Main Street at Dusk, November 1972
What is your favorite time to be at Disneyland? Some people prefer the early morning, when it is still cool and quiet and uncrowded. Maybe you like it at night, when the park is transformed by the zillions of lights of all kinds and colors. But my vote might just go for dusk!
This first photo is a great example of why dusk is so awesome. The sun has just set, and the sky is going through a variety of colorful gradations. If it's summer, the temperature becomes much more comfortable. And then the twinkling lights come on, and I think there is even a different music selection on Main Street for evenings. There's just something about it that words can't describe. You really have to be there!
It's hard to see, but the flag-lowering ceremony is under way; I assume that the Main Street Vehicles are retired at about this time as well. The balloon vendors are still going strong though! I was thinking that sales for balloons must go way down at night, but there are probably a lot of them sold as last-minute souvenirs for kids on their way home.
9 comments:
My favorite time is dusk, when the lights come on but it is still light out...that is definitely the magic for me!
I especially like being on Main Street at this time of day, tho anywhere in the Park is special for sure! :-)
Happy Monday, everyone!
I got a balloon just like that on my first visit in 1971, purchased a a last-minute souvenir on the way out of the park.
Dusk is a great time at Disneyland, for all the reasons you listed and more. I like the anticipation of "Disneyland After Dark" just around the corner. Day trippers with small children on their way home. Lines thin a bit as guests head to eat or to get a good parade-watching spot. Photography becomes a bit challenging without a flash, but you can get some really nice pictures that show people's faces but still catch the park's lighting effects. And I tend to get a bit reflective and want to sit on a bench and watch it all go by...
One of my aunts had a pink pantsuit just like the one on the lady in the ore ground of the first picture, so I was really flashing back. And then what do I see in the second shot? An identical suit in buttery yellow! What a way to start the week.
I too love the park at dusk – especially sitting on the terrace at the Hungry Bear restaurant and watching slow traffic on the Rivers Of America. It's just so peaceful at that time of day – a nice lull after the daytime crowds and before the parades and Fantasmic! horrorshow.
Dusk is nice on Main Street for all the reasons you stated, but I love Main Street best in the early morning just as the park opens. It's fresh looking and creates a certain anticipation for the adventures that await further into the Park.
Nancy, it is hard to choose, but I really do love the way things look just as the sun has set.
Chuck, I still have a balloon from about that era… I got it home and carefully unknotted it, and placed it in a box. It's a bit warped and weird looking, but it's still in the box!
Melissa, I'm guessing that pantsuits really came into popularity right around the time these photos were taken. Very "Carol Brady".
Pegleg Pete, I have always wanted to eat at the Hungry Bear at night, but it seems to close early when I go to the park (which isn't very often). I usually go in the Autumn, so that must be the reason.
K. Martinez, mornings would certainly be nice too, no arguments there!
Major - that is AWESOME that not only do you have a balloon from that era, you have YOUR balloon from that era.
I remember mine bouncing around the station wagon, but I'm not even sure it lasted the week.
My desktop background picture (since 2009) has been the main street train station at dusk. Best time of day in the park watching the lights come on.
I absolutely LOVE pictures of Disneyland taken at dusk. The word itself is just fun to say - dusk - but the cheery feel of the park with the various lighting elements kicking in while the sky is just turning to dark; this is glorious.
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