Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Pirate Ship and Skull Rock, 1961

Let's visit Fantasyland, circa 1961! And you can't go to Fantasyland without stopping by the magnificent Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship. This is a striking photo - the photographer was obviously careful to keep the "three C's" in mind - Composition, Color, and Calories. For those of you paying attention, you know that I like it when the striped sails are unfurled - it just looks more pirate-y. ARRR!

I can't help noticing the turquoise colored slurry on the ground - not especially exciting, but it puts to rest the theory that the slurry in each "land" matched the color used on the maps of the free INA guides.


See what I mean? Pink.


Nearly all of the slides in this batch lack the crispy crunchy focus that I normally prefer, but they are still pretty nice. I need a house that looks like Skull Rock - of course it would need to be much bigger than the Disneyland version (an adult probably could not stand upright inside that skull) - and of course it would have to be on some other property, since my replica of the Monsanto House of the Future is on my estate in the Hollywood Hills. Maybe the Skull house would look good in Malibu?


11 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

It's funny the colors used in the INA guides seem to be at-odds with actual slurry colors of each "land". Why, in the INA Guide for my 'estate', the slurry colors match those in the guide perfectly-! But then again, my Pirate Ship isn't land-locked. Ahoy-!

Thanks, Major.

Chuck said...

Now I'm imagining Bear Country with yellow slurry.

Alonzo P Hawk said...

Major,
Little known secret is that's dried Soylent Green slurry. Walt was the forward thinking disaster prepper and needed a viable long term food source for after the zombie apocalypse. (Starkist tuna has a shelf life you know)

I see what ur sayin about the slide. What we used to call unsharp masking is now the faithful "sharpen" in photoshop. Problem is I always "sharpen more" until I shout Yuk! Then I have to back off a bit.

Nice post, thanks as always.

Unknown said...

Boy, those are some nice shots, today, Major. Great color except for maybe the second one.You make-a my-day mister. So nice!

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, any estate that requires a guide book is OK in my book!

Chuck, ha ha! I really don’t know where that rumor about the slurry colors matching the guidebook colors started, but clearly it is baloney.

Alonzo, the Disney folks did find a large warehouse full of 35 gallon drums of powdered Soylent Green. Might as well use it for something! After all, the ads say it’s made from healthful plankton from the ocean, right? As for Photoshop filters, there is always a point at which we know we have gone too far.

Patrick Devlin, I don’t even mind the warm-ish colors of the 2nd photo! I did try to make it look for natural, but every time I tried, say, decreasing the red, or removing cyan from the yellows, etc, it just didn’t look right. Life’s too short!

Melissa said...

That is indeed a glorious shot of the Chicken of the Sea, with her sails unfurled and her guns at the ready, all shipshape and Bristol fashion. And I'm with you, Major - stripey beats non-stripey any day of the week.

I have a basket just like the one the lady in the foreground is using. It was the favorite sleeping place of Sam the Cat, who lived to be 21 in people years.

Your Skull Rock house should have a doghouse shaped like the skull of a dog.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures of my favorite part of Lost Disneyland. I can't get enough of these.

Major, I never heard the urban legend about the pavement slurry matching the map colors. That seems so easy to debunk since those map books are pretty readily available and their lurid colors don't key into any photographs of Disneyland.

Chuck's example is going to give me nightmares.

I've noticed some CM's commenting on the slurry material before. I've love to know what product or material was used and if it is still available in the market. I've had a number of project applications for traffic paint and coloring like the Disney paving, but nothing lasts.

Undoubtedly, the Disney slurry was so pristine due to the legendary Disney maintenance, which doesn't graft well on to other projects or owners because it's so expensive.

As we've discussed before, I would build this whole complex and put my office in the captain's cabin of the Pirate Ship. I think Skull Rock would work well for an easy chair/cigar lounge since it is basically outdoor space. Maybe diving off the skull nose into the pool. I would also add in the canal boats and Casey Jr. which I would ride every morning after breakfast.

Thanks for the fun this morning.

JG

Melissa said...

I think if I hung out in Skull Rock all day, I'd have to visit the little Mouseketeers' room all the time. You know, all that rushing water.

Anonymous said...

Mighty shame that this area was inevitably torn down. Also a shame that something similar wasn't constructed at WDW. Though to be fair, at least something similar was constructed at the Adventureland over at Disneyland Paris.

Just about everything about the Paris parks seems intriguing, what with their attention to detail. Such a shame the park had low attendance and opinions about it. It's quite the underrated masterpiece.

Major Pepperidge said...

Melissa, the only thing that would beat stripes is multi-colored polka dots (like the Wonder Bread wrappers)! Wow, your cat lived to be 21 - I think TokyoMagic! has a cat that is a kitty methuselah too.

JG, that myth about the INA guidebooks has been floating around for a while. When I first heard it, I thought it was pretty neat, until I actually looked into it. Yeah, Chuck’s yellow slurry would be pretty ghastly (though perhaps if it was more earthy it wouldn’t be so bad). Gosh, I can’t believe that a 1960’s cement product would be very mysterious to today’s contractors. I really don’t know if the color was just on the surface (a thin skim coating), or if it went all the way through. I believe that it did wear through eventually. Also, I love the idea of being able to dive from the skull into a beautiful pool below. Maybe I could even have a “swim in” entrance. I’LL DO IT!

Melissa, I had not considered that. Guess I would just have to blast Black Sabbath all day long.

The Disney Dudebro, I have never been to Disneyland Paris, though I would love to some day. A friend of mine has been, and says it is very nice, but he says it’s even smaller than the original Disneyland, which seems hard to believe.

TokyoMagic! said...

Melissa, I have a basket like that too. It's been in the family for years, but I think it was originally my grandmother's. Apparently, I used to put my toys in it when I was very young and drag it around the house. It's still in excellent shape, considering.

Major, you are right about my cat being a senior kitty. He is one month away from his 22nd birthday.

Disney Dudebro, I visited Disneyland Paris in 2005. I thought it was a beautiful park and at that time, it was still well maintained. It was just lacking maybe two or three "E" ticket attractions. Disneyland Paris' "second gate" however, was surprisingly worse than California Adventure was at that time....and I didn't think anything could get worse than that! Both of those parks have had additions and improvements made to them since then, but both are still lacking in my opinion.