COMPLETE VERSION When We Were Young With Our Corvettes - Chapter #28
Corvettes and the Magic Kingdom, Disneyland & Walt Disney – Chapter #28
Jennifer had been in Southern California for a year before I arrived in the summer of 1961 and although she loved all things from Disney Studios, she had never once been to Disneyland. I, on the other hand, had been 7 or 8 times by November (and saw Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and Bobby Rydell)….so when I asked her “why” , she said she just hadn’t found anyone she wanted to go with until now. Oh Boy, I could see it coming. She wanted to drive the Vette again (Chapter #s 17 & 20).
Walt Disney’s first effort at developing an amusement park was prompted by the many requests he received from fans to visit his Burbank movie studios. Since he felt there wasn’t much to see in a working studio, he decided to build “Mickey Mouse Park” for the enjoyment of all families….one with lakes and islands and carousels and trains….all on an 11-acre plot across the street. Fearing it would turn into a typical “carnival” atmosphere and to his astonishment Burbank turned him down. As he began to revise the plans to satisfy the city, he realized he needed more rather than less land to house his ever-growing list of attractions he envisioned so he hired Stanford Research Institute to find a site that provided the space and public access he needed.
The consultant recommended a remote 160-acre plot, filled with orange groves and walnut trees adjacent to the then-under-construction Santa Ana Freeway near the small town of Anaheim in Orange County (what would decades later become the population center of So. California). Construction of Disneyland was announced on April 2, 1954, excavation began on July 18 with Opening Day scheduled for Sunday July 18, 1955, but by invitation only for studio and construction workers, the press, elected officials and company sponsors…..including the fledging American Broadcasting Company, a big investor in the park and broadcasting the opening ceremonies live to a TV audience estimated in the millions (ABC had been broadcasting regular construction updates for the past year). Years later, Disney would refer to his grand opening as “Black Sunday”, as things went badly. There had been 6,000 invitations (tickets) mailed, but because of the huge public interest, 28,000 ticket holders showed up, mostly with counterfeit tickets. Roads were jammed. Because of a plumbers strike, water had been allocated to the amusements, leaving most toilets and water fountains barely operable….during a 100+ degree heat wave. Asphalt walkways laid the night before were still soft, trapping high heel shoes. Vendors ran out of food. And a gas leak in Fantasyland caused Adventureland, Frontierland and Fantasyland to close for the afternoon.
The park recovered quickly. The next day, when the Disneyland was to open to the general public, fans started lining up at 2 AM to get tickets. Within 6 weeks, Walt had seen more than a million guests pass through the turnstiles, enter the tunnel and begin their wonderful experience on Main Street USA.
Jennifer heads the Vette east on Route 22 out of Long Beach, goes north on Harbor Boulevard to Disneyland; about 20 miles of virtually unbroken orange groves with that distinctive fragrance in the air you take for granted but never forget. We park in a special place I had used before across the street at the Disneyland Hotel…..we go in, buy our general admission and ride ticket books and use our first “E-Ticket”, boarding the 2 year old “Disneyland – ALWEG Monorail” that takes us to Tomorrowland….this is the best way to see the park since it is well elevated, is routed over much of the exciting stuff and has no glass windows to impede your view or picture taking. Jennifer loves it but she’s about to get the thrill of a lifetime as we use another of our E-Tickets to take the BEST ride in the park…the bobsled run inside the snow-capped Matterhorn Mountain as it races down and around, mostly in darkness, until you are outside again and splash to a halt in Glacier Lake at the bottom.
Then on to the wonders of Liquid Space where we take the Nautilus submarine (also an E-Ticket) to view the Lost Continent of Atlantis, the Mermaid Lagoon and beneath the Polar Ice Cap. Afterwards, we work our way over to Town Square at the end of Main Street USA, where all the “turn of the century” buildings are 5/8 real size (except doors and windows). We turn right and cross the moat and drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle to enter Fantasyland. This is where Jennifer the “hell driver” turns into a little girl again. We’re here for hours.
Back to Town Square and as we proceed down Main Street USA something totally unexpected happens. Walt Disney, who is known to have an apartment here (above the Firehouse) and frequently seen walking about, is standing talking to several guests, holding a box of popcorn and going basically unnoticed by the crowd, even though he has on a sport coat and tie. We move over and stand next to the people he’s speaking with and he turns smiling and asks us how we like the park. We introduce ourselves and Jennifer tells her story about this being here first visit and that she wants to come back and visit again soon because he hasn’t seen everything. He beams and reaches into his jacket and pulls out season passes for all in this small group. A gentleman to the core, he is.
Leaving the park, I pledge to bring her back to see all there is to see at this very special Magic Kingdom. As she gets the Vette back on the highway,
she has that little girl look again that only comes from being first surprised, then excited and then thoroughly entertained…just the way Walt Disney dreamed for it to happen to all his guests especially the young....and young at heart.
Back to my apartment in time for a swim. I get into my “baggies”…Jennifer steps out of the bathroom wearing a white nylon 2-piece bathing suit with one bare shoulder….and with those long legs…she is so “bitchin” good looking! She drives over to Ocean Ave. and up near Belmont Pier where we park right at beaches-edge. The sun is setting and its getting cold (November can be in the low 50 degrees in the evening). We don’t care because the ocean is warmer so we dive in. We race back to the Vette, spread towels on the sand and snuggle up as close to the radiator as we can get. I taste the salt on her bottom lip and feel the sand in her hair as the Vette cools down leaving us under a red cotton blanket with only the sounds of seagulls and the surf on the beach 20 feet away. And she starts crying softly because she’s had such a good day.
Jennifer had been in Southern California for a year before I arrived in the summer of 1961 and although she loved all things from Disney Studios, she had never once been to Disneyland. I, on the other hand, had been 7 or 8 times by November (and saw Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and Bobby Rydell)….so when I asked her “why” , she said she just hadn’t found anyone she wanted to go with until now. Oh Boy, I could see it coming. She wanted to drive the Vette again (Chapter #s 17 & 20).
Walt Disney’s first effort at developing an amusement park was prompted by the many requests he received from fans to visit his Burbank movie studios. Since he felt there wasn’t much to see in a working studio, he decided to build “Mickey Mouse Park” for the enjoyment of all families….one with lakes and islands and carousels and trains….all on an 11-acre plot across the street. Fearing it would turn into a typical “carnival” atmosphere and to his astonishment Burbank turned him down. As he began to revise the plans to satisfy the city, he realized he needed more rather than less land to house his ever-growing list of attractions he envisioned so he hired Stanford Research Institute to find a site that provided the space and public access he needed.
The consultant recommended a remote 160-acre plot, filled with orange groves and walnut trees adjacent to the then-under-construction Santa Ana Freeway near the small town of Anaheim in Orange County (what would decades later become the population center of So. California). Construction of Disneyland was announced on April 2, 1954, excavation began on July 18 with Opening Day scheduled for Sunday July 18, 1955, but by invitation only for studio and construction workers, the press, elected officials and company sponsors…..including the fledging American Broadcasting Company, a big investor in the park and broadcasting the opening ceremonies live to a TV audience estimated in the millions (ABC had been broadcasting regular construction updates for the past year). Years later, Disney would refer to his grand opening as “Black Sunday”, as things went badly. There had been 6,000 invitations (tickets) mailed, but because of the huge public interest, 28,000 ticket holders showed up, mostly with counterfeit tickets. Roads were jammed. Because of a plumbers strike, water had been allocated to the amusements, leaving most toilets and water fountains barely operable….during a 100+ degree heat wave. Asphalt walkways laid the night before were still soft, trapping high heel shoes. Vendors ran out of food. And a gas leak in Fantasyland caused Adventureland, Frontierland and Fantasyland to close for the afternoon.
The park recovered quickly. The next day, when the Disneyland was to open to the general public, fans started lining up at 2 AM to get tickets. Within 6 weeks, Walt had seen more than a million guests pass through the turnstiles, enter the tunnel and begin their wonderful experience on Main Street USA.
Jennifer heads the Vette east on Route 22 out of Long Beach, goes north on Harbor Boulevard to Disneyland; about 20 miles of virtually unbroken orange groves with that distinctive fragrance in the air you take for granted but never forget. We park in a special place I had used before across the street at the Disneyland Hotel…..we go in, buy our general admission and ride ticket books and use our first “E-Ticket”, boarding the 2 year old “Disneyland – ALWEG Monorail” that takes us to Tomorrowland….this is the best way to see the park since it is well elevated, is routed over much of the exciting stuff and has no glass windows to impede your view or picture taking. Jennifer loves it but she’s about to get the thrill of a lifetime as we use another of our E-Tickets to take the BEST ride in the park…the bobsled run inside the snow-capped Matterhorn Mountain as it races down and around, mostly in darkness, until you are outside again and splash to a halt in Glacier Lake at the bottom.
Then on to the wonders of Liquid Space where we take the Nautilus submarine (also an E-Ticket) to view the Lost Continent of Atlantis, the Mermaid Lagoon and beneath the Polar Ice Cap. Afterwards, we work our way over to Town Square at the end of Main Street USA, where all the “turn of the century” buildings are 5/8 real size (except doors and windows). We turn right and cross the moat and drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle to enter Fantasyland. This is where Jennifer the “hell driver” turns into a little girl again. We’re here for hours.
Back to Town Square and as we proceed down Main Street USA something totally unexpected happens. Walt Disney, who is known to have an apartment here (above the Firehouse) and frequently seen walking about, is standing talking to several guests, holding a box of popcorn and going basically unnoticed by the crowd, even though he has on a sport coat and tie. We move over and stand next to the people he’s speaking with and he turns smiling and asks us how we like the park. We introduce ourselves and Jennifer tells her story about this being here first visit and that she wants to come back and visit again soon because he hasn’t seen everything. He beams and reaches into his jacket and pulls out season passes for all in this small group. A gentleman to the core, he is.
Leaving the park, I pledge to bring her back to see all there is to see at this very special Magic Kingdom. As she gets the Vette back on the highway,
she has that little girl look again that only comes from being first surprised, then excited and then thoroughly entertained…just the way Walt Disney dreamed for it to happen to all his guests especially the young....and young at heart.
Back to my apartment in time for a swim. I get into my “baggies”…Jennifer steps out of the bathroom wearing a white nylon 2-piece bathing suit with one bare shoulder….and with those long legs…she is so “bitchin” good looking! She drives over to Ocean Ave. and up near Belmont Pier where we park right at beaches-edge. The sun is setting and its getting cold (November can be in the low 50 degrees in the evening). We don’t care because the ocean is warmer so we dive in. We race back to the Vette, spread towels on the sand and snuggle up as close to the radiator as we can get. I taste the salt on her bottom lip and feel the sand in her hair as the Vette cools down leaving us under a red cotton blanket with only the sounds of seagulls and the surf on the beach 20 feet away. And she starts crying softly because she’s had such a good day.
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