MIDCENTURY FAVORITE: A few years back, when it came time to give the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim a relook and a refresh, the cast members in charge knew it would take a bit more than a handful of fairy dust to get the job done. After all, the Disneyland-close hotel -- which opened just a few months after Disneyland, in the fall of 1955 -- would require new suites and a new courtyard and several other additions that would be better aided by hammers and nails and plaster, say, over sparkly sprinkles (props, Tinkerbell; we mean no disrespect to your particular tools of trade). Now the multi-year renovation has wrapped, and it wrapped in true Disney style: "several hundred Disneyland Resort cast members gathered in the courtyard" on Friday, Jan. 20 to celebrate the refurbished property.
WHAT STAYS, WHAT REMAINS: The Dland Hotel -- we'll just be cool and insidery and swing that term about -- has always received high marks from midcenturians who loved the building's rectangle-y mien. It still boasts that footprint, but it has definitely been upgraded with loads of modern amenities. And themed suites? Yep, we've been talking about them for awhile now; there's a Pirates of the Caribbean suite and a Big Thunder suite, too. But, if you've been inside, you know the Mickey-style touches remain pretty much throughout. If you're like, "oh, but I used to stay there as a kid! Why do things have to change from my childhood?" consider that a lot of families have tromped through the Disneyland Hotel in its 56+ years. And if you know families and kids -- hi, we all do -- a little sprucing up now and then is just how things go. Heigh ho, heigh ho...
