1963 Aeriel View Of Disneyland

Below is an aerial view of Disneyland in Anaheim, California taken in 1963 by Robert J. Boser.

The Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) is in the upper left corner.Harbor Boulevard forms the eastern boundary of the park.

To the middle right, one can see the Haunted Mansion under construction. While the main building is complete on the outside (the white building), the show building is just beginning construction on the right side of the railroad tracks (most of the ride takes place in a show building outside the confines of the railroad). The Haunted Mansion would open in 1969.

Also under construction, and up and left from the Haunted Mansion, is Pirates of the Caribbean, which opened in 1967. The two attractions took a while to build because Disney’s engineering arm at the time, WED Enterprises (now known as Walt Disney Imagineering), was busy on projects dealing with the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Both attractions are located in New Orleans Square, which opened in 1966.

Anaheim’s newly completed Melodyland Theater (“theater-in-the-round”), is at the top of the photo.

From a July 16, 1955 photo: “Here’s an air view of the entire area, defined by numbers and letters: (1) The railroad station, main entrance and town square. (2) Main Street, U.S.A. (3) The Plaza. (4) Tomorrowland. (5) Fantasyland. (6) Frontierland. (7) Rivers of America. (8) Adventureland. (A) Parking area. (B) The Santa Ana freeway. (C) Harbor boulevard. (This post was updated on 2/12/16 to add the above 1955 photo.)

We lived in Orange County, CA from 1966 to 1983 in four different locations that were a short drive from Disneyland. Consequently, we were able to visit the park many times over the years.

Here are a few shots of our two oldest daughters at the park when they were little.

We had some really great times there.