Thursday, October 23, 2014

Beautiful Tomorrowland, August 1960

I've become so used to similar views of the old Sub Lagoon that, at times, I get jaded and forget how cool scenes like this are. But look at it! If I had never heard of Disneyland, and then somebody showed me this picture, I would want to go there. Blue blue water, Autopia cars, coral reefs, a Monorail, and Merms! 


This one's a beauty too. Love the Skyway passing overhead, along with the old Moonliner and Yacht Bar. And… more Merms.


9 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

All this 'blue' is making me feel the exact opposite. Such swell views-!

Thanks, Major.

Pilnsr Panther said...

Major, you do post a lot of mediocre, blurry visitor snapshots of the early Disneyland (which are still kind of interesting), BUT- the really nice ones like these two are the reason why I keep visiting this page!

Chuck said...

Great set today, Major!

Alonzo P Hawk said...

Nice pair today. Full of watery goodness!

Imagine the sales pitch when they had the Mermaid tryouts. $1.85 an hour and all the chlorinated water you can drink. And still they had too many for the job.

Tom said...

I would wager more pictures were taken of the sub lagoon during the mermaid period than any other comparable time span.

That first one is definitely postcard material. The forward-looking movement of that monorail toward the empty expanse to the left just screams progress.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, it really does look like they dumped some blue food coloring in the water!

Pilsner Panther, I know a lot of the photos I post here are not the greatest; I used to be a lot more discriminating, but at some point realized that if I only used the "good" to "great" examples, this blog would be done in about two months.

Chuck, thanks!

Alonzo, I would guess that each mermaid's shifts were reasonable, but still, it looks like a pretty boring job. Maybe the fact that so many people were happy to see them made it more bearable.

Tom, you might be right, considering that the mermaids were there for such a relatively short time (I believe it was for the 1959 summer season, and then again in 1965).

Major Pepperidge said...

Oops, and the summer of 1960 too, obviously!

K. Martinez said...

Beautiful! I don't think I've ever become jaded by vintage Disneyland photos. I could even look at a jillion castle photos and still enjoy them all. And then there are standouts like today. Thanks, Major.

Anonymous said...

$1.85 an hour to sit in the lagoon...a job.

Showing off your Merm tanline...
priceless.

Thanks for the photos Major!

Bill in Denver