Friday, August 23, 2019

Matterhorn & Autopia, November 1975

It's time for more views from a runaway Peoplemover train, circa 1975.

 This first shot is very pretty; it's kind of surprising to see Tomorrowland looking so lush and landscaped. How do I know it's tomorrow if all I can see is trees? A question for the ages. I think our Peoplemover car was near the Carousel Theater, though of course it now held "America Sings" and not the Carousel of Progress.


This second shot gives a nice look at the Autopia, with the Skyway gondolas heading back and forth from the Tomorrowland terminal which was practically right beneath us. I love the colors of the Autopia cars, red, yellow, blue, and green. Very toylike! It's nice to see the Monorail station with its zig-zag roof, and It's a Small World gleaming in the distance.


I was driven mad with power, so I cropped in a little bit for this closeup view.


21 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

It looks as though the Submarine Voyage is down for rehab-? Undoubtedly, that explains the lack of crowds and their attendant strollers-! Can we all go there - now-??!!

Thanks, Major.

K. Martinez said...

Now THIS is Disneyland! Love all the colors of the various ride vehicles in Tomorrowland. And if the PeopleMover was running when this photos was taken it would've been even more colorful. Then there's the rarely captured Monorail Green.

Yep! The best Tomorrowland there ever was.

Great pics today! Thanks, Major.

Melissa said...

I love the clean, no-nonsense fonts of the Monorail and Submarine Voyage signage.

Chuck said...

[holds two thumbs up, too overtaken by the sheer beauty of the scene to speak]

Andrew said...

Wonderful shots! I always look out for those rad zig-zag roofs wherever I go.

K. Martinez, I almost didn't notice the Monorail with it being the shade of green it is - it's almost grey!

JC Shannon said...

I love these, so colorful. Such a beautiful day as well. You hardly ever see the green Monorail. Does anyone know how long the color was used. Did they call it the Green Machine? Anyway, thanks Major.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, yes, I believe you are correct about the Submarine Voyage being down; I have already written an upcoming blog post in which you can see a man in a boat doing some mysterious chore in the lagoon, with no other activity.

K. Martinez, there’s something about the colors that they chose for the Autopia vehicles that I love so much; they remind me of toys that I had, from those early years when a child’s senses pick up on things like that, if you know what I mean. And how could I have missed the Monorail Green??

Melissa, yes, and I like the still-relatively-new Monorail station with the zig-zag roofline too!

Chuck, it’s as if Siskel and Ebert have given these slides their blessing!

Penna. Andrew, the green that they chose for that Monorail is kind of peculiar… sort of a muted, mossy green, rather than a “green crayon” color; but my family had a station wagon that was very similar, I think it was just a fashionable hue at the time.

Jonathan, according to Wikipedia, Monorail Green was introduced in 1968, and was converted to a Mark V-style Monorail in 1985, so it was around for 17 years. I’m sure somebody called it the “Green Machine”!

K. Martinez said...

Andrew, Monorail Green was closer to an olive drab metallic color. In person, it was quite striking to look at.

JC Shannon, Monorail Green only existed within the Mark III fleet that ran from 1969 to 1987. At that time there were Monorail Red, Blue and Gold (yellow), colors carried over from the Mark II monorails, with a fourth Monorail Green added to the Mark III fleet.

K. Martinez said...

JC Shannon, My dates of the Monorail III fleet's run are pulled from an official Disney Parks site and Major's date are from Wikipedia. That doesn't mean the official Disney dates are necessarily more accurate. Even Disney screws up their history sometimes. Either way, Monorail Green only existed within the Mark III fleet.

K. Martinez said...

Major, Monorail Green reminds me of the Spectraflame colors utilized by Mattel's Hot Wheels 'Redline' series that ran from 1968-1977. I wonder if that influenced Monorail Green's shade of color (Olive).

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/hotwheels/images/0/0c/Spectrafame_Color_Guide.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080413184651

JG said...

This is peak Disneyland, the only improvement from here would be Space Mountain, opening next year. Then begins the long slide into defeat.

Vivid memories of the heavy planting here in Tomorrowland, the palms are some kind of exotic tree and these are among the biggest specimens in captivity. The others managed to escape after tying up their gardeners. It was a huge scandal. Seriously, I did read that on a plaque in the planter pictured below, the biggest specimens, not the escape, that was a joke. Probably a story by H.P. Lovecraft.

Even Monorail Green makes an appearance, the exact same color as my Dad's 1968 Thunderbird. The roof of the station is known in architecture as a "folded plate" design (google image search this term). This look was very popular in the '60's, especially for some reason, in SoCal restaurant design. The VanDeKamp bakeries and Denny's both used it to great effect. Disney was right in the groove here.

Our Peoplemover train has just exited America Sings and is heading into the garden area, just before passing over the Skyway. From the shadows and light crowds, it is still fairly early AM, which may account for the lack of other PM trains in the view. For some reason, I have a feeling that our PM train is bright yellow, although we can't see any of it in these pictures. Could be turquoise, though.

In the far distance, beyond the forests, the shining white and gold city of IASW beckons to us with dreams of world peace and harmony, accompanied by the musical voices of children. Sign me up.

Thanks Major and the GDB squad. I'm ready for the weekend now. Gin and tonic at the River Belle Terrace. Wait, what...?

JG

Chuck said...

No memories of Monorail Green as Monorail Green (although I do remember it as Monorail Purple after it was converted to Mark V standard). We also had a station wagon in that color. And I'm positive I had at least one Hot Wheels car in Spectraflame Olive (thanks, Ken, for that color guide!).

Major, is today's post a sequel to this one?

Melissa said...

The mysterious guy in the boat was probably sprinkling mermaid flakes in the water.

Anonymous said...

@Chuck, I bet you are right, in the linked post, Monorail Green is in the station, and we are entering America Sings. In today's post, we exit America Sings and Monorail Green is still in the station...

But that means my guess about the color of our PM is wrong, since the linked post car is red.

Any color PM car is fine with me, if only I could ride it again...

JG

TokyoMagic! said...

JG,.... "The long slide into defeat." I like that. I think I might need to have that on a t-shirt, to add to my "They ruin everything, don't they?" and Rolly's "The park is gone!"

JC Shannon said...

Thanks to Major, Ken and JG and Chuck for the info on the Monorail. The green is kinda growing on me.

Nanook said...

@ JC Shannon-
I think the green is glowing on me.

Major Pepperidge said...

K. Martinez, yeah, “olive drab” is a better description than “mossy green”! Wikipedia says that the green Monorail was the first of the Mark III fleet to be pulled for conversion to the Mark V style.

K. Martinez, yeah, I have seen some doozies from Disney’s own websites. I realize that Wikipedia has its own share of errors too, though…

K. Martinez, YES! Spectraflame colors rule. I love to watch YouTube videos by a guy who restores old Hot Wheels, sometimes using Spectraflame colors. His channel goes by the name of “baremetalHW”. He’s learned some cool new tricks, such as “electro-polishing” and electroplating new shiny zinc onto the outside of discolored, very beat-up examples.

JG, yeah, just think, Space Mountain is just a year away. I still love that ride. I love the plants in Tomorrowland, I want to live in a future with plenty of trees and flowers. And Monorails. H.P. Lovecraft loved a good palm tree. “Folded plate”, makes sense. I’ve never heard that term before. There are perhaps a dozen more photos from this series, so you’ll continue to “ride” the Peoplemover as it looked in 1975. Bright yellow, eh? I kept looking for a sliver of color, but I sure don’t see any. Maybe in some of those other photos!

Chuck, I didn’t ride the Monorail AT ALL until years later. Why? I HAVE NO IDEA. My parents never wanted to wait in the line I guess. But it looks so cool, it mystifies me. I still remember my dad coming home from work and for no particular reason, giving me and my brother one Redline Hot Wheel car. Mine was a purple “Python”, I still have it. And yes, this is a sequel to that post - the next one in line has another photo that should probably have been posted today, but I am trying to make my diminishing store of photos last longer!

Melissa, flakes FOR mermaids, or made OF mermaids???

JG, ah yes, there’s that sliver of color I was looking for! Red is fine, for sure.

TokyoMagic!, ha ha, they will ban you from the park forever!

Jonathan, didn’t you like “Old Greenie” before?

Nanook, please seek medical treatment. Maybe they can give you an ointment.

JG said...

Major, you have a HW Python! So do I!!! That one and the Beatnik Bandit were so hard to find back then. I need to get a case and put mine out where I can see them.

@Tokyo, I'm glad you liked that. It's sort of borrowed from Tolkien, where one of the Elves described their exile from the West... "...together through the ages of the world we have fought the long defeat."

Here's a bit on the idea.

https://tgenloe.com/locusclassicus/?p=255

If you make the shirts, I will buy one.

JG

TokyoMagic! said...

Major, a lifetime ban, really? It's not like I unfurled a political banner from the upper deck of the Mark Twain, while telling the protestors on the shore to "shut up!" Well, maybe I can wear the t-shirts to Knott's!

Back in the seventies, my grandparents also had a station wagon the color of Monorail Green.....AND I was just now driving in front of a new/newer car, that was the same color!!! I wonder if it was a custom paint job or if they are using that color once again, on new cars?

Nanook said...

Major-
I'm partial to 'unguents', myself.