Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Fantasyland, October 1962

If I had a dime for every photo that I have that was taken from the Skyway… I'd have a lot of dimes. Today's pictures would have made me 20 cents richer. Try not to be jealous.

The exterior bit of the Alice in Wonderland dark ride was one of the more interesting things to see  from above. Looky, a caterpiggle! Soon it will morph into a beautiful blue-green butterfly. The roof of the castle wasn't very pretty though - not that anybody minded. There was plenty of other eye candy to distract. One thing I like about this photo is the way we can see the color and whimsy of Fantasyland come to an abrupt end, and the vast forests of Frontierland's wilderness begin.


Our photographer turned to take this colorful picture of the stern of the pirate ship; it's always nice to see it with its striped sails fully unfurled. 


And we even get a pretty good look at the wonderful bas-relief sculpture featuring the Chicken of the Sea mermaid (attended by her tuna friends). Ordinarily I am turned off by unwanted advertisements - I won't buy a shirt if it has a big Nike logo on it, for instance - and yet so many of these vintage Disneyland sponsorships still inspire warm fuzzies for me. Which was the point, I suppose!


7 comments:

  1. Major-

    I could stare at these pictures for hours. Also, the photographer managed to capture a Skyway bucket moving the opposite direction perfectly framed within the cross-bracing of the tower.

    Thanks, Major.

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  2. Chuck5:02 AM

    Check it out - a round, red Skyway bucket corner post in the first picture! Finding an authentic picture of that is like finding an authentic picture of a chupacabra!

    I agree with Nanook - I could stare at these pictures for hours...or at least until my eyeballs dried out.

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  3. Nanook, it almost looks like the bucket was stuck in that tower opening!

    Chuck, can a round bucket have a corner? Please do like me and have your wet eyeballs replaced with bionic versions.

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  4. I don't mind advertising if it's well-executed and done with an eye for its surroundings. That Chicken of the Sea tableau is a perfect example of in-park advertising done as it should be.

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  5. Kindred spirits! I HATE advertizing, especially when they try to get you to wear it. However, I always loved all the cool advertisements at D-land, particularly the mechanized signage from vintage Tomorrowland. I remember a jet plane with retractable landing gear, which promoted Goodyear tires. It was at the bottom of the Peoplemover ramp. There were other cool ones as well, but they escape me at the moment, I just remember being completely captivated as a tike.

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  6. Chuck7:19 PM

    Major - Only at Disneyland - that's what makes those photos so darned rare.

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  7. I like the view of the Skyway Chalet in the far distance at the edge of Fantasyland. Our final destination. Nice Skyway set today. Thanks.

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