Happy Birthday Disneyland

Herb Ryman created some fantastic art for Disney.  Among them are images that represent New Orleans Square, Epcot, and Tokyo Disneyland, each painted before the individual subjects were actually created.  Of his work, my favorite is the first concept drawing of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

My first quarter in art school, we were tasked to re-create a master art piece.  I chose to try my hand at Ryman's Castle.  As much as I enjoy creating digital art, this was a freehand drawing class, so I this subject because it is near and dear to my heart.  I never claimed to be a stellar artist, and freehand is not my forte, but I was very pleased with my results.  (And I got an "A" on it, too!)

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Ryman Castle Reproduction

The following week in class, the assignment was to re-draw this piece.  The catch was that is needed to be done in black and white, only using grey scales to represent color and shadow.

Ryman Castle B/W Reproduction

A couple years later, I took the opportunity to revisit these favorite drawings of mine.  Since the original drawing was created to represent something that was in the process of design and building, I reworked my version to also represent the creative design process in action.

Ryman Castle Creation Reproduction

On this day, 56 years ago, the actual Sleeping Beauty Castle made its debut.  The real thing varied somewhat from this first sketch.  The story is told of the model for the castle in which Walt Disney preferred the upper floors turned backwards.  Today, this view of the upper floors can be seen from inside the castle walls in Fantasyland.

H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y

D I S N E Y L A N D ! !

Disneyland Ticket Books 68-82

The return to Globe Paper background for the first time for the E to A Ticket Style.

Ticket Book 1968 Reproduction

Return to Globe Paper.

Ticket Book 1970 Reproduction

Ticket Price increase...  C to E raised to .40 .70 .85

Ticket Book 1974 Reproduction

It may be minor, but in 1974, the red A B C D E lettering became bolder.

Ticket Book 1975 Reproduction

Prices probably changed again in 1975, as all tickets printed after this date dropped the cash value altogether.  This was also when the "Disneyland" logo was modernized to the logo we know today.

View the entire Disneyland Ticket Book Series

by clicking the "Ticket Books" link on the right,

or by following the link [here]

Disneyland Ticket Books 66-67

For just 2 years, the traditional Globe ticket paper was replaced with a new Castle background.  This was likely an attempt to make the tickets differ from previous ticket books, because it was at this time that the A to E tickets became E to A tickets, for the first time making the A Tickets full sized and the E Tickets now became the smallest sized tickets.  The E ticket, the most popular, was likely moved to the front of the ticket book for easy accessibility.  This made the new E tickets the same size as the previous A tickets.

Ticket Book 1966 Reproduction

Smaller E Tickets and larger A Tickets on a new Castle background.

Ticket Book 1967 Reproduction

In 1967, the D and E Tickets were raised in price to .60 and .75, respectively

View the entire Disneyland Ticket Book Series

by clicking the "Ticket Books" link on the right,

or by following the link [here]

About "About Me"

My profile icon explains a lot about me, but it is displayed so tiny, I'll present a larger image here for you.

Everything there is to know about me.

Happy Fourth of July

During 1976, America was celebrating its Bicentennial year.  Everything was marketed with 1776, 1976, 200 years, America, and Independence.  Disneyland spent over a year with the same idea, and since I lived less than 5 miles away, I got caught up in the marketing campaign.  I can still picture some of the items I owned that incorporated the iconic Disney image referenced below, as they were some of my favorites.  Mickey, Goofy, and Donald lead the America on Parade, Mr Lincoln was updated on Main Street, and America Sings was introduced at the Carousel Theatre.

Personally, I think this is one of the first examples of a really great promotional concept at Disneyland, and it remains one of my favorites.  Here is my interpretation of that 35+ year old image.

Only 15 more years until the 250th Anniversary... I wonder if Disney has started working on a new iconic logo yet.

Disneyland Ticket Books 59-65

On June 14 1959, Disneyland experienced its first significant expansion.  New attractions included the Submarine Voyage, the Monorail, and the Matterhorn Bobsled.  With these great new attractions, a new "E-Ticket" was introduced too.

Ticket Book 1959 Reproduction

This set of tickets also changed the lettering style of the ticket values from previous black & bold font style to a newer and contrasting red & narrow font style.
 

Ticket Book 1960 Reproduction

In 1960, the words "Exchange For" were replaced with the words "Good For"

Ticket Book 1961 Reproduction

Beginning in 1961, the Special Ticket Book Price was included.

Ticket Book 1965 Reproduction

1965 saw the C thru E ticket prices going up to .35 .45 & .60
(formerly .30 .35 & .50)

Technically, this was the first price increase at Disneyland.  Even during the 50's, when the D Ticket was the highest value ticket, that value was still only .50--- upon the introduction of the E ticket in 1959, the D ticket was reduced to .35 cents, allocating the max .50 value to the new E tickets until the 1965 price increase.

View the entire Disneyland Ticket Book Series

by clicking the "Ticket Books" link on the right,

or by following the link [here]

Today is Cat Day

My website, SimbaSpot, is named after my siamese cat, Simba, who came to me as a kitten in 1994, the same year The Lion King premiered.  Yes, he was named after the lion cub.

The reason today is Cat Day is because six years ago, today, we adopted a senior cat, Kira, who despite her age, reminded me so much of The Aristocats' Marie.

They have both passed on, but I keep them near me by creating the cat art seen above. (Their two brothers, Bailey and Sidney now rule the roost...  Bailey even blogs about cats on the BaileyBlog!!)

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Sometimes the line between cats and Disney gets even blurrier!  Below are some of my favorite cats, dressed up in costumes you might recognize.