Monday, August 04, 2014

Two Nice Snapshots from the early 1970's

Here are some more nice vintage snapshots from over 40 years ago!

This first one is one of my favorites, taken at the entrance to the New Tomorrowland. The light of the setting sun certainly adds beauty to an already beautiful scene. This version of Tomorrowland never felt sterile, in spite of its abundance of white and shining metal surfaces; I'm sure the swirling flower beds and palm trees helped a lot. I love the Peoplemover heading down into the tunnel to our left; the concept of being able to peek in at many Tomorrowland attractions while aboard the Peoplemover was a stroke of genius.


There's Snow White and one of the seven dwarfs (Sleepy? Bashful?), standing at the site where the Monsanto Home of the Future used to be. As you can see, the attractive waterfalls and pools remained - for many years, in fact. I wonder what goodies could be had at the souvenir stand in the distance?


12 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

My vote's with Sleepy.

Thanks, Major.

K. Martinez said...

Both shots today are winners in my book.

While Tomorowland had lots of white and silver, color was still quite abundant. There were the colorful PeopleMover vehicles moving about everywhere, the beautiful Mary Blair Murals stretching along the entire length of central corridor and the Tomorrowland Terrace with it's orange & yellow accents. That along with the Subs/Autopia woodlands area and its various colorful Tomorrowland vehicles zipping and gliding about made Tomorrowland '67 a warm and friendly future. It never was better, and don't think it ever will be.

As for the blue PeopleMover, it actually just left the tunnel of the Circle-Vision building and is heading back down the central corridor to the PeopleMover station.

Alpine Gardens with its white & yellow souvenir stand nestled below the Matterhorn always contained a bit of magic for me. I strongly associate it with my trips to Disneyland in the 1960s-70s. As for the souvenir stand itself, it sold your standard Disneyland stuff like postcards, pictorial books, maps, floaty pens, pinback buttons and various other through the years.

Nice set today. Because of the photo type, these images strongly remind me of my childhood visits to Disneyland. Thanks, Major.

Snow White Archive said...

That is a very inviting image of the entrance to Tomorrowland.

And so is the Snow White pic. In fact, it almost looks (but not quite) like an early example of the tilt-shift photography that's become popular today.

My guess on the dwarf is Sneezy. He tends to wear a yellowish-tone hat.

Alonzo P Hawk said...

Any shot of the new (old) tomorrowland from this period is welcome. This time period and land were my favorite. With NOS post 69' a close second. I think I'll close my eyes and remember circlevision, the peoplemover and Progress City. Like Bob Hope said "Thanks for the memories".

Melissa said...

Love the blue Bell logo seeming to hove over the blue train like a speech bubble.

I’ve read that the currently-being-refurbished Peoplemover and Astro Orbiter at the Magic Kingdom are using red as a new dominant color, and that this is slated to become the color scheme for all of WDW Tomorrowland. I don’t know what I think – Tomorrowlands have featured primary colors, white-and-blue, and the current cotton-candy colors, so I guess there’s no one palette that defines “futurism.” But I just don’t think of red when I think of space travel or science fiction (other than Maximilain from The Black Hole, I guess). As always, we’ll have to see, but if they leave all the white buildings and add red trim, I imagine it looking pretty pepperminty.

K. Martinez said...

@Melissa, I actually like the idea of red in Tomorrowland; energy, heat, rockets and red planet mars. In fact the original Star Jets color scheme was red, white and black.

Here's to a pepperminty Tomorrowland.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mgmcinnis/2931708761/in/photolist

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, a vote for Sleepy is a vote for fun!

K. Martinez, it's true, Tomorrowland was somehow colorful, though not overtly so. It's a testament to the taste and talent of the Imagineers from those days. As for the Peoplemover, I had the feeling I was making a mistake when I said it was going IN to the tunnel! I'm sure the souvenir stand sold all of the usual stuff, but I can't help thinking that it might have occasionally had something odd and rare that would make me immediately take out my wallet.

Snow White Archive, far be it from me to argue with the expert!

Melissa, maybe the person in the Peoplemover wants to call their mom. WDW Tomorrowland with red as the dominant color… you mean, to the extent that anything that used to be white is now going to be red? That would be weird. Like the bathroom in The Shining. But who knows, maybe it will be cool when it's done. Hard to say. John Hench had all kinds of theories about the way colors reacted to the Florida sky, I wish we could hear what he would say about it.

K. Martinez, those red stripes are not dominating, so they work as a wonderful accent. If the whole starlet was painted red, it might be quite a different look!

Major Pepperidge said...

Oops, Alonzo (sorry I accidentally skipped you), that is the Tomorrowland that I remember the best, and I really did love it. The older Tomorrowland versions were pretty neat too, even without the Peoplemover and other '67 goodies.

Chuck said...

A red Space Mountain...

Well, I guess that's appropriate. I mean, after all, they did put the first artificial satellite, dog, man, and woman up there.

Melissa said...

None of the rumors I've read have been specific about exactly where the red will go; I'm betting it's not going to cover anything that's currently white or silver, because that would be a huge job.

Major Pepperidge said...

Chuck, are you saying that Commies at Disney are behind the repaint?!?

Melissa, that makes sense. Paint is expensive too, I have read about how leftover paint from one project will be used for something else to say money.

Chuck said...

Perhaps. Walt's not around anymore to testify against them to the HUAC. Of course, the HUAC's not around anymore, either. Coincidence? I wonder...