Saturday, February 12, 2011

Two From Adventureland, 1958

Here are a couple of nice early views from Adventureland!


There's the Bazaar, which was probably full of all kinds of rubber skulls, snakes, shrunken heads, and other vital goods. "Bazaar" is my second favorite word with two a's in a row ("aardvark" is my very favorite). The detail on the few buildings in Adventureland is pretty sweet, considering that Walt ran low on money by the time he got to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.


The Jungle Cruise. You know it, you love it. I am fascinated by the ever-changing costumes worn by the skippers and other Jungle Cruise cast members. Today it's yellow turtlenecks, white pants, and skipper hats.


5 comments:

Orange Co native said...

The large Phoenix palm in the second photo was a palm tree that was planted in the front yard of Ron Dominguez father's house when all of Disneyland was just orange groves. Since Ron Dominguez could not inherit his father's orange farm, the deal Walt made with Ron's father was that Ron would be given a job at Disneyland. Ron went on to become one of the top executives for Disney. That large Phoenix palm still is at the Jungle Cruise to this day.

Connie Moreno said...

Wow...and benches where guests could wait for the next boat!

Oh, and Orange Co...really? Cool!

Chuck said...

If I remember correctly, when they remodeled the queue area for the Jungle Cruise in '93/'94 to make room for the Indiana Jones outdoor queue area, the original plans called for that palm to be removed. When its provenance was discovered by those who were executing the project, the plans were changed to keep the palm - which I believe is over 100 years old - right where it stands to this day.

JG said...

That's excellent news about the tree. I always just assumed that everything was mowed down to build disneyland. How cool that something old coincided with the new plan.

I learn all kinds of good things from your blog Major!.

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

That IS cool news about that Phoenix palm... I know that it is visible in MANY vintage photos from both Adventureland and Frontierland.

JG, I learn as much as anybody, with all of these smart readers!