Monday, April 02, 2012

Beautiful Tomorrowland, April 29, 1956

Today's two photos are the last of my batch from 4/29/56; all good things must end. I wish I had tons more, they were so nice!


Let's start with this wonderful shot of the entrance to Tomorrowland on a bright, sunny day. Whoo-ee, it's pretty crowded! I will point out (for the last time) that everyone is in their Sunday best; and isn't it better to ride a Rocket to the Moon while looking spiffy? Notice the sign with the map of the land so that newbies can get their bearings. A few old orange trees flank the entrance - I wish they had kept at least one of the original fruit trees. Wouldn't that be cool?


Wowee, this is a really wonderful photo of the Astro Jets! Check out the striped part near the top of the main column; in almost every other picture I've seen, this has a red and white checked pattern. Another fun detail: at the ticket booth there are three ladies in patterned calico dresses. Also, no Skyway yet!

11 comments:

Nanook said...

I wonder if the two gals waiting to board the Astro-Jets, wearing matching outfits - in different colors - are identical twins-?

TokyoMagic! said...

Dapper Day!

Nancy said...

gorgeous.....look at all that sunshine!

I loved the flags at the entrance of Tomorrowland. Every time I see a picture of this view I can almost hear a trumpet fanfare. Another wonderful part of the Kingdom so long gone.

and there is one of my favorite DL sign, the one for the Space Bar, seen in both pictures ;--)

The colors of the Astro Jets are awesome, so happy and fun. I wanna ride!

Thank heaven for this "major" time machine b/c we get to go back once more!

Katella Gate said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Katella Gate said...

I'll bet they bought those dresses at Zody's.

Thanks for these pictures Major, they are so well done they look professional.

Anonymous said...

Awesome shots Major - the outfits, the simple backgrounds, the sunny day...perfect!

Bill in Denver

PsySocDisney said...

I agree about the trees, I think it would be way cool if they'd left a few of the originals... a reminder of the park's humble "roots" :) Ha.

K. Martinez said...

Those are gorgeous colors on the Astro-jet. The only other time I've seen the striped version is on the early rare Astro-jet postcard which also has no Skyway in the background. I assume they changed to the checkered pattern around the same time the Skyway was added nearby. I love looking at the old Disneyland images to see how the color schemes of attractions and buildings have changed throughout the years. One of my favorites is the two Character Food facilities on the east and west side of Original Fantasyland which seemed to change colors whenever a new attraction was added nearby. That’s a beautiful rare image of the Astro-jets. Thanks for posting it!

Nancy said...

I messed up on my comment above. The beautiful rainbow sign is for the Viewliner, but is next to the sign for the Space Bar...gee, it was early this morning! nonetheless, i love both of them. Cant have too many pictures of signs for me!

Orange Co Native said...

It would have been an interesting aspect of Disneyland today if they had left 2-6 of the original orange trees somewhere in the Disneyland Park. Even perhaps with little brass plaques indicating they were the original orange trees. Most people today probably wouldn't care or take notice (i.e. how many I wonder even notice the petrified tree stump in Frontierland). It would have added some more character and historical interest to the park for those of us who would notice and do not have our eyes permanently fixated on ipods or cell phones.

Disneyland has orange trees at the entrance of Tomorrowland at present, but they are not original unfortunately. Perhaps they realized the mistake of pulling them out, but were 30 years too late.

Fantastic 2nd photograph. I can't recall seeing very many pictures of the rockets that were pre-1967 Tomorrowland rehab on here before.

Anonymous said...

There was one original orange tree left among the hotel bungalows around 1994 if I remember right. I think there was a plaque there and the tree may remain now.