BACKSTORY: Chris Taylor has graciously allowed me to post some AMAZING photos that his father, Franklyn Taylor, shot of the park in the early years. One in particular is astounding. Chris tells us the background:
In 1956 my father was transferred by his employer, Goodyear, from Akron to Los Angeles. We drove across the country on Route 66 in a Buick sedan with four kids, then spent the summer in a Long Beach motel right along the beach waiting for our new Anaheim house to be built. The weekend before we moved into the house, we splurged and stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, which we had heard all about on the Disneyland TV show the previous year while still in Akron. While at the Disneyland Hotel, we, of course, visited Disneyland for the first time. Again, we had heard all about this wonderful place for the last year while watching the Disneyland TV Show. While at Disneyland, we saw Walt walking the grounds and asked to have this picture taken with him. He kindly obliged. Note the cigarette in his right hand, the habit that eventually cut his life short. The picture is of me and my sister, taken by my father, Franklyn T. Taylor.
