Tomorrowland, September 1977
After a few years in Pennsylvania, my family returned to California; it took another year or so before I was able to get back to Disneyland (going with friends from before our move to the east coast) - the year would have been 1977. I still remember how strange it felt walking into Town Square! It felt smaller than I remembered. The same, but different. Favorite attractions had close in the interim, replaced by new ones. The Carousel of Progress, replaced by "America Sings"; the Pack Mules (not replaced of course); Santa Fe ended its sponsorship of the Disneyland Railroad; "Mission to Mars" replaces "Flight to the Moon". "Nature's Wonderland" closed near the end of '77. And so on!
Today's photos, from 1977, show what I must have seen on that first return trip. Tomorrowland felt pretty familiar, for the most part, with the always-wonderful Peoplemover and Rocket Jets, and the Mary Blair tile murals were still in place; and Adventure Through Inner Space was still there, one of my favorite rides ever.
5 comments:
Major-
"... seeing today's scans really takes me back to a specific time in my life!"
And with good reason-! It was a pretty swell Tomorrowland back then.
Thanks, Major.
Looking at that first picture, lower right, I see a couple of really fun hats. One of them looks like a possible iasw escapee, maybe. No, on second thought, she's too tall. (Speaking of iasw dolls being 'outside' of the attraction, did Bu ever tell/confess his story here? If not....hey, Bu!)
I definitely know what you mean, Major, about returning to DL and experiencing the 'changes.' I had a 25-year gap between visits....from 1976 to 2001. I was in shock. No big parking lot; everything different with the hotels; and Downtown Disney added -- besides all the changes inside the Park.
Side note: I still LOVE Disneyland.
Thanks, Major.
"the Pack Mules (not replaced of course)" Seems to me they coulda replaced them with animatronic Pack Mules. So much easier to maintain! And they already had the AEDs so I'm sure the Imagineers would've been up to the task.
Ooh, Crispy Clear™ image! (As Sue noted) A couple of ladies. in the bottom right corner, are wearing giant-sized (some would say 'goofy') hats; a sombrero and a sun hat. Looks like we can see at least one of those Goodyear animated advertising pods. Although, the animation is a little hard to see in this photo. ;-p I'm always impressed by the design of the 'Saturn V' Rocket Jets. Looks like the top of the Matterhorn is melting. One would've thought that the Imagineers would have taken the warm SoCal weather into consideration.
Space Mountain really does look impressive off in the distance. A little bit of atmospheric haze adds to the illusion of distance and immensity. The Rocket Jets are a-twirlin', and the Skyway buckets are a-glidin', the Subs are... well I'm not sure what the Subs are a-doin'. But I'm sure they're a-doin' it in a very Sub-y way. The roof of the Monorail station looks like an unfurled solar array on a spacecraft. And of course, we've got POWER LINES marching off in the distance.
Thanks again, Major.
"And they already had the AEDs so I'm sure the Imagineers would've been up to the task."
JB, I don't think the AEDs were 'made' by the Disney Imagineers. I'm not sure where they came from, though. Russia??
1977 was a good year for Disneyland. And Tomorrowland was still my favorite land. Yes, my favorite DL attraction, Carousel of Progress, was gone, but I did like America Sings. I guess the land remained the same (more or less) from 1977, until 1985 when Adventure Thru Inner Space (another favorite of mine) was removed, along with the Mary Blair mural on the exterior of the building. Oh yeah, and there was also the ruining of the open-air Space Mountain complex and Space Stage. I'm not sure when construction on that began, but I know the Magic Eye theater opened in 1986. It was all down hill for Tomorrowland, after that!
However, these photos are a nice trip back in time, when Tomorrowland was still a "World On The Move"! They make me happy. Today, I prefer to visit Disneyland via Gorillas Don't Blog and my own vintage memorabilia and personal souvenirs. Thanks for taking us back, Major!
P.S. Major, Nature's Wonderland Mine Train closed in January of 1977. Another loss that I was not happy about! I never felt that Big Thunder was a decent replacement, or even a decent coaster.
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