Two Beauties! 1958 & 1960
I sure love this first photo, in glorious Kodachrome! Suspended above Tomorrowland in a colorful Skyway bucket, away from the hubbub, I can imagine the soft breeze, the sounds from below, the gentle sway of the vehicle... I miss that Skyway, dammit. Notice the golden Autopia car, my favorite!
Here's a repeat, but it's a good one. Fantasyland circa 1960, with King Arthur's Carrousel right smack dab in the middle of the picture. Notice the dad carrying a 1960 souvenir guide book (he's the only person in short sleeves - it must be wintertime).
17 comments:
Hmmm, maybe the Snow White and Peter Pan facades didn't need to be bumped out so far in the 1983 Fantasyland remodel. Then the Carousel wouldn't have had to be moved to the old Mad Tea Party site and Dumbo could have gone there instead......allowing for Captain Hook's Pirate Ship and Skull Rock to stay! I got all of that just from viewing your second pic, Major!
Such a cheery, sunny day, a clear blue sky way in that top pic. Time for a ride in the Skyway, some motoring on the Autopia - ok Maj can have the gold car - then a snack and a drink at the Space Bar before enjoying the shade under that pine tree. :)
Nice stencil above the arch in the FL pic. It must have been a while since I saw it 'cause it's like new to me. :)
beautiful is right...wow! I caught the sunshine as well and there in the first image is one of my favorite signs, the Skyway :) that is a nice pic of everything!
what do you suppose the blue thing/things is/are that look to be on the ground or leaning against the buildng on our right in the second image?
Major; I really feel your pain as the Skyway is really missed. It added so much to the magic that was a visit to the park.
Beautyful pic of the Vonroll Skyway..Allways love seeing any vonroll on your blog
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TM!, I'm starting to think that you want the Pirate Ship and Skull Rock back. Maybe I'm crazy!
Chiana, don't you wish there were still some shade trees in Tomorrowland? I guess that the Imagineers don't foresee a future with trees.
Nancy, the blue thing is part of an ornate metal bench!
Thufer and Robert, as simple as the Skyway was, it was definitely one of my favorite things to do at Disneyland.
Trhe Skyway was historical and was the one vonroll skyride that brought the idea to all other amusement parks to instal a vonroll vr101.Only 10 left of these workhorse lifts..The oldest one is at cedar point in ohio.It turns 50 this year..Why couldnt Disney keep there vonroll?I call bull!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Major - I wondered what that Dad was carrying - it looks "official".
And the two ladies against the building resting with their drinks are a great reminder to enjoy the park, not just race to the next ride!
Bill in Denver
The Skyway originally installed for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair is a Von Roll and is still going strong at the Puyallup Fair, located at the Western Washington State Fairgrounds, in Puyallup, Washington. (And that's pronounced pew-AL-up, for all you non-locals).
And as the World's Fair opened on April 21, 1962, just an educated guess it beat the official opening of the skyway at Cedar Point.
But no matter who holds the reigning crown as 'oldest in the US', may they both continue to provide heavenly views for fair and parkgoers-!
In just a word...splendid!
You know the two old ladies at the bottom left of picture two are going on and on about why men don't wear hats anymore.
Gladys: It's a disgrace that the nice Mr. Disney let's these men in half naked.
Martha: Word.
Want to know some history on the Skyway?I have tons of it..
There's something vaguely sinister about the lady in the long coat and babushka.
Robert, do you know why so many of these wonderful sky rides have been removed from various parks? There are many suggestions - lack of handicapped accessibility, danger of people falling out (?!), problems with riders dropping things on people. Maybe it's a combination of all three.
Bill, it IS an official guidebook. And those ladies are CIA agents, tailing a suspect.
Nanook, it seems like nearly all sky rides are Von Rolls. I wish I had the time and money to travel the country and see all of the Skyways!
Snow White Sanctum, Thanks!
David, those ladies DO look like they can talk some smack.
Robert, I have been checking out the Facebook page, and learning a lot!
Melissa, you just wanted to say "babushka"!
That Skyway pic is really inviting with the nice weather. Plus it looks like a nice amount of people down below! Major what kind of film scanner do you use?
Gojira, I use a Canon 9950F. It's three or four years old by now; if I had to buy a scanner today, I might get an Epson, although I really am basically happy with the Canon. It's weird, Canon and Epson have not updated their scanners in a long time; but the prices seem to have come down on the machines that they have.
At one time there were 35 Vonroll Skyrides here in the USA.Sadly this month 1 more has been removed.Now we have 10.Insurance costs,Parts,ANSI codes,And fear.These rides are grandfatherd in the books.To give you a example,In the chech republic,there is a carbon copy of the Disneyland Skyway still running.That ride was built in 1949 and the country is spending the money to fully refurbish it.Why couldnt Disney do this?This is my life time complaint.Why couldnt Disney spend the money on the skyway to keep it operational?Now you see identical rides that are still in the same state from when they were built operate every day.A huge company like Disney could have repaired the stress cracks in the Matterhorn very easily,but nooooo..I was the last passenger on the Skyway on Nov 9 1994 and I saw that Vonroll work hard that day with no issues.The mechanics that day pushed the ride by manipulating the dispatcher to let cars go at 7 seconds instead of 10.The ride held up like a vonroll should.I can go on and on about the skyway but i would be on here for a week!.
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