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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I will admit that my blog has been less than stellar lately; actually, I was in Philadelphia for the last week, visiting family and getting a reminder of why I no longer live on the east coast or the midwest. SNOW! Yup...and a ton of it. As you can see from the first 3 shots, taken from my plane on an early sunny morning in San Diego, everything started out just ducky.





And then I landed in Dallas for my layover. Nothing but white for miles. It was a mess. Fortunately, I was on one of the last planes to leave Dallas before the airport shut down. It was a nailbiter as I felt the wheels skipping on the runway during takeoff, but I made it safely to Philadelphia, and got to watch the de-icing process to boot!



In Philly, I was pretty much on house arrest due to the weather, but still managed to snap a few photos.







You folks aren't here for my travel shots though, so let's get back to the show...or more specifically, the circus. Recently, I bid on a number of negatives that were labeled 1955 Gil Gray Disneyland Circus. I’ve read that Gil Gray’s Circus was involved at Disneyland, but whether it was during the Mickey Mouse Club era or after is unknown to me. Maybe one of the historians out there can fill in the gaps for us. My guess is that it must be during the MMC period since it appears by the bunting on the lightpoles that it could be Christmas time. Unfortunately, one of the better negatives got away from me, but here's a low-rez version of what was advertised. If I were a betting man, I'd guess that the man on the left in the dark uniform is Disneyland Band Conductor Vesey Walker.



And here are the 3 shots that I was able to acquire. Looks like this truck was about to unload its contents. Detail shot included for all the Gladys Kravitz's out there.







The clown on the truck looks similar to the clown featured in this color photo from December 26, 1955.



And a shot of the Calliope going through what is now the Tinker Bell meet-and-greet area.



Chances are the Gil Gray troupe handled the circus part and the Mickey Mouse Club was added for branding. That's my theory! See more vintage Mickey Mouse Club Circus photos at my regular website.

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Get ready to board your Skyway bucket as the Encyclopaedia Britannica takes us on a cruise high above Tomorrowland.



In the background of this shot, we can see the circus tent left over from the short-lived Mickey Mouse Club Circus:





The Flight Circle is shown here; too early for Cox Pilot!





See more Encyclopaedia Britannica photos at my website.

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Here are two views of the short lived Circus at Disneyland, showing what appears to be Professor Keller with his Tranquilized Kitties.



For more vintage Disneyland Mickey Mouse Club Circus photos, visit my regular website.

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With this shot of the short-lived Disneyland Circus, I naturally zoomed right in on the signage; here is a closeup for you:


I have also included a close-up for Merlin of the Blacksmith Shop area that he requested yesterday.


For more Disneyland photos, visit my regular website. Also–please vote @ TheDisneyPortal.com for my site, davelandweb.com/disneyland. Many thanks in advance!

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