A Trio From August, 1966
I'm using up the last three scans from a batch, circa "August 1966", which explains why they are kind of random. I just scanned a different batch from the same month and year, which proves that there is a conspiracy to turn us into lizard people.
Here's an unusual view looking from the Disneyland Railroad toward the turnstiles and out into the parking lot. The spaceship-thingy under construction is the Anaheim Convention Center. There's quite a crowd entering the park, but the Big Bad Wolf and at least two of the Three Little Pigs are causing a traffic jam. Notice the back of the poster frames.
I love just about any photo taken from a monkey's-eye view, and here's one from the top branches of the Swiss Family Treehouse, looking northwest-ish along the Rivers of America. There's not much to see besides a raft to Tom Sawyer Island deplaning, but I still like the lack of development in that vast wilderness.
And... you know it, you tolerate it, it's yet another look at the façade of "it's a small world". Every time I see a photo like this, I think that it would be fun to build an accurate scale model of this out of foam core. Especially if I had a CNC machine! Accurate plan views would be nice too. I'll get right on it... tomorrow.
21 comments:
My favorite today is the pic of vinyl leaves which reminds me of one of my favorite Disney related books "Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America".
Anyway, the Swiss Family Treehouse vinyl leaves close up is pretty cool. Also like the distant view of the Rivers of America and Frontierland wilderness beyond. Thanks, Major.
I was always very fascinated by the Spaceship at the Anaheim Convention Center. It seemed to be a natural extension of Disneyland and at night it was lit up all "Disneyland-ish". The annual stockholders meeting used to be held there (maybe it still is...) The questions from the crowd tended to be from 9 year old kids (yes, really) and for those shareholders holding 1 share of stock. Very entertaining. The back side of Main Gate is always a good view. The parking lot is so much better than what became of the parking lot. Doesn't look like a particularly busy day. I see that in 1966 chain link fencing was still in fashion, and the attractions posters seem to have multiplied! The Wolf and Pigs were always out and about, and I thought it strange for them to be so popular for a cartoon that came out in 1933...it wasn't like they were Mickey or Minnie. The people love the big heads! Another interesting thing is the tree house leaves, which previously had blossoms all over them as well. Our University Leader told us a big wind storm came shortly after opening and blew all the blossoms off, and they were never put back again. I have seen blossoms on this tree in pictures, but I'm not sure about that story! Love the Mary Blair/Wally Crump facade. I don't know what a CNC machine is, but it sounds fantastic! A Small World Facade and moat would look great in my back yard. My neighbors told me that it would seem a bit too "Neverland" and wouldn't go over well with the town...oh well...
I always appreciate that rarest of sights - the backside of posters.
That second photo is amazingly framed. We all know what’s just out of sight in all directions - a riverboat, a dry dock, a recreation of New Orleans’ French Quarter, three Indian Villages, a frontier fort, a still-unopened Haunted Mansion, huge crowds, the City of Anaheim - but this photo could have been taken on an isolated lake or section of river far, far away from Southern California. This is part of what makes Disneyland so magical.
Number three is beautifully framed and lit. No need for the clock to be open or a train to be chugging through to plus it.
Thanks, Major!
Dang it, Chuck, you took my "backside of posters joke." Oh well, all's fair in commenting.
I'm surprised BBW never laid into those pigs. I guess they kept him pretty well fed.
Vinyl Leaves. There's a song there. Maybe by Paul Simon.... I'll call him and tell him to get on it.
The third pic makes me think they were waiting for the clock to go off, realized it wasn't before they got inside, and took the pic anyway. It also makes me think they had hotdogs for lunch with orange soda.
Great pics, Major!
Major-
I like the kid with the captains hat. And what a fabulous view from the Tree House. That raft seems miles away.
Thanks, Major.
The rarely seen backside of
D I S N E Y L A N D
I'm getting an odd 'backside' vibe this morning.
After being dazzled by the backside of vinyl leaves I noticed the raft and part of the water wheel on TSI.
I always liked the parking lot. It was, for me, a great start of a day at DL; a part of the whole experience.
Thanks, Major
What a nifty trio of images! I'm betting that the three teal-shirted blond kids at the bottom left of #1 are a set.
"I love just about any photo taken from a monkey's-eye view,"
A monkey's aye-aye view! Terrible puns aside, I absolutely love the fabulous framing foliage in #2. Two layers of foliage-framing!
The play of light and shadow on the iasw facade is just gorgeous.
Major, these are fine photos. Lots to see here. Thank you!
I’d love to see the roof framing plans for the Convention Center building, which starred in Star Trek: Picard recently.
Hard to believe all those leaves were tied on by hand. Too bad there wasn’t some natural process that could be used.
Yes, why don’t they sell plastic scale models of IASW, or SBC, or any number of other attractions? Seems obvious to me? “Collect the whole Park!” I do love that facade, but have no idea how to start on a model. What do we use for scale?
Bu, CNC is Computer Numeric Control. Milling machines now read CAD (Computer-AidedDrafting) drawings and cut plastic pieces to make architectural models direct from the drawing files. These gadgets now come desk-sized for personal use.
JG
Sorry to hear about the computer snafu. Seems like everything with a chip in it is backordered.
Love peeking through the 'leaves' at Tom Sawyer's rafts.
Nice pic of the Anaheim Convention Center under construction. Does look other worldly.
Thanks Major, may your computer arrive soonest.
Like everyone else said, these are great pictures! In the "through the leaves" pic, I guess that's the Pirates construction wall at bottom left?
They weren't made of plastic, but there was a series of very detailed Main St. and Fantasyland buildings put out by a miniature company. If you had the money, you could even slot together all your pieces to make the whole thing. Thanks, Major.
Hey everybody, I apologize for not responding to comments - as most of you know, my computer died. So now I am reduced to using my mom’s when I visit her (which I do three times a week). Thank you for your comments and your patience!
K. Martinez, I have not read “Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America” - since you say it’s one of your favorite books, I’ll have to see if I can find a copy. Glad you liked today’s pix!
Bu, I agree, the convention center is a very cool structure, and I think the old “Melodyland” theater (with a conical roof like a mini Space Mountain) also looks somewhat Tomorrowland-ish. I think Disney has done their shareholder meetings in different venues around the country in more recent years, no idea if they still use the Anaheim Convention Center ever. I do miss the old parking lot, but feel that they did about as good a job with the “Mickey and Friends” parking structure as they could - I was very amazed when I exited the structure and found that I could practically merge right on to the freeway. Still, the last two times I went, we were routed to another parking lot, because they expected it to be busy. My thought was, “Let US (the early birds) park in the shady structure, and make the late people park far away!”. I was annoyed. I’d never heard the story about the blossoms on the Swiss Family Treehouse tree being blown away, that’s an interesting detail. CNC (computer numerical control) machines are amazing, they can machine complex shapes once you provide them with a 2-D or 3-D model to use for reference.
Chuck, I’m glad somebody made the “backside of posters” comment! I can’t help thinking of Viewmaster compositions when I see that Swiss Family Treehouse view. Imagine how nice the sense of depth would be! You make a good point, that photo really does not feel like it was taken in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.
Stu29573, I will give you credit for thinking of the “backside of posters”, and that way you will be able to get into the University of your choice. The Big Bad Wolf always looks hungry, the way his tongue lolls out constantly. It’s kind of gross when you think about it! I’ll call my buddy Paul Simon right away, he owes me a favor (for writing “Bridge Over Troubled Water”). You might be right about pic #3!
Nanook, I wonder if that kid grew up to call his wife “Lovey”? And I really do love those old Views of Frontierland before it was so developed (overdeveloped?), it actually feels like a frontier.
Lou and Sue, it’s TRUE!
zach, ha ha, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to give you a backside vibe! I liked the parking lot too, but mostly have memories of it from before I drove. Maybe I wouldn’t have found it as charming if I had to find a parking space in that vast sea of cars?
Melissa, I’m sure you’re right about the Teal Kids. Easy to spot from a distance. Thank you for the pun, it made my day. I missed communicating with everybody yesterday!
JG, wow, I did not know that they used the Convention Center in “Star Trek: Picard”. Very neat. I live near a water treatment plant that also has a Japanese water garden, that appeared in the original TNG series. And yes, I can’t imagine how they put all of those thousands of leaves on that tree - they looked so believable when it was all done. They have made miniatures of much of the park, but I don’t know if they ever did IASW!
DrGoat, thanks, I really was depressed and panicked when the computer died, but now I’m much calmer (ha ha). Nothing I can do about it. I ordered a new one, but it will be weeks before I get it. It’s funny, I have several photos of the Convention Center when it was under construction, maybe it was one of the reasons the guest took the picture in the first place?
Andrew, oh! I didn’t even notice that construction wall! It very well could have been for New Orleans Square and “Pirates”. And yes, that is the miniature set I was thinking of. I can never remember how to spell the name of the maker (so I looked it up): Olszewski Studios. I once sold two packages of just the trees for a friend (on eBay), and got $1000 for each! Guess those were hard to find, and people wanting to complete their setups were willing to pay a bunch.
Major, you’ll just have to visit your mom seven days a week. Problem solved.
When 'working' the Treehouse, which was a one may/woman operation, and bumped...usually by the Tiki Room as part of a rotation...but occasionally from the JC or Gallery personnel...we were to walk through the attraction to check on things. I always enjoyed the views. Most of course you could look beyond to other lands, or down on top the Adventrueland buildings for a good view of the AC equipment. But there were a few like the one pictured which were real gems which would transport you far away from Anaheim. KS
Lou and Sue, AAAIIIIEEEE!
KS, really, the Treehouse only required ONE cast member?? Kind of amazing! Did they have cameras up high to make sure nobody was destroying anything? I always enjoyed almost any attraction that provided an elevated view of the surroundings. And we all loved getting a good look at the AC equipment! I don’t hate the Tarzan treehouse, but think it was better the way it was before, of course.
Sue,
One does not simply walk into Mom's house everyday. Or Mordor for that matter.
DrGoat, everything with a chip in it is back ordered? No wonder I couldn’t find any mulch last weekend.
And a day without a LOTR reference is like a day without sunshine. :-)
There have been several companies both American, German and Japanese that have expressed interest in or were approached by Disney in created ( mostly) plastic injection molded model kits of Disneyland and Walt Disney World structures and some vehicles. All met with the same fate:
Disney merchandising buyers wouldn’t order enough quantities to justify production and tooling costs.
There were also attempts to contract smaller companies to produce kits from laser cut and machines Disney based kits from assorted materials ( laser board ,acrylic , lexAn etc) however then the mix of materials required some advanced modeling skills and was determined to not be something that would sell in quantity in the parks .
Unfortunately for manufactures , to sell such products outside of the parks is very difficult the Disney licensing fees are extremely high.
There have even been attempts with WDI to create models and miniatures for Disneyland - such as The Imagineering Model collection done in 1998 that ended in disaster because of insane dealings with Disneyland product buyers - enough to make WDI I willing to work with Disneyland on future merchandise projects.
In the 2010 period there was talk again of WDI possibly doing some models in small quantities during down time so as to prevent model shop model makers from getting laid off. Nancy Hickman who had been in charge of the model shop projects was very proud of the WDI model makers and was testing to find ways the department could bring in revenue. Sadly Nancy was let go after several decades of dedicated service.
The idea was similar to how Disney sold reproductions of some of their Emporium window displays in the 1980’s : during down time the display departments would make additional figures and send them to the Disneyanna Shops at both parks for sale.
Current ( 2010) merchandise buyers for the park loved the idea but wanted specific production numbers like “ 3,000 Matterhorns” or “ 2,500 Main St. fire engines” and WDI couldn’t and didn’t want to become a manufacturing company : the idea was well , in down time WDI might make 20 WDW Haunted Mansions - exactly how we would do it for a design model . Then maybe we might make 20 more . Or we will make 40 Snow White Grotto Wishing Wells .... and maybe no more etc . The idea was something more unique than a limited edition etc, but something serious collectors could afford.
DrGoat, if I can, I have to send you a funny meme relating to walking into Mordor!
Chuck, recently I listened to a podcast and one of the hosts said that he tried to read LOTR, but it was “slow”. HUH? I read that when I was probably 14, and thought it was incredible. I truly wonder how he missed what was so amazing about the book (plus “The Hobbit”).
Mike Cozart, I’m sure that the cost of doing good quality models of the Disneyland buildings really would be incredibly expensive, and I don’t know how many people have the money or the room to buy such things. In my mind I’ve always fantasized about having a beautiful model of the whole park, something along the lines of the one at the Walt Disney Family Museum, though I am also fond of the one in the Opera House. I’m sure that if Disney thought they could make a lot of money, they would do it, so they must be convinced that it wouldn’t work. And maybe it would look bad to see those unpurchased models in stores at a steep discount just so they could unload them? Sorry for the brief reply, I’m just about to leave my mom’s house.
I’ll talk to all of you ASAP!
Major...no cameras back in the day! Treehouse only had one permanent CM assigned to it. During slow periods Tiki or JC usually would make it part of a rotation. KS
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