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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