The Disneylander only lasted until November 1961. The Backstage Disneyland magazine began in Winter 1962 (under the editorship of Disney Legend Wally Boag).
Backstage Disneyland continued until the summer of 1980 and throughout the 1960s published at least twice a year. But it didn't appear that this was frequent enough. By late 1964, the Park was sending out a small brochure known as the Tencennial Newsletter, of which a few other editions were published in 1965. By January 1966, this was going out monthly as the University of Disneyland Newsletter. From October 1966 through around April 1971—when the redundancy to the weekly Disneyland Line was surely evident—this monthly publication continued as Inside Disneyland.
The Disneyland Line debuted on April 4, 1969, as a two-page publication. For the next year it fluctuated between a two-and-four-page publication. On this blog, I've talked a bit about the Disneyland Line publication, including a reproduction of the second issue and my own (and only) appearance in it. I have a very robust collection of digital surrogates of Disneyland Line and Disneyland Resort Line (the new name as of December 31, 1999) issues. But for a long time I was missing many of the issues from 1969 and 1970.
Because the Walt Disney Archives wasn't established until 1970—and the Disney depository system including the Anaheim Public Library not instituted until sometime later—I hadn't immediately inquired with the Anaheim Heritage Center as to what Disneyland Lines they might have. I was quite pleased to discover, upon asking, that they had about half the issues I was missing from that early timeframe, including the very first issue.
So, on this 50th anniversary of the publication, I am pleased to share the Heritage Center's copy of this enduring publication. I'm not sure my Disneyland interest would be what it is without having had access to copies of issues from the 1970s. I can't wait to see the issue documenting the 100th anniversary of the Disneyland Resort.
