This morning, we announced that the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration will begin in spring 2015, celebrating 60 magical years of the Disneyland Resort. As part of the anniversary, we are inviting you to enter a new contest! Share your favorite memories with photos taken throughout the Disneyland Decades – 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000 to the present – for a chance to win a special Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration prize or the grand prize: a trip to Disneyland Resort to kick off the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration!
Here’s how it works:
- Each week, through August 27, 2014, we’ll be asking for your special photo memories from a specific decade.
- Of course, you’re welcome to share a photo from any time in the 60-year history of the Disneyland Resort, from now through August 27, 2014, outside of the weekly, decade-focused inspiration prompts.
- To enter, just post your photos on Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtag #Disneyland60Contest by August 27, 2014.
- Let us know the decade in which the photo was taken in the description or tweet.
This week, we’re looking for your Disneyland photos from the 1950s. Does your grandmother have a photo of herself on Main Street, U.S.A., on opening day? Do you have a photo of yourself at the opening day of the Matterhorn? We want to see! Of course, photos from any decade are welcome … tweet or Instagram yours now with the hashtag #Disneyland60Contest!
When the submission period is complete, we’ll select the top five photos from each decade and let you decide which photos win! That’s right – Disney Parks Blog readers will vote for the top photo from each of the Disneyland Decades. Each decade winner will receive a special Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration prize.
Then, we’ll give you the chance to vote for one Grand Prize winner from among the winners of each decade. This lucky fan will win a trip to the start of the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration in spring 2015!
For complete rules, click here.
No purchase necessary. Entries must be received by 8/27/14. 18/age of majority+, 50 US/DC only. Void where prohibited. See Rules for details.
Comments
I’m so sad! I missed the Deadline and I have the perfect photo from Fantasyland Re-Opening!!!!!!! Any chance there will be a last chance submission?
Disneyland has been a special place for my daughter, Tiffany, and me since Tiff was two (She is now 26). Last Christmas she took me to Disneyland for Christmas and is planning to do so for Christmas this year. I now live in San Diego so Disneyland isn’t that far from me. Tiff is going to graduate school in Los Angeles so she is very close to you. I moved to San Diego in 2006, the year Tiff graduated from high school. Prior to 2006, I made sure Tiff and I had a yearly Southern California pass to go once a month. When Tiff was very small, Disneyland had a campsite. For about three years, we would take our vacation at this campsite, even though we lived in Los Angeles. This campsite was special to us. We would spend one week at the campsite and go to Disneyland each day. It was great because we would enjoy ourselves at the part and then go back to the campsite so we could go swimming. My husband and son would also go to the campsite with us. In the evening, my husband and I would escape to one of the hotels and have a drink and then go back to the kids so we could all enjoy dinner together somewhere on the Disneyland Park grounds. Disneyland has always been a special place to my family but especially to Tiffany and me.
This may be a technical question but why do some pictures post on twitter’s #Disneyland60Contest and others do not? Are you guys going through the pictures first or something? I just don’t want to keep posting the same picture trying to figure out why its not going up on twitter.
we try to go to Disneyland every year since dad walked out never been to florida yet but my boys are up for it
I have taken each generation to Disneyland!!!! four times to LA, 2 times to Orlando….and GET THIS…just purchased tickets for my daughters, granddaughters, and GREAT granddaughter to be in Paris France for the holidays!!!!! LOVE THIS PLACE!!!
Hello I have a question. Beings this is for Disneyland’s 60th,wouldn’t one would assume (I hope) that the photos would be from Disneyland,and not California Adventure? Just wondered.Beings it is gonna be Disneyland’s 60th and I would imagine memories from Disneyland and it’s 60 years in existence would be in line with it’s 60 years,not their other park. Just wondering that.Thanks! 🙂
Are the weekly prompts being given here, or on Twitter?
I read the contest rules but couldn’t fine the answer to my question–is a “collage” type photo acceptable as one picture? For instance, two (or multiple) shots of the same place put together in one picture. Or are only “single” images accepted? Thanks!
We went to Disneyland in October, 1959, shortly after getting married. We did not have a camera so we purchased some 35 millimeter slides of our favorite scenes. Since these are commercial slides, I know they are not eligible for winning, but I am wondering if you would like me to post them for others to see.
I’m so excited about this contest I can hardly stand it!! I just want to be clear, so I have already posted my entry pictures on Instagram with the decade and the right hashtag, from the 60’s and 70’s. Thiey will be entered in the contest even though they were not entered in the decade focused week, is that right?
That is correct!
Hi Erin,
Will a picture taken with Mr. Walt Disney himself be allowed to submitted from opening day?
Much Thanks,
Britt
Certainly!
Good morning Erin!
I have a few photos from different decades on the same spiral staircase [near Pirates]. How would I submit that? The first one was in 1973.. PS I just noticed that they were revamped…can’t wait to take another photo on them.
Please advise. Have a magical day!
Joanne
I have been visiting Disneyland ever since I was in my mommy’s tummy. Yep, 37 years of Disneyland being a part of my family memories and traditions. One thing I can always remember is my grandma (Ita) joining us and sharing in the memories and reliving some of her youth as she walked under the tunnel into Main Street. Every time I visit I know my grandmother is looking down on me and my family and enjoying every moment. I still visit the vendor stand on Main Street that sells pickles. It was a tradition that she will buy a pickle and share it with me until I got old enough to enjoy a pickle on my own. Disneyland is so ingrained in my family history that the day of my grandmother’s funeral after the services and reception all of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren went to Disneyland to commemorate her life. That day was the best day ever, since then I continue to share her traditions with my children. I look forward to celebrating this spring at Disneyland and even running in the Tinkerbell Race. Thank you Disney for being a part of my family.
Does this include DCA or just Disneyland?
It includes the entire Disneyland Resort, so feel free to share your Disney California Adventure park memories!
My son works at Disneyland in parking. Does that disqualify me from the contest?
Sounds fun, my dad scanned some pics taken from when we made what I think was our first visit in the summer of 1962. I was 7 and my sister 3. I have pics from all the decades after that as well when my parents grandchildren and great grand children got to carry on the family tradition of visiting Disneyland. Looking forward to pulling them up and submitting some.
Also curious, are there are plans to do anything special for those of us who, along with Disneyland, turn 60 next year (were born in 1955)?
My dad has saved pins from other anniversaries. I wonder if I could dig up pics of my sister and me that match those years. I found a pic of my mom around the 20 year anniversary too. Can’t wait to start submitting pics!
I’m very disappointed that we cannot participate in this. We do not use Twitter or Instagram, and I’m sure there are a lot of people who don’t. There should be an alternative for entering this contest. We are a Disney family and have visited Disneyland since the 1960’s.
Would love to enter but do not have an instagram or twitter account. No FB or via this site? (maybe for future contests!
I am actually going over to my parent’s house tomorrow. My Dad (who is now elderly and with Parkinson’s) will love to look through the old photos. Remembering the past has always been a good time for him. Cannot wait to find some good photos to share (I will look forward to share when you celebrate the 80s).
On a side note – they still have our silhouttes on the wall that were done for all 4 of their kids on main street – my eldest sister must have been 8 when they were done and she is turning 50 next month. I cannot wait to have my own kids silhouttes done and continue the tradition!
Here is a memorable Disneyland experience I would like to share, from the late 60’s. I was about 6 years old at the time. Unfortunately, I do not have a photograph to include:
I stood at the gates of Disneyland, a six-year old looking down awkwardly at my shoes, while my father doled out his hard-earned cash for ten Disneyland tickets. In the late 60’s, a ticket book cost around $5. Each ticket book contained a few each of A, B, C, D, and the ever-coveted E tickets. Back then, that’s how you’d explore the Magic Kingdom. When you ran out of tickets, you were S.O.L., unless you had a fascination for the free ride, “Adventure Thru Inner Space (A.T.I.S.)”, which the present day “Star Tours” blasted out of Tomorrowland’s galaxy in 1985. I, for one, simply loved A.T.I.S., sponsored by the folks at Monsanto.
On this particular day in 1967, I stood with my sister, 9 years my senior, tired and ticketless in the A.T.I.S. queue. I remember gawking at the Mighty Microscope and seeing the Atommobiles and their occupants magically shrink into a clear plastic tube, an illusion masterfully created by Disney’s Imagineers.
After our fifth consecutive ride, my sister, as teenagers often do, became bored and sick of being shrunken. “I wanna ride it again!” was my earnest request, but Carolyn would have none of that. “Anita, why don’t you ride by yourself and I promise I’ll be waiting for you at the exit.” Purposefully, she averted her eyes from the large neon sign that screamed, “A CHILD UNDER AGE 7 MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT.”
So there I was, my little body engulfed in the moving blue “Atommobile”. The premise of the ride involved shrinking its rider to crystalline, then molecular, then atom-like proportions, eventually squeezing them into the red, beating nucleus of an oxygen atom. The distinctively eloquent and mysterious voice of the ride’s narrator, Paul Frees (okay, so he also voiced the innocuous Pillsbury Doughboy), echoed through the Atommobile speakers. It was sci-fi at its finest: large, plastic ice molecules and colorful projections of electrons and atoms whizzing around me.
As the ride neared its end, I became a mere microbe to a huge human eyeball intently studying me through the lense of the Mighty Microscope. Feeling particularly brave at my newfound independence, I actually looked at the peering eyeball this time, skeptically deducing it was fake and mechanical. Those Disney Imagineers weren’t going to pull the wool over my eyes!
Finally, the ride ended. “As the automatic front panel opens, please step out to your right”, prompted the recording. I stepped out to my right, discovering that my big sis was nowhere to be found.
I milled about Disneyland aimlessly, in a tearful, fruitless search. The twinkling tree lights and Mary Poppins tune struck a dissonant chord within my frightened heart.
Near Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, a childless couple took pity and approached me. “Ah, cherie, are you lost?” questioned a woman with dark hair piled elegantly on top of her head. I could tell she was French, like our next-door neighbor. Gutturally I stammered, “I – can’t – f-f-f-find my big sister.” Even in my tumult, I sensed she longed for a child of her own. With pleading brown eyes, she instructed her husband to assist. Hesitantly, he hoisted me to his shoulder, giving me the appearance of a displaced Cuckoo bird. “See, now you are taller and you will see your sister!”
Twenty minutes passed, and still no sister. Where could she be? And where was that big giant eyeball now, when I needed it most? Panic ensued. I sobbed violently. The racking of my small body created its own nuclear event: a large rumble of gas reverberated from my small body, rippling upon the Frenchman’s shoulder. Faster than you can say, “Jacques Cousteau”, he hoisted me off my perch.
At this time, my sister sheepishly appeared near the carousel, a newly purchased bag of lemon drops clutched guiltily in her hand. She thanked the childless French couple, relieving them of their temporary ward.
I can genuinely say, “That Disneyland trip was really a gas!”
I have three amazing memories from Disneyland. My family often went to Disneyland over the years, but three distinct memories are something I visit often. When I was around five, my whole family took one big trip together. My uncle, my mom & dad, my grandfather & grandmother, and me & brother. Even though my grandparents had divorced when my mother was eighteen they always stayed close, I don’t think they know what they gave me during that trip. My second big memory was just two years ago when my husband agreed on my request that we go to Disneyland for our honeymoon. It seems like I’ve celebrated so many important things throughout my life in that magical place and this was one I couldn’t pass up. We had the best time and promised to come back with my step-son the next year. The very next summer, we took my step-son on his first ever Disney trip and went all out. I think that’s my absolute favorite memory. It’s one thing to love something as a child, another to experience the magic with someone you love, but the most amazing is to watch your own children build those memories that you hold so dear and know that you gave it to them. We’re expecting our first together now and I can’t wait until he or she is old enough to have their first big magical moments in Disneyland.
Thank you so much for the reply and the clarification, Erin. I appreciate it. 🙂
It looks like it’s time for me to start digging up the old Disneyland photos from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and beyond!
So saddened to see that this isn’t open to Canadians. We just added our third generation of family to the ranks of Disneyland visits last year. As I was looking at my Disneyland Calendar this morning and noting that it was the 59th anniversary I was thinking that another trip in the 60th year would be great. Would have loved to celebrate as part of this contest. I’ll still look for pictures anyways… great memories to see!
Jason, it’s definitely something I plan to do.
This contest makes me both sad and happy. We had a fire last year and we lost most of our photos. Anything before the 90’s is totally gone. But, I am happy to have the photos and the memories that we do.
Melanie that’s great about your father’s pictures and they’ll be wonderful to see.
However you do owe it to yourself to visit the original Magic Kingdom here in Anaheim 😀
I agree with Jason. 😉
I have a question, and I couldn’t find the answer in the Rules (though I may have missed it).
For each decade covered in this contest, can participants submit more than one photo?
For example, if someone has multiple photos from the ’70s, can they enter more than once with different photos from that decade at Disneyland? Or is there a limit of one decade-specific photo per person, per decade?
Good question, Sherry. You may enter as many times a you like, but only once per photo. In other words, tweeting the same photo more than once would not allow you to enter multiple times; each entry must be a unique photo.
At first I was sad that I couldn’t enter since, even though I’ve been going to WDW for the past 27 years, I’ve never been to Disneyland. Then I remembered that my dad went to Disneyland in the ’60s. He and his Air Force buddies headed straight to Disneyland after completing their duty and being discharged from Nellis in Las Vegas. I called him and, yes, he still has all of his photos from that trip and knows exactly where they are. I cannot wait to see them!
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