Pocketbook to Magic

This entry was posted on May 3, 2014 by and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments

Join Mickey and pals on a trip….A Visit to Disneyland

Walt Disney's A Visit to Disneyland

 

This is the Authorized Edition, in case you got tricked into purchasing the Unauthorized Version (though I recommend the Unofficial Guides to the Parks.)

If Saving Mr. Banks left you with an itch to recollect your first family trip, or you want to see the lands not featured in the movie, or you just got a hankering for nostalgia and bad limericks, I’ve got the book for you.

I picked up this little guidebook at our Friends of the Library sale.  Because I love you.

The text wasn’t in great shape, so I apologize for the skewed images and tape marks.  They don’t impede appreciation for those fine rhymes, though.

by Mabel Watts, Illustrated by Stan Tusan

Come to the Magic Kingdom/ Join the adventurous band/Walk through the turnstile/Into the square/And LOOK- You're in Disneyland! / Riding top-deck in an omnibus / You're back in Great-Grandmother's day. / You turn back the clock / As you chug down the block / Along Main Street, U.S.A.

There are horse-drawn trolleys and carriages / And funny old cars by the score. / You see a parade / A penny arcade / And many an old-fashioned store. / Prance and dance to the music, / Keep in step with its cheerful beat, / For the Disneyland band / Is the best in the land / to tickle the soles of your feet.Cruising a jungle river / Aboard an explorer's launch. / You are now / A big-game hunger, / Daring, and stout, and staunch. / A hippo pops out of nowhere. The captain takes aim, he shoots. / Then up from the bubbles / Come more hippo troubles, / A couple of brand-new recruits.

There are orchids galore on the tropical shore, And savages eager to seize you. / Elephants keep cool / In their own private pool, / and gorillas look ready to squeeze you. / Climb up the stairs to the Tree House / Of Swiss Family Robinson fame. / Be a castaway / In this hideaway, / Shipwrecked, but happy and game.

A sight-seeing trip on this steamer / Is exciting and certain to please. / Give the whistle a jerk, / Watch the paddle wheel work, / And try out the fine plush settees. / A fort and a cave await the young and the brave / on Tom Sawyer Island shore. / And the Huck Finn Raft, / A sturdy log craft / Will ferry you there to explore.

 

Can we pause your reading pleasure to talk about this next page?  Did this really happen every day as a show?  Was this a local tribe member or just an actor?

How do you paddle a war canoe/ When you happen to be one of the paleface crew? / Hold tight to your oar, Push off from shore, / And row like the Indians do. / Each Indian dance has a meaning, / It has something important to say. / To bring rain for his crops / This brave leaps and hops / As he mixes his work with this play.

 

I feel embarrassed just typing the AltText for that last picture.  But I like to sing the next page to the tune of “Home on the Range.”

Crane your neck from the keelboat's deck / To scan the wild frontier. / In your coonskin cap / With your grub and your map You're a fearless, brave pioneer. / You are ready to tour Nature's Wonderland / Where the deer and the bighorn feed. You'll see smart, fishing bears, Beavers building in pairs, / As you ride on your surefooted steed.

If you have a question for Alice, / The Mad Hatter, or the merry March hair, / Don't be timid or shy / Ask, "How?" "What?" or "Why?" / For a chance such as this is quite rare. / Enter this storybook castle / With its drawbridge, its towers, its steeple. / No need to speak low, / Or to walk tippy-toe, / Sleeping Beauty's awake, greeting people.

 

Note that the castle in Cali’s Disneyland is Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, while the FL and TDL ones are Cinderella’s.

The dwarfs are kindly and friendly. / There is something delightful about them. / Snow White loves every one,/ And when all's said and done / She'd not venture forth without them. / Pick a good steed full of spirit and speed, / Handsome, high-stepping, and proud. / On this carousel / Every horse must excel, / For only the best are allowed.

This canalboat takes you through Storybook Land, While the scenery reels off the pages. / You pass spots old and sweet, / Places small, quaint, and neat, / From the tales you have known for ages. / Be a lion with a main, on Casey Jr. train, / Be a dancing circus bear going places. / Be a leopard in a cage, or a tiger in a rage, or a monkey making funny monkey faces.

 

Casey Jr. – now that’s a story that needs to be remade into a live-action movie.  I can see Ms. Mabel’s getting tired with this, as she couldn’t think of a synonym for monkey. The next page is the best, though. Rocketships AND mermaids.  The author even breaks meter.

Ride high on Tomorrowland's Monorail train. / Take a rocket trip clear to the moon. / You can cross outer space / At such a wild pace / that you'll be there and back very soon. / There are sights to be seen from a submarine, / So batten the hatches and plunge, / Down to the emerald depths below, / Down where the gardens of coral grow, / Down where spilled treasures glitter and glow, / Amid mermaids and seaweed and sponge.

The pilot who flies in an Astrojet / Can be you, at the helm, commanding, / Swift, dashing, and airy, / (Though a tiny bit scary!) / It's a great flight from takeoff to landing. / Follow the leader, obey all the rules, You're driving Autopia style / This highway is play / All the traffic's one way / And the rule of the road is smile.

Leave adventure and magic behind you. / But please don't shed one single tear. / The way Disneyland's growing / There's no way of knowing / What surprise you'll find next time you're here.

 

What’s your favorite place the Parks?  Do you remember any of these features or were you surprised by what has changed?

2 thoughts on “Pocketbook to Magic”

  1. I love it! Priceless. The drawn map of the park would look great stitched on a tea towel or something. I miss the music playing from the bushes in the park 🙂

    Reply

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