March 10 - ...Dreaming

This is going to wrap up the guidebook to Disneyland in 1961. These are the most interesting pages to me because they highlight the ever-changing nature of Disneyland.



Here under dreaming, we see the concept sketches for Old New Orleans, the Haunted House, the Tree House, and the Rouges Gallery.





This is the back cover, which is an excellent resource to see what the park had to offer in 1961.



Coming up tomorrow will be the start of another lengthy postings, where I share Cast guides to Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Mixed into these will be a couple of maps from the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, and then following will be another guidebook, I think from 1964. With this one, I plan to highlight the alternations made between 1961 and 1964. After this, maybe the Epcot Center preview guide, which is wonderful for concept artwork and feels the most like a World's Fair book.

March 9 - Adventureland

Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961), originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Last day of 'Land' posts. Still a couple more days for the complete book though.

March 8 - Advenureland

Onto Adventureland!

March 7 - Tomorrowland

And the final two-page spread about Tomorrowland.

An Epcot Center book arrived today fresh off eBay in the mail. This is the one full of concept art that was sent out before the park opened to tease people. Lots of good stuff to scan and share in the coming months. Also, I have some Disneyland park maps, more guide books to compare to this one, and cast member guides to the Haunted Mansion.

March 6 - Tomorrowland

Now a glimpse at one of the most changed lands!

March 5 - Frontierland

And the last 2 pages from Frontierland.

Non Disney Stuff

Well, my non-buying year has been a bust so far, but that does not mean I am giving up. There have been some improvements made to my buying habits, including:

• Not eating breakfast out as much. (At the wife's insistence) I've been making breakfast sandwiches at home, using fake eggs and light English Muffins. Plus, I've traded drinking Jolt in the mornings to constantly drinking cups of tea throughout the day.
• Still haven't bought any toys this year.
• Also with toys, I have broken the habit I used to have of obsessively stopping at Wal-Mart multiple times a day looking for brand new toys.
• Sold the vast majority of my comic collection on eBay this week, which gives me the reason to stop buying weekly comics. Selling these takes a lot of burden off my back when we move houses.

So, it's getting a little better bit by bit. Not perfect, but better than last year.

March 4 - Frontierland

First 2 pages of Frontierland. Please don't crash Google's servers by viewing them all at once.

March 3 - Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961)

Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961), originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

A two-page spread showing what we can expect if that darn time machine is ever invented.

On an unrelated note, now is the time for Disney to produce a virtual Disney World for the XBox/Playstation 3. I envision this as a complete resort, with every nook, cranny, and hidden Mickey rendered to enjoy from home. I want to be able to virtually ride Pirates or the Haunted Mansion.

What can easily make this a cash cow for Disney is micro transaction involving downloadable content. Imagine being able to download the park as it was on opening day, or refreshing Space Mountain after a refurb.

Someone from Disney, please take this idea.

March 2, 2008 - Fantasyland Part 2

The remainder of Fantasyland!

March 1, 2008 - Fantasyland

First two pages of Fantasyland. I love the photo of the father riding on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Its the suit I wanted to wear for my wedding, but I was out-voted.

February 29, 2008 - Main Street USA

Final 2 pages of Main Street USA.

February 28, 2008 - Main Street USA (Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961) )

Posting the first two pages dedicated to Main Street USA.

February 27, 2008 - Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961)

Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961), originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Its the table of contents. Now you get a preview of what's to come over the next week or so.

February 26, 2008 - Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961) - Page 2

Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961), originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Page 2!

February 25, 2007 - Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland (1961) - Front Cover

Walt Disney's Guide to Disneyland - Front Cover, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Another series of scans from long out-of-print books! Yay! As things move forward, this is going to become more the focus of this little blog than posting photos from the Parks with little nuggets of trivia.

I want to share the stuff I've accumulated over the last couple years as I've become a huge fan of the Disney Park experience. Hopefully, much of this will be items that are not easily available, espically in high quality online. There will be more maps coming, many of which are common, more guide books from the early days of the park, and SOPs for rides. Everything will be in high resolution, cleaned up as much as possible, and easily made available.

There will not be any current items scanned which are available for purchase in retail stores. When I get around to writing up book reviews, I will use excepts, but also link to information on how to purchase the titles.

There will still be the posts about my struggles to stop buying so much stuff. It is not going too well at the time, but we are trying to buy a better house, and things need to be bought. I still have not bought any toys this year, and the majority of purchases have been made using funds from selling stuff on Amazon. So while not nearly perfect, I am keeping myself aware of what I'm buying and not shopping with abandon.

February 24, 2007 - The Back Side of Water...I Mean Maps

One thing a lot of map scans I've encountered only focus on the Park Maps side, neglecting the back sides with all sorts of information. These are the back sides of the Disneyland Paris and the Disney Studios. Click through to see them in unnecessarily high resolution.


Disneyland Paris




The Disney Studios

February 23, 2008 - Disney Studios - Front

Disney Studios - Front, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Within the next 5 years, I'm planning on visiting Disneyland Paris. I will say, this second park does very little to excite me. Aside from the raves Skipper Ben gave Crushes' Coaster on ITM, and checking out Cinemagique and the Armageddon stunt show, this park features little new experiences. That's alright, the smallness of it leaves more time for DLP.

February 22, 2008 - Disneyland Paris Guide Map

Some new scans: This map comes from an eBay seller whom I purchased the book Disneyland Paris: From Sketch to Reality. Some images of the book will be forthcoming (which is the best book about creating a Disney Park).

February 21, 2008 - SpectraMagic!

IMG_1268.JPG, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Been a busy week. Book reviews coming soon, I promise!

Febraury 20, 2007 - Shrunken Ned Portrait

Shrunken Ned, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Found at Disneyland in Adventureland. Wonderful chap, took time to pose for this photo. Too bad to took up the offer for two heads for one of his own...

February 19, 2007 - Hallowishes

Hallowishes, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Quick tip on taking pictures of fireworks if you have no tripod/monopod: Use burst mode if your camera supports it and you have plenty of free memory. This allows the camera to quickly take multiple pictures, so long as you hold down the shutter. You will end up with hundreds of photos, and some will be quite nice.

February 18, 2008 - Phantom Manor - Disneyland Paris

Phantom Manor - Disneyland Paris, originally uploaded by dadacas.

Someday I can try to take this picture, probably after 2010.

February 17, 2008 - A Perfect Show

002A - View towards Castle, originally uploaded by cagedheat3.

This is a view I'd love to see and shoot, if only for a moment before the crowds rush in for the day.

February 16, 2008 - Epcot HDR

Epcot HDR, originally uploaded by joel8x.

This is one of the photos which inspired me to upgrade my camera.

The Long Holiday Weekend

Going away for the weekend with the wife for a little time away from the house and dogs. I'm going to post the next few days of 365 now, so you can look at them all at once. They're going to be highlighting some other people's Disney photos I found on Flickr which are great.

Have a good weekend.

February 15, 2008 - The Castle

And one more by Mr. Steadman. I think I've seen the expressions on these people's faces many times...

February 14, 2007 - The Fab Four (and Friend)

My favorite of Mr. Steadman's illustrations.

February 13, 2008 - Storybook Land Canal Boats by Ralph Steadman

Day 2. Another wonderful, if slightly demented sketch by Mr. Steadman.

I'll likely be doing more of these daily posts, sharing Disney materials I've collected and now scanned to digital. I think it is important that people be given the chance to see material that has been long since forgotten and placed out-of-print.

February 12, 2008 - Ralph Steadman's Disneyland

Ralph Steadman is most well known for illustrating many of Hunter S. Thompson's stories, including Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and the Curse of Lono. He also has many books out collected his artwork. This scan homes from a book titled 'America', which collected a mishmash of his work, including a five-page spread inspired by Disneyland.

To be fair, Mr. Steadman is British, and never seems able to fully grasp the vast commercialism of America, which comes through in many of his caricature of his subjects.

One thing to note about this and the upcoming pages is the attention Mr. Steadman pays to each drawing. Notice the Disneyland bag, and what appears to be the sketches of New Orleans Square in the background.

February 11, 2008 - Pirates!

"To set the mood for the show like this, you had to sort of become a pirate yourself," X said in Disneyland: Inside Story. "I think my Spanish background helped me to write the exchanges between the Pirate Captain and the defenders of the fort."

-Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies

February 10, 2008 - Scene from the Dreams Come True Parade

Took this shot (and over 300 others) at the end of the eight hour 'Behind the Magic' Tour. After spending time behind the scenes, getting a chance to see nearly ever aspects of how Walt Disney World is ran, our guide Jim took us to a prime viewing spot for the afternoon parade. This was show the power of Disney magic.

Marry Poppins

February 9, 2008 - Behind the Scenes

And this is the last day of these posts. Two pages of behind-the-scenes material and then a list of credits.

February 8, 2008 - 2 Views of the Matterhorn

Last year, I purchased eight binders full of slides from someone's vacations in the 1970s. I estimate there are close to a thousand slides, some commercial, and some taken by the vacationers. I have began to slowly digitize the interesting ones, in order to preserve these folks memories for a couple more years. The scanned slides will be on my Flickr account.

While there are no Disney ones, I did find some examples of things which inspired attractions in Disney parks. This is the first: A shot of the true Matterhorn, followed by the scale version in Disneyland.

February 7, 2008 - The Grand Finale

Well, almost. One more post tomorrow to complete this little book.

February 6, 2008 - Cinderella & Dumbo

Double the pages today, as even I'm getting a little bored of these single posts each day. We're going to wrap up the Disney on Parade scans soon, then move onto other little niche things.

February 5, 2008 - 1964 Disneyland Fun Map by Sam McKim

Fun Map Best Cropped (Large), originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

This was a little project I tried out with some success. I scanned a 28x42 map bought off eBay, piece by piece, and then stitched them together. Once done with that, cleaned up the colors, creases, and such in Gimp. The result turned out quite good.

February 4, 2008 - The Jungle Book

07, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Update on the Fun Map: 99% of it looks like it did in 1965. Excited the share this!