I recently scanned a batch of slides from Florida's Magic Kingdom, date-stamped "November, 1982" - over 40 years old! - and while they are a little bit on the dark side, it gives them a certain dramatic atmosphere that I find to be visually interesting.
Let's begin with this photo in Fantasyland, with It's a Small World right in front of us. That taller building definitely echoes medieval architecture that you might see in Yurp. I'm assuming that a dark ride is near us to the left, any idea what that would be? The good old Skyway glides overhead, against some pretty clouds.
The Richard F. Irvine was the only steamboat on the Magic Kingdom's Rivers of America by 1982 (the "Admiral Joe Fowler" had been destroyed by me in 1990). And of course it was refurbished and renamed the Liberty Belle in 1996. I wonder if they got tired of explaining just who the heck Richard F. Irvine was to guests? The dark shadows give this a film noir feeling.
Even with the dark areas, this is a very pretty scene. All gone now, incredibly.
Here's locomotive No. 3, the Roger E. Broggie. Please let me know if you have any idea where this photo was taken (Frontierland of course, but was the train stopped at a station?). Also, could a guest walk up to that low rope fence and lick the locomotive? I'm not asking for me, just so you know, but for a friend.
And finally, howsabout a beautiful look at the Star Jets (atop the Wedway Peoplemover station). I love the "lifting body" (is that the right term?) vehicles, still circling a mighty Saturn V rocket. I'm sure there's some interesting stuff at ground level, but we can't see it.
Stay tuned for more WDW scans!
Major-
ReplyDelete"I'm assuming that a dark ride is near us to the left, any idea what that would be?"
I believe that's still part of IaSW.
I love the 'dark images' with all their drama and crushed blacks-!
Thanks, Major.
I tried Googling "Yurp" to see where it was. It kept giving me someplace called "Europe"... stupid Google. ;-p
ReplyDelete1) Wow, dramatic indeed. I love it! A little too dark for people watching, but man, those buildings are lit perfectly! Keepin' it, keepin' it, keepin' it! I thought maybe those shields/coat of arms above the dark ride might provide a clue to which ride it is, but it didn't help (not to me anyway).
2) Film noir: I think I see Bogie on the lower deck, hanging back in the shadows. Looks like they've got a full compliment of guests!
3) Looks like a print version of a painting that one would see in the living rooms of Anytown, USA, circa 1955.
4) "could a guest walk up to that low rope fence and lick the locomotive? I'm not asking for me, just so you know, but for a friend." Major, you have weird friends, especially here on GDB. ;-) We can see a smidgen of a structure on the left with an awning. Maybe that will help identify this location?
5) Those palm trees really make the StarJets look special! And spectacular! Beautiful scene. I'm keep, keep, keepin' this one too!
Nanook, you may be right about it being part of IASW. I walked past that facade in '76 and it looks vaguely familiar.
A nice Saturday travelog, Major. Still Disney, but different! Thanks.
That first image does look cool with the special lighting—but those darn skyway buckets are all tangled-up in that wall sconce.
ReplyDeleteFun pics, thank you, Major.
^ I meant “light sconce”
ReplyDelete^ Yet another example of forced perspective. :-)
ReplyDeleteYep, Nanook is correct. Those "tournament tent" facades are all a part of the It's a Small World queue and loading area.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what they did with the Richard F. Irvine/Liberty Belle? Did they just scrap it? They could dock it over near the Fort Wilderness Resort and let the alligators and brain-eating amoebas take it over. Or put a Madame Medusa figure and some other characters from "The Rescuers" on it, and charge guests beaucoup bucks to take their picture with the characters. People just LOVE to pay extra for stuff like that.
Major, the "ground floor" of the Astro Jets tower has a Lunching Pad snack bar, just like Disneyland's structure used to.
Thanks for the vintage WDW pics, Major!
Concur that that dark ride facade is iasw. It’s big, but it’s incredibly underwhelming if you’ve seen the Disneyland version. I know I’ve said this here before, but on my first visit at age 10, I referred to it as having a “storefront entrance,” and my dad thought that was a pretty good description.
ReplyDeleteI think that locomotive photo was taken to the right (north) of the Frontierland Depot. The Broggie’s boiler jacket tastes like mint. I’d prefer you not ask how I know that.
”I'm sure there's some interesting stuff at ground level, but we can't see it.”. What, you mean other than that trash can?
And yes, “lifting body” is the right term. My understanding is that Disney kept $6 million in an emergency cash reserve in case one of them broke loose and they needed to fund reconstructive surgery on a guest who was barely alive.
Thanks, Major!
Nanook, well I guess it makes sense that the rest of that facade is part of IASW. I like these too, even though I am usually disappointed by “too dark” slides!
ReplyDeleteJB, I think we can see the decline of the Google search engine. It can’t even find Yurp? I have two old books that belonged to my grandmother, one has photos of pre-WWII France, the other, pre-WWII Germany. And some of the villages with medieval architecture remind me of some of those buildings in Fantasyland (Florida)! Is Bogie covered in leeches? He should always be covered in leeches. My friend is not weird, he is very normal! I think that structure is the Empire State Building. I really like the Star Jets vehicles, and think there was one in a big auction a few years back. I’m not a WDW person, but that would have been a cool thing to own.
Lou and Sue, it must have been annoying to have to continually untangle the Skyway from that sconce!
Lou and Sue, what about light fluffy SCONES?
JB, I don’t think they should force perspective, they should treat it with respect and ask its permission.
TokyoMagic!, didn’t they add a smaller version of the Disneyland IASW facade inside the WDW attraction? I think I’ve seen pictures. I sort of like the idea of using the Richard F. Irvine boat as a recreation of Madame Medusa’s lair, but it might have been too ramshackle. I feel like they were following Walt’s desire to have his park look neat and tidy. How did you know that I like (LOVE) to pay extra for stuff?? Your photo of the Lunching Pad is really great!
Chuck, you commented while I was commenting! It’s strange that IASW is so impressive at Disneyland, and they didn’t even try at WDW. Was it a budget thing? Or did they want it to fit in with the rest of Florida’s Fantasyland “look”? Now I need to know if the Broggie’s boiler is peppermint, spearmint, or wintergreen (which I guess isn’t really “mint”?). If Disney had money for reconstructive surgery, I’d ask them to make my nose more like Brad Pitt’s.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t notice that these were WDW pics and i thought these were April Fools slides because of the IASW sign on the Castle.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a shame that Florida doesn’t get the White City facade. How can it be IASW without it?
I like these light and dark slides, I’d call it chiaroscuro, except they are in color, or was he an Italian sports car designer?
Thanks Major!
JG
Wasn’t Chiaroscuro married to Xavier Cugat?
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDelete"... didn’t they add a smaller version of the Disneyland IASW facade inside the WDW attraction?"
Do you mean like THIS, that was a part of opening day-? I thought so-!
"Now I need to know if the Broggie’s boiler is peppermint, spearmint, or wintergreen..."
I'm certain you meant WINT O GREEN-!
@ Chuck-
ReplyDelete"Wasn’t Chiaroscuro married to Xavier Cugat?"
Brilliant-!
Oops, I meant Giorgetto Giugiaro…
ReplyDeleteJG
It’s strange that IASW is so impressive at Disneyland, and they didn’t even try at WDW. Was it a budget thing?
ReplyDeleteMajor, I've wondered the same thing. If Walt Disney had lived through the building of WDW, I bet he would not have settled for that exterior. If their excuse was that they put the queue indoors because of the Florida weather, that's doesn't fly. Tokyo gets a lot of rain, and they still have the Anaheim facade, but an indoor queue and loading. And DL Paris has outdoor loading, but there is a canopy over the outdoor portion of the flume.
The original indoor loading for WDW had Mary Blair-inspired artwork/mural wrapping around the entire room. That is what Tokyo Disneyland still has. It was very nice. There was no need to cram a miniaturized version of Anaheim's facade into that room. And now I see from the photo that Nanook linked to, that they have "colorized" the clock tower. I wonder when they did that? When I saw it last, it was still white and gold.
TOYKO : Tokyo Disneyland replaced the beautiful Mary Blair interior loss painted murals a few years ago with all new designs and poster art / as well as a new color scheme inside and out. I think the designs are by a popular illustrator with Disney merchandise name Jarrod Muriamma or (???) I cannot think or spell his name off hand.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very beginning there were no plans on replicating the Disneyland small world exterior in Florida. In fact the entire attraction was going to be called “WORLD CARNIVALE” and except for a short lived early concept with a glass dome and central water fountain in a modern design , the Florida version was designed to be within the the theme of the European village. Each fantasyland corridor is themed to different European architecture. Radiating away from the castle is French and then English and German heading towards liberty square ….then back to fantasyland , German , Austrian , some northern Italy . Heading from the castle towards Tomorrowland is French and English ( terminating with toad & mad tea party ) Florida enjoyed both the medieval tournament tents AND the European village architecture. Despite that guests ride in boats … the logo and attraction poster design for “WORLD CARNIVALE” featured the small world Mary Blair kids in an air balloon. At the last minute it was decided to just keep the name “ It’s A Small World “
Technically the “Mary Blair “ children in the boat atttraction poster artwork is not Mary’s but Imagineer Paul Hartley . After Paul’s death in 1973 , WED graphics took Paul’s unused WDW “Orange” WORLD CARNIVALE / SMALL WORLD poster art and created a new Florida exclusive design that was not realized till 1978.
ReplyDeleteMike, thanks for that information. I didn't know that TDL had also gotten rid of their original artwork in the IASW loading area. I'm glad that I photographed it extensively. Gee, I've been noticing that even the Oriental Land Company is starting to ruin things. I always used "They ruin everything" to apply to the U.S. parks. Now it is starting to apply to TDL. Sad! Do you know if they are moving forward with plans to remove their Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, and Western River Railroad?
ReplyDeleteTOKYO : so there’s some fairly drastic TDL proposals being worked on … technically there are updates being worked on all the time that often get set aside or revised before anything ever happens . I worked on many variations of some great and some awful plans for new WDW Frontierland & Liberty Square … starting in 2010 and there had been previous project teams prior to that - and I always kinda figured “it dodged a bullet” and was safe … and the Piston Peak revamp came out of the blue! It was being worked on even more secretly than the projects I was on . I guess I’m getting to the fact that NOTHING is sacred and anything can happen - even ripping Walt Disney from any of the magic kingdoms and Epcot… so Tokyo’s NEW ADVENTURELAND is fair game… while the final decisions might be shocking … they won’t be surprising.
ReplyDeleteThat was me above . Another thing about Tokyo Disneyland; it of course is built on reclaimed land and special construction considerations were made back in the 80’s to accommodate building a Disneyland on such reclaimed land . One was that to adjust for soil settling most of the structures of Tokyo Disneyland were built with adjustable jacks to help level any settlement or “sinking” and that system has worked very well … but as 40 + years have past many of those leveling jacks cannot be raised any further … so ORIENTAL LAND COMPANY & DISNEY have to decide : do we rebuild an exact duplicate ( as close as they can) of 1983 SPACE MOUNTAIN ? Or should be take the opportunity to create a whole new version of SPACE MOUNTAIN ??
ReplyDeleteSame goes for the structures of Adventureland … and in many cases because of current seismic requirements and accommodation of the handicapped and to allow for much higher attendance levels … “the old” 1983 things are just not acceptable. Also management and marketing is very forceful in the use of existing ipo … so when a new 2028 JUNGLE CRUISE attraction is proposed , management likes the other proposal of a MOANA ALOHA RAFT ADVENTURE….
But never THE CANDLESHOE MANOR MYSTERY , MAGIC BED KNOBS and the ISLE OF NAMBOOMBU ADVENTURE , or PASSAMAQUODDY AND PETE’s INVISIBLE DRAGOor HERBIE & THE RUNNAWAY CABLE CAR!!
Thanks for even more additional info on TDL, Mike! So does that mean that they will also have to rebuild other 1983 structures, like the World Bazaar, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Cinderella's Castle, etc.?
ReplyDelete