40th Anniversary of First Disneyland Trip

Today marks the 40th anniversary of my first trip to Disneyland - June 13, 1969.

I don't remember a lot of details about that trip, but here's what I've been able to piece together.

We left the Monterey Peninsula bright and early. It was about a 350+ mile drive down Hiway 101. I think it was on this trip that my Dad, or brother, taught me how to read a map. I had a beat-up copy of a California map and I'd follow our progress by coloring our path in pencil. I remember hitting L.A. and just being floored by how hot it was. (The temp. on the Monterey Peninsula rarely gets above 75). We checked into our hotel (most likely it was a motel - one of those tacky places on the outskirts of the resort). I remember seeing the Matterhorn clear as day as we approached. It felt like you could see it from miles away. I also enjoyed another first - a dip in the motel pool.

The next morning we had breakfast at one of the local eateries - probably Denny's or Sambos. Then, it was off to Disneyland. We parked our car in the massive parking lot; took the Disneyland Tram to the front entrance and made our way thru the turn-styles. And, there it was, just like I'd seen it on TV - all those Sunday nights of watching Wonderful World of Color.

This is what we probably rode:

-Disneyland Railroad (which became a tradition in many future trips that we would ride the train first)

-Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln

-America The Beautiful

-Adventures Thru Inner Space (which scared the crap out of me. I never rode it again)

-People Mover

-Rocket Jets (Might have been this trip, or the next trip in 71/72)

-Carousel of Progress

-Fight to the Moon

-Submarine Voyage

-Matterhorn (my first roller coaster experience was either the Matterhorn or the Giant Dipper in Santa Cruz, CA)

-Small World

-Tiki Room

-Mark Twain

-Mine Train

-Pirates of the Caribbean

-I have a foggy memory of a Big Band performing at Carnation Plaza (It might have been Buddy Rich). But, what did I know? I was nine years old. I had no interest in jazz.

-I think we were all impressed with the cleanliness and line management having spent most of the summers of our youth attending local county fairs where efficiency is hardly the norm.

Things we didn't ride/do. Keep in mind this was during the era of A-E tickets. You quite often had to make decisions about what to ride/not ride.

-Main St. transportation

-Monorail

-Skyway

-Autopia

-Motor Boat Cruise

-Fantasyland dark rides

-River transportation other than Mark Twain

-Tom Sawyer Island

-Pack Mules

-Jungle Cruise

-Swiss Family Robinson Tree House

-Haunted Mansion (we missed the opening of Haunted Mansion by two months!)

-Pirate Ship Restaurant (in all the times that I went to Disneyland between the late 60's and early 80's, I never set foot on the tuna boat).

-Take enough pictures. I think my dad took about 8-10 black/white pictures.

We're off to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. Too bad we couldn't have been there on the exact anniversary.