Monday, September 12, 2011

Tomorrowland '75

"Tomorrowland '75"... it should have been the title of an Irwin Allen movie, but I thought of it instead. Eat it, Irwin!


Both of today's photos are a bit over-exposed, and they have that blown out quality that makes you wish you had sunglasses on while viewing them. But... they're still neat. Just as I never get tired of photos of the old Rocket to the Moon, I also never weary of views showing the Peoplemover and the Rocket Jets; the Mary Blair murals on the right are mostly lost in the shadows, but I just like knowing that they are there. I'm not sure I ever noticed that they extended all the way down to ground-level - at least in this section.


If you stare at this photo for too long, you will become snowblind. Was in the Monorail that passed above the Tomorrowland Skyway station? Or the Peoplemover? Notice that work is being done on the Matterhorn, and a workman's ladder is visible on the lower right. So... I hope you didn't have plans on riding it. There were no other roller coasters at Disneyland back in those days, either!


16 comments:

D ticket said...

Wow. The Rocket Jets! Where they belong! Three levels of activity, that's the Tomorrowland that needs to be restored. The future needs to whoosh and spin again.

And Mrs Blair's tiles are pretty darn sweet too. The South mural shown here depicted Energy, while the North depicted Communication.

As for the Matterhorn, I always found it interesting that from the Tomorrowland side it looked blue-and-white-cool as a backdrop to the spacey setting, and from the Fantasyland side it was a perfect backdrop for the European fairy tale setting.

Chiana_Chat said...

What D Ticket said :)

2 Q's -

Where was the 2nd pic taken from?

Wonder when they remodelled the Monorail station? It was different by '75.

Besides the ladder, both waterfalls are out on the horn that Matters. But a red Pipplemover is truckin' along and nearby, Monorail Red is roundin' the bend. :)

In the top pic, there are sailors on our left. On the right, the family father is sure to have his arm around his wife. The blue shirts though, the guy is either just a co-worker or clueless as the lady blue shirt is looking towards the sailors and adjusting her hair/hat...

TokyoMagic! said...

That second pic was taken from the PeopleMover. It would cross over the Skyway after exiting the Carousel Theater building.

Nancy said...

I was wondering that as well, Chiana....thanks TM!

glorious days at Disneyland back in my fave decade....wish i could have been there, too.

it definitely doesnt get much better than this! thanks, Major :-)

Connie Moreno said...

Red? I thought the Monorail and Peoplemover cars were burnt orange - must be my eyes. Look at all that blue! And only one yellow Skyway bucket. Love these shots. I had never paid much atterntion to the Mary Blair murals (I know, I know...) but it was cool to see that they once went all the way down to the ground.

Thufer said...

The thickly goodness of Tomorrowland '75 is so palpable in both of these shots. I just so want to dawn my space suite and just rise above the everyday clutter of the world.

Major Pepperidge said...

Ha ha, I like my own sentence, "Was in the Monorail that passed...."; totally giving away my Soviet Russian origins!

D ticket, Mary Blair's tiles were sweet because they were made of intricately frosted cookies. It's true!

Chiana, you didn't notice the horrible lobster-claw hands of the tall guy in the blue shirt.

TM!, thanks for confirming that shot #2 was from the Peoplemover. It was driving Chiana and Nancy crazy!

Connie, I'm sure there was more than a little burnt orange in Tomorrowland in the 70's, but not on the Peoplemover or monorail.

Thufer, I hope you have one of those newer lightweight space suits, like I do. They are iPod compatible.

Katella Gate said...

Notice in the bottom picture the "GAF Photo Trail" is numbered. Does anybody know if an "official map" was produced? Can we* pool our photo resources to see if there are examples taken from each of the recommended photo spots? That would be a multi-day posting right there.

_______________
*By 'we' I mean 'you guys'.

Orange Co Native said...

Anyone know.....

I would like to find out from anyone.


1. Does the basketball court still exist in the Mattorhorn?

2. How come Disneyland is the only park with the Matterhorn ? Not that I'm complaining, but it is odd such a popular ride is not in the other parks. Especially Walt Disney World.

I looks like there is a red ladder on the Matterhorn. Maintenance?

Orange Co Native said...

It looks like....Missed the "T"

I need to type slower.

Chiana_Chat said...

1 OCN, the court was there in a vid someone posted a few years ago.

2 OCN, I agree. Splash Mt was not nearly as popular but multiples of it sprung up. All I can guess is that the Matterhorn was/is uniquely $$$$ in some way.

Connie, red and tomato red were big there from the start but burnt orange like avocado green was a '70s thing they didn't do much of. :)

Thanks TM! Gee I forgot it was that high up!

dfan07 said...

Chiana, the Monorail station was expanded and remodeled in 1969, the same year that the five-car Mark III Monorails debuted.

Chiana_Chat said...

Thank you dfan07 :)

Major Pepperidge said...

Katella, I'm not aware of any map of the GAF photo trail. Patrick (Matterhorn1959) might know of something. It would be fun to do a project like you suggest... it's the time required that might be a problem. I've seen folks try a similar idea for the Kodak photos spots that were at the 1964 World's Fair.

OC Native, I know what you mean about the Matterhorn, but I like the fact that ours is unique. I'd hate for all of the Disney parks to have all of the same rides! That being said, I've seen artwork of a proposed Matterhorn for a never-built Swiss pavilion at EPCOT. And I mention the ladder in my text!

Chiana, thanks for the news about the basketball court; I thought I read something about some changes to it recently, but really have no idea. Is Splash Mountain not that popular? Usually the long lines keep me away!

dfan07, thank you for the info about the Monorail station!

JG said...

Ha, we walked into Splash Mtn, multiple times last week, no wait at all. I like that ride.

These are wonderful pics. I just sat on that bench under the mural, which is now part of the exterior queue for Star Tours. The wall is now covered with a ribbed molded plastic wainscot that looks like a space station exterior, the part up higher is some kind of flat panel with the new mural on it. If the Mary Blair work is behind it, it's probably full of holes from attaching the new coverings.

Maybe they will see the wisdom of restoring those murals, since there was a huge retrospective of MB paintings in the Main St. Gallery, all for sale, of course. My IASW selection will be delivered shortly.

Oddly, they had reproductions of the Tomorrowland murals, but none were exactly like the real ones. Apparently, the final maquettes were lost, and only the preliminary sketches survived. So the murals on the buildings are "one-of-a-kind" and survive intact only in photographs.

They had a shop for that too, before the Pirates plundered it.

JG

Chuck said...

Nara Dreamland had a Matterhorn clone. The result was a pretty strong argument against trying to copy the Swiss mountain at another park.