Thursday, November 28, 2013

Caterpillar vs. Elephants - November 1972

I always love a good photo of the Caterpillar vehicles from the Alice in Wonderland dark ride. Not to mention the giant leaves and those groovy light fixtures that look like a dandelion puff (or whatever). The picture was taken from an elevated vantage point… any idea how that was possible? The Monorail is one option, but this is crystal clear and doesn't seem to have been taken from a moving vehicle. 


 The Sacred Bathing Pool is full of elephants. Again. I used to think cockroaches were a problem, but elephants…. come on! 


Let's finish up with a whimper with this boring photo of a topiary heffalump acting more than a little heffalumpish. 


I would like to wish all GDB readers a very happy Thanksgiving!

12 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

I'm votin' for the special "photo stilts" briefly sold at the Emporium in the early 1970's.

Happy Turkey Day to all.

K. Martinez said...

Nice shot of the elephant in the Sacred Bathing Pool. The foliage in the foreground catching the light adds a nice touch.

Nanook - I was thinkin' stilts as well.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Anonymous said...

The photo of Alice was taken from the upper level of the Omnibus back when it traveled from Town Square all the way up the extension.

TokyoMagic! said...

I was also going to say Omnibus at first, but then I saw that these were taken in 1972...way after the time that the Omnibuses stopped going up that far. I vote for the picture being taken from the Monorail. Possibly a broken down Monorail? By the way, we got stuck on the Monorail yesterday, Major. We were just sitting there for about 20 minutes.

Nancy said...

A nice bit of whimsey today from GBD goes well with the fun balloons we will be seeing in the Macy's Parade!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! :-)

Melissa said...

1.
I was also thinking stalled Monorail car, TokyoMagic! That’s got to be the best picture of the Alice ride I’ve ever seen – crystal-clear and shows a ton of fauxliage. I never really got a good idea of the size of it before.

2.
The composition of the second picture is amazing, with the dappled branches framing the foreground, the horizontal line formed by the light on the disturbed water, and the arc of the trunk and water droplets. Anyone who says that theme park design isn’t art hasn’t been paying attention at Disneyland.

3.
I’ve heard of weeds making you see shapes like that, but shrubs, too?
They had to seat all the men with bald spots on the starboard side of the boat to balance the load.

4.
November 1972, eh? You know who else was in the park then?
"I thought you'd LIKE to ride through the pretty flowers in a pink caterpillar."
"This ride is for kids!"
"Oh, pardon me; I had forgotten that eleven was over the hill these days. Did you remember your Geritol this morning. My little sister - I think I'll keep her."
"Lin-daa!"
"Li-saa!"
"When is Jim ever showing up,anyway?"
"I... I don't know. He doesn't like when I call his answering service. He might have gotten held up with a patient, or one of his private surfing students. Anyway, you just worry about behaving yourself, young lady, and let me worry about Jim, or I'll figure out a way to turn this caterpillar around and drive it straight to Cheektowaga."
"O-kaaaay. But can we ride the Jungle Cruise next? At least the baby elephants are cute."

5.
And finally, a very happy Thanksgiving to you, too Major! I’m very thankful for my daily dose of GBD all year long. It’s that little escape into another, happier world that helps gets me through the grind, and I want you to know how much your efforts are appreciated.

MRaymond said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Major, and thank you for all you do on this blog. I discovered it a few months ago and I have been reading it from the beginning since then (I read slow). Thanks again for all you've done.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, now I am imagining what it would be like to walk around Disneyland on stilts! At least I would absolutely meet all height requirements (not that that has been a problem). Might be hard to get on most rides though.

K. Martinez, in photo #2, I think it's odd how blue everything looks in the background. Must be a result of whatever film was used, but it doesn't look natural.

Anonymous, I didn't know that the Omnibus made the journey back into Fantasyland as late as 1972.

TokyoMagic!, you read my mind! Wow, stuck on the Monorail, I've never heard of such a thing happening, honestly. Did they have to tow the Monorail back to the station?

Nancy, OH MAN, I have some vintage Macy's balloon photos that I forgot to scan this year. Rats!

Melissa, it's easier for me to believe that the photographer just used a fast shutter speed, but I guess we'll never now. Photo #2 is nice, but I'm assuming that it was a quick snap that just happened to be good! Also, what kind of weeds are you talking about? Dandelions? ;-) Ha ha, I knew SadLisa would be there in that photo… I think this might be from the same lot, actually. Thanks for all your awesome comments, Melissa!

MRaymond, thank you, I'm glad you discovered GDB and are checking in regularly!

Anonymous said...

My mistake -- somehow I missed the photo date right there in the title description. The Omnibusses were long done going up the extension by 1972!

Tom said...

That first shot: Either early prototype military quadricopter, or camera released into the sky suspended by balloons.

Or maybe the photographer had several family members stand on each other's shoulders.

Or monorail. Probably that.

TokyoMagic! said...

Major, they didn't have to tow us. They were able to power up after about 20 minutes and never gave us an explanation of what happened. I'm hoping that somehow it was the employees getting ready for a huge protest for when Disney attempts to tear out the Submarines and Autopia and shorten the length of the Monorail track. I am sure that wasn't what it was, but wouldn't it be cool if it was?

Anonymous said...

Alice pic is "wonder"ful, terrific view of a dynamic 3D experience being a bug in a flower garden. Undoubtedly taken from a monorail window, possibly stationary. But with a fast shutter, might be possible while moving.

Others are great too. I really love topiary.

Thank you Major and belated Happy Thanksgiving.

JG