Lounge of Tomorrow - 55 and 50 Party

Help us return the Swank to the Disneyland Hotel. We can do it with the Fifty Five Fifty Party!

Our latest go-round of Disneyland Hotel photos reveals that, while fun and activities peaked in the 80’s, the swank factor steadily declined through the 60’s and 70’s. Take a look.

Ah, the Top of the Park Lounge in its glory days. Reached by outdoor elevator that whisked you from the hotel grounds to this rooftop retreat, the Top of the Park Lounge was THE hipster hotspot of the Disneyland Resort - - well, long before there was a Disneyland Resort. Views of the fireworks complimented a round of cocktails in the sky. This is where traveling businessmen went to unwind from a boring day of meetings, and where couples retired for a drink or two after the kids went to bed, all tuckered out from a busy day at the Happiest Place on Earth. For a few brief hours every night, the Top of the Park Lounge was even happier.

The Monorail Bar near the hotel’s main entrance was an even busier saloon. Themed to different ages of transportation, this was the pick-up spot for the Disneyland Hotel. Check out all the swingin’ sixties singles on the make in this photo! Clang, clang, clang went the trolley!

THIS was the caliber of guest photographed at random on the hotel grounds in the late ‘50’s. Times.Have.Changed.

An awesome shot of the fin-filled parking lot against the retro-girder design of the restaurant entrance. Nothing screams Fabulous Fifties quite like this vintage photograph of Anaheim’s Disneyland Hotel.

By the 1980’s, the Monorail Bar had been converted to the Monorail Café some of us older folks are more familiar with. It was the White Water Snacks of its day, offering decent food at comparatively reasonable prices - and mere steps away from Monorail service directly to Tomorrowland. I’m sure I didn’t realize back in the ‘80’s what a fantastic yesterdayland the Monorail Café enjoyed when it was the Monorail Bar.

And the dress-code had relaxed a bit by the ‘80’s, as well. But ya gotta love that rear wall in classic attraction poster style. Friendly if frumpy waitresses offered fresh family fare. I miss the place. It was sad to see the Café go when the entire front half of the hotel was converted to the west end of Downtown Disney.

An iconic photograph of the Disneyland Hotel entrance, soon after regular monorail service started in 1961. Classic in every sense.

Walt poses with his beloved bubble-top monorail at the Disneyland Hotel station. Yes, folks, the first daily operating honest-to-goodness transportation monorail in the Western Hemisphere.

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Let’s celebrate Walt’s dream-come-true. Disneyland, an American Original. Often copied, never surpassed. The Happiest Place on Earth since July 17, 1955. Fifty Five Fifty swank-o-rific celebrations July 16 at the Disneyland Hotel.