Not so very long ago, the mighty Mississippi was covered with rafts, keel boats, barges, and a variety of floating paraphernalia. These crafts adorned the river everyday, but the only vessels that made the muddy waters shine were the "Queens of the River," the majestic steamboats with pearly decks that were crowned with two ebony smokestacks Critics said that steamboats were nothing more than, ...

Disneyland, a $17,000,000 fairyland dedicated to the pleasure of children, opened Sunday in a special preview of 35,000 invited guests whose enthusiasm indicated that Walt Disney's dream had lived up to expectations. The spectacular park will be opened officially to the public at 10 a. m. today and upward of 50,000 persons are expected for the event. Sunday the adults - members of the press from ...

Disneyland is now past the half-way point in a spring construction program that will add 1 1/2 million dollars in new rides and amusements to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom in Anaheim. Major areas of activity are Frontierland and the Tom Sawyer Island in the Rivers of America. More than $250,000 is being spent to make the island a "playland out of a youngster's dream." On the island -- named for and ...

Disneyland is the place. of course. From Walt Disney's parade of cartoons and motion pictures started 38 years ago, 33 of his most famous characters will come dancing out of fantasy and out of the silver screen to cavort with patrons as the seventh summer season gets under way at the famous park. Each year since Disneyland opened in 1955, new attractions and entertainment have been added as the park ...

People going to amusement parks in the post World War II boom times of the early 1950s were looking for fast, not slow; they wanted to be thrilled, not dropped into a peaceful and pastoral setting. But that's just what Walt Disney gave them in The Rivers of America. From the moment Walt Disney began to think about what would eventually become "Disneyland," he conceived of it as a park - a "themed park." ...

The day after Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955, many newspapers had a field day with the myriad of problems the park had, such as gas leaks, failing plumbing and a lack of drinking fountains. Some called it Walt's Folly and more. But that didn't seem to matter to the public because when the park opened its gates the next day, there was a long line of people waiting to get in - and the lines never ...

The seventies at Disneyland started with an invasion, then went into space, and ended with a wild ride in the frontier. Unfortunately for Disneyland, the riots that had been happening in cities across America during the latter half of the sixties and some of the protesters turned their attention to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom. On Aug. 6, 1970, the Yippies (an offshoot of the hippies of the sixties) ...

"I know it's here somewhere" I'm not sure if that's exactly what was said upon first sight of where the Rivers of America used to be, but I'm sure it was something similar. Maybe with a little more salt. A lot of the excavation for the layout of the park revolved around removing existing trees and vegetation, digging out what would be the basin for the riverbed that would become the Rivers of America. ...

"Critter Country" was originally called the "Indian Village." Until 1971, that section of Frontierland contained Native American shows and attractions. The following year, it became "Bear Country," the first major expansion since the "Haunted Mansion" and cost $8 million. "Bear Country" was themed like the forest of the Pacific North-West. The centerpiece attraction was "Country Bear Jamboree" and was also ...

Disneyland really started more than 20 years ago, when Walt got the idea for an amusement park that grownups as well as children would enjoy. "I had all my drawing things laid out at home, and I'd work on plans for the park, as a hobby, at night." At the time, amusement parks were dying all over the country, "I talked Disneyland but no one could see it," Walt recalled. "So I went ahead and spent my ...

Gardening enthusiasts who visit Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., where adults outnumber youngsters four to one, are as fascinated by the wide variety of appropriate landscape plantings and colorful gardens as they are by the 50 or more major amusement attractions in this multi-million dollar center. These horticultural period plantings include a tree-bordered Main Street of the early 1900's; ...

The place is surrounded by a berm, a high barrow of earth, that insulates it from the external world. There is a single gateway where admission is charged. This, the land of Disney, is more secure than ancient Troy. No Trojan horse will get into Disneyland. Guards at the main gate closely scrutinize all who enter. Not even an unseemly teenager will get past them, much less a Trojan horse. Disneyland is ...

Part of the magic of the Magic Kingdom, of course, is that despite the slings and arrows peppering the outside world, it somehow remains as seemingly immutable as one of Aristotle's First Causes, or Walt's immortal mouse, whose 60th birthday the park-itself pushing a healthy 33-is celebrating this year from March 19 through September 8 with a new Mickey at the Movies Parade. However, as any Disneycologist ...

Disneyland junkie. That's me. I just can't get enough of the place. There truly is something magical that happens when you pass through the tunnel and enter Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom. It feels like that passion has been with me forever, because for as long as I can remember, I have been in complete awe of Walt Disney's boundless imagination, and everything at Disneyland exemplifies that. ...

It was a normal Sunday afternoon at Disneyland. The Gay Nineties show had just broken at the Golden Horseshoe, a make-believe salon located in the Frontierland area. The tourist-packed Mark Twain, a scaled-down reproduction of a nineteenth-century Mississippi river boat, was sailing around Tom Sawyer's Island. Stagecoach passengers were jolting through the Painted Desert, which, until recently, had been an ...

If you're tired of freeways, or looking for something really different to do, Walt Disney has come up with the solution: a "trip far from civilization." The password is"Safari," and summertime visitors at Disneyland will be validating their passports, stepping aboard steamers and sailing off on a grand new tropical adventure that may set jungle exploration back to the days of "Dr. Livingston, I ...

Disney theme parks have made recent headlines because officials have moved to update the content and imagery of attractions, while relaxing restrictions on employees ' appearances. This is all part of the company 's broader push toward diversity and inclusion. Right-wing fans of Disney entertainment have pushed back, saying that Disney theme parks are being politicized and are surrendering to ...

If grandmother's attic could produce treasures so interesting that they would convert a dull, rainy afternoon into an event of lasting memory, think what an "attic" a hundred times its size, serving a family of 6,000 could do. And the typical grandma's garret rarely exhibits such incongruities as a wall-full of tiki masks beneath draped red, white, and blue bunting ... or 18 crates of ...

The era of Samuel Clemens' America has been reborn in Disneyland's sternwheel steamboat the Mark Twain. Because of its massive size, the Mark Twain (108 feet long, 150 tons, designed to carry 350 passengers) was much too large to move through the doors of the giant sound stage of the Disney studio. The triple-deck paddlewheeler was built only to be dismantled so that it ...

One of the founding principles upon which Disneyland was designed was the preservation of our American heritage. This principle may be seen in many of the free shows and exhibits in each of Disneyland's realms-and one of the most popular among many free performances is the preservation of Indian traditions and customs in Frontierland's Indian Village. Built on the banks of ...

An entirely new concept in family entertainment awaits visitors at Disneyland. From the moment you enter its nostalgic Main Street of early America, you are transported out of the world of today into a realm where time seems to stand still, where memories of the past and dreams of the future combine to ensure a day in your life that will never be forgotten. Disneyland is built ...