Thursday, April 29, 2010

Disneyland Hotel Pool, 1960

In 1960, Disneyland visitors had plenty of places to stay; but the lucky ones stayed at the Disneyland Hotel! Just look at that pool. No kidney-shaped motel pool for Disney.


What the...?! I have no idea what is going on in this photo. The pool has a large model of a nuclear submarine (complete with a Polaris missile on its way to make people happy), as well as several ice floes. There are penguins (so... Southern Hemisphere) and what looks like Koala bears frolicking on the ice too. Baffling!

17 comments:

Jason Schultz said...

Major: I think we've been submerged too long.

TokyoMagic! said...

As Alice said.....How curious!

Thufer said...

That is the best-est thing-y I've seen in some time. Very in-ter-est-innnnng!
Love it.

Connie Moreno said...

I remember as a kid DREAMING of staying at the Disneyland Hotel someday. My wish finally came true when I was 16! As for the sub...WEIRD!

stu29573 said...

I love the sub in the pool!!!! Totally cool! I wonder what teh heck was going on? (then again, I wonder that a lot)

HBG2 said...

The shot might be dated 1960, but perhaps it sat in the camera for a few months. In that case, perhaps these items were part of some sort of debut hoopla for the Submarine Voyage in 1959.

HBG2 said...

What puzzles me more is that ridiculously unsafe and ludicrously located trampoline ;)

Matterhorn1959 said...

I wonder where the Hotel got the sub and other scenic elements? Did they make them or did they rent them from a prop house? And where is that sub today? The sub (and even the polar bears and penguins) would be so cool to own!

Matterhorn1959 said...

PS- to HBG2 that is not a trampoline but a sun shade umbrella.

HBG2 said...

Yeah, that's what they tell the OSHA people.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Neato Photos, but the "Polaris missile" in flight is amazing! Had to double check that it wasn't April 1st...

Nancy said...

pretty cool stuff.

looks like someone was having a party of some kind, with those tables and i would swim with a submarine if i had the chance!!

love those web-woven folding chairs and the cool lamps that line the walkway, looking like the aliens from The War of the Worlds!

those electric towers certainly are plentiful...

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, according to navsource.org, the sub "SSN-651 was Commissioned in 1966, the Queenfish (SSN-651) was a nuclear-powered attack submarine, the first in a new class designed with additional abilities for sailing under ice."

Perhaps this was some sort of party/celebration related to the launching of the sub...

G.

outsidetheberm said...

I was wondering about the connection to the submarine Queenfish as well, but it seems she wasn't even ordered until 1963 - her mission being to help map the Arctic. So that helps tie the image together to some degree.

What a curious slide... Maybe it's a celebration of sorts for the new sub to come.

Major Pepperidge said...

I do think it is interesting that there actually was a submarine with "SSN-651" designation; thanks for doing the research!

I just can't believe that this odd display in the hotel pool would have anything to do with a sub ordered three years later and not commissioned until six years later. Doesn't that seem very strange to you? There were plenty of contemporary subs that had done notable things, and many of the vessels at Disneyland bore their names.

Chiana_Chat said...

LOL that's great. I have no idea what is up with that sub, with Polaris on the go, floatin' in a hotel swimming pool. Sounds plausible to me that it was for some defense dept. event the hotel was hosting.

Spencer said...

As hotel pools from the 1960s go this one is pretty cool!