Disney Park
History Links

Color slides from many years ago hold a visual history of Disneyland.

Yesterland isn’t the only site about the history of Disney Parks. There are other sites with vintage Disney park photographs and all sorts of Disney park history. And while Yesterland deals primarily with Disneyland in California, there are sites that deal with defunct attractions at Walt Disney World. You can also find vintage photos and interesting commentary at a number of new blogs that have popped up.

I hope you enjoy the links on this page. Please also visit Yesterland’s Park and Fair History Links for links about the history of other theme parks, amusement parks, and world’s fairs.

Disneyland Park in California

Atommobiles.com: Adventure Thru Inner Space

Here’s a whole site with sights, sound and flash animation of the attraction that was in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland from 1967 until 1986.

Country Bear Playhouse

The Country Bears have departed from Disneyland, but their attraction lives on in Florida and Tokyo. Get the “bear facts” from Paul J. Barrie, Jr.—or Paul J. “Bear”ie, Jr.

Disney Submarines

Disneyland’s Submarine Voyage has a long history going back to 1959. The ride returned in 2007 as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. This site is devoted to the Disneyland’s submarines, and there’s also information about their counterparts at Walt Disney World.

Disneyland Beginnings

Travel back to the 1955 opening of Disneyland. Also, enjoy construction photos of rides, including the Matterhorn. Click on the images for larger images.

Disneyland Hotel: The Early Years, 1954-1988
The Disneyland Hotel wasn’t built by Walt Disney; it was built by entrepreneur Jack Wrather. Today, we think of the Disneyland Hotel as three highrise towers, but it was originally a campus of lowrise buildings. Do you want to see pictures and learn more? Visit this site.

Disneyland Photos at Daveland

Daveland has a spectacular collection of vintage Disneyland photos, some going all the way back to 1955. The site relies on pop-ups to show larger images, so make sure you’re not blocking pop-ups.

Disneyland Postcards

Click on the thumbnails to see larger images of a great collection of authentic Disneyland postcards from throughout the park’s history.

Doug’s Disneyland Page

Let Doug Rhodes be your Disneyland tour guide, as he shares park history, trivia, and facts with you.

The Imaginary World: Disneyland Photo Tour

Take a photo tour of Disneyland in the 1950s and 1960s. Then enjoy the other fun articles at The Imaginary World, even though they’re not about Disneyland.

John’s Disneyland Page

John Perry presents his personal tribute to Disneyland Park, including Disneyland 40th Anniversary Collector Cards and old Disneyland tickets.

Karen’s Disneyland Home Page

You’ll find Disneyland trivia, history, links, and lots of photos of the Happiest Place on Earth. There’s a timeline too.

Keeline.com: Your Key to Our World

If you look around the home page, you’ll find links to pages about Disneyland ticket books, Disneyland magazines, and other Disney content.

The Lion King Celebration

Allyn Fratkin presents a cyber-tribute to this outstanding parade, which ran from 1994 to 1997. Lots of great photos.

Ride the Peoplemover!

Click on the drawing of the Disneyland Peoplemover to page forward. Click on the speaker images on each page to hear sounds from the ride.

A Salute to Disneyland

Enjoy Disneyland history, trivia, and experiences. From Brett Padelford.

Sorcerer’s Workshop

You can explore various “sites within a site” about subjects such as the Monorail, the Circlevision exit lobby , and the Pirates Arcade Museum—with audio too!

The Sounds of Disneyland

Listen to dozens of WAV files from Disneyland’s past and present, including “The floors on which you are walking, the gently sloping walls around you, and even the ceilings are made of plastics,” from Monsanto’s House of the Future.

A Trip to Disneyland

Philip Greenspun presents a photographic visit to Disneyland featuring a journey on the now-defunct Skyway. You’ll even pass through the Matterhorn.

Walt’s Magic Kingdom

Here’s a long list of Disneyland attractions, shops, restaurants, and shows—including the dates they were open. Some have links to audio.

Walt Disney World in Florida

Horizons
Epcot’s Horizons, an ride about living in the future, closed permanently on January 9, 1999, to be replaced by “Mission: Space.”

Universe of Energy Companion Site
Visit the original Universe of Energy (not Ellen’s Energy Adventure).

Ultimate Orlando

In addition to his work on MiceAge, Kevin Yee also maintains this site. Click on “Extinct Attractions” for extinct Orlando attractions and shows. Dig around, and you’ll find all sorts of fun content.

Walt Dated World
Read about Walt Disney World attractions that no longer exist. This site also includes Walt Deleted World, about attractions that were never built.

Waltopia
Paul Williams describes Walt Disney’s vision of EPCOT—Walt’s planned Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow—not Epcot, the theme park.

Webcot: A History of the Future
Learn what Epcot Center was originally like.

Widen Your World
Mike Lee presents the Magic Kingdom’s “extinct” attractions, shops, restaurants and other features. Visit Space Mountain’s RCA years (featuring the Home of Future Living), the Mickey Mouse Revue, If You Had Wings, the Swan Boats, and more.

Multiple Disney Parks

Disney Attraction Scripts
When was the last time you read a good attraction? The scripts available through this site include plenty of “retired” attractions and “retired” versions.

The Mckyfoto Home Page
Enjoy illustrated accounts of Disney media events, such as the opening ceremonies for the Indiana Jones Adventure (at Disneyland) and The Legend of the Lion King (at Walt Disney World).

This Day in Disney History

Click on any day of the 12-month calendar to find our what happened on that day in the life of Walt Disney and the company that he founded.

Tim’s Disney News Archive
From its launch in 1965, Disney News was a wonderful quarterly magazine. Originally published by Disney’s old Magic Kingdom Club, the magazine grew into Disney Magazine, until it ceased publication in 2005. It’s fun to see the cover of every issue at this site.

Wade’s Wayback Machine at MousePlanet
Disney historian Wade Sampson writes columns that concentrate on stories of Disney history that haven’t been recorded elsewhere.

Walt Disney

The Walt Disney Family Museum
The Walt Disney Family Foundation “strives to promote and produce serious discussion, writing, and scholarship about the life, work, and philosophy of Walt Disney.” This site is hosted by Disney.go.com.

Blogs

2719 Hyperion

Jeff Pepper’s blog—named after the address for the original Disney Brothers Studios in Los Angeles—is about all things Disney, with an emphasis on Disney history.

Davelandblog

Davelandblog provides “new and vintage photos of Disneyland thrown in with a rant or two.”

The Disney Frontier Blog

This blog provides links to new and vintage photographs, video, and audio.

Disney History

“Interesting discoveries about Disney history, vintage Disneyana, Disney artwork, the Walt’s People book series, and new books about Disney,” by Didier Ghez.

Gorillas Don’t Blog

The blogger admits this is a “ridiculously-named blog.” Great vintage Disneyland color slides and descriptions! Click on the pictures for much larger images.

O.C. Historical Update

This blog isn’t strictly about Disneyland; it’s about the county that’s the home of Disneyland—and with which Disneyland shares its history. There’s a great collection of O.C. history links too.

The Original Disneyland Hotel   New!

The Disneyland Hotel is almost as old as Disneyland Park, and it has a history that’s just as interesting. This blog by author Donald Ballard takes you back in time.

outsidetheberm (Outside the Berm)   New!

The blog celebrates the “builders and dreamers, artists and schemers who created all your childhood memories in the great American theme park.”

Passport to Dreams Old and New

The tagline here is: “Taking Disney seriously.”

The Pickle Barrel

The tagline here is: “Gather ‘round all you rascals and set a spell! let ol’ lonesome spin a yarn’ n’ brighten yer day with a drop of kitchy sunshine!”

Re-Imagineering

I’ll let the blog’s description speak for itself. This is... “A forum for Pixar and Disney professionals passionate about the Disney Theme Parks to catalog past Imagineering missteps and offer tenable practical solutions in hopes that a new wave of creative management at Imagineering can restore some of the wonder and magic that’s been missing from the parks for decades.”

Stuff from the Park

According to the blogger, Matterhorn1959, this is “a collection of images and other items from Disneyland, theme parks and other amusement parks. Also look for images and items I find interesting, amusing or both.”

Ultimate Orlando Blog

Author and MiceAge columnist Kevin Yee provides his thoughts “on Walt Disney World and the myriad entertainment offerings in Orlando.”

videblog

The description of this blog is: “This will be a blog about Disneyland, mostly pictures that I have taken in the 1980’s and 1990’s. I hope you all enjoy :)”

Vintage Disneyland Goodies   New!

The goodies here tend to be vintage Disneyland paper (such as menus and brochures) and other vintage paper.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets   New!

It’s not just about Disneyland tickets, but that’s the starting point for this Disneyland history site.

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