View From a Bucket, 1957
I would imagine that there are more than a few readers of this blog who never had a chance to ride in the Skyway. Which is just sad! Not only was it a handy way to get back and forth between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, but it provided some of the coolest views. Which explains why there are so many photos taken from those little buckets.
In these photos we are heading over Fantasyland, circa 1957. A very good year! There's nothing too remarkable about this photo that we haven't seen before, but it has a great vintage feel (due largely to the warm, mellow colors). The bronze Skyway bucket reminds me of my brother's beat up 1967 Volkswagen Bug, which was that same color (it was eventually stolen). Also, we are being watched by the mysterious "man in the hat" in that other bucket, he looks sinister in silhouette!
Yep, it's the back of the castle, and you can even see some Main Street and Frontierland bits as well. All for one low low price!
13 comments:
thanks once again for my daily time warp! haha i love always love overviews of the "chicken of the sea" ship and different things have changed
Why, who is the man in the hat? Could it be Thelonious Monk? :p Yes they do have a mello feel. What a nice trip on the skyway. :)
So much orange tree grove out there. Where does everyone get their oranges now it seems there's more people there now than there were orange trees then. Hauled in, half frozen, grown for size and looks not flavor, over a buck a single fruit...
Where was I. Oh yes, '57! :D Park's looking rather better than one might expect. Can see a row of bright metal lights to spot the castle on the rooftop - they look very much like some living room lamps. Anyone ever followed the changes in how night lighting was done over the years? Probably difficult to find enough good night shots from the early decades though.
what a beautiful sunny day...
a line for tuna and every table appears to be occupied....luckily we ate in Tomorrowland at Space Bar before making our way over for a spin on Dumbo ;D
what shop would we find beneath the red shingled roof there next to Peter Pan??
Nancy, that shop was Merlin's Magic Shop. It remained there until the '83 redo of Fantasyland when it became a Christmas Shop. It has since been a Villain's Shop and now, I believe it is the Heraldry Shop.
Life is better from the bottom of a bucket.
That's Clark Kent with the hat, Lois Lane is in the bronze bucket.
I've notice a lot of Skyway photo's are taken in the "portrait" orientation, I guess the towers made it a natural choice.
Great stuff.
Is he man in the hat WED surveying his Kingdom?
Don't get me started on the removal of Merlin’s. I used to spend hours in there perusing the merchandise and getting off on the free entertainment provided by the cast members. Remember the rubber spider they could lower on a thin filament line from the ceiling to scare the beejeezus out of unsuspecting guests who wandered in? It never got old. I spent a whopping $34 for one of those great Don Post "over-the-head" monster masks they carried in 1972.
Lon Chaney as Erik, The Phantom of the Opera.
I grew up right off of Haster avenue between Chapman and Orangewood. A stones, er orange throw from the Harbor gate. We could ride our Schwinn to the park and pay what I recall was $.50 for an admission ticket. No ticket book required as friends who visited always left us there leftovers. My Mom kept a huge bundle of coupons wrapped with a rubber band in a drawer in the den. There were still plenty of orange groves in the neighborhood as late as 65-66. In fact, there were some right on the north side of Orangewood just east of Harbor blvd that wer great for extended nightime hide-n-seek sessions. Can you imagine letting your kids play in an open orange grove at night now?
Jim, thanks for all of your wonderful memories! I am jealous of the kids who could ride their bikes to Disneyland. And yes, my brother and I always went to the Magic Shop to look at the Don Post monster masks (as seen in "Famous Monsters" magazine!).
I did ride my bike all over the place, including the beach (in Huntington Beach), where we left them, unlocked; they were always there when we were ready to go home!
I loved riding the skyway as a kid because you got to see a little behind the scenes stuff – like the roofs of the dark rides. In the 80s when they re-did Fantasyland, you could see all kinds of neat construction going on.
Thanks Major. I pledge to try and resist the urge to ramble in future posts. FMOF and being a "monster kid" is right behind the park in my pantheon of cherished childhood memories.
FJA RIP.
enjoyed hearing from ya Jim :)
I guess it DOES pay to read the comments. FJA?
Zanuck, "FJA" refers to Forrest J. Ackerman. He was the editor of the legendary magazine "Famous Monsters of Filmland", and had one of the most amazing collections of Sci-Fi and fantasy memorabilia in the world.
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