Monday, January 13, 2014

A Pair From May, 1973

Here are two fun shots from 1973! Let's start with this very nice Skyway view of the Matterhorn. Just to the right of the red bucket you can see an opening in the rock work that allowed a quick view outside while your bobsled was pulled up the incline. And speaking of bobsleds, there's one now! I love this picture.


What can be more quintessentially "Disneyland" than riding a flying elephant? This photo could almost be from a Kodak advertisement.


9 comments:

K. Martinez said...

It looks like the upper waterfall was turned off and the lower waterfall left on in the Matterhorn image.

The Matterhorn looks great here with the Skyway intersecting it. The mountain just doesn't seem the same with out it.

Extra cool pics today! Thanks.

Nanook said...

Yes, both images are quite wonderful; the Matterhorn image especially so, as it includes the spires from the Sleeping Beauty Castle, which appears so far away. How magical.

Thanks, Major.

Nancy said...

I thought the same thing, Nanook. The castle looks farther away to me as well.

These two pics are beautiful. Thanks Major.

Happy Monday, everyone! :)

Chuck said...

I often worry that the mountain will fall over in a strong wind without the Skyway's guy wires holding it in place.

Tom said...

Excellent photos today! That first shot is postcard worthy if ever a picture could be.

The woman riding in Dumbo looks like she's forcing a smile: "Hurry up and take the shot, already!"

Major Pepperidge said...

K. Martinez, you're right, that waterfall does look like it's been turned off. Wonder why? Did somebody just forget to turn the spigot? I miss that darn Skyway so much, it kills me that it is gone.

Nanook, wow, the castle does look like it's 1/4 of a mile away, doesn't it? How weird.

Nancy, you and Nanook (and I) all agree!

Chuck, it's like an upside-down Dixie cup, it'll just skitter along the pavement.

Tom, if that first photo had a nice blue sky (which was often "dropped in" mechanically on old postcards), I agree that it might be postcard-worthy! As for the woman, who among us hasn't had to smile for way too long while waiting for a photo? I usually look like I am grimacing.

Melissa said...

Wow, these really are picture-perfect, aren’t they? It couldn’t have been arranged better by a painter or a studio photographer. If you’ll pardon me, I’m gonna go all Walt-Whitman-meets-my-tenth-grade-Art-teacher for a minute here.
The symmetry of the passing blue and red Skyway cars against the craggy asymmetry of the mountain! The moving horizontal line of the bobsled bisecting the moving vertical line of the waterfall! The shiny blue-gray pathway on the left both mirroring the waterfall and leading your eye down to the flower garden! The play of light on the different shades of rock, both warm and cool! The tourists in red, white, and blue echoing the color of the Skyway buckets against the white light coming through the tunnels!

And Dumbo! Holy Hostess Sno-Balls, if that isn’t the spirit of Disneyland summed up in one picture, then slice me up and serve me in a Monte Cristo sandwich. THREE GENERATIONS smiling so hard you can see every line item on their dental bills, kids and Grandpa totally oblivious to the camera, just from sitting together in a couple of fiberglass elephants. WHERE DO I PLUNK DOWN MY $92?

Alonzo P Hawk said...

Other than the obvious focal point of pic #2 I like the clear shot of the Fantasyland Skyway Chalet in the rear. Poor thing didn't know that termites (and wrecking crews) would take it down in 2014.

Nioe shots to start the week. Thanks

Unknown said...

The chain lift runs from north (bottom) to south (top), so that incline in the matterhorn photo is not the lift.