Recently my son was sick and because he was sleeping poorly, he and I ended up watching Cars Toons at 4 a.m. one early morning. As we settled in to watch the episode of Moon Mater, where Mater blasts off to the moon to give Impala 13 a tow. With Mater staring at the moon, and this being a Disney cartoon, I was reminded of my mother telling me about her trip to Disneyland in 1969. She was there the same day Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
My mother Linda, and my Uncle Brian set off from the small town of St. George in Ontario, Canada, in her new Volkswagen Beatle in July of 1969. Across North America they went, stopping at the Grand Canyon, visiting Mexico, then San Diego, and finally Los Angeles When they got to Disneyland they found Walt’s magic kingdom crowded with happy tourists. My mother and uncle spent a couple of days in the park enjoying rides on the Mark Twain and seeing the burning settlers cabin or sitting excitedly on the Jungle Cruise marvelling at the ferocious animals they encountered. They would walk up Main Street to stare at the wonder of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. In Tomorrowland with the world’s fifth largest sub fleet passing by, and the peak of the Matterhorn in the distance, my mother and uncle watched on giant 40 ft screens the progress of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. (These screens were installed specially so that visitors could watch the landing from Tomorrowland). As my mother said, it was a great time to be alive.
Imagine being in Tomorrowland, the place of future dreams as the future was happening. My mother and uncle would leave Disneyland after a couple of days and continue up the Pacific Coast, eventually working their way back home to Ontario.
This roadtrip would have a lasting effect on my family. In 1983 when my parents were looking for a place to take a family vacation Disney World was mentioned, and my mother talked about how much fun she had in Disneyland. She was certain Disney World would be a great place for the kids. Thirty years later, we are still vacationing in the magic of Walt Disney.
I still marvel at the images my mother captured from her days at Disneyland. We may not be able to physically travel in time, but looking at photos and imagining what was, sure helps fill the void.