DISNEYLAND HOTEL/PARKING |
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MAIN STREET U.S.A. | ADVENTURELAND | FRONTIERLAND | NEW ORLEANS SQUARE | CRITTER COUNTRY | FANTASYLAND | TOONTOWN | TOMORROWLAND | DCA | WDW |
)  (Oct. 5, 1955–Present) BACKSTORY: First “Disney” hotel although not Disney owned until 1988. Disneyland construction costs kept Disney from building a hotel. Disney approached a number of hotel chains in 1954, but all felt that the Disneyland venture was too risky. Instead, he negotiated a deal with his friend Jack Wrather to build and operate one. Wrather had the rights to use the Disneyland Hotel name on any hotel in California until 2054. Four years after Wrather died, The Walt Disney Co. bought the entire Wrather Corporation, which also gave them the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach and the rights to The Lone Ranger & Lassie TV Series.Designed by the firm of Pereira & Luckman, the initial 100 room capacity hotel opened on October 5, 1955, approximately 3 months after Disneyland opened. At the official ribbon-cutting ceremony (held much later on August 25, 1956) for the $10,000,000 development were Bonita Granville Wrather, Alan Ladd, Mrs. Helen Alvarez, Jack Wrather Jr., Jack Wrather III, Mrs. Jack Wrather Sr., Yvonne DeCarlo, and William Bendix. A tour of the hotel and dinner in the private banquet room followed the dedication ceremonies. At the time of opening, the hotel featured a heated Olympic-size swimming pool, a children's wading pool with a lighted and colored water fountain, a huge restaurant, convention center, shopping center, golf course, and shuffleboard courts. Each room had its own parking space as well as a private patio or balcony...AND a TV! The luxury rooms had wide-screen color TV! Free shuttle tram service left the hotel every five minutes, whisking guests off to Disneyland. Eventually the hotel featured the Monorail Plaza, a shopping center built in June 1961 and demolished in the late 1990’s for Downtown Disney. The hotel consists of three guest room towers: Marina, Sierra, and Bonita. Other buildings in the complex house restaurants, stores, offices, recreational facilities, and convention/banquet facilities. The off-center placement of an exterior elevator shaft at the Sierra Tower created space constraints which required the neon sign atop the building to read “Hotel Disneyland.” During a 1966 expansion, the sign was corrected. The sign was later removed and replaced with a mural featuring shooting stars. From the December 15, 1977 Disneyland Line internal newsletter: "Sir Edward's, A Store for Men," opened Monday, December 5, in the Disneyland Hotel Shopping Complex with a full assortment of men's clothing and accessories. As with all Disney operated shops at the Hotel, Disney employees receive their regular discount at "Sir Edward's." OFFICIATING AT THE opening of "Sir Edward's" are Bo Boyd, Vice President of merchandise for Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Frank Brett, President of Wrather Hotels, and Bob Erickson, Manager of UNOCO West. After acquiring the hotel in January 1988, Disney announced a multi-million dollar upgrade to the hotel (slated for summer 1990), which included the 1174 guest rooms (304 in the Sierra Tower, 367 in the Bonita Tower, and 319 in the Marina Tower), lobbies, elevators, the porte cochere (main entryway), Grand Ballroom (a new crystal chandelier from Milan), and Exhibit Hall. Museum-quality exhibits of historic Disneyland memorabilia were also added. The remaining “Disneyland Hotel” neon signs for the Marina & Bonita Towers were removed in Dec. 2005 (neon signs were eventually outlawed in the Anaheim Resort District; the Marina & Sierra signs were replaced with smaller ones). Signs from several of the stores & restaurants (the original Garden Rooms, Travelport, Hotel Shops, Olympic Pool, and Plaza Building) were kept after the demoltion and are on display in the hotel’s employee cafeteria. Included is a large “End of an Era” posterboard signed by visitors and employees of the Monorail Cafe during its last months of operation. All of the original Disneyland Hotel was removed in mid-1999. Steakhouse 55 was once called Granville’s Steak House (named after Wrather’s wife’s maiden name, Bonita Granville, a famous child actress of the 30’s/40’s). |
| SAFARI ADVENTURE | STEAKHOUSE 55 | TANGAROA TERRACE | TRADER SAM'S |
Disney World Hotels |
1955—1957 |
1958—1959 |
DON BALLARD’S BOOK ADDENDUM |
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1962 |
) ) BACKSTORY: Richard Nixon running for Governor of California 1962 is seen here at the Disneyland Hotel on April 27, 1962 for the Orange County Nixon Committee Dinner. Note the "Boxing elephant" (Dumbo) image to the left of the negative and the " KEZY radio / Disneyland Hotel" sign to the right of the photo. Nixon was running for Governor of California in 1962 after losing to Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential election; Nixon lost this election as well. |
1960’s |
1970’s |
1980’s–1990’s |
2000+ |
DREAMS TOWER: ROOM 2246 |
) Sept. 2010 |
) Sept. 2010 |
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) Sept. 2010 |
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) Sept. 2010 |
) Sept. 2010 |
) Sept. 2010 |
) Sept. 2010 |
) Sept. 2010 |
ADVENTURE TOWER: ROOM 2250 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
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) Sept. 2011 |
GOOFY’S KITCHEN |
) Sept. 2009 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Dec. 2011 |
BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN MODEL (IN FRONTIER TOWER) |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
TRADER SAM'S |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
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) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
TANGAROA TERRACE |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
) Sept. 2011 |
DISNEYLAND HOTEL SAFARI ADVENTURE |
| BACKSTORY: The former Disneyland Hotel Marina became the site of the Neverland Pool, which opened in July 1999. Safari Adventure opened in December 1999 and was a fun attraction that featured miniature remote-controlled Jungle Cruise boats, people, animals, and scenery. Safari Adventure was designed and built by Thola Productions of Laguna Hills, California. Safari Adventure was removed when the property and pool area underwent a complete renovation in 2011. |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
) July 2008 |
STEAKHOUSE 55 |
^RETURN TO TOP |
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