While others battle it out over whether July 17th or 18th is the actual opening day for Disneyland, I will forge ahead with a short series celebrating some of the lesser known/successful parts of Disneyland's past. The lessons learned from these short-lived adventures helped build the next generation of attractions, causing guests to return in droves some 56 years after the initial bunch walked through the turnstiles.

Before Finding Nemo, before the Submarine Voyage, and before the Motor Boat Cruise, Disneyland had the Phantom Boats. Looking like something out of Batman, their mechanics were unreliable at best, and guests avoided this attraction like the plague.



How about getting a closer look at that Pepto Bismol colored Phantom Boat at the dock?



Too bad these couldn't have been painted black; surely they could have gotten Adam West, Burt Ward, and Yvonne Craig to add some life to this attraction! Oh wait—that trio is at least a decade away. Sorry...



The Phantom Boats were redesigned and this "attraction" became known as the Motor Boat Cruise.



Running on a track, the Boats were truly a snoozer, especially since they lacked the scenery provided nearby at the Storybook Land attraction. They were finally removed in 1993 and replaced with a smoking area. What a slap in the face!



Walt was enamored with futuristic transportation, and the Viewliner was his first real attempt at Disneyland to create something new and exciting.



Truth be told, the Viewliner was basically a car re-engineered to work on a train track. Looking like a futuristic toy, the Viewliner has the dubious distinction of being the shortest-lived attraction at Disneyland.





Unsatisfied with something so standard, Walt set his sights on The Monorail and the rest is history. The Viewliner "left the building" on September 15, 1958.



Of course, the most famous faux pas of 1950's Disneyland is the Mickey Mouse Club Circus. It appears that guests didn't come to Anaheim to see clowns or elephants (other than Dumbo!), they wanted to see Mickey Mouse and the world of Walt Disney.



Here's a shot with Vesey Walker and The Disneyland Marching Band posing near the circus tent:



The person who labeled this photo on the back didn't quite get the name right:



Stay tuned for more Less-Than-Spectacular Disneyland, 1960's style!

Follow my Daveland updates on Twitter. See more vintage & current Disneyland photos at my regular website.

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It’s a wacky bag of assorted shots today from August 1958, with one standout image, which will hopefully make it worth viewing for all of you readers out there. It’s a busy day at the castle, with Main Street vehicles dumping people off left and right.

Let's get right to the gem of the batch, shall we? Here is The Viewliner, in all its miniature toy-like glory. These two ladies are either very savvy or just plain lucky, as The Viewliner was only in operation for one more month after this photo was taken.



The photographer obviously felt that once was not enough, and decided to capture this view of Dumbo & The Skyway twice.





As we look at the Jungle Cruise lanai, I begin to drift off into boredom.



With this last shot of the Old Mill on Tom Sawyer Island, I have drifted off to sleep completely.



Stay tuned for tomorrow's 5 year anniversary post; no snoozers for that one!

Follow my Daveland updates on Twitter. See more vintage & current Disneyland photos at my regular website.

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It’s sleek, it’s silver, and it’s shortlived! Yes folks, it’s Disneyland’s Viewliner, originally the transportation of tomorrow, it was quickly switched out for the much larger (and sexier!) Monorail. You’ll note in this closeup that the lettering on the side says "Santa Fe and Disneyland RY." Anyone know what the RY stands for?



Here’s a 1957 photo of its inspiration, the Aerotrain, which was also short-lived:



On another note, saw the "new" Pee Wee Herman show the other night at Club Nokia—it was out of this world, Globey! For the full write-up, go to my Hollywood blog.



See more vintage Viewliner photos at my regular website.

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1959 was one of the most exciting years in the park, and even garnered its own TV Special, entitled "Disneyland ’59." Today’s entry into this series focuses on the Monorail. First came the Viewliner; as you can see from the photo, Walt was purty excited about this narrow guage miniature train, but as I have said before, it looked like a toy. Walt knew that this train was not going to be the wave of the future of transportation.



According to this drawing, the original Monorail would have hung from a beam rather than glide on top like it does today. From what I have read, Walt was not happy with this version.



On a trip to Germany, he saw the Alweg Monorail in Cologne and realized that what he had in mind was actually possible:



This John Hench rendering was more to his liking, and shows the Monorail that we all know and love today:



In this shot, you can see the construction of the track shortly before opening, as the workers rush to meet the deadline:



Walt truly believed that this mode of transportation was the wave of the future, and that city traffic would be greatly reduced when Monorails were installed. What I wouldn’t give to see a Monorail installed here in Southern California to help alleviate the mess on the freeways! As a little tease for part 2 tomorrow, here is a gleaming image from June 1959, the opening month of the Monorail; it just doesn’t get better than this, folks!



See more vintage & current Monorail photos at my regular website. Meanwhile in media-land, “Sleeping Beauty,” the Platinum Edition, is about to hit the streets, and boy is it a beauty (pun intended)!









The section of extras on the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama is not to be missed. Pick it up on Blu-ray at Amazon.com as well as regular DVD at Amazon.com.

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There was a time when Disneyland was Autopia CRAZY! Tomorrowland Autopia, Midget Autopia, Junior Autopia...here is a view of some of the tracks. Shot #2 features the Tomorrowland Skyway Station AND the Autopia, as well as the Astrojets. I have included a closeup of the booth for the nosey Disneyland geeks.





More Richfield Autopia: you can practically smell the gas!



Sadly, this Tomorrowland Viewliner shot is a little blurry. It really does look like a toy; I can see why Walt wanted to upgrade it with the larger and sleeker Monorail.



See more vintage & current Tomorrowland. photos at my regular website.



“Sleeping Beauty,” the Platinum Edition, is about to hit the streets, and boy is it a beauty (pun intended)! The section of extras on the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama is not to miss. Pick it up on Blu-ray at Amazon.com as well as regular DVD at Amazon.com.

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Today I am posting two of the best Skyway shots I have seen in awhile; I posted them a little larger than normal, so make sure you scroll all the way through them to catch everything. Shot one is a nice overview of the Storybook attraction, and also includes views of the Fantasyland Depot and the Viewliner Station (as well as the back of the Midget Autopia). The second shot shows the Blue Viewliner/Station, Junior Autopia, AND the Midget Autopia (oh yeah, and the Fantasyland Depot WITH the train still at the station).



For more vintage & current Disneyland photos, visit my regular website.

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Today’s entry is an uninspired medley, starting with (what I have been told) a shot of the legendary Joe Fowler in front of the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship. For you afficianados of this boat, you can now purchase a model on amazon.com and create your own for only $9.95! The colors Revell has selected are wrong, but with a few of my vintage pics as guides, you can’t go wrong. 2nd photo today is a rear shot of the Viewliner, from an undated transparency. It always seems funny to see the DL Railroad side-by-side with this streamlined modern marvel!



PLUG OF THE DAY: Please vote for my Haunted Mansion fanatic friend Brandon, as he attempts to win the Haunted Mansion contest. Just click here and vote!. And for the stellar news of the day, my brother has located his Polaroid pics taken on the same day as my Holy Grail post from Friday. Stay tuned for their posting! For more vintage & current Disneyland photos, visit my regular website.

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