Some Rescans!
It's New Years Eve! I'll be happy to wave buh-bye to 2020, and welcome 2021 with combination of hope and uncertainty. As usual! I wanted to post something New Years Eve-ish, but couldn't really find anything that qualified. I thought I had vintage photos of grownups partying on December 31st, but it turns out that those photos are from June. After hours of loud crying, I finally decided to just share some nice rescans.
Way back in 2010 I shared this January 1963 photo, an interesting view of the Indian Village taken shortly after the photographer emerged from the tunnel that led to this land within a land. The sun has set, the air has cooled, and various lights and torches are lit around Frontierland.
With the rescan, I managed to brighten things up quite a bit, but hopefully not too much. I think it still retains that nice early-evening feel. Notice the Pacific Northwest spirit house to our left (along with a rack of drying fish). I'm not sure what that little ticket booth (?) to our left would have been for... canoe rides? There's also a thatch-roofed building near the center of the image that I believe was a snack bar.
Way WAY back in 2006, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I shared this neat view (possibly from 1956) of a Conestoga Wagon as it trundled along the banks of the river, the trail about to zig (or zag?) up the embankment.
This rescan wasn't a dramatic improvement, but it's still lighter and brigher, so I'll take it. Notice the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship's mast poking up above those hills, and we even get a little bit of the Skyway to the right. I love the "early Disneyland" look of this photo.
I hope that all of my GDB friends have a wonderful new year!
19 comments:
Major-
I don't know if that's a ticket booth or not, but it's quite clear the CM is busily-involved in looking at the 'tablet' propped-up on the counter. (Undoubtedly looking at the current release of Son of Flubber).
A Conestoga Wagon is a rare sighting, indeed. And when it's surrounded by sailing masts, Skyway buckets, and utility poles, you definitely have a winner.
Thanks, Major. And a Happy New Year to all-!
To quote Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun, "NICE RESCANS!"
In that second pic, we can see the miniature pueblos on top of the mesas(?), out in the Painted Desert.
That little booth in the first pic, was were guests could purchase their Splash Mountain photos.
These came out quite nice. I didn't hate them before, but the extra resolution and lightening really brings out some nice details.
To the left of the booth with the touch-screen tablet, is that lashed-together frame with a cloth cover a trash can?
You can see the dollhouse-scale pueblo on top of the "mesa" in the center-right of the last two images. The unworkability of the illusion is particularly jarring from this angle, unless the Jolly Roger is crewed by kaiju.
TM!, they have (had? Haven't been since the remodel) a really nice diorama of a rescan dam (complete with taxidermied rescans that look like they've just had them suffed) in the museum under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. My sweet, conservative, church-going, stay-at-home, straight-out-of-Leave-It-To-Rescan wife always whispers that line in my ear every time we take visitors to see the Arch. It always makes me giggle.
It took me way too long to identify the Skyway Chalet in the wagon photo. Looking at an aerial view, the tributary with the moose seems to have been repositioned pre-Star Wars to serve as storage for the Fantasmic floats. The best thing about that shot, though, is the rare, distant view of the erupting volcano uncovered during Midget Autopia construction.
I love vintage Disneyland photos. These are great. Long forgotten attractions like the Conestoga Wagons and the Stage Coach, Phantom Boats and the Viewliner live again thanks to all these great snaps. Great job on today's scans, Major.
Lovely job of rescanning Major. The Pueblo and the masts of the pirate ship evoke a little Never Never Land feeling. The pre-rescanned Conestoga pic has an almost 'old photo that was colorized' look to it. Nice job of correcting the color and brightness.
I hope everyone truly has a Happy New Year. Or at least a better one than this mess we are emerging from. My thanks to Lou & Sue, Nanook, TokyoMagic, Chuck, Mike, JG, Melissa, Irene, Stu, JC, Andrew, Anonymous's, MrR, Mysterious B.....I know I missing some. You all have brightened every day of this year for me, and I hope all goes well with everyone.
And the big thank you to you, Major for making this all possible. It is a good day to be alive.
Wow, those fish must have stunk to high heaven! I always like throwing out the factoid that the most important folks were on the bottom of the totem poles, so "low man on the totem pole" was quite an honor indeed! In the second shot, is that Holiday Hill I see peeking over the mountain or am I totally turned around? I think that trail zigs and zags, so either is proper.
Great rescans! I prefer "easy to see" over "moody!"
Happy New Year, everyone!
Also, what Dr. Goat said, GDB is the best. Come for the pictures, stay for the comments.
I don’t recall an Indian Village so close to the water in that part of the River, they must have moved inland due to noise from the steamboats by my time.
These are worth the effort to rescan, Major. Thank you.
JG
Nanook, the early iPads were made of oak and had six vacuum tubes. Man, did they get hot! However, Son of Flubber looked crystal clear. I don’t know why, but I like the idea of somebody on the Mark Twain suddenly noticing a Conestoga Wagon across the way, and quickly grabbing their camera. They were just that excited to see it.
TokyoMagic!, it’s been so long since I’ve seen The Naked Gun that I don’t know what Leslie Nielsen actually said. Did you know that one of Leslie Nielsen’s daughters (Moira) was a schoolmate of mine? She was skinny and pretty. “Splash Mountain”? More like “Flash Mountain”!
Chuck, I don’t even have a good guess as to what that cloth thing is (in the Indian Village); I guess “trash can” is as good a theory as any. The tiny pueblos are so charming that I don’t mind that they don’t work at all, illusion-wise. Even from this distance they look to be 2 feet tall, max. A “rescan dam”, I wish I was in on the joke! As, I like that your wife can make you laugh with a not-very-naughty whisper.
Andrew, er… CAN you see the Skyway Chalet? They moved every darn thing for “Galaxy’s Edge”, even the poor meese. I wish Fantasmic would go away, but I think we’re stuck with it forever. Disneyland was plagued with active volcanoes in the 1950s and early 1960s, it was annoying, but provided acres of new land to develop eventually.
Jonathan, thanks! The list of “extinct attractions” continues to grow, to the point that many people have no clue that Disneyland ever had things like Stagecoaches or even the distinctive Viewliner.
DrGoat, Disneyland had so much stuff packed so closely together that being able to see the Pirate Ship masts and the Skyway from well inside Frontierland might be considered a “bug”, but I always love being able to spot hints of the rides from other parts of the park. You’re right, the old Conestoga Wagon shot looks like I ran it through that app that colorizes black and white photos! I’m very glad that this blog helps to brighten your day, even a little; sometimes I get a little burned out, so it feel rewarding to know that people actually get some joy out of GDB!
Stu29573, I’m guessing that Native Americans might not have had access to salt for curing fish. Perhaps it was smoke-cured? Sounds pretty tasty! Interesting factoid about totem poles, I guess I always assume that the higher-up deities are the ones who are “closer to heaven” or whatever. I believe that Holiday Hill would be out of frame to our right (or maybe hidden behind the giant hands). Sometimes lightening up an old slide works well, but other times it just gets gray and grainy. I got lucky this time.
JG, thanks! it’s true, the teepees to the northeast were very close to the water. No good when it flooded. I still have no idea what the domed thing is to the extreme left, it looks like it is covered in aluminum foil. A giant Jiffy Pop pan, fully popped?
Nothing like freshening-up rescans for the New Year! The first photo really shows off the colors of the ol' Indian Village. The structure to the left with the paining on it reminds me a lot of the Mystery Lodge at Knott's. I'm thinking that the "ticket booth" is actually a D.J for that evening's upcharge event. Everyone who has studied totem poles knows that it's beavers and woodchucks at the bottom - eagles and parakeets at the top.
It also took me a while also to figure out that the strange far-away "mountain" in the middle of the second photo is the back of the Skyway Chalet - those ingenious Imagineers! If you look below and just to the right of the tall eucalyptus, one can see the top of the train tunnel. I wonder how many guess actually thought they would end up in Oregon? A Happy New Year to everyone!
Major, very impressive how you can control sunlight on your rescans!
I like the sweater on the person in the hut. And the wall art behind her to the left of the totem pole sums up my feelings for 2020. Happy New Year to all!
zach
Major, thank you for the rescans! That first picture looked fine - until you showed us the rescan; it now looks like the first one had a slight greenish tint. Sort of what everything looks like outside (greenish), in our area, when nasty tornado-brewing storms are coming. Seriously.
I ditto what others have just said. This blog is sooo much fun because of all of you wonderful folks, and especially because of our Major's hard work and devotion. Thank you, and stay safe and sober - Happy New Year!
Someone in the back of that Conestoga Wagon is taking our picture, I think.
Gorgeous rescans - sometimes you CAN gild the lily!
Happy new year to the Gorilla Scoyts and our fearless Scoutmaster!
That first rescan of the Indian Village brought back memories of how cool the area was near dark with the gas torches lighting the area. Wow...that take me back...WAY back! Happy New Year all! KS
Andrew - Knott's had a volcano!
50s Disneyland is a huge favorite of mine.
A very Happy New Year to all who post here. Thanks Major for all the great photos and restoration work this past year. There are so many ads on other sites, ad-free GDB is an island of serenity.
Omnispace, now all I have to do is freshen up ME for 2021! You know, the one time I was at Knott’s to see the Mystery Lodge, it turned out to be closed, so I never got to see it. I’ve heard it was excellent. Anything with a good “Pepper’s ghost” effect is OK in my book. And I’ve never really studied totem poles, so… there you go. And OH! That’s the Skyway Chalet?! Wow. I feel so dumb. Well kudos to you and Andrew!
zach, ever since I was bitten by the spider I’ve had that “controlling sunlight” power. I wasn’t sure if the person in the hut was wearing a sweater, or an elaborately-decorated (beaded) Native American outfit of some kind. Probably just a sweater I guess.
Lou and Sue, yeah, that greenish tint was no bueno. I’ve only personally seen that greenish sky once, when I lived in Pennsylvania and we had a tornado watch. It was weird! Thank you so much for the nice compliments!
Lou and Sue II, I think you’re right!
Melissa, I like to gild the lily, and then put rhinestones and glitter on it. I’m hoping to be hired by Disney soon. (*OH SNAP*).
KS, aw, you’re lucky to have experienced that; as I’ve mentioned before, we never wandered as far as the Indian Village for some reason. Maybe my parents didn’t know it was there? I’m sure it looked beautiful at dusk.
Sunday Night, we both left comments at the same time! Thanks to you and all of the friendly and wonderful folks who have made this place such a fun place for all of us. Hard to believe that it will be a new year in just 8 hours or so (California time)!
Major-
If'n you're really jonesing for some rhinestones... how's about a BeDazzler™ for New Years-??!! Just imagine a Rose Parade float completely covered with BeDazzler 'Art'-? WOW-!
Post a Comment