One more thing...

I wanted to post a blog to honor Walt Disney's life, and his life's work. Today is the 42nd anniversary of his death.

Here are a few of my favorite Disney quotes:

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

"When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable."

"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do."

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

The Disneyland that never was

I found these WDI concepts for Disneyland that never materialized from over at Disney and More.

The first rendering called "Mermaid Lagoon" is from Herb Ryman. This Mermaid Lagoon in fact did exist, it was a dining area built behind Captain Hook's pirate ship in Fantasyland. When Fantasyland was completely redesigned in 1983, both the pirate ship and the lagoon became a part of Disneyland history.

Here is a Fantasyland attraction concept that never was. The Crocodile Aquarium had guests entering by the mouth of Captain Hook's crocodile... I like this one...

Here is another one of my favorites. It is an early design concept called "Little Toot canal boats" and was supposed to be used instead of the "Storybook Land Canal Boats"... obviously based on the Disney cartoon Little Toot.

Here is the initial concept for the Haunted Mansion. It was considered too decrepit for Disneyland guests by Walt, himself. He wanted something that looked nice and new, so the more appealing concept that we all know was developed.

Finally, here is the famous "Big Rock Candy Mountain" - a sweet idea rendered by Claude Coats and destined for a spot in Fantasyland. I figured Leo would like this one...

You can see more here.

Retro-Tomorrowland

I found these retro Disneyland's Tomorrowland posters today. I would give anything to have been at Disneyland when it opened in 1955.


Which one is your favorite?