What were the extinct rides of Disneyland that ZapperZ missed out on?

[rcgldr]

A good waste of nostalgic time. ZapperZ can see what he's missed out on.

http://www.yesterland.com

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Does anyone remember E tickets?

I remember everything listed on that page, but I didn't see the Mr. Lincoln exhibit, the Carousel of Progress, and a few others things.

They used to have this old-time arcade on Main Street in which there was a high voltage test of endurance. It was designed to see who can take the most current, I do believe. I don't know how high the voltage went but it must have been at least a few thousand volts AC. You had to try to hold two metal handles until the clock timed out. The intensity of the pain from electrical shock increased continually, with the pain nearly intolerable near the end of the timing period.

It was great fun! They sure don't make toys like they used to.

 

[rcgldr]

Does anyone remember E tickets? I remember everything listed on that page, but I didn't see the Mr. Lincoln exhibit, the Carousel of Progress, and a few others things. They used to have this old-time arcade on Main Street in which there was a high voltage test of endurance.

I first went to Disneyland around 1963 or 1964. They had the flying saucer / bumper cars there, which only lasted 2 or 3 years. The also had demonstrations of control line aircraft, and tethered gas driven model cars that went in small circles.

We ended up moving to California in 1966. Carousel of Progress was still there. I saw the Lincoln Exhibit, which included some cool models of the white house, and a mock office of Walt Disney.

The purpose of the tickets was to divy up the profits for the sponsors of various rides. GE sponsored Carousel of Progress, Monsanto the house of the Future and Adventure Through Inner Space, Union 76 sponsored the Autopias, ... The one I remember most was Goodyear sponsored the people mover, as you went up the conveyor belt type escalator, there were these small animated sign, like a tractor with it's wheels moving, and the go go go go goodyear theme song.

Eventually Disney bought out the rights to all the rides and eliminated the tickets.

other amusement parks in California, some now long gone

Entire amusement parks of the 60's have been shut down. One was Pacific Ocean Park, which I went to maybe 2 or 3 times. It closed down 2 years after we moved to California. In the 2 episode series ending of The Fugitive, the last episode had a scene in the then closed down Pacific Ocean Park. You can find out more at wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean_Park

Nu-Pike in Long Beach that had the Cyclone roller coaster.

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/cyclone.html

Marineland in Palos Verdes:

http://www.marinelandofthepacific.org/pages/1/index.htm

Now there are just 3 boardwalk type parks in California:

Santa Cruz beach boardwalk with Giant Dipper roaller coaster:

http://www.beachboardwalk.com

Pacific Park / Santa Monica Pier

http://www.pacpark.com

Belmont Park (Mission Bay / San Diego) boardwalk, also with a Giant Dipper roller coaster:

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/misbch.html

Although I'm closest to Santa Monica, it's park is the only one in this list of parks I haven't been too. There used to be just a carousel there, but they've kept adding to it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh wow! I remember riding the Cyclone in Long Beach. In fact I spent many hours at The Pike, which was later called Queens Park.

 

[loseyourname]

Wait a sec. Pacific Park is still open, isn't it?

The one Disneyland attraction I'll always mourn the most is the People Mover. That was my favorite ride there and I was incredibly sad when they replaced it with those damn rockets that didn't even work and had to be removed because of safety concerns. When are they going to replace the submarines, too? I loved that one, too, and there isn't even anything in its place, just an empty pool of water with all those cool things to see at the bottom and no way to get down there.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

From the Wiki link:

Other than a few underwater pilings and signs warning of them, nothing remains of Pacific Ocean Park today. However, a few miles north, the original Santa Monica Pier does feature a newer amusement park, similarly called Pacific Park. Today, the rides and attractions of the Santa Monica Pier include the old Carousel that is featured prominently in the 1973 Academy Award -winning film,The Sting.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Btw, I remember when Knott's Berry Farm was a berry farm! It used to be a more of a food stop with novelty rides rather than a full blown amusement park. My grandparents always liked to go there for the chicken dinners at the country diner.

 

[Integral]

In 1965 I earned a trip to Disneyland by soliciting newspaper (The Oregonian) subscriptions. We spent one day at Disneyland a day at Universal City Studios and stopped by Knots Berry farm (let's not forget the Angels game) It was really quite an experience for a teenager from rural Oregon.

My major recollection of Disneyland is when the jerk I was buddy’ed with (he had the route just west of mine back home) spit off of the Overhead trams. At the unload station he was, literally, manhandled by the thugs posing as "cast members". With his back to a wall, a fist on each collar and his toes barly on the floor he learned very quickly that spitting was not approved behavior. Fortunately, I did not spit , and really the jerk got what deserved, ie scarred spitless.

I may still have the ticket for the then new Lincoln exhibit. I would have liked to use it but could not find it. I think I was looking for some major signage?? Perhaps the above mentioned jerk had something to do with it??

Knots Berry farm was wide spot on a dusty road. It consisted of a store for Jams Jelllys ect and a mock old western town. The main feature was a raised water trough with water running over a bed of gold salted sand. For $1 you could pan gold. When you got it mostly panned out they would finish the pan for you then fill a little vile with water and your few flecks of gold. I may even still have that somewhere??

 

[rcgldr]

Overhead trams

It was called the Skyway to Tomorrowland or Skyway to Adventurland depending on which end you boarded at. Spitting was a too common problem, although somewhat rare as word got out.

I may still have the ticket for the then new Lincoln exhibit.

It was either an A or a B ticket, one of the cheaper events. A very stiff robotic Lincoln would stand up and give a speech, while the background sky changed from dawn to night quickly.