These photos are from 1966, and feature "Fantasy on Parade". For some reason I think I remember seeing commercials for Disneyland advertising FoP (from years later); I can almost hear the announcer's cheerful voice!
First up is this circus wagon (complete with calliope) , pulled by a baby elephant. Awwww, baby elephant! I want to have one for my very own. I'd feed it pickles and potato chips (and the occasional hamburger). I think that's one of Cinderella's mice (Jacques?) driving the wagon. Notice that the parade passed by the Haunted Mansion, which wouldn't open for another three years. The bricks of the wall already look like they've been there for decades, with the white mineral coating that's been leached out of them. Word of the day: efflorescence.
Those lovely horses probably pull the streetcars down Main Street on most days. Today they are pulling a buckboard with a farmer and his daughter, and three creepy scarecrows (one that has been crucified). I wonder if the "farmer" could be Owen Pope (who ran the park's "Pony Farm")?
This oddly-proportioned sultan can be seen in this photo (right near Pinocchio).
And finally, Prince Charming (?) helps guide Snow White and her mine cars full of jewels. Notice, to the left, the sign that was in front of the Haunted Mansion for years, encouraging ghosts to come and stay!
very cool snaps today! i always enjoy the parades.
ReplyDeletewould these be when the HM area was the end of the public areas and before anything was built beyond there?
How cool - I don't think I've ever seen a parade go down the corridor in front of the Haunted Mansion!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see the north side of the mansion before the exit crypt went in. In the last picture, the right hand coach lamp is missing from the HM Gate... souvenir hunters, no doubt, getting an early start.
ReplyDeleteThe efflorescence is a funny construction mistake to make... I suppose in the 60s they prevented that with tar paint (bitumastic).
What a charming, humble parade. So different than today's loud spectaculars. I wonder if the parade was moved here due to Fantasyland construction, maybe it's a small world?
ReplyDeleteYes. The last year Walt Disney was alive.
ReplyDeleteThings were much more simple back then.
I took my uncle with myself and my family to Disneyland in 2009. My uncle had not been there since 1973. His comment was how much much more crowded the park had become with people and the park itself had lost some of its open spaces.
Thanks for these, Major. I am one of those people that love the vintage parade shots!
ReplyDeleteNancy, yes - pretty much! The tunnel to the Indian Village was past where the Mansion is, but that was about it.
ReplyDeleteDave, it US unusual. Ordinarily I'm not a fan of parade pix, but the Mansion was an added bonus.
Katella, don't you think the efflorescence was done on purpose to add to the illusion that the walls had been there for 100 years?
D ticket, now that you mention it, that is a very good theory!
OC Native, I can only imagine the jarring difference between 1973 and 2009. Did your uncle not enjoy his visit to the park?
TM!, I know you like the parades!
Katella, the lamp wasn't stolen. You can see it hanging there to the left of the brick pillar. Whoops!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see the empty wall-top planters before the droopy cactus (sorry - no idea what the correct name) was planted.
ReplyDeleteKatella - been a few years since I really looked at the exit crypt. Was it built out into the below-ground-surface, gated and brick-walled path shown in the second and third photo?