Elias was Walt and Roy O. Disney's father. 1895 was when he started his own contracting business in Chicago, one of many failed businesses. This window used to be over the Emporium, but was moved to east Center Street recently.
In the courtyard, just behind Sleeping Beauty's castle, there is a brass spike driven into the ground. It is not marked. This was the exact geographical center of Disneyland before expansion.
An actual US Mailbox
Today, as you walk along the trail across from Big Thunder Mountain RR towards Fantasyland, you’re walking through what’s left of Beaver Valley. Until Summer 1998, the waterfalls of Cascade Peak continued to roar into the Rivers of America. Cascade Peak is now completely gone. Years of water damage had taken their toll on the man-made peak’s structural integrity, so it was bulldozed. The first three pictures I took over this past weekend, (including the little "rainbow trout" that still leaps in the pond). The last pic is an old shot of the train coming out of that very tunnel.
On April 17, 1994, a 30 year old man jumped from the Skyway, landing in a tree, relatively unharmed. The Skyway was removed 7 months later in November, partially because it was too costly to make safety upgrades. People also threw objects & spit at guests below as they went overhead. For the final ride, Mickey & Minnie made the last crossing as guests watched below. The Fantasyland Skyway station remains, though abandoned and neglected. The first pic is one I took this weekend. Notice all of the pine needles that are just building up on the roof.
An owl outside of Sleeping Beauty's Castle
This is the other pet cemetery that you cannot see from the front of the mansion. Yes, there are two. Imagineer Kim Irvine (daughter of "Madame Leota" Leota Toombs) came up with the idea for the first one in the early 1980's. Not a lot of time and effort went into the project. Kim just purchased off-the-shelf yard statues of a dog, cat, skunk, and frog (complete with mouth hole for squirting water) and had Imagineer Chris Goosman compose some macabre epitaphs for the pedestals. They were put in the vacant yard on the north side of the HM, alongside the wheelchair access path, reportedly to give them something to look at over there.
While on a tour of the American West, Walt Disney bought a petrified tree stump from Pike Petrified Forest in Colorado. For their 31st wedding anniversary, Walt presented the fossilized stump to his wife Lillian. Unsure of what to do with the unique gift, Lillian immediately donated the petrified tree to Disneyland, where it has been since 1956.
The White Rabbit's house across from the Tea Cups
A secret restroom just to the left of the entrance doors inside the Enchanted Tiki Room.
