Fantasyland, December 1962
Here are two pretty nice photos from Fantasyland, circa 1962. In this first one, I'm trying to think of what could be casting that massive shadow across most of the picture. The sun is pretty low in the East, so maybe the tall berm between Fantasyland and Frontierland is the culprit? Anyway, it's nice to see some vintage details, such as the ticket booth to the left, the old Skyway gondolas, and the Mad Tea Party, which has no people in any of the teacups, and not even a line... maybe it was down for maintenance?
And you won't go too many days without a look at the Matterhorn. Cameras just naturally were drawn toward it. The Carrousel is to our right, and there appears to be an ice cream vendor to the right, with a rack of postcards next to him. Maximize profits! At the top we can see one of the 1962 souvenir guidebooks with the yellow cover (and photo of Walt).
10 comments:
Major-
"I'm trying to think of what could be casting that massive shadow across most of the picture".
Would you believe the infamous December, 1962 partial eclipse of the sun-? (Neither would I-!)
"The Carrousel is to our right..."
Ahhh, no sir. That would be Fan 2, just pretending to be the Carrousel. The finials surrounding the outer ring of the "canvas" roof were added to both Fan 1 & Fan 2 sometime in the late 1950's/early 1960's. (Not so, the King Arthur Carrousel). And besides, those yellow/green umbrellas were part of the tables surrounding Fan 2.
Thanks, Major.
BUT... These are both lovely images of a fairly early Fantasyland-!
Hmm, definitely some nice color saturation and crisp focus, revealing some nice detail. But I think our photographer had a 'thing' for shadows. Lots and lots of nice shadowy slurry. But he was very careful to lop off the upper half of the Matterhorn which is brightly lit with ugly sunlight! ;-) The little shadowy girl is wearing red, white, and blue striped pants. Like Uncle Sam... or Aunt Samantha. The part of the picture that is in sunlight is excellent in every way!
Wow! The lighting is perfect for showing off the detail of the Matterhorn! Really crisp too. Were these images scanned from large-sized slides? I'm not sure, but there might be a blue and white(?) Bobsled over on the left, at the top of the trees. I thought it might be more of the tree branches, but it seems to be a different color. And over on the right, just above the Fan 2 (thanks, Nanook) roof, there is, what appears to be, an escaped blue balloon. Or maybe it's a blue Bobsled?
Really nice photos, Major. Thanks.
I'm guessing it's the Mickey Mouse Club Theater that is casting the shadow over that part of Fantasyland (in the first pic). It appears to be late afternoon, so the sun would be low on the horizon, and behind the theater building.
It looks like the Matterhorn was closed on that day. We can see a construction wall in the distance of that second pic. The wall is blocking our view of the section of track right after the bobsleds splash down, but before they pull up to the unloading area. On the far left, just next to the lady in the red jacket, we can also see one of those "Closed for Refurbishment" signs, with Mickey holding a wet paintbrush.
These are both pretty nice Fantasyland pics, Major. Thanks!
I just realized that the postcard rack actually belongs to a permanent Fantasyland souvenir stand that used to be in that area. It had the metal roof that sort of matched the "tournament tent" look of the rest of Fantasyland. We can even see one of it's striped "spires" sticking up behind the umbrella. I think we can also see the scalloped edge of it's roof, just below the edge of the umbrella. And we can see multiple white poles, which would be holding up the roof.
Bu can correct me if I'm wrong, but that might not be an ice cream cart that we are seeing with the red base and white countertop. That might actually be a condiment stand. I seem to remember there being one in that area, to serve the customers of "Fan 2."
I'm a fan too
MS
Nanook, ha ha, I was actually thinking, “Is that one of the snack bars?”, but was in such a hurry that I just barreled ahead. Oh well!
Nanook, hooray!
JB, I’m sure that the shadows looked much lighter to the eye, you know how those old film stocks hated even moderate darkness. We can see that the photographer wasn’t interested in the Matterhorn as the main subject until photo #2! These were standard 35mm slides, so we can assume that the camera that was used had a good lens - it’s really amazing what a difference that made. I think that is an escaped balloon! Some kid is crying.
TokyoMagic!, huh, I would have never guessed “The Mickey Mouse Club Theatre”! But I’m sure you are right. I meant to point out that sign with Mickey to the right of the lady in red, but forgot - a sign with Mickey probably means that an attraction is closed!
TokyoMagic!, I honestly did not know that there was a permanent souvenir stand right there, but that striped spire is definitely much like the ones (one?) we have seen in Town Square early on. Maybe it’s the same little structure? I would have guessed “ice cream cart” with the red base, but I’d be curious to know if it was a condiment stand.
MS, nice!
Hard to believe that photo 1 doesn’t show any trash cans. That locale usually had three or four striped ones and a bullet can inside the teacup pen. Still a fun photo.
No. 2 is quite nice too. I don’t remember this area very well, but I’m prepared to believe it’s a permanent souvenir stand because postcard stands were always close to one. Indiana Jones is lurking in the shadows to the left, waiting to snag a Guidebook of Doom.
Thanks for Old Fantasyland Major. We never knew how good we had it…
JG
Fan 2 just can't be Fan 2 without a giant cloud of hamburger exhaust in the vicinity! This....is a hoax! It was quite odiferous with grilled Hamburger stench...not horrible, but kind of odd for Fantasyland when you would think it would smell like daisies or something....There is no ice cream cart, and I don't think that there is a condiment cart either....as that employee is standing inside the souvie stand....my favorite style...and I want a "folly" like this is my yard...also with souvies. That slurry coat in photo 1 looks very sparkling clean. What a dream to actually be able to see into this area! So crowd impacted now...so crowd impacted 40 years ago too. I suppose that's why the hamburger smell was around...it got stuck to people and couldn't get out. Matterhorn looks shiny too...in fact: everything looks very shiny. I read an old employee book this morning....Dick Nunis talking about the origins of Disneyland and said...."everyone talks about the "good old days"....and when we look back, not all of those days were good...but we learned from it....."et al....a 1984 publication after the hostile take--over attempt, the strike, and an Olympic year in LA that scared crowds away from the Happiest Place on Earth....I remember that year as the best overall traffic on freeways ever, it was a dream....then: Eisner and Wells....I thought it was very interesting that Dick was actually speaking truths rather than "tales"....much like the Club 55 members that I spoke to that basically said "we had no idea what we were doing!! It was a disaster most of the time"....I should have probed deeper, but: was probably worried about my hair being perfect.....thanks Major for the trip to '62. A banner year for sure.
JG, I guess there was no eating hotdogs in Fantasyland in 1962. Thus: no trashcans were needed! I wish I could see the postcards better, as a serious Disneyland postcard collector! I think I see some little Art Corner “flip books”, though it’s hard to be sure.
Bu, ha ha, “grilled hamburger stench”… well! The other day I was outside an In-&-Out restaurant and thought the smell was quite nice, but that’s mostly the grilled onions. Imagine what the cooks smelled like by the end of the day (at Disneyland), would the smell ever wash out? You should put a condiment cart in your yard to confuse anybody passing by. I’m sure your HOA will love it. I remember how amazing it was during the last LA Olympics, everyone was so scared of horrible traffic that they stayed off the roads, and it turned out to be just the opposite. I wonder if that will happen in 2028? I don’t get “Olympic fever” like I used to, though the games can still have their moments. I’m sure your hair WAS perfect, Bu!!
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