr Toad Wild ride nearby with a series of pictures of guests inside the Mr Toad vehicle.

Not too far from Mr Toad was the Dumbo ride and the Pirate ship!...

...as well as Casey Jr and Storybook Land.

You've note on the picture above the cameraman filming for the Grand Opening TV Special. In the distance guests could see the Disneyland Railroad passing by...

A last look to Fantasyland...

And with the children let's run through the castle to the next land...

...and for us it will be Tomorrowland in the part two of this article with stunning pictures of the land on opening day! The Tomorrowland article is now online HERE. and the part three with Frontierland pictures on opening day is online HERE
Pictures: copyright LIFE - Time Inc


If you like "opening day" pictures the Disneyland Paris book - in which you have the whole park in 320 pages with 750 photos including 250 WDI renderings - has plenty of pictures of Disneyland Paris in its early days and the book is still available in its collector edition! I also remind you that unfortunately there is now less than FIFTEEN copies of the Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality book available in its english collector's edition - french edition is also available - so if you don't own the book yet, it's really now or never! 

And there is a special price right now with a $45 / 40€ discount on the normal price, so order your collector copy while there is still copies available as it's really the last english collector copies. You'll find below a one click Paypal button as well as a video showing the whole book. Also, you can have more infos about this gorgeous 320 pages book HERE.

Choose between french or english edition -Price include shipping

1 copy ENGLISH edition Disneyland Paris book, include shipping €100.00 EUR 1 SIGNED copy FRENCH edition Disneyland Paris book, inc shipping €115.00 EUR 1 NON SIGNED copy FRENCH edition Disneyland Paris book +shipping €90.00 EUR

Click on the image below to jump to the book presentation page.