Beautiful Frontierland, August 1960
I have a pair of very pretty Frontierland views from August, 1960. The photographer was standing on the western edge of Town Square, looking across the moat and toward the stockade gates and the guardhouse (perhaps it looks familiar). I wonder if that bunting on the gate is left over from the 4th of July? Above the entrance is a sign for the new Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland, which debuted on May 28th of this year.
Next is this nice look at the Rivers of America; the slide was damaged (some of the emulsion had flaked off for some reason), so I just cropped that damage off. Draconian! But the scene is still great, with the Bertha Mae heading toward its dock on the western shore of the River. The Columbia is heading 'round the bend, and one raft is unloading at Tom Sawyer Island, while another waits to cross in the foreground. I wonder if that one will go to the raft landing visible just to the left of the Bertha Mae's bow?
11 comments:
Major-
Boy, the Rivers of America sure look inviting - as does Cascade Peak.
Thanks, Major.
Today's version of the photo is more esthetically pleasing than the similar photo you linked to. I think the foreground greenery is what does the trick. Plus, we've got the Columbia adding interest to the background. Someone should clean off the antlers from the roof of the building just inside the gate (Shooting Gallery?). And figure out a way to deter all the flying moose, elk and deer from shedding their antlers just as they pass over the building... bad show.
What?!?! No Mark Twain?!?!?! Did it sink into the watery depths of the RoA? Perhaps it's in Fowler's Harbor, or still at the loading dock. The Bertha Mae is about to encounter a gaggle of AEDs; I shudder to think what's about to happen! The Bertha Mae is a sturdy gal but I don't think she can withstand the blast of three Animatronic Exploding Ducks! Oh the humanity!
This is quite a nice photo with the foreground flowers, Cascade Peak, the Keelboat, the Treehouse, and the very natural-looking waterway.
Nice photos, Major. Very pleasing to the eye.
Very nice photos of a calm Disneyland and Frontierland. A lot of activity of course, but nostalgically calm. I never really noticed how high up the treehouse was on Tom Sawyer Island: and it's perfectly framed in the trees like a painting. Doesn't look like too many people are on Bertha Mae: all on the top: and they wonder why it flipped over....Antlers on the roof: isn't that a "thing". They look very bleached out: were they real? I like the olde style bunting on the gates to Frontierland. When they open the "new" Frontierland...will they close these gates...and then open them again like the Fantasyland Drawbridge? "Thank you for calling Disneyland....Admission is $219 for adults and $199 for children 3-11, and Frontierland is closed"...don't worry everyone: Frontierland in Disneyland is not closing (yet). I think that would cause quite the ruckus for the likes of us. Cascade Peak is looking very Matterhornesque...for a very quick millisecond I thought it was. Neato Tom Sawyer Island costume: I can see why they went to red shirts at some point...he kind of blends in, and perhaps that was intentional. In addition to the Rivers of America, AED's are all over airports: so always be on the lookout: be it in Disneyland, or in other public venues....Thanks Major.
Could that be a mountain goat on Cascade Peak?
The Frontierland stockade entrance pic is a beauty. You can see the Columbia mast which is great.
A wonderful shot of the Rivers of America activity with the beloved and greatly missed Mike Fink Keelboats.
Both pics are winners. Thanks, Major.
The Columbia masts are the “weenie” drawing us into Frontierland. I would not need encouragement however, always loved this land. Somehow the designers knew just the “right amount” of planting and landscaping between the neutral hub and the land entrances to make each one distant “enough”.
And Tom Sawyers Island as it should be and as it should have stayed. Now that the pirate IP is 20+ years old and kids don’t remember that movie any more, what will freshen up the old island? Avatar?
See the guest in the red shirt up in the treehouse, like the pimento in the olive. So much fun over there and it’s just going to pot now. “ wipes quiet tear”.
Thanks Major.
JG
Nanook, the park looks particularly beautiful in these pix!
JB, I agree, the foreground plants and shrubs make for a nice contrast to the rough-hewn wooden stockade. You know how it is with antlers, you clean them off, and a week later there are five more. It’s crazy! The Mark Twain must be at the load dock, it’s amazing that the photographer didn’t take a picture of it. And yes, the AEDs, did people know the danger back then? Were they introduced to North America by the Russkies?
Bu, I sound like a broken record, but I’ll bet a lot of people in 1960 would be astonished to know that these pictures were taken at an amusement park. It’s just too pretty! And so big! Before the Matterhorn, Tom’s Treehouse was the highest point in the park (so says the souvenir maps from those days), or at least the highest point that guests could access. Pictures shot from up there give a great view of the world below. Now that you mention it, where DID they get all those antlers? Antler City? Just Antlerz? Crazy Larry’s Antler Emporium? I don’t think the Imagineers care about causing a ruckus, they know that the “true believers” will love anything they do, no matter how awful. “They’ll be mad for a week or two and then it will pass”. And they aren’t wrong.
Tommy Tsunami (hello!), by golly, he’s blurry, but you are right, that’s a bighorn sheep (or is it a mountain goat?)!
K. Martinez, that sure looks like a perfect September day, and not crowded, the only people visible are hidden behind that shrub to the right. Amazing!
JG, you might be right about the Columbia masts - I never really considered that Frontierland didn’t have a “weenie” like the castle or the rocket. Neither did Adventureland. So much for weenies! Apparently Bill Evans (the landscaper) gets some credit that doesn’t belong to him, but he clearly knew what he was doing, so much of the park looks amazing because of the green areas. Oy, Avatar Island, no thank you. Yes, I did see that red shirt up in the treehouse!
Wow, the oleander are huge! River looking so naturalistic. NICE.
MS
Of course from the beginning the Mark Twain was placed as the draw or “weenie” into Frontierland ….and again with Walt Disney World ( Liberty Square) so naturally if the Mark Twain isn’t at dock or operating , the Columbia is the “weenie”
Adventureland was intentionally designed and laid out from the start to NOT have a central visual draw: thus was to help create the sense of mystery and the unknown beyond. That still holds true today … and why you don’t see a towering “forbidden temple” or a smoldering volcano ( …. But maybe one day!)
At the moment the first photo was taken, both Frontierland and Fantasyland had ships as their distant weenies. I guess Tomorrowland did, too - just that ship didn't have any sails. That person behind the shrub to the right is demonstrating how not to be seen.
Bighorn sheep sighting! It must be 1960. The second image shows why they were eventually removed - they were too hard to keep in focus.
Thanks, Major!
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