Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Freedomland, June 1960 - Part Three

Here are three more randomly-chosen photos from Freedomland. See part one here, and part two here.

So... this first image shows an Indian crafting a totem pole, which places this in the Pacific Northwest. My spidey senses tell me that this must be from the "Northwest Fur Trapper" boat ride from the "San Francisco" section of Freedomland. It's a pretty nice scene, although I get the feeling that Walt Disney would have put more than one lonely Indian in there. Those totem poles in the background have a slightly cartoony appearance that is a bit jarring. Compare the detail to what was present in the Indian Village.


Well, maybe I should have posted this photo last week; but like I said, these really are in a random order. Anyway, it's the "Horseless Carriage" ride again, in which you take a road trip through New England. I have to add that converting these to small jpegs just washes out the color like crazy when compared to the original Photoshop file.


I hope mom was ready for her closeup, because she got one here. Freedomland's "Tucson Mining Company" ore buckets were painted a rusty red-brown color, and it was really like two Disneyland Skyways - four cables, two in each direction. Look at all of that undeveloped land! Curiously, nearly all of my 100+ Freedomland slides are from 1960. I would love to find some from 1964 (the final year) for a bit of "before and after" comparison.


Stay tuned for part four!

4 comments:

  1. That lady looks a little like my grandmother. I didn't notice that the first time I read "Part 2" of your series. I sure do wish I could have seen this park in person! It's like an "Alternate Universe Disneyland!"

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  2. Freedomland is always fascinating. Have to agree; it does seem like most of the slides you come across are from that first year of operation. Maybe the 'newness' wore off pretty quickly and folks just stopped bringing their cameras as much.

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  3. She must have been ready because that's a nice closeup.

    RE: pics tapering off after the 1st year. People say oh, it's the extra mile or whatever but the fact fewer shutterbugs - paying customers, many with families too - kept coming to Freedomland while the cameras kept clicking year after year at Disneyland just goes to show "going the extra mile" of Walt's Way wasn't just extravagance, it was and is good for business.

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  4. very cool. certainly some wide open spaces.

    i think you guys are definitely right about the picture-taking...

    i could give you Disney pictures for at least a dozen years' worth of posts that ive taken since 1994...people say im a bit looney....

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