Here are a couple of not-too-exciting photos taken from the Mark Twain as it waited at the dock in
Frontierland. The covered queue area is in the foreground. Does anybody know the significance of the flags? One appears to be Great Britain's Union Jack. The Golden Horseshoe is in the distance; considering how popular this legendary show was at the time, I'm surprised that Walt Disney seemed happy enough with those "temporary" cloth banners for so many years.
Looking slightly to the northeast, we can see the little blue-roofed bandstand where the Gonzalez Trio performed. Beyond that is
Casa de Fritos, resembling the adobe pueblo in
Taos (New Mexico). And to the right, the long reddish building is the
Frontierland Shooting Gallery.
Major, the flags are kind of a time line of flags that have flown over US territory. When viewed from Tomorrowland, they "read" in approx. historical order, but since we are looking from the "back side" of the display, the order is reversed from normal reading order.
ReplyDeleteFirst Picture, far right, probably the Flag of Columbus. I am sure that when I was a kid, the flag was represented as a red St. George cross on a white field, with extra doo-dads, but the innerwebs today just shows a green maltese cross with doo-dads, so go figure. Maybe it's the national flag of England (which does not make sense here).
Next flag over is the UK Union Jack. If Disney was on top of things, it would be the 1770s version before the Irish flag of St. Patrick was superimposed (today's version)
Next flag is the New England Flag
Next is the "Appeal to Heaven" flag.
Second photo, from right to left:
I don't know what the blue flag is, it's too folded up to see the design.
Next is the "Grand Union" flag, with the UK Union Jack on a field of red and white stripes. This was the first national flag of the US from 1776 to 1777.
Next is probably the "Betsy Ross" flag with the circular constellation of stars in the union.
The last on the left is probably a variation of the US national flag.
Wow KG, you sure know your flags! Thank you for all the info. And in such detail! Super cool, really.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure of the rules for special displays of historic flags like this, although I have seen them done before and can't recall details, but it seems to me that posting in chronological order would be in good form. I think the ones I have seen before have had poles of different heights, such arrays have different rules.
ReplyDeleteNormally the National Colors would be placed on the right-most pole in a series of national or regional flags, (assuming all poles the same height), that is, right when seen from the viewpoint of the flag itself. The array in the photo is in reverse of this order, to the viewer, the National colors is occupying the right-most spot. Disney's flag etiquette is impeccable, so I'm sure there was an exemption for such a historic array. My US Flag Code is deep in a trunk, so I'm not going back to check.
The small blue flag on the peak of the roof is exempt from this restriction as it is not part of the array. I wonder if it might be a state flag?
JG
JG: I think because this is a historical array, and only the UK flag represents a sovereign government (all the others are essentially extinct) I don't think the usual rules for flag etiquette apply. (The 1950's entrance to Tomorrowland is another kettle of fish).
ReplyDeleteIt crossed my mind that the center blue flag is a state flag, but frankly I didn't bother looking it up when I wrote the earlier report because so much of the design is hidden, and states changed their flags frequently. I did just have a quick browse and Connecticut is a possibility, but not a sensible one.
Is it possible this is a "Disneyland" flag that was used in the 50-60s? I know next to nothing about them, but I do know they tend to favor a blue field.
...maybe Progressland knows something about it.
ReplyDeleteWow, I had never given those flags much thought...now I'll have to pay more attention to them the next time I visit the Park.
ReplyDeletelove the sunny pics of my favorite place..its super cold here and been snowing since 3pm (its just after midnight)
ReplyDelete