The Space Age Lodge in Anaheim, California, housed its first cadets in
Disneyland was built on a small plot of real estate and that is when the Problem started....
- Walt Disney speaking at the 10th birthday of Disneyland at the Disneyland hotel in 1965
Anaheim Vacationland tells the story of the area that surrounds Disneyland.The motels, shops, places to eat, the crazy extinct attractions like the Japanese Deer Park, Wax Museums, and so forth. This book was researched and written by Disney historian David Oneal.
When Walt Disney chose Anaheim as the city to build Disneyland in, everyone in the public and his own friends, thought he was crazy.All that was in Anaheim in 1955 was farm fields and dusty old roads. All that changed drastically in 1955 when the new theme park opened. Anaheim was now known as Vacationland, a wasteland of mismatched hotels with wild themes and a cast of shady property owners that would be a stain around the magic kingdom forever more.
In this book by David Oneal, you will be treated to a treasure trove of historical photos, and first hand accounts of the effect that Disneyland had on Anaheim. Disney legend Bob Gurr, Marty Skylar, Buzz Price (the man who decided on Anaheim as the place to build Disneyland) and other Disney historians like Don Ballard and David Oneal take the reader from the Anaheim boom town of the 1950's and 60's to the decay of the 70's and 80's and eventual rebirth as the resort district that is today.
Disneyland was an instant success then everybody rushed in to cash in on Walt's idea!
With Disneyland not having enough money to buy land like they now have in Florida, people bought tiny slivers of land and popped up third rate motels and cashed in on the Disneyland cash machine, and they won big
There were a variety of motel themes, from Frontier to outpace to Peter Pan, medieval themes and just the nastiest looking 1970s awful decor motels ever seen outside of 70s Graceland, it was an eyesore and nothing could be done
With Disneyland surrounding on all 4 sides by ugly hotels, the big corporations stared to come in and buy the little guys out and then they erected mega hotels to extract as much possible cash as they could, this lead to a deep decline in the mom and pop hotels soon after
I do like the book as a record of an Anaheim that is long gone. So many of these Orange County icons have been demolished over the years and I'm thrilled to own this book as a visual record of what once was. The book is a good collection of vintage Anaheim photography and ephemera, a wonderful look at the history of Disneyland and its
- James Hughes - big time Disney fan
Why wait? You can download this full color pictorial history of Disneyland area history right now and support the preservation of theme park history today with just a few clicks
David Oneal and his brother lived in many of the run down hotels surrounding Disneyland from 1986 onward and they faced an ever changing urban landscape of dangers on their daily trips to Disneyland while living in poverty around Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom, this is their story. A story of a 14 year old and 6 year old and their daily visits to Disneyland in the 80s
In the 1950s people dressed up to come to Anaheim
Anaheim was a sleepy little farming community that just happened to have a brand new motorway ( the 5 FREEWAY ) that connected the major city of Los Angeles directly past this little orange grove.
In the next few years, motels, hotels, gas stations and more flourished where once orange grew, now money trees were planted as the Disneyland name and place turned this sleepy orange grove into the mainstream culture that would become world famous in just a short amount of time
But this would eventually lead to murders, rapes, and drugs in the mid 1980s, when these hotels fell on hard times....
This is where Vacationland turns ugly.
David Oneal has produced a gem of a book. Oneal presents the world that surrounded Disneyland. For those who wonder why Walt wanted the Florida project, this is compelling evidence. If you have lived in Southern California more than 15 years then you are going to want this book and be prepared to say, "I remember that!" numerous times. If you want to gained and understanding of the geographical cultural context for the birth of Disneyland then you must add this book to your library.
- SamLand book reviews web link here
This book hits all the right buttons for any Disney fan! This book is full of large glossy pages and written by one of the most honest authors I have ever read. David Oneal tells his personal story of growing up in Anaheim with his little brother and shares how they experienced the magic of Disneyland with the blight of Anaheim during the 1980s. This book is a pictorial and verbal account of the realities of Disneyland and what happens to the city it inhabits [he accomplishes this with his perspective of a childs' innocence and hopefulness]. I have been a Disney fan for over forty years and there were stories in this book that I read for the first time. Anaheim Vacationland is different than any other Disney book I own, it is put together in a style that is truly original and fun to read. Buy this book and happy reading!
Stephen Coutu - verified purchase
Experience the history of Disneyland in an exciting look at the area around Disneyland in this new book
The book is a labor of love
Please support the work by buying a copy now
"David Oneal has taken my childhood memories and put it in an amazing book with images I had forgot I loved and its a true source of joy in my life now, thank you"
- Charles Wilson Gas station attendant 1965-1971 Anaheim Ca.
"A great book love the inclusion of the many themed places to eat, the unique places like Chaos Chinese and American food that is now an IHOP. This book is a lifesaver, thank you David Oneal."
- Irene Jacobs -mother of three
I love Disneyland history, check out the Anaheim Vacationland book #Disneyland #Disneyhistory #VacationlandBook
The book is a labor of love and took over 12 years to create, please support the work by buying a copy now
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David Oneal Anaheim Vacationland book The history of Disneyland
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