Frontierland & Rainbow Ridge, October 1963
This post is (in my opinion) quite a bit nicer than my typical Sunday posts - you know, the ones in which I have scraped the bottom of the barrel! I think these 1963 photos are actually very interesting.
Let's start with this picture, looking southeast toward the landing where the Mark Twain and Columbia take on new passengers. Beyond that is the little minin' town of Rainbow Ridge. If you squint real hard, you can see the Mineral Hall to the right, while Casa de Fritos is mostly hidden behind carnivorous trees.
In the foreground, a Tom Sawyer Island raft... they were really worried about that thing bursting into flames.
This next photo is a fun view showing the Pack Mules just starting their journey through Nature's Wonderland, as they pass a few less-photographed buildings.
I thought I'd zoom in just a bit; the tiny size of those buildings is very apparent when you really look. It's kind of cool to see one of two additional structures in the distance, including that one with the white picket fence. In the lower right is a nice little ticket booth.
9 comments:
Major-
The Mine Train... Thru Nature's Wonderland... The Little Mining Town of Rainbow Ridge... Pack Mules... Nice, nice, nice-!
Thanks, Major.
These are quite nice, Major! Those carnivorous trees appear to be "flossing" with the Skyway cable. And they might have just spit out a Skyway gondola.
By the way, I want to live in Rainbow Ridge. I could work at the Rainbow Ridge Clarion office...or maybe in the Miners Hardware store!
This IS Frontierland! A land of slower paced attractions that took their time. The smell of the pack mules. There was something about the smell of live animals in Frontierland that made it feel more authentic.
In addition, I've always liked the smaller scale of Rainbow Ridge as it had a kind of storybook charm to it.
My cousin and I would always have two 'E' tickets ready because we used to have a habit of riding the Pack Mules and Mine Train back to back. It was a lot of fun when my uncle let us cut loose into the Park back in the early 70's.
Today's images are wonderful and bring up good memories. I miss Walt's Disneyland. Thanks, Major.
Nanook, there was a lot of stuff custom-fit into that relatively small space!
TokyoMagic!, even trees have to take care of their teeth. It’s just common sense. Don’t you want to pull teeth at the Rainbow Ridge Dentist’s office? The one with the big gold tooth hanging outside?
K. Martinez, it does seem a bit odd to have a place called “Frontierland”, and yet there are no horses or mules or similar varmints. Rainbow Ridge definitely feels like a larger, more elaborate town that one might see in a model train layout; I’m sure Walt was very enamored of it. Did you and your cousin ever have to go to a ticket booth and buy more E tickets? Glad you enjoyed today’s pix.
Major, I thought about that for a moment before leaving my comment, but then decided that I'm not so much into pullin' teeth, as I am into explaining to people why smoking is bad for them, and that might not go over so well in the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge. Plus, didn't the guy that pulled the teeth usually have to double as the barber back in those days? I don't think I'd be so great at wielding a straight razor either!
Major, My cousin's dad who was obviously my uncle seemed to have an endless supply of 'E' tickets on hand. And 'D' tickets too. He actually had this jar up on top of his refrigerator full of Disneyland tickets he'd pull out and take with him when we went to Disneyland. He spoiled us rotten when we went to Park. Later when I went on my own as an adult, I used to buy about five extra 'E' tickets per visit. That probably ran to about an extra $4.75 back in the day. But I wanted to ride all the 'E' ticket attractions on a visit back when individual tickets were required. I even used ride tickets and extra 'E's on my first couple of visits to WDW. After those ran out it was off to the free attractions and exhibits.
Useless Disneyland Fact #177: It’s a little difficult to make out but there is a security alert bulb atop the Frontierland ticket booth in the second photo. All ticket booths had those lights in case the ticket seller felt threatened or was being robbed. I’m not sure how well a robbery would go inside the park but Cash Control insisted each booth have this feature. Security personnel were supposed to periodically eye the light as they patrolled each area.
Nobody asked, but there you go anyway! Great photos, thanks Major.
Two words - red slurry.
I always wanted to get off the train and walk around in Rainbow Ridge. Come to think of it, I still do.
Thank you, Major.
JG
Post a Comment