Original Garden Structures at the Dineyland Hotel

The lease was signed on January 21st, 1955 between Walt Disney, Jack & Mazie Wrather and Helen Alvarez to develop, build and operate the Disneyland Hotel. The press quickly announced the plans in several major newspapers. The Hotel opened on October 5th, 1955 with only seven rooms and an eight used as the registration lobby. The new Administration Building, shops and restaurants opened about six months later along with other guest accomodation structures. Move ahead a little under 44 years later, the original buildings of the Hotel were cleared to make way for Downtown Disney and a host of new shops and restaurants. In just a few short weeks, the original Disneyland Hotel ceased to be. Gone were the original rooms of Jack's little motel in the orange groves. Gone were countless happy memories of these buildings shared by families from all over the world who enjoyed the Hotel. Hopefully, these pictures will help many to relive their memories of the original Disneyland Hotel.

January 1955 Newspaper - An early 1955 newspaper announcement just after the lease had been signed by Jack Wrather with Walt Disney. Details of this new facility are also disclosed in the article.

Early 1955 Overhead - Construction of the original five units of the Disneyland Hotel. Very rare photograph.

1956 Overhead - Clear view overhead of the original five buildings at the Disneyland Hotel. The next three buildings (1956) are also shown as well as the Administration Building, new lobby, Richfield Service Station and Little Gormet Restaurant.

Garden Room floorplan drawing - A typical Garden Room in the South Garden Structure area (later Oriental Gardens).

Balcony View - From the southern-most Garden Structure of the original structures at the Disneyland Hotel.

View from Garden Structure - A close-up view and a rare one at that. This view depicts the sign for the Little Gourmet Rstaurant which was built from an existing ranch house located on the property. I have no photos of inside the original Little Gourmet and only this one with any mention of it. The sign is above the lighter of the two cars in the background.

Balcony View - From the balcony of an original Garden Structure building on the grounds of the Disneyland Hotel. This picture dates to around 1960.

Garden Wing 1957 - A picture of the original Garden Structure buildings at the Disneyland Hotel dated 1957

prior to demolition in 1999 - A rare shot from the parking lot of the original five garden structures at the Disneyland Hotel. These rooms date back to October, 1955 when the Disneyland Hotel first opened. Thanks to Jason Schultz for this photo.