Wednesday, March 18, 2009

A Trip to Disneyland, July 1958 - Part Five

Yessiree Bob, today's three photos are among my favorites from the lot of 1958 images that we have been looking at over the past few weeks.

Look at this beautiful shot of the "Alice In Wonderland" attraction, which had opened in June of 1958! I see at least three girls in Alice attire helping guests in and out of their snooty caterpillar vehicles (one of them is admittedly hard to spot).


Oh man, this picture is even better! The lady in the bright yellow blouse and the boy sitting next to her appear in some other photos, so they are presumably the photographer's family. The two boys in front are interlopers (and commies). I wonder what the view would look like if I was up in one of the Skyway buckets?


The view would be just like this! Afraid of heights... so very dizzy... might throw up... look out below...

Once the vertigo passes, we can enjoy this view of Snow Hill and the dirt trails that criss-crossed the hill, including what appears to be "shortcuts" - - not sure if those were created by impatient guests, or landscapers (since they do look as if they've been somewhat maintained). In less than a year, the Matterhorn would replace this charming feature!

13 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

Woweeee! Three incredible Alice shots. I wish they would return the original attraction poster back to the top of the mushroom where it belongs! Cinderella's castle looks so close in that first pic. I guess eventually, Skull Rock and/or landscaping would block that view. And that last pic that includes Snow Hill AND two Main Street vehicles....beautiful!

William Kelley said...

You know what else is interesting in the last shot: those two old vehicles driving in between Alice and Holiday Hill. I never knew there was transportation past Main St.

Anonymous said...

Gosh Maj I agree these are supercalifragilisticexpealidocious. These pics show a Wonderland of their own. :) Love the perspective of the 2nd shot. I wanna go get in me Snootycaterpillarmobile. Where's one of them Alici?

Well spotted Mojave33! Hehe maybe some guests paid 'em fifty-cents and the drivers felt obliged to drive 'em all the way cross the park.

Nancy said...

man, these images are tip-top!

the first one literally sparkles from the sunshine, definitely postcard worthy! :D

when we have to sit with "interlopers" i also like the back seat...


perhaps those two antique-mobiles are transporting a tour group, maybe even an important one!

i cant wait to see what more our photog has in store on this visit :)

The Viewliner Limited said...

I can always count on the finest in historic Disneyland pics from the Ape These are absolutely unbelievable and beautiful. Thanks Major.... Richard

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

I feel like we are IN the camera! What an amazing set of photos! Hey, nice look at the trails on Snow Hill! Neat with the old cars, I know the Omnibus went all the way up to the Fantasyland Train Station, but I've never seen the little cars go up that far. THANKS!

Thufer said...

amazing capture of the time. i love the whole setting of the family in that first picture and the look on dad is priceless.
the last picture...this is why i miss the skyway so much.

Matt said...

You know I love a good Alice post, and these pictures are AMAZING! I especially love the ride operators in Alice garb, something that I wish Disneyland would do more of these days...costumes seems so boring nowadays.

Thanks for the great images!

Anonymous said...

On the top Alice picture --to the far lower left, you can see the headlamp and radiator cover to the Omnibus!!! -Mike

walterworld said...

Wow---Superlative pictures to be sure. Set the first one as my desktop background (not the first time), then was tempted further as I went along.

What a collection you have. Good work!

Kevin Kidney said...

Wonderful!!

Anonymous said...

Photo No. 3 is extremely cool, but photo No. 1 is my Desktop of the Week.

Redlands Redhead said...

All these years went by without someone saying that is Sleeping Beauty Castle. Cinderella's Castle is in Walt Disney World and was built many, many year ago.