Although it was 11 years ago, it seems like yesterday when Carol I started to make plans for our “once-in-a-lifetime” trip to Disneyland. We were as excited as little children as we contemplated the trip!

You see, we are both part of the generation that saw Disneyland take shape before our eyes! Back in the mid 1950’s we lived several hundred miles apart and we wouldn’t meet for almost two decades, but each of us was hooked on Disney even back then! I rushed home from school each day to watch the Mickey Mouse Club.

Jimmie Dodd and the Mouseketeers kept me entertained with skits and song & dance routines; there were cartoons and serial adventures like The Hardy Boys and Spin and Marty.

Television was in its infancy and Walt Disney quickly proved that he understood the power of this new medium. He used it very effectively to sell his latest and most daring venture – Disneyland. Every Sunday evening Carol and I were both glued to the old black and white TV set watching snowy images of Walt Disney himself as he hosted the hour-long Disneyland program.

That version of the weekly television show ran from 1954 to 1958 and along with serial adventures such as Davy Crockett and classic Disney animated features like Alice in Wonderland, the show often gave us brief glimpses of the exotic adventures awaiting at Disneyland, in Adventureland – Fantasyland – Frontierland – Tomorrowland and Main Street USA. It was the first of its kind, the original theme park.

Alas, Disneyland was so far away! It was over 2,300 miles as the crow flies. Interstate Highways were not yet built and the most expedient course was along Route 66, a drive of more than 3,000 miles from our homes in Canada. The world seemed so much larger and so inaccessible in those days!

An issue of The Disney News published in the summer of 1990, when the park was 35 years old, described the world of 1955, when Disneyland opened. The two-page article makes interesting reading. Inflation in 1955 was under 1% (.3%), unemployment was 4% and the minimum wage was $1.00. Times were good and the economy was booming! Names in the news included a controversial new singer – Elvis Presley, a young actor – James Dean and in December 1955 the civil rights movement got a spark from newsmaker Rosa Parks. Television programs included Roy Rogers, Davy Crockett, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Gunsmoke and Dragnet. Ann Landers wrote her first newspaper column that year.

The article is shown below, click on the images to see larger, readable versions of the pages.

Now let’s jump ahead 49 years to early 2004; the world had shrunk considerably. Carol and I had been to Walt Disney World many times and now we were beginning to plan a trip to the granddaddy of all theme parks. It was so exciting! The trip that was beyond our wildest dreams as children was now going to be a reality.

Then the Disney Magazine arrived in the summer of 2004, describing the celebrations planned for the park’s 50th birthday. It was billed as “The Happiest Homecoming on Earth”. It sounded too good to miss! Read about it below.

It was actually painful when we decided to wait a year and go west in 2005 to witness the 50th Anniversary festivities! But we finally made the trip in May; we checked in at The Disneyland Hotel and enjoyed a glorious week walking in Walt’s footsteps. We enjoyed it so much that our once-in-a-lifetime trip has become more of an annual tradition. We’ve been back eight more times in the nine years since that first trip.

And now the park is poised to celebrate its 60th birthday. Gosh, isn’t it funny how that can make us feel very old and very young at the same time. We feel old when we think that six decades have gone by since we first dreamed of a trip to Disneyland . . . but we feel like a kids again when we consider that we might soon get back there!

Over the past few months we’ve been talking quite seriously about heading west for the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration, the 60th Anniversary celebrations which kick off on May 22, 2015. Will we go? We’re undecided at the moment. But it sure sounds good!

There will be a new “Paint the Night” Parade.

And a new “Disneyland Forever” Fireworks Show.

And a brand new “World of Color – Celebrate! The Wonderful World of Walt Disney” will light up the skies every night at the Disney’s California Adventure.

Read more about all the new entertainment here.

Watch a video below which gives a “sneak peek” of the new attractions.

They are making some very interesting changes to Sleeping Beauty Castle as well. It should be breathtaking! Listen carefully during the video below to hear the new word the Imagineers have coined for the occasion. They’re going to “diamondize” the castle.

Fellow AllEars blogger Laura Gilbreath attended a special Media Preview at Disneyland on April 14th and had a “sneak peak” at new entertainment, new merchandise and new food items to be offered as part of the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration. Use the links below to read Laura’s blogs which include many more “insider” pictures and details. Some of the special merchandise she previewed looks spectacular!

Disneyland Diamond Anniversary Preview – Part 1

Disneyland Diamond Anniversary Preview – Part 2

There has been nothing mentioned about how long the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration will last, but the Happiest Homecoming lasted through two summers. If this celebration does the same, Carol and I just might be able to get there to enjoy it!

In the meantime, Happy 60th Birthday Disneyland!

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