So many photos were taken from the wonderful Skyway ("See Disneyland from the Air!" sez the attraction poster), and that's definitely a good thing. In this particular shot, we are heading towards "Snow Hill", the future site of the Matterhorn. I've seen other photos in which guests are walking on the hill, guess they climbed it "because it's there". OK, I have lots of questions for you experts! Is that the Fantasyland Autopia at the right of the photo? There appears to be a Richfield eagle like the one commonly seen in front of the Tomorrowland Autopia. Also, any idea what that curved wall is for at the bottom of the photo? I always enjoy views that show how undeveloped Anaheim was in those days. Farmland everywhere. This is an attraction that I miss a lot, and am still not entirely clear on why it was removed. Was it because it could not easily be made handicapped-accessible? Were lawyers worried about falling customers, or maliciously dropped pennies? Had ridership decreased dramatically? Inquiring minds want to know.
I will take my stab at the image- the striped awning on the lower right hand side is the Junior Autopia in Fantasyland (if you look closely you can see a yellow car on the track.) Both Autopia's were sponsored by Richfield. In the far backgrond can be seen Monstro the whale. The curved fence is a scenic element for the Phantom Boats as it is the edge of the lake they ran on. (And since there was no replacement, they ran for 1955 and 1956.)
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the Skyway was closed (here and elsewhere) because everybody realized that, should the ride break down, there would be no escape route. I'm pretty sure that handicapped access was part of the issue as well, however.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info, matterhorn1959 - that's cool that it's the Junior Autopia! I didn't know that Richfield sponsored that one. Maybe they did all the Autopias, kind of like the Santa Fe was involved in all of the trains? And dieter, you could be right about the lack of escape route, but the thing ran for almost 40 years without a major mechanical mishap as far as I know. And besides, haven't they ever heard of parachutes?? ;-)
ReplyDeleteMajor: Please give me your email and I will email you the detail areas of the Jungle Cruise sign and the coyote that you requested. The original photos were slightly blurry, so please don't expect too much! dvdpicasso@aol.com
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ReplyDeletethat is an AMAZING slide! You rarely see snow hill, and certainly not in color like that.
I'm kinda amazed now - matterhorn1959, dvdpicasso & you are all sharing really great stuff from your collections. Thanks again!
Skyway shut down was a political thing - not related to safety, but rather maintenance...
My pleasure, Tangaroa...it is definitely more fun to share these with fans, otherwise they are just sitting in a box unloved. My collection is not nearly as awesome as matterhorn1959's, but hopefully there will be enough to keep things interesting for everyone!
ReplyDeleteWOW!!!!!!!
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