Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Tram and Friends, 1992

I know we just saw some "Lou and Sue" photos (of Sue on Halloween) a few days ago, but (due to a scheduling blip on my part) Lou and Sue are back with three nice photos with the tram, the Monorail beamway, and the Disneyland parking lot. Something tells me you guys are going to like these!

By 1992, the old side-facing trams were gone, replaced with the forward-facing versions; but they were still painted in friendly blue and yellow, and that's all that matters, isn't it?


This must have been a Hotel tram rather than a parking lot tram. Or not! Lou got this quick shot of the beamway overhead, with a Monorail coming  toward us (I think) as it heads back to Tomorrowland. Do not back up!


Here's a section of the western part of the parking lot - I believe that might be "Flower" (the skunk from "Bambi") on the sign to the right. Photos of the parking lot are fun, but man, the cars sure don't look so great by the early 90's! 


Many thanks to Lou and Sue.

17 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-
I realize that your admonition to "not back up" refers to motor vehicles leaving the parking lot, but that Monorail better not backup either - as it should be heading towards the DL Hotel, not the other way-round.

Thanks to Lou and Sue.

Melissa said...

The A-frame on the trams makes them look all cool and futurey. And that second picture with the curving Monorail track is full of vroom!

But I'm kind of confused about whether I should back up or not.

MIKE COZART said...

These are some great rare-vantage point shots! In the early 90’s my friends and I would meet at the Disneyland hotel all the time and back then we got free parking at the DL hotel.
The shot of the Monorail pylons as you exit the parking lot towards the hotel and freeways at one time were lined with attraction posters. In the mid 80’s while driving out that same path to go over to the hotel for lunch I made my friend pull over to get a look at something : on one of the monorail pylons was a big reminder sign to drivers which way to turn to get to the freeways. Anyway, the sign was all bent over and out - probably from being hit by a motorhome or truck ..... and behind the sign was something I had to get out and see because I saw the words TOMORROWLAND underneath . Behind the freeway directional sign on the monorail pylon was a 1967 Tomorrow FLIGHT TO THE MOON ATTRACTION poster!! Disney had mounted the (aluminum??) sign on to the attraction poster frame that was already mounted to the monorail pylon! I was pretty excited because at the time I had never seen such an attraction poster.

Great images today of another long gone Disneyland.

MIKE COZART said...

Also the Disneyland parking and hotel trams in these images began service in 1968. Until a few years ago Disneyland had three they would used to shuttle employees around backstage. I think they are all gone now.

Andrew said...

That's a really cool story, Mike Cozart!

It's funny that out of everything in Disneyland, the parking lot and Hotel area is one of the things that's changed the most in the past 27 years.

TokyoMagic! said...

I remember that sign on the Monorail post, showing Mickey placing a seat belt around his waist (second pic).

I wonder if that red VW Bug (third pic) is still on the road today?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, those 90's cars have zero appeal to me. Still the good ol' Disneyland Hotel in the distance more than makes up for them! I wanna hope on a tram right now!!!

Anonymous said...

Familiar scenes and sights. Today's tram from the Mickey & Friends has such an insular route now, they don't want any glimpse of the outside to corrupt your jaunt from the car.

Thanks Mike Cozart for the great sign story.

I remember being vaguely amazed that the traffic signals were mounted right on the monorail pylons. Seemed like a high level of cooperation between the City and Disney. Now the love/hate relationship is in all the papers.

80's/90's cars were awful. I'm guessing no one will ever be restoring or collecting those.

Thanks Major, Lou and Sue.

JG

Nanook said...

@ MIKE COZART-
Yet another validation how the (apparent) commonality of AP’s amongst CM’s made them seem almost disposable.

@JG-
People collect everything, and I’m certain several ‘someone’s’ will being doing just that with these “just another face in the crowd” motor vehicles.

"Lou and Sue" said...

Mike Cozart, do you have any idea how much that poster would go for today? It's too bad you weren't able to rescue it!

JG, what "love/hate relationship"? Just curious, as I'm in the dark on that, being out of state.

Regarding the "newer" cars, I have started seeing the 80's and 90's cars showing up in local car shows. I have a very hard time not telling the owners that they parked in the wrong spot. Seeing their cars parked next to 1940's and 50's classics just doesn't look right. (Maybe I'd make an exception for the DeLorean.)

Sue

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, you forget that when Superman made the Earth spin backwards, the Monorail also went backwards. For quite a while!

Melissa, I miss those old trams; the new ones are perfectly fine, and they attempted to give them a bit of style, but somehow they’re not as fun as the old ones.

Mike Cozart, I love your story! Oh man, I would have been tempted to see if I could have somehow taken that poster with me. They didn’t care about it, clearly! I don’t have a “Flight to the Moon”, and would love to add one to my collection. I remember early on it tended to be a lower-priced poster, but suddenly jumped up in value to the point where I would never be able to afford one.

Mike Cozart, thanks for the 1968 date for those trams; I wonder if those three formerly-surviving trams just wore out to the point that it wasn’t worth fixing them, or what?

Andrew, you aren’t kidding, what with an entire amusement park springing up in the parking lot!

TokyoMagic!, I thought Mickey was telling people to stop being nerds and unbuckle those seatbelts. I’ll bet that bug is still on the road!

Stu29573, the Disneyland Hotel looks pretty different these days, but from what I’ve heard, the rooms are a big improvement on the old days.

JG, now that you said it, I truly wonder if there are fans of some of those ugly, boxy cars? Maybe there are people who love Chrysler K Cars. On “Jay Leno’s Garage” (YouTube channel), I am sometimes surprised at what people collect and restore. With the Monorail running along Harbor Blvd for so long, I assume that the city insisted on a certain amount of signage.

Nanook, Annual Passholders weren’t disposable! Maybe people buy those homely cars and put in powerful engines, and give them elaborate metal-flake paint jobs?

Lou and Sue, recent auctions have had that poster (which does not come up for auction very often) go for anywhere from $3,500 to $8,000. I remember not buying them when they were only a few hundred. REGRETS. Maybe I’m nuts regarding cars, but there’s more to what makes an old car desirable. It has to have some style or class, and cars from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s are often just generic yucks.

Anonymous said...

@Lou and Sue, re: "love/hate" between Disney and Anaheim.

I don't know what relations were like back when Disneyland was being planned and built, but the City and Disney have recently had some highly publicized fights over different Disney plans.

Anaheim area housing prices are astronomical, as most places in CA, and Disney is the major employer, apparently many Disney jobs are fairly low-paying, and jobs serving the visitors are similar. So there's conflict there.

The City controversially offered a tax rebate to Disney to spend a Billion dollars (!) on the new Star Wars Land. Theory was that the visitor count would increase bed tax revenues and benefit the City. Not sure this will pan out.

Disney proposed a new hotel that the City didn't like, and so Disney turned on a dime and proposed a whole different development that the City couldn't block, etc. etc.

Constant log-rolling on both parts, fighting over development profit and who bears the costs.

The Orange County Register is on-line and has a lot of content devoted to Disneyland, as you would expect from the local paper.

JG

"Lou and Sue" said...

Thank you, JG!

Sue

Melissa said...

My 1983 Chevette was adorable. And reliable as a Shetland pony.

Dean Finder said...

In the nearest row, you have a white Chrysler LeBaron (king of the K cars) a brown? Ford Mustang (sad that Ford put the Mustang label on that car) and part of a white Mercury Grand Marquis (same car as a Ford Crown Victoria). In the second row, there's an obvious red Super Beetle, a silver Honda Accord a black Ford Taurus, a white unknown hatchback and a white Honda Civic. Can identify the rest of the rows, but there appears to be a white Ford Bronco, famous for a certain slow speed chase.

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, the relationship between Disney and Anaheim is complex… it’s hard to deny that Anaheim would not be what it is without Disneyland. But they also have a responsibility to their citizens. I do wish Disney would treat their hard working employees better, but the cost of living in SoCal is so outrageous these days that it is hard to know what the solution is. I’m sure not going to solve it here!

Lou and Sue, see what you learn on GDB?

Melissa, that’s good to hear, seems so many American cars were real lemons in those days.

Dean Finder, just the name “K Car” is so unappealing! Brown cars too, yuck. What makes a Super Beetle so super? Thanks for all the car IDs!

Chuck said...

I think that white hatchback is a 1986-ish Ford Escort or Mercury Lynx. I had a similar-looking 1984 Mazda GLC, and like Melissa's Chevette, it was reliable as heck. I had that thing for 20 years.

It's fun seeing those signs on the monorail pylons again, and I love your story, Mike.

Thanks again, Major!