Keelboat & Parking Lot, July 1963
The humble (and lovable) Keelboats are only a memory now (unless you happen to be at Disneyland Paris); they stopped operating in Anaheim sometime in 1997, and I believe that that was also the year they were removed from Walt Disney World. While lacking in thrills, the Keelboats offered another way to see the Rivers of America, and they added movement and energy to the river for those observing on shore. 
A sea of cars stretches nearly as far as the eye can see in this photo taken from the Monorail. In this 1963 image, you can see a surprising number of late-model cars, and not nearly as many 50's cars as I would expect. How many Volkswagens (bugs and vans) can you spot? 
11 comments:
Yup, most of those classic cars were junked in a few years; after all, there would always be newer and better until we all move on to future rocket age hover cars, right?
...how that has gone...
Love the keelboat pic! Desktop it is, would like to go there, I would. :)
*woot* the parking lot. a happier monday morning surprise there never has been. thanks a ton.
Great keelboat shot! I loved that attraction -- in addition to being a more close-up-and-intimate way to see the ROA than the Mark Twain or Columbia (and less work than the canoes), you'd occasionally get a really funny skipper who'd do a Jungle Cruise-style improv routine.
Since many of the images here were probably shot in Kodachrome, I thought you might be intrested to know that Kodak is stopping production of that film.
http://homepage.1000words.kodak.com/default.asp?item=2388083
Beautiful boat and lots of great cars.
does anyone know if the Gullywhumper was raised from the river?
i was at Disneyland (first time in five years) last week, and driving on the parking tram, i saw a keel boat in the backstage area.
i didn't head into that area of Frontierland later so i didn't see if it was still half submerged in place.
sure would be great if they would restore that...
Parking lot and the Keel boat in action, what a sweet Monday post.
Pickel, that's the same keel boat backstage that was 1/2 sunk in the river. Not sure what they are doing with it, when I saw it, it looked like they are shoring up the hull. I'm guessing it will end up back where it was, just not sinking... How cold would that be if it ran on the river again!!!!!!
Thanks Major!
The keel boats always seemed to have more frontier character than any of the other river craft. At WDW, they served as a wonderful kinetic link between Liberty Square and Frontierland, looking appropriate from the riverbank of either land. They were true "local color" and are sorely missed.
always liked the keelboats and i agree, it was sad when they took them away...
and lookit all those shiny cars!
Have to give love to the Mike Fink Keel Boats-the only non-track motorized boats to navigate the Rivers of America. Great picture, You can see it soon on the twitter of theinnbetweener.
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