Flashback Friday - Disneyland 1957

It's FLASHBACK FRIDAY!  


Time to go back in time thanks to fun old family photos of days gone by.  Growing up in Southern California, Disneyland was the only Magic Kingdom that I knew as a kid.  It was, of course, the ONLY Magic Kingdom when my parents were kids.  My dad was almost a teenager when the park opened, becoming one just a couple of months later, and my mother was still in single-digits at the time.  Walt Disney World and all of the other Disney Destinations were still decades in the future when they were young.  


As a youth, I didn't get to go to Walt Disney World until I was 21, but have certainly enjoyed many, many visits there ever since.  But I remember not even knowing that Walt Disney World even existed until the early 1980's, when a friend of mine in Jr. High School made a trek to Florida to visit family for a family reunion.  When she got back, she regaled me with stories of the "other Disneyland".  I had no clue what she was talking about, and had to find out.  Soon enough I knew that there was indeed another Magic Kingdom out there, and even a second park called Epcot Center under construction.  With glee I watched the grand opening broadcast on television for Epcot and was enthralled.  I also learned about the then-under construction new Disneyland for Japan.  And again I was enthralled.  "MY" playground was expanding into other "neighborhoods" not just in another state, but then another country, around the world!  How cool was that!  


As the years went on, I remember trying so hard to convince my dad that we needed to make a trip to Florida to experience the "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" attraction - trying to play on his emotions towards his favorite Walt Disney film from his youth... sadly it never worked - he saw right through me, and just kept reminding me that Disneyland had terrific submarines that I could ride in anytime I was in the park.  What a great way to squash a young boy's dream.  ;-)  But I wouldn't be satisfied.  I learned a lot more about the Walt Disney World Resort, and even remember talking about Epcot's World Showcase in a feature story in Journalism class for my high school newspaper. (I still have that edition with my Epcot info somewhere in a box in my garage).  Oh how I wanted to see what Walt Disney World was like back then for myself - even though I had Disneyland as a playground just about 30 minutes away. 


And now, all these years later, it's fun to pull out the old photos from time to time and see how things have changed, while some things have remained the same.  I plan to share some of these old photos here, both of Disneyland, and later of my first treks to Walt Disney World.  Much has changed there too in the past 21 years since my first visit. 


As young girls, my grandparents treated their twin daughters - my mother and aunt (who are the young ladies in today's flashback photo) - treated them to a day at Disneyland each year for their birthday.  Here they are, in about 1957, following their day in the park.  They're fraternal twins, one being blond and the other brunette, but simply because they are twins, my grandmother loved having them dress alike to show the rest of the world that they are twins!  Even to the point of they both had to get the same button for their matching jackets!  Enjoy this glimpse of how styles and park-wear have changed.  They're low, but those are heels that my grandmother is wearing.  Ladies, when was the last time you wore heels into a theme park?  

It looks like these young ladies just enjoyed a great day at Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom - Disneyland!