Creepy Vintage Photos of Disneyland Mascots

When Disneyland opened in 1955, it wasn’t the standard of character mascot excellence as it is today. Ill-fitting outfits and ghoulish facial features are just a few of the things that will make your skin crawl looking at these characters.

In the early 60s’ general admission for adults was just $1.60 and looking at some of these costumes, guests certainly got their money’s worth.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse (1955)

When Disneyland originally opened in 1955, the costumes for Disney’s iconic characters were minimal to say the least. To say a bit more, they were absolutely terrifying.

On opening day most of the costumes looked relatively normal, but as they started to wear and tear with every day use, the holes that kept the costumes ventilated looked more like wounds.

Donald Duck (1955)

Cameras caught this behind the scenes look at the costumed performers preparing for the televised grand opening of Disneyland and it is an eye opener.

Not only is the first run of Donald Duck’s costume extremely ill fitting, but the actress playing Mickey Mouse can be seen without her head on! That is one rule that any Disneyland cast member today would never be caught breaking.

Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Dumbo and Pinocchio (1955)

Even Walt looks uneasy around his characters! Aside from the thousand yard stares that each of these mascots seem to have in their eyes, their stances make it glaringly obvious that there is a person (or two, in Pluto’s case) inside each one of these uncomfortable costumes who can’t wait to go on break and change their clothes.

Minnie Mouse (1962)

In an effort to make Disney’s mascots easily accessible to the children wandering around the park, they were given a makeover to appear shorter and at eye level with children.

Unfortunately, this gave all of the characters of that time a short and stocky look that was absolutely frightening when looked at from head on.