Better yet, here's an insider's view (on a cloudy day) showing the back stage area behind Main Street and Tomorrowland. In the background on the left side of the photograph you can see the back porch of the Inn Between. It kinda wraps around the base of the tree with the light green leaves.
Below is a modern-day photograph of some cast members seated at one of the tables in this area (with the new, improved BROWN Space Mountain in the background---love that new Tomorrowland paint scheme!).
Anyway, as a Cast Member, you realize that there is truly something special about your place of employment when you sit down for you lunch and Snow White is at the next table with a few (headless) dwarves, or you bump into the Wicked Queen grabbing a cigarette on a break.The Inn Between was moderately affordable on a Disney wage and the food was better than the vending machines behind Bear Country. I always favored the open-faced hot turkey sandwich. It came with a yellow gravy. I mean a really yellow gravy. Like a yellow that you don't see in nature. I think the food dye responsible for that "yellow" was later banned by the FDA. Nevertheless, it was good tasting!
The Inn Between had TVs that were always tuned to the then "brand new" Disney Channel. I remember Dumbo's Circus would be on the background as a group of my friends and I gathered together for lunch and a few laughs before heading back out "into the area" or "on stage."
I'll close with another shot of the Main Street back area---showing the rear of the Lincoln theater and the lane where the parade would line up (Main Street Electrical Parade or whatever daytime parade was running) before heading out onto Town Square at the gate near the Mad Hatter.
I hope you enjoyed this brief trip "back stage." I gotta get going. I have to bump back into my rotation over at Jungle.
16 comments:
I do remember that yellow gravy! Not quite as yellow as the vending costume. I would describe it as looking like a yellow MM balloon after a couple of hours. Kind of a faded, light lemon.
I have not been to Disneyland, but I truly do believe that Disneyworld is the happiest place on earth!
This is a long-standing (and perhaps never ending) feud between Disneyland fans and Walt Disney World fans as to which park "wins." I am a fan of both parks and for vastly different reasons.
Disneyland is Walt's original. To those who knew it from its opening in the 1950s to just prior to the 1990s, there was a personal feeling that it evoked. You could truly sense the love and attention to detail that made it unique.
Walt Disney World, on the other hand, is a grander vision and, of course, much, much larger. It is beautiful in its own right.
Without Disneyland, however, there would never have been a Walt Disney World (or any other Disney theme park for that matter). This fact alone makes Disneyland a pretty important place---the place that FIRST coined the term: "The Happiest Place on Earth!"
--Mike
WOW again...I was a server and greeter at the Plaza Inn and Plaza Pavillion in 1988-1989, a position which included the occasional emergency duty behind the line at the Inn Between...I love my cast member alums, but they were not quite as cheerful off stage, let's say...Nonetheless, I loved the mashed potatoes and gravy for $0.50, and so enjoyed the ranch dressing from the 55 gallon canister in the cooler, that I could have eaten at the Inn Between every day I worked in the "tragic" kingdom...wait...I miss it always.
Enjoyed the tour! I was never a regular cast member but felt like one in a way. I was a toy soldier their for a couple of seasons of Christmas parade, had my High School all night party there (1966) - you know what happened that night, right. We didn’t even know about what happened til next morning when it was on radio news. The toy soldier business had its own oddities since we had to find places just to “be” during parades. The first time I was there was 1967-1968 we got minimum wage ($1.25 hour I think) which kind of sort of made it worthwhile. I mostly read text books for college and found a place to hang out between the town hall on Main Street and the Jungle. Santa was strange. An actor, he played drunk until he got out the gate then he was jolly old St Nick. He also printed (??) to look down into the restrooms as he went by. Men’s? Women’s? Could he see anything? No idea. As far as we were concerned, we could partly dress ourselves. We could strap the legs on over our own legs and shoes, shoes exposed to the ground, and get the top on and partly snapped, and one arm. Then it was the dressers responsibility. As a drill team member I could see through a hole in the mouth, at least until some idiot took a flash photo and blinded me. That is why they posted staff members at the moats in case one of us went in! I believe it actually DID happen once.
Then there was the problem with horses and other parade participants (presumably all NON HUMAN) leaving their —well — leavings along the parade route. Remember I said the toy soldier getups were open to the ground? Not sure about the mechanics, but the oder could get strong.
2nd year they put us on split shifts to save money. Let’s see—2x $1.25= $2.50. Then a four hour break and another $5.00. They tried to get me to come back the next year. Why? I didn’t do the parade after that.
But I did work at Disney studios. I suppose their was camaraderie between long time regular employees but not for freelancers. Give me Warner Bros, Fox, Paramount or even Universal. But never no never Disney Studios. Backbiting inc. was my experience.
On the other hand, when I was 10 years old (1958) and our family went for the first time it was a grand experience. This is before we lived in Downey near DLand. We had to drive 500 miles from SF and it was a big deal. I also won a trip their from SF Bay Area - my first flight anywhere.
And after we moved to LA area,We were frequently tour guides for all of our visitors from out of town so we saw a lot of Disneyland in those years. Mostly positive experiences. I also marched through the park in USC Marching Band pre Rose Bowl once. That was okay.
So it’s all a matter of perspective I guess.
Enjoyed the tour! I was never a regular cast member but felt like one in a way. I was a toy soldier their for a couple of seasons of Christmas parade, had my High School all night party there (1966) - you know what happened that night, right. We didn’t even know about what happened til next morning when it was on radio news. The toy soldier business had its own oddities since we had to find places just to “be” during parades. The first time I was there was 1967-1968 we got minimum wage ($1.25 hour I think) which kind of sort of made it worthwhile. I mostly read text books for college and found a place to hang out between the town hall on Main Street and the Jungle. Santa was strange. An actor, he played drunk until he got out the gate then he was jolly old St Nick. He also printed (??) to look down into the restrooms as he went by. Men’s? Women’s? Could he see anything? No idea. As far as we were concerned, we could partly dress ourselves. We could strap the legs on over our own legs and shoes, shoes exposed to the ground, and get the top on and partly snapped, and one arm. Then it was the dressers responsibility. As a drill team member I could see through a hole in the mouth, at least until some idiot took a flash photo and blinded me. That is why they posted staff members at the moats in case one of us went in! I believe it actually DID happen once.
Then there was the problem with horses and other parade participants (presumably all NON HUMAN) leaving their —well — leavings along the parade route. Remember I said the toy soldier getups were open to the ground? Not sure about the mechanics, but the oder could get strong.
2nd year they put us on split shifts to save money. Let’s see—2x $1.25= $2.50. Then a four hour break and another $5.00. They tried to get me to come back the next year. Why? I didn’t do the parade after that.
But I did work at Disney studios. I suppose their was camaraderie between long time regular employees but not for freelancers. Give me Warner Bros, Fox, Paramount or even Universal. But never no never Disney Studios. Backbiting inc. was my experience.
On the other hand, when I was 10 years old (1958) and our family went for the first time it was a grand experience. This is before we lived in Downey near DLand. We had to drive 500 miles from SF and it was a big deal. I also won a trip their from SF Bay Area - my first flight anywhere.
And after we moved to LA area,We were frequently tour guides for all of our visitors from out of town so we saw a lot of Disneyland in those years. Mostly positive experiences. I also marched through the park in USC Marching Band pre Rose Bowl once. That was okay.
So it’s all a matter of perspective I guess.
How does one copy edit this stuff? I do not seem to be able to spell, among other things!!
Wow. Trip down memory lane. I got the very last job at Disneyland the summer of 1975, working as the graveyard busboy at the Inn Between. It was a hoot to be able to take a break at 3am and walk down Main Street and not see anyone anywhere in the park. Like a Twilight Zone episode. They built Space Mtn that year and next and I was one of the first employees to take a test ride before they turned the speed down because every 4th person who rode it would throw up. Fun stuff!!
What was the name of the subterranean Cast Member restaurant that shared a kitchen with Blue Bayou?
I worked at the Plaza Terrace during the summer ( no longer there ) and the Inn Between during the off season. I dumped a lot of empty cheesecake plates into those 55 gallon drums
I must know you. I worked there for 2 years (76-78) and ride Space Mountain many times just as you mentioned
I remember going out during the off season when they closed for 2 days and it was a beautiful Indian Summer day I sat and watched them film Christmas at Disneyland. It was surreal
The Pit
I dumped a lot of empty cheesecake plates into those 55 gallon drums
I worked there in 1967-1968, before it was called the Inn Between. My first job out of High School. I started at $1.44/hr. Plus a $1.50 meal ticket. The work was hard. Hours were at the whim of managenent. No benefits, although I paid union dues. But I have a heart full of happy memories of being a first generation cast member. And I have great street cred with my Disneyland loving grandkids
I started at Disneyland June of 1977 two weeks after Space Mountain opened. I worked Night Custodial my first night was in the Plaza Inn and the Inn Between. You could eat lunch for a WEEK on $5 bucks NO REALLY. The prices then in the Inn Between were really cheap for Cast Members That's what Walt wanted for his employees it was even cheap to eat at the Studio cafeteria. Not just because things were cheaper back then. The employee cafeteria's weren't there to make money ..they were there to feed the cast Members. The food was good and they also would serve food from the Plaza Inn.
Post a Comment