Doug's Disneyland Collection
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Disneyland Collectibles
Opening Day Guidebook (First in a series)
(c) Disney
Guests arriving at Disneyland in its first months of operation could purchase “The Story of Disneyland” for a cool twenty-five cents. In twenty-four pages it introduced visitors to the wonders of Walt’s brand-new Magic Kingdom.
What it did not offer, however, were any photos of that wonderland. In his introduction, Walt explained that, “(t)he first edition illustrations on these pages show buildings and exhibits in artist rendering stage.” More practically, the book had to be prepared before there was anything to photograph. So-the only two photos reproduced in this guidebook are of Walt himself. Each land was represented by a colorful (if somewhat inaccurate) illustration, and a series of intriguing line drawings of attractions.
(c) Disney
What makes these line drawings so intriguing is their close resemblance to actual attractions-giving insight into how some familiar Disneyland landmarks evolved from artist rendering to three dimensional reality.
By far the most distinctive aspect of the first guidebook are the Section Maps. These “helpful” maps are presented in the back of the book. The following simple instructions are presented under the headline “How to Use This Guide.”
(c) Disney
KING ARTHUR CAROUSEL…………….……………..………….Fa-C-H8
The King Arthur Carousel can be found in Fantasyland (Fa) and can be located on the Section C (C-H8). The Carousel is in the square formed by the intersection of H and 8.
Got that? Good. The maps themselves are equally inscrutable.
(c) Disney
It should be noted that this feature was not repeated in any other Disneyland Guidebook. But later Guidebooks would offer many, many beautiful photographs of the happiest place on earth.
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-- Doug Marsh
Doug Marsh has been collecting Disneyland memorabilia for many years. He has given presentations to the NFFC's Orange County Chapter, as well as at the National Convention. He hopes that people will enjoy learning a little bit about Disneyland, and these souvenirs, in this column.
Doug's Disneyland Collection is not posted on a regular schedule
The opinions expressed by Doug Marsh, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted March 14, 2002