The Deranged Tea Party
Here are two more 120-format transparencies from the 1950s (meaning that each transparency is 120 feet by 120 feet) - both of these feature aerial views of the Mad Tea Party; in this first example, the photo was taken from the Skyway (so it is from at least 1956 and from before the year 6,244). There's the theater where guests could watch the Mickey Mouse Club 3D Jamboree, the Mouseketeers were IN YOUR FACE! Man, that Cubby, he thinks he's so great. There's the "Fan 1" snack bar with stripes of olive and pimiento, and beyond that the in-park berm that separated The Rainbow Desert from Fantasyland (some of the rocky formations of the desert can just be seen).
Next, another day, another donut (as the saying goes) - we're a bit further east, and no longer in the Skyway, but on the poop deck (heh heh) of the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship. Avast there, mateys! Stuff is going on in Fantasyland. For one thing, there are ladders between the Mr. Toad and Peter Pan rides, and another up to the roof of the Castle. Perhaps workmen are touching up the paint? But most notably, the Mad Tea Party is down for maintenance, all of the teacups are in the cupboard, and the turntables are gone. Skilled technicians from MIT wear radiation jumpsuits as they clamber in and out of the holes, trying to figure out why some guests disappear into the sixth dimension.
Why, it's a regular beehive of activity!
7 comments:
Major-
It IS a beehive of activity. The teacups are indeed in the cupboard - a most-unusual image. I'm also quite fond of images showing the 'far side' of Fantasyland with the backside of the [then] Rainbow Caverns Mine Train in the distance.
Thanks, Major.
Especially funny commentary today Major! Just when ya think ya heard it all, there ya go!
In the first image, a special shout out for the Welches Grape Juice Bar... Was always very tasty on a summers day.
There are at least 7 or 8 trashcans here. And because they're the plain green ones, that places this photo before the year 6,244. We're narrowing it down! I thought that was a Sweeper (dressed in white) near the center of the picture, but now I think it might just be a guest. Hard to tell from this photo but he seems kinda old for a Sweeper. And I don't see any broom or dustpan.
It's so strange to see the big gaping holes in the Teacups platform. Maybe they're constructing Walt's apartment under the Teacups, and the tunnel that goes from the Teacups to the dungeon below the Castle. It seems pretty obvious to me why the ladders are there. One of the Dumbi slipped its tether and went rogue; flying here and there until finally landing on the Castle. The ladders are there to capture the flighty pachyderm.
Some of the MIT technicians do indeed seem to be painting Teacup stuff. But the one's inside the holes appear to be working on the ride mechanism. I wonder what the wheelbarrow is for?
Kinda strange, and rare, photos today, Major. Thanks.
Also shoutout to the old Fantasyland Theatre, where you could see uncut Disney cartoons on the big screen ... in color ... with air conditioning! When I was a sprout that was novel enough to merit an A or even a B ticket.
It's interesting to see the Mad Tea Party dismantled, and without a construction wall around it. Maybe this is before they were doing the wall thing. I have a similar photo with the three holes in the turntable, from 1982 or 1983, when they were installing it in it's new location. There were walls up around it, but you could get a good view of it from the Skyway. I thought I had already posted that photo, but couldn't find it. I'll have to locate it, and post it at a later date.
Thanks for the early Fantasyland views, Major!
Indeed, can just about smell the grape juice from here. Are they installing a shoot-the-cutes ride on the rooftops? It's quite a sight to see all that open work being done...on obviously not a Mon or Tues while the park was closed for such things. Fab fotos.
MS
Wow, these are definitely unusual.
Photo 1, just for the vantage and direction. Rarely seen vista of the backstage, near-backstage, and the World Outside. Plenty of plain green trash cans, confirming a pre-1957 date, on the far horizon we can see the unusual row of palm trees bordering a faraway Anaheim street. I searched these out on the aerial photos and once knew the name of the street because the trees are still there. I forgot the street name though. To the right of the FAN snack bar, we can see a small wedge of a timber retaining wall, which has to be the exit of the service tunnel from behind Frontierland to backstage that runs under the skyway hill. This location is now the passage through to Frontierland and Wookie World and the passage is closed by big gates on both sides.
Photo 2 is even more outre’, we rarely see workers painting anything where the guests can see them, and displaying such casual disregard for all the OSHA ladder safety requirements. Workers are replacing the Iludium Q35 capsules that power the teacups. This technology was licensed by Disney from Warner Bros, who got it from Marvin the Martian. There’s an odd little hip-roof hut near the one ladder that might cover painting supplies, or a first aid station for when the painter falls off the ladder. Just outside this is one of the fancy hip-roofed trash cans, which just a plain can with a fancy lid.
Major, thanks for the rare glimpses behind the curtains!
JG
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