Happy Holidays Disney and Railroad buddies! I hope that you enjoy this months postcard influenced article about Oakland's Children's Fairyland and it's connection to the Disney Parks (Please let me know if you would like to "unsubscribe")....Bill
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POSTCARDS FROM THE PAST
BRICK HOUSE OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
Children’s Fairyland - Oakland- Calif.
Children’s Fairyland, a feature of the Oakland Park Department, is the dream of every child come true. Located among beautiful oaks in a lovely glade at Lakeside Park in the center of the city, it is the fantasy of design color, animation and music to delight the child and adult alike.
Fans of Disneyland are familiar with the back story of Walt Disney touring ocean side boardwalks, historical sites and amusement parks for ideas and operational suggestions before moving ahead with his own long brewing Anaheim project. One of the most influential of these visits was to Oakland’s Children’s Fairyland, a $50,000 ten acre themed park sponsored by the Oakland Lake Merritt Breakfast Club and built by local nurseryman Arthur Navlet in 1950. The park featured 17 fairytale sets including Pinocchio’s Castle, Thumbelina, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Merry Miller, The Three Little Pigs, and Willie the Whale. Entrance to the park was through child sized Old Women In The Shoe where guests were greeted by a diminutive married couple dressed in Munchkin- style costumes. Disney hired away Fairyland’s first executive director and puppeteer, Dorothy Manes, who would serve at Disneyland as Youth Director for 17 years. Disney also made the significant connection to Arrow Development in Sunnyvale who built Fairyland’s Paddlewheel Boat and would later become a significant designer and provider of iconic custom rides at Disneyland. The entrance fee to Children’s Fairyland in 1950, depending on age, was 9 to 14 cents. Five years later the initial entrance fee to Disneyland was boosted to $1.00, undoubtedly influenced by Walt’s research. (The daily entrance fee to Disneyland in October of this year, based on park attendance, was $149)
From the Postcard Collection of Bill Ralph
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