Product Description

The Disneyland® Hotel: The Early Years 1954-1988 captures the amazing construction of this landmark resort and tells the story of how it became one of Southern California's premier destinations for family vacations. The book includes vintage photos, memorabilia, and a foreword by the son of the original owner of the hotel.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1231401 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 136 pages

Review
Fabulous! Well written/organized and full of interesting pictures - most of which I have not seen before. -- Charles Ewers

Fabulous! Well written/organized and full of interesting pictures - most of which I have not seen before. --Charles Ewers

This is a perspective that's been long overdue. It's just a terrific book. -- Peter Csanadi

This is a perspective that's been long overdue. It's just a terrific book. --Peter Csanadi

About the Author
Donald W. Ballard lives in Northern California with his wife and children. He first became interested in the Disneyland® Hotel in the late 1970’s. He never considered a trip to Disneyland® complete without a stay at the Disneyland® Hotel. The Hotel was an adventure and experience in itself to him aside from the joys of Disneyland®. By 1998, he decided to start documenting the Disneyland® Hotel’s history. He began compiling many vintage paper items, photographs, magazines and souvenirs from the Hotel’s rich history. What first started as a short article for a Southern California travel magazine eventually became this book. Along the way, Don learned a tremendous amount about the Hotel’s original owner Jack Wrather and recognized many parallels Wrather had to Walt Disney. Both were innovators and risk takers. Both had the guest’s experience and enjoyment first and foremost in everything they planned. Both were told Disneyland® and the Disneyland® Hotel would fail yet both persisted in their plans. What tremendous courage each man had… Don was fortunate to have stayed many times at the Disneyland® Hotel in its pre-1999 format and experienced many of Jack Wrather’s amenities. He loved the Monorail Café and the Olympic Pool as well as the old Garden Villas and Suites. He was also fortunate to stay in the North Garden Villas the last night they were open to the public in May of 1999. Though sad to see the historical section of the Disneyland® Hotel removed, he understood the need for change. He and his family love the new Neverland Pool and Downtown Disney. He hopes that with this book, he can rekindle your fond memories of happy times spent at the original Disneyland® Hotel.

Customer Reviews

Fabulous, Nostalgic, Informative and Entertaining
This book is clearly a labor of love--it is filled with photos of the hotel's original construction, its connection to Disneyland by monorail, and the erection of the first and subsequent towers. It details the quiet motel's sporadic but inexorable expansion into a world-class resort, and offers a fascinating glimpse of two unique individuals: Jack Wrather, the Texas oil man turned TV producer who built the hotel at Walt Disney's suggestion, and his actress wife, Bonita Granville. In addition to gathering a great deal of information into a single volume, the book beautifully reproduces an amazing collection of various Disneyland Hotel brochures and other memorabilia. I own nearly every book that touches on Disneyland, and highly recommend this addition to anyone's collection. I particularly appreciate the book's aesthetically-pleasing design.

This book is really a wonderful book about a fabulous resort.
I remember staying at the Disneyland Hotel with my family in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. What a wonderful, magical place. This book has a lot of really great photos and information on this hotel. Some of the decor from the 50s 60s and 70s was wild. I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel last year, after not being back since the transformation and wow, had it changed. Even took this book with to compare some of the changes. Amazing. If you have a love of Disneyland or this resort, this book is a must purchase.

I really liked the book!!!
The book was one of the best I have read, very well written and brought back a lot of nostalgia, especially since I have been going to Disneyland for a while now. I recommend it to anyone looking for Disney History or a collector, it's got great pictures of the landmark, and interesting info about the hotel.