lots and lots of old disney crap

a couple of years ago, the kids and i went to a really cool exhibit of disneyland memorabilia that was being auctioned off.  we'd had a lot of fun just checking everything out, and so when i heard that the auction house was doing another one the bean and i picked out a day to head out.  i don't remember where the last one was but this time it was in burbank, housed in a space that had been bed bath & beyond in its previous life.

as before, everything showcased here was going up for auction and there was a lot of memorabilia on display with little notes that gave approximate pricing.  this was kinda cool - an entire guest relations doorway with a microphone stand and shield that had once been used by walt disney himself.

there was quite a wide variety of cast member name badges available:

here's a fun display of random disney headgear:

check out this promo bumper sticker - it was in fantastic condition.  maybe someone found it pressed in the pages of a book, or tucked away in a file somewhere.

vintage disneyland board games and random toys!  this was just one of many shelves full of similar items.

i swear i remember having a similarly-styled alarm clock back in the olden days when i was little.  mine was mickey mouse-themed, though. now i wish i'd kept that thing. 

these machines used to be in the park and for the price of one shiny quarter you could take home a freshly made plastic toy in the shape of the character of the day.  if you visit the pinball hall of fame in vegas, you'll find one of these machines still in operation.  i don't know if they switch out the characters, and i'm pretty sure it probably costs more than $.25 now, but still...pretty cool.

there used to be an aunt jemima-themed restaurant at disneyland.  it was long gone before my first visit in 1979, but here's some stuff that someone managed to keep from it.

this audio-animatronic bird was fully functional and was part of the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room (you're welcome).  the sign gave an estimated price of about $30,000 - but i heard that it went for far more than that.  eek.

you could have pieces of the indiana jones attraction in your home, because that wouldn't be scary as hell to wake up and catch a glimpse of in the middle of the night.

these items would make for some fun decor though, like in a game room or a nice back yard.

i'm always amused at the ride vehicles for sale, because really...where would you even put one of those?  what normal human has room for (or money to spend on) one of these things?

how about a set of the stretching portraits from the haunted mansion elevator?

or maybe a ride control panel...perhaps the hitchhiking ghosts?  you could have halloween in your house year-round!

these signs would be fun, although again - where would you put them?

you used to be able to buy postcards from vending machines like this:

the bean adored the tower of terror and offered to pool their life savings in order to bring these pieces home (i said no):

but i might have caved had they wanted to bid on this, because i still think one of these themed trash cans would be really fun to have.  yes, i sure would.

here's a bunch of random club 33-themed stuff:

and there was a corner filled with items from disney world as well.

the last room was kind of like a yard sale - super random disney-related items that normal people could afford, if they really wanted to.  there was stuff like dolls and coffee mugs and hats and figurines and old magazines and everything in between.

and i was really amused to see a full shelf of hotel toiletries, because i have a plastic shoebox at home with a bunch of this stuff.  

and that's it! i sure didn't bid on any of this stuff, but i wonder how many of these pieces john stamos added to his collection.  if i ever run into him again i'm totally gonna ask him.

everything old is new again...sorta

i was super excited when i learned about an upcoming exhibit called "that's from disneyland."  the girls and i visited van eaton galleries last year to look at auction lots of disneyland memorabilia, and this time around it was a much bigger deal.  it's a private collector's stash of goodies that he's been collecting for 25 years, with all sorts of great stuff from attraction posters to ride vehicles used in the park.  i read somewhere that he's raising money for the hospital where one of his young kids is being treated for an illness, which is kind of cool.  he rented a now-vacant sporting goods store to display everything, turning it in somewhat of a museum for disney fans of all ages to come and check things out.  it's free to get in, and the auction will take place over the course of two days around the end of the month.

we decided to head out on sunday afternoon of the opening weekend, and since the news and social media had been abuzz with pictures and videos and hype we were prepared to stand in line and wait to get in.  we weren't wrong:

but at least we were in the shade, and to be honest the line really did move pretty quickly.  i don't think we waited even ten minutes before we made it inside.  there were a lot of people in there, and so much stuff to look at.  it was total sensory overload and i didn't even know where to start.  so i just followed the kids blindly and the first thing i focused on was this model of main street.

 there was a ton of great stuff mounted on all of the walls.  want one of the disneyland mailboxes?

old signage that remind you of the days when disneyland was a lot more affordable.

maps of the park from decades past.  these were really fun to look at and see how much things have changed...and also how much has stayed the same.

hand drawn concept art.

so much great vintage stuff to look at.

 this is one of the neon letters from the old disneyland hotel sign.

there were lots of informational signs placed everywhere to explain what things were.

 this was really cool - the "cinderella" display that used to be in one of the windows on main street.

and when you looked up, the signs from the old parking lot were placed up on the posts.  back in the days before california adventure and the mickey & friends parking structure was built, you'd park your car in the lot in front of the main gate and these character signs told you which lot you'd left your car in.

everything was really well organized, and separated into sections based on the different lands within the park.  frontierland featured one of the canoes from the rivers of america and signage from old attractions that have been replaced by other things.

the highlight of the adventureland area was this fully functional talking "jose" bird from the beloved enchanted tiki room, along with other fun stuff from days gone by.

fantasyland used to have the skyway, AKA the "sky buckets."  i remember riding this at least once or twice when i was little, before they removed it altogether and closed the hole in matterhorn mountain that it used to travel through.

another oldie but goodie was the peoplemover, a slow-moving ride that used to travel overhead throughout tomorrowland.  it was the best way to rest your feet while catching glimpses of space mountain, star tours, the monorail, and autopia.  disney world still has their version, and we always make it a point to ride it ever chance we get.  i would love to have this in the back yard, but the starting bid of $25K is a bit of a deterrent.  heh.

when they took the peoplemover out, they replaced it with a faster, more exciting version of the ride called "rocket rods."  i remember riding it a handful of times and really enjoying it, but it was forever breaking down with a really, really long line to wait in for it.  this is one of the cars from that short-lived attraction:

from the old "rocket jets" ride:

a "doom" buggy from the haunted mansion:

this is one of the old rockets from space mountain.

many a wild ride has been taken in this bright red car with mr. toad.

one of the flying elephants from the dumbo ride:

from snow white's scary adventures:

and a bobsled from the matterhorn.

and a sweet pirate ship from peter pan's flight.

the new orleans square section had a really cool photo op set up with the stretching portraits from the haunted mansion in the background, but the line was crazy long and we didn't really want to wait in it.

so we settled for looking at the other memorabilia instead.  there was some great stuff there.

want an ear worm?  guess what attraction these items are from:

i'm not gonna lie, i totally want that trash can.  i think bidding starts at $400, which would make the $200 for the rose gold simple human trash can i've been eyeing seem like chump change.  well, okay, not really, but you know what i mean.

we'd seen most of it by then and decided to head upstairs to see what was going on up there.  as we rode up the escalator we had a bird's eye view of the whole exhibit.

there was an arts and crafts section for the kids upstairs.  along one wall was something called "kraftland," where the kids were encouraged to choose a category and a land for a handmade amusement park and then create their best version of it using all sorts of art supplies like hot glue guns and paint pens and foam stickers and wood cutouts.

she decided to create a restaurant in the "water world" area.  she named it "moana's island bites" and then we worked together on assembling the best quick-service spot we could create using the supplies on hand.  i think we did a pretty darn good job.

check out how we made that piece of sea-colored foam stand up:

we were really proud of ourselves for that one.  it may not be pretty, but it sure did the job.  right?  right??

back downstairs, we stopped in the gift shop.  most of the items for sale were straight out of the van eaton galleries and stuff we'd seen before, along with t-shirts and tote bags adorned with the "that's from disneyland" logo.

and that was that.  there's a ton of other stuff i didn't take pictures of, like original attraction posters and animation cels and tons of little pieces from all around disneyland.  this man's collection is pretty gigantic, and i have no doubt that every last piece will get snapped up by disney fans far and wide.  knowing that proceeds are going to benefit a hospital that treats sick kids is a great incentive, too, and i'm kind of hoping i can talk the hub into letting me bid on something small.

i mean...birthday princess month is coming in a few weeks.  whee!!