Disneyland Alice Attraction Color Photograph July 1968

A very nice snapshot of the Alice exterior with very cool leaves and the dearly-departed vine.

Looks a little overcast on this day, but the colors on the leaves are great!  Well, they are now, I did have to restore this a little.  I think you'll agree it looks better now ;-)

Bates Disneyland Fabric - Tea Cups

I've had this fabric scanned and ready to post for a while, ever since the slew of feedsack and fabric posts back in August 2014, but I didn't know who made it so I held off on posting.  Today, we were finally able to make out the faintest copyright line in light pink(!) printing on the selvage, and it is in fact Bates like all the others.

The color of the fabric is not captured very well in this photo, it is really more of a very pale blue, but the pattern is pretty cool with old school tea cup ride decorations.  Sadly I don't have very much of it, and have never seen any more, would be cool to make a shirt out of this.

Happy Halloween - And Happy Birthday to Me

So I have the coolest friends on the world. Check out my birthday present - real lanterns from Disneyland's Mad Tea Party! Soon to be refurbished and lit :-)

Disneyland Alice in Wonderland Gloves by Wells Lamont

I know when I was a kid the only souvenirs I wanted when I went to Disneyland were gloves.  Nothing like gloves in bright and sunny southern California.

These gloves are particularly cool as they have a very nice illustration of Alice on each one.  Made by Wells Lamont of Chicago, I do imagine that for those kids visiting from colder climes these would indeed be a cool souvenir to take back home with you.

This particular example is very nice in that it has its original tag with price (49¢).  Wells Lamont held a license for gloves for 11 years (1958-1968), so it would be pretty tough to nail down exactly from when these come, but the style of the Disney copyright says late 1950s to early 1960s to me.

Bates Disneyland Fabric - Alice in Wonderland in Blue

Ok, so yesterday I said I assumed this fabric was available in store.  It was.  And this is a piece of it in blue.  I've not yet found a piece in pink.  I really like the mushroom background pattern.  All of the characters are a little crudely rendered, but what do you expect for cotton fabric from so long ago?  No selvedge on this piece, so I don't know what, if anything, this pattern was called other than Alice in Wonderland.

As luck would have it, I also have a homemade item using this fabric - a doll's apron or pinafore.  I love finding stuff like this.

Bates Disneyland Fabric Ad

What is really an ad for kids bathing suits as sold only at Disneyland is in fact also an ad for Bates Disciplined Fabric in Disney prints

The Alice in Wonderland print was available in both blue and pink, and although the Can Can style swim suit was only sold at Disneyland by Cole of California, the fabric was available in fabric stores everywhere.  Or so I assume.

DFC Disneyana Expo Preview - Day 5

This just in:  Rare Disneyland ticket alert!  I've VERY recently come into possession of the rarest of the rare in Alice ephemera:  a stub-style named attraction ticket booth ticket!  Must be because of the newly rehab'd attraction that these came my way.  Don't miss out!

Disneyland Gate Brochure 1958

In honor of today being the 56th anniversary of the Alice dark ride attraction at Disneyland, I present you with the gate giveaway brochure from 1958, the year the attraction opened.

Admittedly it is not very exciting from an Alice point of view, but there it is, listed on the back under new attractions.  I am nothing if not a completist.

Alice Attraction Rehab Underway

So our friends over at MiceChat have recently posted some photos of the Alice attraction as it is undergoing rehab.  Fingers crossed that the exterior vine track will stay!  Head on over there to take a look at their photos!

30th Anniversary of the Re-Opening of Disneyland's Alice in Wonderland Attraction

We interrupt the feedsack series for this special post.

Thirty years ago today, Disneyland's Alice in Wonderland attraction re-opened following a multi-year rehab (trailing one year after the rest of the Fantasyland rehab) and opened to much acclaim.  The new attraction, while removing a few beloved scenes (the Upside Down Room) saw a huge improvement in the overall quality of the experience.  To celebrate the opening, there was an exclusive event at which this figure of the White Rabbit was given out to very special guests.

The entire theme of the promotion was something like "Don't be late", so naturally the White Rabbit was the official mascot of the promotion.  Issued in a very limited edition of only 60 pieces, this particular example is #55.

Signed, dated and hand number by the artist, it is very hard to come by.  I was fortunate enough to acquire this one many years ago, probably in the second or third year of my collecting.  I've only ever seen one other example for sale, that one was particularly cool because the watch was a Mickey Mouse watch.

2013 Year in Review

This year was a sporadic one for the blog, but we covered some interesting topics.  The majority of the year was spent on animation art, in particular animation drawings. I even tried my hand at a little animation myself :-)

We also looked at a variety of Italian movie posters

A new Zaccagnini discovery

Some David Hall storyboards

A few cels

And who could forget the Vinyl Aprons!

A variety of trading cards from around the world

Some really cool dolls

And some early attraction tickets

And last but not least, some really big leaves!

I wish every one of my faithful readers a safe and prosperous new year.  See you in 2014!

Our Own Little Piece of Wonderland

Some of you may have noticed a distinct lack of posts in recent months.  Most of that time has been spent in pursuit of something truly cool, something that began all the way back in June at the Dayton Disneyana Show, something I can now share with you!

Welcome to Wonderland!  We have actual attraction leaves!!  How cool is that?  It was a long process, starting with paying for them (hence the massive eBay sales lately), and a whirlwind flight to Orlando.  Which was delayed.  Three hours.  We were so late that we were the only flight on the board.  Joy.

Once we arrived in Orlando, off in a cab to our airport hotel.  Apparently our cab driver didn't understand the concept of the airport hotel, and started driving us off to the other side of Orlando.  So that delayed us yet another hour.  Then we were given a hotel room that was already occupied.  That was embarrassing.  When we finally got to our room, it was 4:20am.  Finally, some sleep.  Until the fire alarm went off at 5:10am.  And again at 5:15am.  Apparently the kitchen staff were unclear how to make toast.

But at 9am we were off to the truck rental to get our truck.  It was a monster!  22 feet of rumbling diesel machinery.  Then off to Theme Park Connection, our purveyor of Alice leaves.  Four of them to be exact - two from the outside, two from the inside.

This is me in front of the big pink one in the warehouse.  BTW, Theme Park Connection is a very cool place.  If you are ever in Orlando and have a chance to go there, you should.  

So we loaded up the leaves (and a bunch of other stuff, how could we resist?) and headed off to Virginia!  and 15 hours later, we pulled up to our house (at 3am), and our 30 hour odyssey was at an end.   

This is a picture of all four right after we unloaded them.  The two interior leaves are still not installed, we are not sure if they can withstand the elements of Northern Virginia, they may have to be a part of the Tulgey Wood, the collection room inside the house.

Post LA Trip Post

Well, a little late but better late than never.

Disneyland was great as ever, but we really wanted to see The Mad Tea Party, and must say it was pretty cool. 

I must say that I LOVE DJ Rabbit. 

Off to SDCC!  This was pretty amazing, I haven't been in 20 years, and it is nothing like it used to be. ABC had a huge display across the street for the Alice spinoff show this fall.

And inside at the Van Eaton booth LOTS of cool Alice art

And of course a wide variety of cosplay, including some Alice.

Everyone should go at least once, it is an unforgettable experience.

Disneyana Show Finds

Had a great time at the show, got to catch up with lots of old friends and meet some new ones. And I actually found some things!

First, another quest item, what I believe to be a 1958 C ticket, the first ticket with the Alice attraction. 

Second, a cool variation of the Wash Your Hands backstage sign. 

And finally a 1958 Disneyland Motor Coach time table with a paragraph on the new Alice attraction. All in all a successful outing.