17 July 2008

Disneyland is your land

I, in no way, consider myself a historian of Disneyland. But today is the original’s birthday, and I don’t feel that it should escape unnoticed to those of us on the East Coast that fifty-three years ago today, in 1955, Walt presented his gift to the world, Disneyland. After all, without the success of Disneyland there would have never been a Walt Disney World.

My first, and only to this point, trip to Disneyland was for three days last year while on my honeymoon. My wife is wonderful for a multitude of reasons, for one she’s a lot cuter than I am as some of you can attest, but on this trip she was wonderful in and of the fact that she understood the history with the walkways of Disneyland and allowed me the opportunities to soak it all in and photograph what I could.

In honor of all that Disneyland has brought to all of us, I present to you eight photographs, one from each land, that I have a special fondness for or that brings a special memory to me. And here’s to 53 more magical years and beyond!

Main Street U.S.A.


Adventureland


New Orleans Square


Critter Country


Frontierland


Fantasyland


Mickey’s Toontown


Tomorrowland

6 comments:

Princess Fee said...

Happy (Belated) Birthday Disneyland!!!

And love the pictures - especially the one of you and your wife in the teacup, so cute!

Unknown said...

Great photos.

Disneyland is truly an amazing park. We are thinking of making it a requirement of all Disney Geek Certificates!

I hope your lovely wife didn't spind the cup too fast for you, Ryan!

Ryan P. Wilson said...

The funny thing is my wife's favorite Disney anything is Alice in Wonderland, but she refuses to get on the tea cups because she knows they'll make her sick! The only reason she got in that one was because it was stationary in front of the Mad Hatter store.

As for the Disney Geek Certificates, even though I didn't get there for a long time, I would have to agree that a trip to Disneyland is a must for total certification!

The Viewliner Limited said...

Without doubt some of the greatest shots I have ever seen of DL. Thanks Ryan, you have made my day... But I can tell you that the original moonliner was definitely a monolithic heart stopper when I first saw it more than 50 years ago. The memories are great and DL today is still fun. Happy B-Day DL. Richard

Craig Wheeler said...

great pics. hopefully i can make it to the west coast sometime soon. my plans for late this year were dashed...so i remain jealous of you.

Cory Gross said...

Yay! It's MY park!

I've noticed a decided WDW bias across the Disneysphere, but Disneyland USA is the one that I call "home". It's the first Disney park I ever went to, the subject of my curiousity and anticipation, and when I was finally able to compare it to other Disneylands, it remained my sentimental favorite. Happy birthday Disneyland!