More From 1937Fan!
Many of the slide scans that 1937Fan has shared with us have been from the 1960's, but there were a few from the 1970's that are just as fun.
Like this colorful example! I don't know who the pretty lady in blue might be, but she's cute and has polka dots, so what's not to like? This is actually kind of an unusal photo, taken at more of a distance than is typical, but that lets us see lots and lots of other guests. The accents of bright hues is very cheerful and fun.
I have no specific dates for these photos, but I would imagine that the Haunted Mansion had only been open a few years at this point. I have always loved the Disneyland version, even though many think that the Florida Mansion is better. Apples and oranges, I guess. Somehow this late-afternoon photo with the ever-growing shadows evokes an appropriate mood.
And... you know it, you love it (well, most of you anyway), it's the "It's a Small World" clock. Hey, maybe they could make a small working table-top clock that looked just like this. They'd make a fortune!
Thanks so much to 1937Fan!
24 comments:
That's my favorite "look" for the Castle....muted colors and half-covered with vines.
Thanks for sharing more family photos with us, 1937Fan!
I like that the WDW mansion is slightly longer, but I like the theming and look of the Disneyland mansion better. Now that Florida has that stupid interactive queue, this is even more true.
Miss Polka Dot certainly is a cutie. Her smile is fascinating, and speaks volumes. But the way she is holding her left hand . . . is she showing off a brand new ring on her finger? Perhaps that helps explain the smile, and Mr. Hunk behind the camera is capturing it.
Good stuff today.
W
Fun pics Major. TK, My favorite look for the castle too. Kind of ethereal. Cute polka dot Mom for sure, and it looks like that group behind her has found a shiny doubloon that Capt. Hook has dropped.
The gal in second pic looks like she has a bandolier belt, complete with cartridges.
The Small World pic reminds me of our Mom herding us down the line saying "you'll like it I promise".
Thanks Major and thanks 1937Fan.
It does seem like Polka Dot Girl (PDG from here on) is showing off a ring. There is even a shadow on her ring finger! What a perfect, happy picture! If only life could stay in the happy moments. But you know what they say, "Without the valley, the mountain would be the plain." Or maybe I just made that up. Ok, I'll be "they" for now...What were we talking about?
Thanks for the great pics!
The colors are so cheerful, and, indeed, I had overlooked Miss Blue Polkadot's left hand. I was preoccupied with what she was holding in her right hand. Maybe a purse with a long strap, or a binocular case, or a street-sweeper dustpan?
The little lad in the lower right of the Haunted Mansion photo caught my attention, because he and dad are both wearing shades. I don't see any others wearing shades in this pic. Maybe the sun is just losing some of its former brightness or dad is a jazz musician...beatniks? :)
I wonder about the belt the young lady in the center is wearing...she's also holding another striped dilly-doo. Maybe they're all the same accessory... The slight 'fog' in the upper right of the photo adds to the eeriness...
I would buy that small table top clock! If there was a little queue around the clock - even better!
I would totally buy a Small World table clock. I have a Moonliner model, why not a clock? Hands down the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland is my fav. I also thought the ivy on the Castle was cool. Thanks to 1937 and Major.
Best Disneyland, hands down.
The mansion pic demonstrates the brilliant color scheme, where the cornices and the undersides of the trim pieces are painted slightly darker grays to accentuate the shadows and make the building more foreboding, even in full sun.
Another Vote for the Small World Clock, that would be a fun accent.
I was dumb when I was younger (still dumb now, but in different ways), I did not realize that the face above the doors was smiling. I just saw the nose and eyes, and thought it was a sort of fierce bird sc"owl"ing at us. Then, at some point, I just "saw it" and recognized the smiling face wagging back and forth.
JG
Congratulations, Miss Polka Dots!
The Disneyland HM and iasw get my vote for the BEST - especially when it comes to their exteriors and outside 'atmosphere' (compared to WDW's).
I'll take one of those iasw clocks, also. Thank you.
Fun pictures, today - thank you 1937Fan and Major!
Sue
The first two pictures are postcardworthy. Postcardworthy, I say! Well, in the first picture you'd have to crop out the guy in white peeking in from the far right, and that's one of my favorite parts.
I prefer the Disneyland Haunted Mansion for a bunch of reasons:
Walking in the front door and walking down the portrait corridor makes it feel more like you've just wandered into a real house.
It doesn't have the dumb recent additions that the WDW Mansion does, namely the interactive queue and the CGI hitchhiking ghosts.
The lighting levels are less extreme. In the Florida Mansion, it's so dark that I can't see my way through the load area, and some of the flashing lights in the show are so bright they temporarily blind me.
Hatbox Ghost!
The only thing in the DL Mansion I don't care for is the holiday overlay. I mean, it seems well done for what it is, but I'd hate to get to the park and find out I couldn't see the regular show.
Put me down for one of those it's a small world clocks!
TokyoMagic!, I never thought about what my favorite look for the Castle was, but I know that the way it looks now is not it!
stu29573, I wish we had the extra scenes that are in the WDW Mansion, but my heart will always be with the original in Anaheim. And yes, that interactive queue is not great, in my opinion.
Warren Nielsen, I thought that the lady was just caught in mid-wave, but she could be showing off a ring. It never occurred to me!
DrGoat, what ARE those kids doing over there? Very strange. I thought the boy with the striped shirt might be tying his shoe, but that doesn’t explain why there are three people all focused on… something. Your mom had to convince you to go on IASW? I was always happy to go on that ride.
stu29573, clearly the consensus is that Miss Polka Dots is proud of her engagement ring! Maybe 1937Fan can chime in and tell us more about her, I don’t think MPD showed up in any more of her Great Aunt’s photos. I thought the saying was, “Without vanilla, there can be no chocolate”, but I guess that’s stupid.
Clyde Hughes, so funny, at first I thought she was holding one of those sweeper dust pans too! Guess my brain doesn’t go immediately to “purse” for whatever reason, even though it makes 10,000 times more sense. I’ll bet Dad bought those dark glasses for his kids hours before, and they’re going to wear them until it’s so dark that they are bumping into things. That’s what I would have done. The table-top clock idea seems so obvious, I can’t believe that they haven’t done it already!
Jonathan, come to think of it, why not a Haunted Mansion clock too? I’m not sure what it would do, exactly. Something bitchin’! I won’t be satisfied with just playing sound clips from the ride.
JG, I never knew that they did that much detail to the paint on the Mansion - just more examples of the thought that they put into every little thing. Maybe people don’t really buy clocks any more? We all have our phones on us most of the time. Funny that you saw the IASW clock as being fierce rather than friendly, but that’s how kids’ brains work sometimes.
Lou and Sue, the exterior of the Anaheim IASW definitely wins… I’ve seen the “flooded room” look for the interior of the Florida ride, though, and I like that a lot. And I should say that I really do like the look of the Florida Mansion, I just personally prefer the Anaheim version.
Melissa, I just assumed that, except for some extra scenes in Florida, that the Haunted Mansion rides were basically duplicates of each other. I sort of like the idea of those Hitchhiking Ghosts in Florida, and the way they interact with the Doom Buggies, but I still like practical effects such as the AA ghosts at the end of the Anaheim ride. Plus Mr. Long-Forgotten has pointed out the strange look of the CG Hitchhiking Ghosts, don’t know why they couldn’t have made them look exactly like the AA originals. I never thought about it, but apparently Florida doesn’t do a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay?
The Haunted Mansion clock could have the ghost light move behind the windows every quarter hour, and the front door creek open and the Hatbox Ghost glide out every hour. His head could go into his torso and "appear" in the lighted hatbox according to the time (with an evil cackle each time). Of course, the theme would play on the hour too. The organ version heard in the foyer. Aw heck, throw in a lightning bolt or two too...
I have officially made myself excited for an item that will never exist.
And no, WDW has never done the overlay. The official reason is tyat WDW has many more one time visitors who would never get to experience the "real" ride.
I'll defer to Melissa for all valid points that make the Disneyland Haunted Mansion a great experience. Add to that boarding the Doombuggies on the edge of a limitless misty void - very cool!
Something must have been wrong with gravity at Disneyland when these pictures were taken - people standing upright but buildings tilted. I love the all people activity and the fantastic colors. The 7o's were truly a groovy time to be visiting the parks. Thanks!
And I’ll take a Haunted Mansion clock, too!
I'd like a desktop Clock of the World. Then maybe I'd finally be able to figure out how to read it.
Just thinking - I'd love to see some scale modeling company come out with a "Classic Disneyland" series. They can start with the Clock of the World and also do Skyway (with working cable system) and the Moonliner rocket and Flight to the Moon building. Also how about a Small World building facade? The possibilities are huge!
stu29573, oh I like that idea! I have never seen the famous “moving light” personally, but I’ve read about it on the “Long-Forgotten” blog and think it’s such a cool, subtle idea. I know what you mean about getting excited about an item that will never exist, I’ve thought up other “brilliant” ideas that will never happen, but I still want them! I guess it makes sense that the WDW mansion has fewer repeat viewers, thanks for the explanation.
Omnispace, maybe I need to look for a good video version of the WDW Mansion to see if I can spot the differences, since I feel like I’m pretty familiar with the Anaheim version. As for the tilted photos, I’d say at least 80% of the slides I have are at an angle of some sort. Sometimes I’ll straighten them out, other times, I don’t bother.
Lou and Sue, what if it is too scary? Nobody will ever sleep.
Chuck, Yes, the Clock of the World seems so obvious, but of course so many Disneyland fans of today wouldn’t even know what it is. I’d imagine they’d have to sell a lot of them to make it worth the cost of manufacturing them.
Sunday Night, for a while (maybe around Disneyland’s 50th) there were some very nice models produced for sale. Gorgeous Monorail models for example. How about a little whirling teacup ride? Or even some more oddball things like the Viewliner station or the Mine Train ticket booth? Probably much too arcane, but as you said, the possibilities are huge.
SUNDAY NIGHT , MAJOR snd the gang...
Beside the great line of limited models produced for Disneyland’s 50th, and the Tomorrowland WDI models produced in 1998 ( ending in disaster and WDI no longer wanted to work with Disneyland merchandising) , there have been several dozens of companies and projects dealing with the production of scale models and miniatures of Disney park subjects. All have fizzled in the proposal and development stage.
The common denominator; Disney Theme Park merchandising! They are impossible to deal with and oblivious to the realities of fabrication and production outside it mostly junk.
Many of these companies approached Disney - and many were approached by Disney. A popular German Company known for highly detailed structures models - in business since the late 1940’s was set to do a serious of Disney “Land-Mark” model kits - mostly the castles , a Spaceship Earth and the Disneyland Main Street Train depot and a WDW Space Mountain..... for the first series. These would be injected molded plastic kits in the 45.00 to 100.00 range and some could be purchased built up already. But Disney wanted to place such a small opening order - there was no way the company could justify the tooling production without the kits costing thousands of dollars.
BACHMANN trains as many of you know - train company in business since 1833 had a license to do Disney trains.... and they did some to “test” the waters including the N scale EP RIPLEY DLRR train set and a HO version of Walt’s backyard railroad - these sets used mostly existing tooling with some small new tooling. Once the sales showed it was successful Bachman with Disney began to start the specialized tooling ... the first was the Disneyland excursion passengers coaches ... in N and HO scale ....the other coaches and locomotives were in the works .... then Disney cancelled the deal after another merchandising staff changeout. Bachmann released the coaches as Jackson Sharp Excursion Cars ( the prototype Disney copied in 1958 for Disneyland) but the models are actually from DL blueprints and measurements.
I can go on with about a dozen other stories of companies and failed model proposals ..... including a line of highly detailed operating scale monorails ( far more detailed the 1960’s Disneyland schuco trains) and other Disney building and vehicle models ....
Another model disaster was the WALT DISNEY IMAGINEERING model series - debuting in 1998 at the Disneyanna Shop with its introductory line of limited edition models being Tomorrowland based. The first of the series featured highly detailed models of The PeopleMover, Mark 2 Monorail, a Submarine Voyage sub, The moonliner , a Flying Saucer , a Mark 7 Autopia, and a Nautalis Sub ( reissued from moulds made in the mid 1980’s for a Model also sold at Disneyanna.
These models were designed and sculpted by micro makers from WDI , Bob Gurr input and two other model
Makers who’s company has produced some items for Disneyanna at both parks in the 1980’s. So Disneyland merchandising asked to display the first prototypes in the Disneyanna shop while the final model tooling was being produced. During this time unbeknownst to the WDI team, Disneyland started taking preorders on the models and giving delivery date estimates ..... this while no schedule Or production time frame had been finalized or agreed upon OR the cost and resale requirements. I’ll send major some images of the prototypes. After the final production samples arrived , Disneyland guests had already been waiting MONTHS for their models - when WDI found out Disneyland merch had already sold models and WDI “ was way behind on delivery” WDI EXPLODED!!! They were fit to be tied!!! Disneyland merchandise literally undermined the whole project. When WDI said they would be 4 months away from filling orders like that ( were already at no fault to WDI 4 months late) Disneyland called up guests abc began offering refunds - some guests would and got their models eventually- but the series that had great potential with WDI was a abandoned. The plans WDI had was amazing!!
Mike, while 'Disney Theme Park Merchandising' does a fantastic job of over-flooding the park shops with stuffed animals and pins, it would be really nice to see those models and trains on their shop shelves, instead. No doubt that people of all ages would be interested. I want a monorail. (I miss the days when the Disneyland shops carried a large variety of unique and quality-made items.) Mike, thanks for taking the time to share so much interesting information(!) - and please do post some of those prototype images for us to see.
The molded chocolate monorail car I bought on my last visit to WDW was both adorable and delicious .
Wow, that is weird to hear how those model plans fell apart. It seems like a natural. Look at all the model Star Wars toys and how those became such big business. I just found my kids box full in the garage a few weeks ago, dozens of these things.
Seems like it would be picking up money off the sidewalk to have a line of Disney model trains and buildings. Lego now has an "Architecture" line aimed at adults with iconic buildings, quite expensive, sold in museum shops etc.
So much valuable and nostalgic IP going to waste.
Thanks Mike C and everyone.
JG
Late to the party, but always glad to find another vintage Mansion pic. As for DL vs WDW, that's like throwing out there a Yankees vs Red Sox question. You could get hurt.
The weird thing about that HM shot is that it appears to be the case that the weather vane is entirely missing! That did happen between 1994 and 96, but this is a lot earlier than that, in the 70's, like you say. The missing vane would be helpful for dating if we had any evidence that they repaired the vane at some point, but in fact they let the thing fall apart, and the first repair job on it that I know of happened in the mid-80s. So, this photo is an anomaly at present, evidence of some kind of repair work otherwise invisible to our photographic record.
Terribly, terribly important stuff.
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