"Early Memories of Lifetime Love" - Time Out #176

My bride, Debbie, and I were recently eating Christmas dinner in a dear friend's home in Our Town, when the subject of Disney came up. Our friends were finalizing plans for their annual adventure, traveling to Walt Disney World (WDW) in a few weeks. Several years ago, they had purchased a 2-bedroom Disney Vacation Club timeshare, and have really enjoyed their yearly family trip there.

Well, I am sure I lit up like a decorated Christmas tree, talking with them about their anticipated outing to the "Happiest Place on Earth". Truth be said, I have been a Walt Disney "junkie" as long as I can remember? My commitment was probably cemented when my wonderful father, Col. C.H. Breedlove, drove us to Southern California's original Disneyland in 1957 when I was a mere 10-years-old. Wow, that was a long time ago, dear folks, but I still have memories of it today. Some specifics about that Magic Kingdom experience later in this installment, but a little background first.

The Disney magic was instilled in me and most other young Americans in the 1950's, via widely sold comic books and newspaper comic strips. As I have stated here in earlier writings, I collected all the classic 10-cent comic books with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Scrooge, Gyro, Huey, Dewey and Louie, and many other Disney created characters. Each book I owned was well-worn, as I read them cover-to-cover, MANY times over. They were folded, creased, sometimes torn, but almost never thrown away, because they were so valued by me. Every Saturday morning on our family black and white television, the Disney characters would come to life, and the same held true at Our Town's double-feature dime movies, held in our downtown refrigerated, air conditioned, movies. I loved to go to the Crest, Mecca, Aggie, Leachman or Campus theaters regularly, and enjoy their productions. Of course, I would always purchase a delicious fountain soft drink and bag of popcorn, all for a quarter, including the admission price!!

So, I knew each Disney character well, and probably even considered them members of our extended family.

Therefore, when my father told me we were driving the family car west to Southern California to visit our distant cousins in San Diego in the summer, 1957, I was elated! He upped my excitement level even further when he said we would also travel north of San Diego, to the huge Los Angeles area, and go to Disneyland in nearby Anaheim. The new, dream theme park had only been opened since July 17, 1955, and had certainly been on the minds of most American youngsters since then, and, absolutely, at the forefront of my youth-size brain!

Oh, yes, the long ensuing road trip, mostly on the old "Mother Road" (US 66), only 2-lanes wide, and over 1,500 miles one-way since we went to San Diego first. Combine that driving distance with the un-air conditioned, 1956, red and white, 4-door, Chevrolet Bel-Air with an automatic transmission and an AM-radio, and you have a sketch of our travel situation. Remember, too, my father was the only driver. Heck, I didn't care, though, because we were going to Disneyland, and I was 10-years-old!

Well, we were off, through half of Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, sparsely populated New Mexico, and into eastern Arizona. There, we stopped in the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert, and enjoyed both those sites. We did have one of those automobile canvas bags hanging off our car's front hood, full of necessary extra water should our trusty automobile engine overheat in the hot summer heat. To combat the heat inside our car. we would place ice chunks in a small plastic tub on the passenger side floorboard. We would then open the side floor vents, and let the melting ice's cool air be blown by incoming outside air over us, as we traveled down the busy highway. We continued westward, through Winsow and Kingman, Arizona; Needles and Barstow, California, then headed south to beautiful San Diego. There, we spent several days with our distant relatives, Marie and Ross McMurry, in their lovely home. I vividly remember walking into their wonderful-smelling backyard, due to their many flowering fruit trees, picking a ripe orange off a low branch, peeling it, and eating it's juicy fruit. Wow, for this Our Town young boy, that was an incredible experience I have pleasantly recalled many times!

After a few days of visiting, touring San Diego with its magnificent zoo, and thoroughly enjoying its "external springlike" weather, we drove a couple of hours north to Anaheim, arriving at magical Disneyland!

I remember walking up to the front entrance with my father, seeing and hearing the Disneyland railroad train, marveling at their beautifully decorated floral entrance, and then walking in and onto Main Street USA. I think I had to pinch myself to actually realize I was there, having seen it on television in Our Town, back half way across our huge country. I remember the two of us planning how to see the park that day, and carefully using our various purchased paper tickets, A thru E. The most expensive and prized E tickets were the Jungle Ride in Adventureland, the Matterhorn Bobsleds in Fantasyland, and the Nautilus Submarine, and driving the little cars (Autotopia) in Tomorrowland.

It was absolutely sensory overload for me, during my one-day visit to "Walt's Park for his 2 daughters and the World" long, long ago. I have been very fortunate to have returned there, and to WDW many times since they were opened. Yes, I have been a Disney fan forever, but the first visit in 1957 set the stage for my mind's eye memories forever. Absolutely priceless!!!