Small World Meadow, January 1979
Let's jump right into today's first photo, which happens to be an fairly unusual view taken from the Disneyland Railroad (no Santa Fe anymore, boo) as the track curved past a grassy meadow. Grassy meadow?? Yes, back in the days before things like Toon Town, Big Thunder Ranch (RIP), and the Fantasyland Theatre (the tent version) existed, there was a fairly large swath of undeveloped land full of strange things like grass and trees. As you can see, it was kind of pretty! Sure, an Ewok or two would improve it, but beggars can't be choosers.
It's time to drag out the famous aerial photo from the book "Above Los Angeles". The image is from around 1977, and looking to the left you will note the not-insignificant chunks of land, resembling the kind of thing you might expect in Orlando rather than Anaheim. Is that a small pond in the middle of the field near IASW? Perhaps it was stocked with large mouth bass.
Next is a less-unusal shot featuring the It's a Small World building. This one has nice color and clarity, and you might have noticed that the façade is no longer principally white and gold; various shades of blue have begun to crop up in the center - a portent of the candy-colored pastels that would be added in just a few years!
14 comments:
Major-
I still remember that meadow from back when Disneyland still had "room to grow". And as for that so-called 'mystery pond' - it was actually stocked with Chinook salmon-!
Thanks, Major.
I had totally forgotten how the hole in the Small World facade for the train was mostly hidden behind foliage. It's like a tunnel portal to another world.
That aerial might be from 1976 rather than 1977. Note that construction on Big Thunder Mountain has yet to begin and there's at least one trainset parked in front of Rainbow Ridge.
I've always loved the short dispatch towers in front of iasw. They remind me of the flying guard towers from Jonny Quest.
Of course we all knew in 1979 that the Frontierland meadow was destined to become the site of DISCOVERY BAY - as soon as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was completed! I don’t think during that time I had a visit to Disneyland without stopping to see the DISCOVERY BAY and DUMBO CIRCUS model at least 2 or 3 times inside DISNEYLAND SHOWCASE on Main Street....
The fact that Star Wars Town has not only eaten up The Disneyland RR right-of-way and cut back the Rivers of America , but has now gobbled up the space where DISCOVERY BAY was to go makes me curse ANYTHING Star Wars AT Disneyland now!
That chunk of land was created by moving the train tracks back significantly as part of the IASW construction. In fact, the original track path is easy to see in the aerial view.
Thanks, Major---I still think of the meadows as an attraction: a few minutes of train ride through lush landscaping; relaxing, refreshing.
That "Above Los Angeles" photo is one of the great overhead shots of Disneyland. There is another one in the 1987 book "Disneyland", by Randy Bright. It was taken at Christmastime 1966, around the time Walt Disney died. The star is on the Matterhorn, the white trees are in the castle moat. Tomorrowland '67 is well underway. If you drop your eyes half an inch or so from Cinderella's Castle in Storybook Land, you can see one the elusive bounding deer of Rainbow Mountain, a Mine Train/Pack Mule sight as rare as the Rainbow Ridge cemetery---which also seems to be just barely visible in this photo.
I am loving the Railroad shot, green space in Disneyland was part of Walt's plan. Just as New York City has Central Park, Disneyland was to have it's own areas of nature. But now that every square inch of the park has to pay, it is mostly gone. The term flash over substance comes to mind. Or maybe I'm just getting old. I like the pic of IASW as well, I think the color adds dimention to an otherwise white washed look. Thank you for today's scans Major.
In this Rolly Crump interview, Rolly says that he was told to use no color on the IASW facade because it would have to be repainted every year (due to the sun burning out the color), thereby raising maintenance costs.
at 23:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jacqdgqVgFU
Nanook, those lucky salmon don’t have to go very far to spawn!
Chuck, you should be like me and never forget anything. It’s great! The “Above Los Angeles” book has a publishing date of 1977, so I’m sure you are right about the photo being from 1976.
Mike Cozart, funny, I thought that Discovery Bay was supposed to be a bit more to the west. I’ve still never read anything that made me wish that Discovery Bay had been built, though perhaps there is something that I am missing. I wish I had seen the model (and the “Dumbo Circus” model) in that Disneyland Showcase! I used to kind of like “Star Wars”… but didn’t see them beyond being “fun movies” (prequels excepted). Now I am growing to genuinely dislike the franchise.
Anon, you speak the truth!
Stefano, I haven’t looked at my copy of the Randy Bright book for a long time, I need to dig it out to see the aerial photo you referred to. I love aerial photos! I used to have a copy of “Above Los Angeles”, but at some point it went to the thrift store. Now I have to rely on scans from the internet, which tend to be crummy.
Jonathan, it really does feel like Disneyland is the victim of avaricious developers rather than planners who care about the overall feel of the park. Of course, at this point the AP holders will go no matter what they do, so I suppose there’s no reason to make an effort to keep the place beautiful.
Graffer, interesting, and it totally makes sense. The pastels did start to look faded after a while, and imagine having to repaint dozens and dozens of colors - the expense, and the sheer effort involved. White and gold looks great, and makes life easier for everyone. Thanks for the link to the video!
Graffer and Major:
There were actually three final color elevations Walt Disney got to pick from for the Exterior colors of It’s A Small World. During one of several meetings the head of Disneyland’s paint and maintenance said “ good god!! Those ( with lots of color) will have to be re-painted all the time!!! And kept pushing for the all white and gold version. But Walt was who made the final pick and he went with white and gold which of course is symbolic of PURITY and INNOCENCE.
I think in 1975 the blues were added to the clock section and although I don’t think you can see it in that 1979 picture there was also some blue highlites on the back full facade accentuating some of the inner edging of the recessed “cutouts”
In the very early 90’s the blues along the back facade were done in light purples and lavenders . I don’t know it’s this was a test or a short lived color scheme. In 1992-93 the SHERBERT color scheme was adopted to the Small World building supposedly to welcome the new colorful Toon Town area. Thus was also when the original soundtrack was replaced with the Euro Disneyland soundtracks.
For Disneyland’s 50th a new sound system was installed into Its a Small World - partly because the master recordings for the attraction that had been lost were re-discovered and WDI decided to re-introduce the original 1963/1966 music. The 1966 Gold and White color scene was returned debuting in 2005.
Major: yes that little inlet of water just past the friendly Indian village scene in that overhead shot would have become a larger inlet creating the “Bay” fir Discovery Bay. The meadow would have had parts of the Discovery Bay train depot and the Vulcania mining structures and a bit of the Hyperion Airship hanger on it .
One man went to mow,
Went to mow a meadow,
One man and his bantha
Went to mow a meadow.
Mike Cozart, I think I’ve read that Mary Blair considered white the most “joyful” of colors as well - I know what she meant, but it still seems like a surprising statement. The funny thing about the blues is that even in today’s photo, the façade starts to fade into the sky a bit. Like a weird form of camouflage. The textures and shadows would still be there of course, but I still wonder what the thinking was. Meanwhile, the idea of painting the front in the “sherbet” colors as a “welcome” to Toontown just seems silly. To me! Thanks for the info about the sound system, I did not know about the use of the Euro Disney track, and how it was eventually replaced with the original tracks.
Melissa, I guess I should recognize the poem (lyrics) that you are referencing… but I don’t.
That first pic is beautiful! It makes me want to sing, "Once upon a time in Anaheim...in Anaheim, California!" In one more year, Danny Kaye would be traipsing around in that meadow for the "Disneyland 25th Anniversary Special" that aired on CBS. If that cast member were to accidentally fall off of the train, it looks like he could easily be impaled on one of those sprinkler heads....or on Danny Kaye, if he waits one year.
If the Small World facade was painted in multiple colors to welcome the addition of Toontown, then what color will they paint it to welcome the addition of Star Wars Land? Black? I wouldn't be surprised, especially since they were serving hamburgers with black buns (in Tomorrowland) as part of a Star Wars promotion. Also considering that they were going to paint the Matterhorn green (in the nineties), as part of a Muppet-welcoming promotion, which ended up being cancelled. Who comes up with ideas like that?
It's just an old counting song. Substitute "dog" for "bantha."
I love the picture of the meadow and how I used to imagine it would someday be filled with fun things and all we got was the cr*ppy theater. @Mike Cozart, I saw that "preview" of Discovery Bay once and was excited about it. Sad that it didn't come about.
The 1975 date for the IASW blue facade seems right to me, since I remember seeing it and that date is before my final trip as a kid.
I recall the maligned post-modern sherbet scheme (great name). I didn't hate it too much, but still prefer the gold and white original.
We bought a little replica rendering by Mary Blair and it shows the IASW facade in many colors, so it was undoubtedly considered at some point. It's a nice little drawing, and well in advance of Michael Graves (architect) whose buildings sometimes resemble IASW. In fact, now I think he nicked that idea and built his career on it.
Thank you, Major.
JG
Post a Comment