DLH - goodnite mr. wrather

[Mary Blairiffic]

I am wearing my Disneyland Hotel 50th anniversary t-shirt right now as I'm writing this. PLEASE keep the waterfalls and the koi pond!!! When my husband and I go to DL we always stay at the DLH and we always visit our koi and kiss by the waterfall. I'm sure I'm not the only one who considers the DLH as classic a part of the Disneyland experience as the park itself!

[original dh]

Originally Posted by Mary Blairiffic

I am wearing my Disneyland Hotel 50th anniversary t-shirt right now as I'm writing this. PLEASE keep the waterfalls and the koi pond!!! When my husband and I go to DL we always stay at the DLH and we always visit our koi and kiss by the waterfall. I'm sure I'm not the only one who considers the DLH as classic a part of the Disneyland experience as the park itself!

The original Disneyland Hotel was like having your dessert after a fine meal (Disneyland). There was so much to do there and the atmosphere was electric. I still like it but I sure miss many of the things that were torn down.

One of my greatest memories was, sitting outside the shops on a bench (facing West Street) on a warm summer evening, just relaxing and watching all the people walk by. All of a sudden, a band walks up (not the Disneyland Band) and asks for any Disney song requests. This was a drummer, some horns and other instruments. It was totally spontaneous. I spent the next half-hour belting out Whale of a Tale, Mickey Mouse Club March, Beauty and the Beast and so many other classics. It was a wonderful experience.

From what I know, the waterfalls are safe although I am not sure they let you walk down really close to them any more. Did you know, Bonita Granville Wrather helped design those falls? I have copies of her personal pictures of when they were being constructed.

www.magicalhotel.com

[Isaac]

Originally Posted by original dh

From what I know, the waterfalls are safe although I am not sure they let you walk down really close to them any more.

Guests can still walk along the paths behind the waterfalls but if it's a rainy day or a bit foggy they close them. Also I think Disney closes those paths after a certain time at night.

I'm glad they're safe and it's cool to know that Bonita helped design them!

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

My suggested new names for the towers:

Lohan Tower
Raven Tower
Hannah Montana Tower

No, no, no. They need more 'magical' names like:

Firecrotch Tower (featuring the Fugs N Jugs suite)

[Mary Blairiffic]

Originally Posted by original dh

Did you know, Bonita Granville Wrather helped design those falls? I have copies of her personal pictures of when they were being constructed.

www.magicalhotel.com

I did not know that. Cool history abounds at the DLH. Thanks for the info!

[original dh]

Lot's of history at the Disneyland Hotel.

DLH:

First major Hotel west of the Mississippi after the war (WWII).
First highrise building in Anaheim.
First Hotel to use solar power to generate energy (Bonita Tower 1978).
First fully computerized Hotel.
First designed, family oriented Hotel.
First Hotel with an operating/working Monorail system.
First Hotel with a glass elevator.
First Hotel to accept credit cards as forms of payment.
First western Hotel with an operating Heliport.
First Hotel to have seasonal rates (off-season and on-season).
First Hotel with a television in every room (some even had color TV's).
First Hotel that was fully air-conditioned.
First west coast Hotel with its own radio station KEZY.

www.magicalhotel.com

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by original dh

Lot's of history at the Disneyland Hotel.

DLH:

First west coast Hotel with its own radio station KEZY.

I don't know if I would say that it was it's "own" radio station. Yes, the studio's were on the hotel property, but KEZY was not owned by Disney or officially affiliated with the hotel (to the best of my knowledge and limited research).

[original dh]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

I don't know if I would say that it was it's "own" radio station. Yes, the studio's were on the hotel property, but KEZY was not owned by Disney or officially affiliated with the hotel (to the best of my knowledge and limited research).

I never said it was owned by Disney or affiliated with the Disneyland Hotel. For that matter, most of the stores and restaurants were independantly owned and operated through leases with Wrather. The Hotel wasn't even owned by Disney or even affiliated with Disney until 1988. The Wrather Corporation owned the Disneyland Hotel and had no affiliaton with Disney.

[Mary Blairiffic]

Hello original dh! I just need to put this out there: if you have any say in this, could you encourage the powers that be to think about the "new" DLH design to look, well, vintagey? I know, it's rather contradictory to make what IS a vintage hotel even more vintage, but they could take some cues from classic Mid-Century modern design and swankify it up! But please, they just CAN'T make it "generic lux", like a Radisson or some such. I pray for the soul of the DLH!!!

[original dh]

My friend Werner Weiss and I were discussing this very same idea one day. Here are his thoughts which by the way, mirror my feelings almost exactly:

"Instead of imploding the existing buildings and starting over, I'd like to see The Walt Disney Company make the Disneyland Hotel's mid-century modern architecture into a virtue rather than a liability.

Today, it seems that Disney is saying, "Don't looking up at the ugly buildings. Keep your eyes low and enjoy the 'Magical' Disney-ish things we've done at ground level. Try to forget that the buildings scream 1960's (even though some are newer than that)."

Instead, I'd like to see the Disneyland Hotel adopt a strong late-1950's/early-1960's theme, with signs, colors, restaurants, furniture, uniforms, decor, artwork, and landscaping that immerse guests in the era when the Disneyland Monorail first began serving the Disneyland Hotel. By the way, the buildings aren't ugly; they're actually very nicely designed examples of the era. The Hotel should take guests back in time, just as most of Disney's deluxe hotels in Florida do. Only it would be a different time period.

Take a look at the website of the Renaissance Hollywood at http://www.renaissancehollywood.com/ -- you'll find pictures of the rooms, with their wild mid-century modern colors and furniture. With its more spacious grounds and its multiple buildings, the Disneyland Hotel could way outdo the Renaissance Hollywood.

Think about the possibilities for restaurants. Think about tiki revival. Think about the "space age." Think about the Googie style. "Retro" is fun. In fact, look to Tomorrowland in the 1950's for inspiration.

The 900-or-so rooms, the restaurants, and the convention facilities are valuable assets. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to replace them. There's no reason to tear them down.

As they say, when you have a lemon, make lemonade. The Disneyland Hotel isn't a lemon. But Disney guests expect immersive, themed hotels—and the Disneyland Hotel fails to meet that expectation in its current form.

Let the Imagineers have fun immersing guests in another era!

(Hmmmm... Maybe I should expand on what I've written here as the subject of a future article for Yesterland.)"

He basically took the words right out of my mouth but they were his words entirely.

www.magicalhotel.com

[Mary Blairiffic]

Originally Posted by original dh

Instead, I'd like to see the Disneyland Hotel adopt a strong late-1950's/early-1960's theme, with signs, colors, restaurants, furniture, uniforms, decor, artwork, and landscaping that immerse guests in the era when the Disneyland Monorail first began serving the Disneyland Hotel. By the way, the buildings aren't ugly; they're actually very nicely designed examples of the era. The Hotel should take guests back in time, just as most of Disney's deluxe hotels in Florida do. Only it would be a different time period.


www.magicalhotel.com

Yes! That's exactly what I had in mind! It would be awesome!