YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS | 5 Historic Disneyland Oddities

today we're going to discover so many wild Oddities buried in Disneyland's history a place where at one time you could buy cigarettes guns fish or ride a helicopter and Friends make sure you make it to the end of today's video where I feel like our final story will leave you speechless and give you a new favorite scary spot inside of Disneyland starting off with ones that you probably know but working up to a story that is epically crazy Ricky here let's go this first one I'm sure many of you have heard before but don't worry the stories get crazier as we go along but in case you don't know there was once two different locations inside of Disneyland where you could buy tobacco products tobacco for your pipe cigars and even cigarettes what I find to be probably the most fascinating part of the story is that it was here from 1955 to 1990 I never would have guessed that it made it to the '90s not the most imaginative name but the fine tobacco shop existed in the building behind me Street wasn't the only spot for a smoke shop because apparently one location wasn't enough and what guests know today as the pin shop in Frontier land was the second tobacco store so from opening day to June 1st 1990 you couldn't buy gum inside of Disneyland but don't worry you could buy cigarettes that's insane at that date this shop would be converted over to patent pastimes which would be a craft shop so going from tobacco to needle point what a transition and then would change again in 1999 becoming a music store where guests could come in here and purchase music but also create their own CDs with special machines that were housed inside of these stores the music machines would be removed in 2009 and now it's just basic Disney merch and the New Millennium would bring in new rules when in January of 2000 smoking would be permanently banned at Disneyland except for designated areas which don't really exist anymore both of the locations today still have their wooden Indians out front as this used to be an indication that there was a cigar shop or tobacco shop in the vicinity and one of the things that folks loved about these locations is you could go in and get complimentary Disneyland matches which if you ever go back and do a Google search some of these things are incredibly beautiful a very interesting souvenir from a very different time in Disneyland's Rich history now our next audity is very interesting and ironic to think that at a time when Southern California had way less traffic it was possible for guests to take a helicopter to Disneyland but once again proving that in some ways the 50s and 60s were so much cooler with Innovation than the time that we live in today the helicopter flights are something that you may remember seeing featured in some of the old Disneyland TV shows I remember seeing this odity and being like what that was a thing how how then and not now the 20 to 15minute helicopter flight was about a third of the travel time in 1955 there were five flights daily from Los Angeles to Disneyland private and military helicopters also used the helipad as a way to bring in politicians dignitaries and famous folks obviously not everybody was fortunate enough to come to Disneyland via helicopter but over the service's tenure they believe a million guests were Flo to Disneyland this way and get this the flights were originally $4 and eventually work their way up to $15 even when we adjust those prices to Modern prices that's the equivalent about $50 to $200 if that's all it cost sold I would helicopter to Disneyland in a second and wisely some of the airlines would add the helicopter service on as an upcharge as part of your vacation package where you could just go straight from LAX to your helicopter and then be a Disneyland in 15 minutes yeah that sounds awesome and over the course of this time period Disneyland had three different helicopter pads the first Disneyland Hort opened in 1956 and was southeast of Tomorrowland however one year later in 1957 the Disneyland railroad's path would expand therefore the helipad could no longer exist in the Southeast corner and it would move over to the other side of Marland the area that we now know as the Disneyland Transportation Hub so I believe the second location for the helicopter pad was over in here in the Transportation Hub and I believe today there still is a helicopter pad directly behind me but it's only for extreme emergencies no longer taking gas back and forth this spot would remain home for the helicopter commuters for about 3 years but in 1960 it would find its third and final location and the third helicopter pad was just north of the Disneyland Hotel in an area that is currently a parking lot for guests so insane to think that somewhere around here you could get dropped off or picked up in a helicopter go straight to LAX man oh man that would have been so amazing to do but uh there was a downside we'll say to this service some folks lost their lives in 1968 two helicopter tragedies occurred and both had to do with Disneyland when the helicopter service between LAX and Disneyland suffered two of the greatest civilian helicopter tragedies in the history of the US the first crash happened May 22nd 1968 a missing bolt on the rotor Hub came detached the rotor Hub struck the fusel LOD sadly causing the other four blades to lose control tragically the flight crew of three and 20 Disneyland guests who had just spent an entire day at Disneyland all lost their lives and then again later that year in August helicopter would crash again metal fatigue caused one of the main rotors to fail and once again the helicopter took the life of the three-b flight crew and all 18 passengers on board the second one to me though and I'm being serious is a little bit more tragic because those folks were on their way to Disneyland instead of coming back this was going to happened to me I would want to have that last day full of happiness and joy with the people that I love the most not a bad way to go out 4 years later this service would be terminated residents were excited about this because several times they had tried to vote the helicopters away from Disneyland due to the noise and the sky congestion but the city of Anaheim sided with Disney because at the time they had just put a $100 million back into the park so things don't sound so different in 1968 as they do in 2024 and even though this one ends in tragedy this is a interesting Oddity in the history of Disneyland to think that at one point Society was so optimistic about the future of travel that helicopters were taking people five times a day back and forth from Disneyland to Anaheim a pretty ridiculous service that has been proven to not be needed it's just a shame that a couple of families had to lose their lives for everybody to understand that maybe this wasn't the right right thing to do today due to the power of the Internet it's not uncommon for Disney fans to call out Disney management for decisions they make simply going what you thought that was going to be a good idea turns out there's a long history of this at Disneyland and you know to make something as perfect as Disneyland I celebrate a couple of mistakes along the way because how you get to Perfection is not being afraid to fail Tom Sawyer island is the only attraction fully designed by Walt Disney himself self where Walt wanted to recreate all of the things that he wished that he had and things that he did do in his somewhat rough childhood one of the things Walt loved to do was fish so his idea how about fishing at Disneyland and even though that's a sweet idea what a horrible idea it was an execution that's right our third odity on our list today fishing at Disneyland and get this they even tried it twice obviously the Tom Sawyer Island was here in 1955 but it wouldn't open as an attraction until 1956 and when they did that it is largely the same as it is today with a couple of exceptions and one of those exceptions is the fishing area that was installed inside of TOMS Island on this edge of the shores was the home to Huckleberry Fin's fishing pier where get this Disney would stock closed area right where I'm at would have 15,000 perch bluegill and my favorite catfish and then let guests borrow that means no charge fishing poles and bait where they could come over to this side of TOMS Sawyer Island and fish sounds quite sweet right standing on the Banks Fishing while you see folks walking through Frontier land there was no New Orleans Square at this time so fishing on the island sounds great there's just one small detail what do you do with the fish after you catch it so once a guest caught a fish they were encouraged to take it over to the riverbell Terrace but uh this didn't always go as planned Shocker the idea was take your fish to the riverbell Terrace they would clean it ice it pack it and have it there for you to pick up till the end of your visit to Disneyland or till the Park closed but not everybody did this and Disney started to find the stench of abandoned fish carcasses all stashed around the resort as well as rotten fish left in a locker not ice down throughout the day so with Walt Disney who wanted to design a park that was Immaculate and clean really something that hadn't been seen before in the amusement industry was uh not so thrilled about the odor of rotten fish all around us Park but no idea at Disneyland ever goes away as we know on this channel we follow we follow the design we follow where ideas come from in the history of Disney they thought you know what it didn't work over at Tom Sawyer Island but would it work at the Disneyland Hotel yes if you don't succeed the first time try try again again just like they did with the flying saucers from Tomorrowland to whatever that ride was over at Cars Land fishing was brought back to the Disneyland Hotel and in case you don't know this where the pool lives today this was once the Disneyland Marina where it was built to look like a real body of water there was docks boats that you could go out in and a fishing area but this time when you would catch your fish from the marina they would take care of them at the Hotel get them all ready for your pickup later not allowing you to just discard them wherever you would want to whereas the ' 50s and 60s were an adventurous time in technology the 70s were a time of just really the most bizarre rules and ideas ever and I love it what would you rather have on your Disney Vacation a swimming pool or a marina outside your hotel room but if you look at this building right here that's the easiest building to align with this Photograph that shows you an overhead view of what the Disneyland Marina look like absolutely Wild chapter in Disney's Rich history fishing at Disneyland might be the shortest attraction ever at just a few weeks what a wild odity to think about coming to Disneyland and spending your time fishing and then uh taking a fish home and having dinner that you caught at Disneyland the day before amazing but oh no The Oddities get even Wilder with our next one in frontierland hope you're enjoying today's video of Disneyland Oddities you know it' be very odd if you watch this video and didn't subscrib to hey bricky thank you so much for joining me on my journey so happy you showed up friends another Disneyland odity that's kind of hard to put all the pieces together because Disneyland has tried to erase this one from its history is right here was home to the Disneyland gun shop you heard me correct there was a gun shop inside of Disneyland let's break down this Oddity because this is crazy crazy outdated way of thinking for where society's at in 2025 versus 1955 so this tiny unmarked door right on the edge of the Golden Horseshoe and steps away from the Stage Door Cafe is where every cowboy could buy what every cowboy needs a gun but a gun inside a Disneyland now here's where the debate becomes because there was also an American Rifle exhibit and folks on the internet are always trying to figure out was the American Rifle exhibit inside of the gun shop or was the gun shop separate from the display so let's jump into the debate on the actual location of the frontier gun shop I think if we piece together everybody stories there's a truth that lies somewhere there in the middle details about the gun exhibit and Shop are pretty elusive the parks 1956 souvenir book listed an American Rifle exhibit in frontierland and then the 1957 book listed both exhibit in a frontier gun shop but neither book describe where the pair were at however all the photos that we have clearly placed a gun shop in between the Golden Horseshoe Saloon and the Stage Door Cafe and then by 1958 there's no more mention of a frontier gun shop even though the rifle exhibit and the ability to buy rifles would exist until the80s over on the other side of frontierland and then all the famous guns that you had seen at the display I believe were for sale over here at the frontier gun shop now they were replicas so they weren't guns with bullets but they were Model accurate reproductions of these famous guns which might sound kind of crazy who would want a replica of a gun but it's not too different than what we see happening over at savi's Workshop inside of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge just a different weapon for a different generation and don't forget back in the day as part of of an entertainment offering Disneyland did have shootouts between bad guys and the local sheriff over in the main thoroughfares of frontierland so get kids all hyped up on some Street Justice and then show them where they can buy that sweet merch and because Disneyland has really tried to scrub this one from its Rich history this is an odity that they don't want us to remember it's hard to find many photos or stories about this but one story that has emerged is one that was in local newspapers that tells the story of two teenage boys that stole are you ready for this $1,330 worth of guns from the frontier gun shop so it seems even though they sold guns here uh they didn't have a real good security system and according to the police report the two teens ended up returning the guns along with an apology note the note was found along with the guns in a bag dropped off at one of the Disneyland security checkpoints the note read we're sorry for what we've done we didn't realize the seriousness of the situation which to me sounds like somebody's mom and dad did some splaining on uh how this could lead to way bigger problems than what they thought but how many guns could you get in that time period for $1,300 like that that is wild I can make an entire video about this if you're those two kids I want to interview you and have a three-part documentary Series going stat all right now it's time to talk about the story that inspired this entire video this is truly one of the greatest Disneyland Oddities and it's also one that's a little bit hard to actually prove prove however According to some legitimate books that have been published by real Publishers and a Disneyland official magazine as well as a couple of fan websites and some internet chat forms that's our loosest source of information this is believed to be true and my god do I wish that it is I want to believe this more than anything friends I am standing at an animatronic burial ground that's right animatronics buried right where I'm at so Big Thunder Mountain could show up and when they were building Big Thunder Mountain they had a lot of extra animatronics and some of them were buried here let's explain it is believed that when you stand in front of this tunnel out here in the walkway you are standing on top of an animatronic burial ground where some of the leftover characters from mind train through Nature's Wonderland the ones that they couldn't Salvage and use elsewhere were placed right here and paved over characters for the expired attraction were also moved to Walt Disney World some of them were repurposed a Big Thunder Mountain but the ones that they couldn't save are right underneath us forever preserved inside of the concrete Han Solo carbonit sty and this is a massive concrete pad it does make sense one of the things that makes the design to Big Thunder Mountain so absolutely special is the fact that it has its own burm around it so as you come up this hill to go over the Waterway to work yourself over towards the end of the Big Thunder Trail to fantasy land or Star Wars Galaxy's Edge that decision is yours you do realize there's a lot more concrete here to create that grade that we go up over and back down on the other side so if was a place that they were to pile up a bunch of stuff and pave over this seems to be the home for the most amount of concrete inside of Frontier land on the edge of Big Thunder Trail I love this so much I hope you do too in 1977 it was time for Disneyland to say goodbye to Rainbow Ridge the construction crew was given a deadline by May of that year to get everything out of the way so they could start the process of putting in Big Thunder Mountain the Disney maintenance staff boxed up all the trees that they could Salvage so those could be replanted once the new Landscaping had been completed all of the buildings that we see over on Rainbow Ridge remov backstage so the buildings could be relocated to their new home at Thunder Ridge but what about the animals so all the animals that could be salvaged had to be cleared out by May because that's when the actual demo of the land was going to begin to resculpt it remold it for Big Thunder Mountain to show up and whichever animals could be preserved were reused for Big Thunder Mountain and then also moved out to Walt Disney World but there were some animatronics either due to the Natural wear and tear of being out in the elements or just by the simple way that they were fixed into their placement removing them destroy them and all of those were rounded up according to the Disneyland line Magazine from an issue published in 1977 they were rounded up and they were placed where I'm standing and they were paved over some were also rumored to be abandoned in the River to spend the rest of Eternity submerged in water but I love the thought of the ones that are right here where I'm standing forever buried forever preserved in their concrete tomb meaning this is the only existing known animatronics graveyard that exists at Disneyland or in any other Disney theme park once again another Disneyland original and another Disneyland odity which I pray that this is real because walking through here and knowing that we're stepping over the graves of animatronics of the past it's just folklore magic Disneyland is so rich with history and these are just five Oddities stitched together in one video for you but the history here goes on and on and on and there is so much to discover like these 13 items that preate Disneyland this one is is wild some of these things go back millions of years and others go back 200 years make sure you watch this video bricky here on the edge of an animatronic burial ground thank you so much for watching

Channel: Hey Brickey!

Views: 230,638

Keywords: disneyland, disneyland secrets, disneyland history, disney secrets, vintage disneyland, oddities, theme park, disneyland hidden secrets, hidden secrets disneyland, secrets at disneyland, dark disney secrets, theme park secrets, hidden secrets at disneyland, disneyland california

Id: xS44vQ93XuY

Length: 21min 10sec (1270 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2024