Adventureland, July 1960
I have a pair of very nice Adventureland pix for you today, both from July 1960. I think it's kind of interesting that the two lands on the west side of the park got big signs overhead as you entered - maybe because they are somewhat close together? I suppose Sleeping Beauty Castle made the entrance to Fantasyland pretty obvious. As for Tomorrowland... again, maybe it was super obvious where guests were headed. ANYWAY, I do love this arched sign, made of woven palm leaves and bamboo, in the best "Gilligan's Island" style.
Next is a good photo of the elaborate sign above the entrance to the Jungle Cruise. I don't know if the four 'lanterns" actually lit up at night, but if so, I'll bet it looked great. There's some skulls, and lots of what look like skeins of dyed hair, or maybe they are supposed to be the feathers of tropical birds. I've always liked the sign painted on stretched animal hide. The ticket booth sign says that adults needed to pay 50 cents, children 35 cents, or you needed to part with a precious "E" ticket.
16 comments:
Major-
The Jungle Cruise signage is really the bee's knees-! In fact, there might even be some in the sign itself.
Thanks, Major.
1) I bet you're right about the size of the Adventureland and Frontierland signs. It's not exactly clear which land you're entering without the signs there to guide you.
2) I also can't tell if they are skeins of dyed hair or bird feathers. Given the plenitude of skulls, I would guess dyed hair. Maybe it's both.
I wonder how many folks actually paid with coins/money for Disneyland attractions, rather than the coupons? Probably not many. Seems like it would be kind of awkward for the CM to accept both, coins and coupons. What if the guest handed them a dollar bill and the CM had to make change? I think it would slow down the boarding process quite a bit.
That's probably the clearest photo of the Jungle Cruise entrance we've seen here on GDB. Thanks, Major.
I believe that the ticket booths were not a "way in" to the attractions, but an "over there"...to purchase, then take your ticket to the ticket taker. So: you wait in two lines, not one. Of course, the crowds were nothing that you would see today. WDW Jungle Cruise still has it's central ticket booth nearby: cleverly "boarded up". I see tickets making a return trip: oh they have! In a cleverly "boarded up" techno fashion known as Genie/LL/ET AL. Emphasis on the ET AL. I was also confused about Frontierland and Adventureland having "Marquees" whilst the other two did not...and certainly not New Orleans Square: but Bear Country did. But let's not even suggest more marquees: as it might come to fruition. Tomorrowland now has a marquee. The Jungle Cruise sign is awesome: with it's hide sign. Might be real hide. Adventureland: not real tusks...maybe perhaps. I think they may be a quiet nod to the entrance to the city of Mombasa in Kenya. Tusks built for Elizabeth II's visit In the 50's. Still there, but rebuilt. Skulls: I like the skulls. Very "Treasure of Matacumbe". The bougainvillea is lovely in there: woven through the sign. Thanks for the morning trip to the Jungle Major.
“Would have been UN ACCEPTABLE “
My first long response disappeared …
Anyway , BU is correct : with the exception of Main Street Vehicles, cinema and shooting galleries …. NO CASH ACCEPTED ON RIDE. You would purchase tickets at a central ticket booth and take your ticket to the attraction . Most of the famous booths we are use to seeing were used to collect tickets not sell them. In the early days there were a few other exceptions . Also Disneyland featured park cashiers … inside the penny arcade , Bank of America and later the STARCADE .
The Exotica craze of the 50’s & 60’s mostly manifested in tiki bars and restaurants, but Disneyland didn’t settle for just a Room, they built a whole world.
I love these signs, and the skull, shields, spears and all the other classic jungle incunabula that are now “incorrect”. Long live the Tiki style.
Major, you make a good point about the marquees. I think you are on to something. I never thought about them before, other than to admire them on the way past hurrying to get in line to the next “E” ticket ride.
I do feel sorry for folks who bought only a General Admission because they weren’t sure if they would see anything inside interesting enough to buy another ticket. I remember back in the day hearing a guy at the ticket plaza saying that to his family, “if we see anything interesting inside we can buy a ticket to ride it”. I wondered then if he had sticker shock and was trying to minimize the whack to his finances. He probably spent the whole day in two lines, unless whole ticket books were available in the Park.
Thank you for these!
JG
Nanook, bees should be a new addition to the Jungle Cruise. A huge swarm of angry KILLER BEES!
JB, it’s funny to see early Disneyland publicity, and how hard they needed to work to make the public understand what Disneyland was exactly. Nowadays most of us know the parks like the backs of our hands, so it’s hard to imagine a time when folks really didn’t know! I’m still undecided about the hair vs feathers thing, except that feathers wouldn’t last very long out in the elements, so it’s probably hair. Yuck! I’ve wondered the same thing about paying with money for a ride, it really must have been a pain, especially when Bu has told us about how such things were monitored down to the penny. Make a mistake? Go to Disney jail!
Bu, you might be right about the ticket booths being used as a sort of separate line, although I don’t really know what the advantage would be, especially in those days. I suppose it makes sense to have a “money line” and another line strictly for boarding the ride. Oy vey, the Genie+ curse, it is frustrating to stand, not moving, while 200 people march past. I understand that they paid for the privilege, but it’s not as if I paid nothing to get in! I’m guessing you are right about the hide being real on the Jungle Cruise sign, I wonder how long that would last out in the sun and (occasional) rain? Maybe they treated it with something nasty that would make it last a long time. The tusks over the Adventureland sign used to look like real ivory, but now they look like carved wood. Or at least they did the last time I paid any attention to them. No elephants were killed in the creation of this park!
Mike Cozart - ??
Mike Cozart, argh, Blogger strikes again. I promise you I have no control over the disappearing comments. I always thought folks could buy the individual tickets at those little ticket booths (the mushroom, the lighthouse, etc), but I guess I was mistaken. I know that years later if we ran out of the tickets we needed, we could buy 10-adventure ticket books at booths throughout the park.
JG, I too really like the exotica crazy, the music, the decor, and the rum drinks (and this is from somebody who does not typically drink cocktails). I need a big bamboo marquee into my home so that I know where I am when I get there. “Pepperidgeland”? Not to be confused with “Pepperland” from “Yellow Submarine”. I agree with you about the folks who would buy tickets ONLY for specific attractions - years ago I published a letter from the 1950s from a woman who visited the park with her lady friends, and at some point she admits that perhaps they should have just bought a ticket book instead of individual tickets like they’d planned.
I loves me some good sign pictures!
I've recently been watching Dynasty on Amazon Prime, and Joan Collins's desk is made of a pane of glass supported by four elephant tusks. And every time I see it I wonder if they're the real thing or just carvings. It always flashes me back to my first trip to the Buffalo Museum of Science as a kid, and this one room that was just full of elephant tusks that you had to walk under like the bride at a Marine wedding walking under crossed swords. I can't imagine that display is still there now; I doubt it would fly with modern audiences.
I was pretty unspoiled before my first trip to a Disney park, and while it was kind of a sensory overload it was also pretty magical not knowing what to expect and just being amazed at every little thing. If I had had to fuss around with ticket books or Genie plus, it might not have been quite as magical. Half of the fun was just seeing something cool and saying hey, let's check that out.
When I got there in the 80's, there was no official Lucasfilm presence in the parks yet, but Raiders of the Lost Ark was on everybody's mind, and walking into Adventureland felt like stepping through the screen into that world.
That Jungle Cruise signage is awesome! I remember when it looked that way. Still, I think the current boathouse is pretty cool too. Thanks, Major.
I wonder if that JC sign was repurposed over to the entrance of the JC by the mid 60s. It, or something similar, was there for many years. I like the look of this better than what is there today. Mike Cozart knows all things like this so maybe he can chime in.
There was a strict differentiation between those who handled money and those who didn't. Still, as an RO on the Big Game Shooting Gallery, I took 25 cents or a "C" coupon. And just think about how to track it all as the foreman. We knew how many tubes of shot were being set up in the gallery and that should match the sum of coupons and coins. It was done hourly by the foreman. I can't recall how closely they tried to track it all. I had no interest in palming quarters but one would think that it was an easy way to pay for a lunch break or two in the Pit. I take the 5th!! But I honestly don't recall the process and no, I was working as a seasonal who wanted to make permanent status. I don't recall anyone being fired either. We were honest folks. KS
I, too, had never realized some lands had signs... and others not.
makes me wonder about Holiday Hill... did it have a grand marquee sign, so folks knew it was so special? or would people just call it pile o' dirt?
sadly (?) I'm to young to ever remember walking by Holiday Hill.
Dang you, JG. You gone done made me look up "incunabula". Now I have a new word rattling around in my brain!
I'm still confused about the tickets vs. money thing. If ride operators only accepted tickets at the Jungle Cruise ride, etc., then why does the sign say "Adults 50 ¢... Or 'E' Coupon"?
LTL, they shoulda kept the "pile o' dirt" name... "I wanna go on the Pile O' Dirt Bobsleds again! ;-p
I also know that operations was very concerned early one with so many specified tickets for attractions … they didn’t like the idea that guests would feel “nickel and dimed to death” like at fairs and carnivals so the least o amount of ticket cash being used within the park was a early goal.
Melissa, wow, Dynasty! Back from the days when those prime time soaps were so huge. That elephant tusk table sounds like something that might have been intended to signal “rich”, but also “has no moral center”. Wasn’t Joan Collins’ character supposed to be an evil b-word? I knew someone who owned two elephant tusks, and all I could think about was that someone killed a beautiful elephant so that this person could have these “conversation pieces”. Yuck. Ticket books, they weirdly enhanced the experience, but I admit that I am now spoiled at being able to ride whatever I am in the mood for.
Melissa, I always felt a little bummed that they couldn’t find an actual Disney property to turn into an incredible ride like Star Tours, but they probably made the right decision, ultimately.
K. Martinez, being unobservant, I doubt I ever paid much attention to the Jungle Cruise sign - I must have seen it like that, though.
KS, I even rode the Jungle Cruise a few months ago, I couldn’t tell you what the ride’s marquee looked like. See my comment to K. Martinez! The Shooting Galleries always seemed a bit different than most attractions, it seems hard to believe that one could have given somebody two quarters for a ride on the Jungle Cruise. And yet… I guess that is how it was?!
LTL, I’m unaware of any Holiday Hill signs, but I sure would love to see photos of such a thing!
JB, just be like me and turn off your brain. IT’S EASY!!
Mike Cozart, I was thinking that perhaps the RETLAW attractions were run a bit differently, but upon further reflection, I’m pretty sure that’s not correct (or at least not entirely). Wasn’t the Tiki Room a separate admission early on? In other words, your 10 or 15-adventure ticket book would not have a ticket for the Tiki Room? There must have been a way to buy a ticket near the attraction, I assume. I have one of those early tickets. Maybe the were acquired at one of the central ticket booths you mentioned. Bu can tell us all about cash handling - my buddy Mr. X can too, he used to be involved in such things as a popcorn vendor.
Mike Cozart, it’s true, somehow handing over a ticket does not feel quite like spending “real money”, and they always made a point of telling ticket book purchasers that their $4.50 (for example) ticket book would be a “$6.00 value”.
I do have a distant memory where you could purchase a ticket at the entrance to the Tiki Room, the location of which is up front and also became a juice bar. But that is long ago and very far away, even before my time there. KS
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