Welcome to Thru Walt's Eyes!

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Vintage Elephant Bathing Pool postcard from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland

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50th Anniversary of JFK Assassination

President Kennedy visited Disneyland only once; as a senator in October of 1959. In this picture he greets the President of Guinea, Ahmed Sékou Touré, by the Disneyland Railroad. 

Here we have a sign displayed at the park's front entrance informing guests that Disneyland would be closed in observance of the president's death. This marked the first time Disneyland had been closed unexpectedly. Since then this has only happened twice, once in 1994 after the Northridge earthquake and then most recently in 2001 following the September 11 attacks. 

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Full video of Tony Baxter's window dedication ceremony on November 1, 2013. 

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Congratulations to Tony Baxter for getting his window on Main St. yesterday! 

Click the source to see more photos from the event. 

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Concept Art for the Nautilus restaurant that would have been located inside the planned Discovery Bay area of Disneyland. 

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Tony Baxter next to a model for his Discovery Bay sometime in the 1970s/80s.

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Concept Art for Discovery Bay 

Discovery Bay was a concept for a new land along the Rivers of America set in the 19th century. Dreamed up by Tony Baxter in the 1970s it would have featured attractions based on the inventions of the 1800s, Jules Verne novels, and the film The Island at the Top of the World. However because EPCOT and Tokyo Disneyland were being developed at the same time, the project was never realized. 

If you want to read more about Discovery Bay click here 

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I'm officially making today Tony Baxter Day! (on this blog at least lol)  So if you see something that isn't necessarily from disneyland or from more recent decades today that's why :) 

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Tony Baxter is Getting his Window on Main St. Today!

     For those of you that don't know, getting your name on a Main St. window is one of the highest honors an imagineer can receive. While you don't have to be an imagineer to get one, windows are reserved for people who have played an instrumental role in creating the magic at Disneyland. Tony already has a window at Disneyland Paris but if you ask me this window at Disneyland is long overdue! 

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Walt, Mickey, Minnie, and Alice outside The Alice in Wonderland attraction in Fantasyland, 1958. 

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Mad Tea Party, 1967

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Mickey and Minnie greet (more accurately scare) guests at Disneyland's main entrance in this picture taken sometime between 1956 - 1966. 

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Walt prepares to board a pirate ship to Neverland

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Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day everyone! 

To celebrate, check out this ride through video of Pirates of the Caribbean from the 1960's! 

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I love Tumblr’s fascination of the Disneyland mermaids in the 1960’s. So here are some unseen images of them!

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The Mouseketeers’ debut on the opening day of Disneyland.

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Alice and the White Rabbit in Fantasyland