Nifty Pix From Fifty Six!
I love today's first photo, featuring the original Autopia! A Shirley Temple lookalike rides with her mom in a sleek white sports car along the guide-less miniature highway. Hey mom, let the kid drive, for crying out loud! That vast empty field behind them is a strange sight to behold; I can't quite get my bearings to figure out what might be there today.
The Carrousel in Fantasyland (pre all-white horses) looks great from any angle - even this weird one.
12 comments:
Major-
The grassy area in the distance is where the short-lived (November 24, 1955 thru January 8, 1956) Mickey Mouse Club Circus pitched its proverbial tent. (Now you're gonna want to know what occupied that space next. How's about the Motor Boat Cruise-?? Yeah, I think so.
And, man, that little girl certainly resembles Miss. Shirley Temple-!
Thanks, Major.
There's oranges in them thar trees......isn't there???
It's the simplicity that I love about the Autopia car image. What's there today is the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage plus the back end and off road area of Autopia (formerly Fantasyland Autopia).
I have to say I much prefer the pre all-white horse era of the King Arthur Carrousel. It was more colorful as Fantasyland should be. So is that the Peter pan's Flight façade in the background? or Snow White Adventures façade?
Nice set today showing the simple pleasures of early Disneyland. Thanks, Major.
K. Martinez, looks like it's Peter Pan: http://davelandweb.com/peterpan/images/exterior/50s/KTPBKKTPBK_50s_08B.jpg
Nanook, the Motor Boat Cruise was my best guess, but the area seems so huge. I didn’t even consider the Mickey Mouse Club Circus, but it makes sense!
TokyoMagic!, it’s hard to say for sure (these aren’t the crispest photos ever), but it does look like there might be some fruit on the trees to the left.
K. Martinez, hmmm, the Submarine Voyage kind of makes sense too. I need to go back to that aerial view I posted in late June, maybe it will help me narrow it down. I see that Chuck has answered your question about the ride in the background… the all-white horses look impressive in their way - I wonder how much of the decision to paint them the same color had to do with speeding up load times? That way no kid insists that he/she has to have a brown horse, or whatever.
Chuck, thanks!
Chuck, I thought so, but wasn't 100% sure. I knew that with the proximity of the façade that it had to be one or the other. Thanks for the confirmation.
Major, you asked what might be there today, not yesterday. That's why I said Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and Autopia with off-road section (formerly Fantasyland Autopia load). If your question was phrased differently to include a more historical perspective then I would've added Viewliner, Phantom Boats, MM Club, Junior, Midget and Fantasyland Autopias and Fantasy Depot which are all long gone.
I'm pretty sure this image was taken from the Autopia load area looking NNW towards the distance on what is now "it's a small world" beyond the old the berm seen here.
http://davelandweb.com/aerial/images/Aerial_5_61.jpg
According to Daveland, in 1975 the horses were painted white so every guest could gallop upon a knight's white steed. It sort of reminds me of my favorite quote from Pixar's "The Incredibles".
Helen Parr/Elastigirl: Everyone is special, Dash.
Dash Parr: That's just another way of saying no one is.
http://davelandweb.com/carrousel/
@ Ken-
Thank you for including ALL the former attractions/adventures/rides occupying that area - and beyond. I was just a bit too lazy to say so. I think the 'water feature', is just off to the left of today's image, and at that time, would have the Phantom Boats tooling-around the waterway - at least those which were operational...
I just realized that the long mirror panels are missing from the center of the carrousel. It looks odd to see just a solid painted "wall."
Are those seatbelts on the Carrousel horses?
Either way, hooray for the Almostwins!
Whenever Mom wasn't dressing Sis and me as straight-up twins, she did us up as Almostwins. like, same outfit in different colors, or slightly different outfits made from the exact same fabric; same hairstyle with different color barrettes, or hairstyles JUST different enough to make people do a doubletake. I'm breathlessly waiting for the girls on the Carrousel to turn around so I can see if they're real Twins of Almostwins!
K. Martinez, since the Motor Boats and the Subs coexisted for many years, I figured it could be either attraction; although the Subs were generally further south. Hey, what about Professor Keller’s Jungle Killers? (I know, technically it was a part of the Circus). I have read (in several places) that, supposedly, the carrousel horses were all changed to white so that everyone could have a noble white steed. But I think my theory isn’t a bad one… if all of the horses are white, then kids aren’t going to be wasting time fumfering about which one is their favorite.
Nanook, I have always loved that the “Tomorrowland Boats” were renamed the “Phantom Boats”, which is a way cooler name - even if they never really worked.
TokyoMagic!, I didn’t notice, but you are right about the mirrors.
Melissa, yes, they still have a “seatbelt” on the Carrousel. I wonder if this is unique to Disney parks? As for your mom dressing you and your sis alike, this seems to be a phenomenon that girls have to suffer through more than boys - in fact, I am unaware of this ever being a thing with male children. I know that you are hoping that the girls on the Carrousel are the twins from The Shining!
well, yeah, in my ideal little dream world, all similar pairs of girls are the girls from The Shining until proven otherwise.
I always thought m
Mom did it because she was a twin, but I've heard so many other girls with the same experience that I think its just a Mom thing.
Major, your load-time theory regarding the all white horses makes all the sense in the world. That notion that all children want to ride a white horse never sat well with me. It’s almost inconceivable that Walt would really think that way. It just doesn’t sound like his normal way of looking at things, and I always felt there had to be another explanation. I think you just hit the nail dead on the head, BRILLIANT! High marks!
Sorry about the late post (A day late and a dollar short).
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