Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Thank Goodness for Ebay!

Thanks to Ebay, I was able to acquire some old Southern California brochures this past week. Some times, you can find golden nuggets of information contained within these brochures. This happened to be the case with these. I was finally able to get an exact count of rooms in the 1959 configuration of the Disneyland Hotel....234. I had never seen reference to this number in any other paper item in my collection, at the Disney Archives or at the Wrather Archives. The material all state "now over 200 guest rooms and suites." Another mystery solved but another still unsolved. I would like to get the exact date this fourth structure started construction and was opened. I know that it was open on July 4th 1959 and I would have to assume that this was planned to coincide with the busy summer season. I tried finding building permits with no luck and I tried looking up the contractor, again, no luck. The next iteration would have two final North Garden Structures in 1960 making for a total of six structures, the largest pre-tower configuration. More mysteries, I don't have exact dates for these openings either. One more mystery....some time between 1980 and 1981, one of these North garden Structures was removed to make way for the Rose Garden & Gazebo on the grounds. I do not have the exact dates. I do know that it was removed by autumn 1981.

Please look at my website when you can http://www.magicalhotel.com and tell your friends about this blog and my website. The more posts I get and people viewing my site makes me want to add more content to this blog.

3 comments:

Mike said...

No problem! I posted a link to your blog on my own blog: jungleis101.blogspot.com. I agree that Ebay is an amazing resource for tracking down ephemera of all sorts! My personal obsession is recreating or reconnecting with Disneyland in the 1980s (back when I was a Cast Member there---both as a Jungle Skipper and Day Custodial Host---"Sweeper"). If you stumble across any photographs from the Park during the 1984-88 time period in particular, please, please post them or e-mail them to me! I am especially interested in photographs that show Cast Members in the background (or foreground for that matter), as I am constantly on the lookout for folks I knew "back in the day."

Love your site and will be sure to pass along anything I come across that is Hotel-related! I still fondly recall some good times at the old "Neon Cactus" in the early 1990s!

walterworld said...

Oh yeah---The Neon Cactus was a blast...

And a worthy replacement for St. Preston's Yukon Saloon which left a few of its trappings about for the Cactus after its departure...

Magical Hotel said...

Thanks guys for leaving comments. I always love when people post messages. It makes me think people are actually viewing this site. One of the reasons I don't update the site as much is because I had my doubts if anybody was even logging on. You've now inspired me to post new material.

I will be sure and pass along any 84-88 photos. My cousin was also a cast member dutring that timeframe. He worked at the Emporium...Ryan Heaney.