It's time to serve up some warmed-over "leftuggies" - photos that need a home and a hug.
Inside the Grand Canyon diorama, you'll find this mountain lion. Don't be a-scared, he just wants to play. I don't know about you, but the fact that there are lions in the United States is kind of amazing to a city boy like me.
Still in the diorama, a dramatic storm has just ended, and we're treated to a glorious sunset. Even the big horned sheep admire it, and they don't like anything.
I'm one of those weirdos that actually likes "It's a Small World". The song doesn't really get stuck in my head either, which probably means that I'm a little "slow". But I'm OK with that! Anyway, here's a scene from the Emerald Isle, where they apparently spend a lot of time in hot air balloons.
I will be seeing the diorama on June 11th. My wife and I with the kids will also be going on June 14th and 15th as well. I hope it will not be crowded.
ReplyDeleteDisneyland that is for 3 days.
ReplyDeleteThere are others who have a particular fondness for It's a Small World. Okay - me.
ReplyDeleteThe "AA" figures - well, not quite - may be a bit basic, but the atmosphere surrounding them somehow makes it all work. Plus guests to experience it all as "The happiest cruise that ever sailed". Gotta love the boats and water.
And I'm sorry for those who find the song so awful, they even site it as an example of being trapped in hell. Oh, please. The music is written as a round (well, actually in counterpoint), after all, and a damn swell one at that. Most sources site the song as the single most performed and most translated piece of music on Earth. Thanks, Major.
Every time I see the Grand Canyon diorama, I want to go inside the diorama itself and see what’s at the bottom. I think to myself “What’s at the bottom of the diorama out of view?”
ReplyDeleteI love everything about “It’s a Small World” from the beautiful white and gold façade to the Mary Blair designs and Sherman brothers tune. It’s all great classic stuff.
Love the whole "romance" of nature The Grand Canyon Diorama captures, right along with the 1959 short film and the earlier Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofe, which helped to inspire both and in turn was featured in them.
ReplyDeleteNothing on Grofe's work but I've also thought Small World was an exemplary piece, nothing dreadful about it. Sometimes it seems "our" culture soured and fixates on the dark side an awful lot since and that more people then seemed to realize we all face enough hardship and sorrow, so more eagerly embraced the beautiful and the optimistic.
I am a big fan of both of these lovely experiences...what is cool is that they are completely different yet go together so well in a very happy place that I constantly think about and wish that I was at ....it's Disneyland!! :)
ReplyDeleteOC Native, I hope you have fun! You never know about crowds, although Cars Land opens at DCA on the 15th; maybe, for a change, everyone will be out of Disneyland to see the new Radiator Springs Racers!
ReplyDeleteNanook, somehow the doll-like simplicity of the figures is what helps "make" Small World. Imagine if they were all über realistic children, yikes! That might be a bit creepy. And what if a "Westworld" scenario became true, and all of the AA kids went on a killing rampage! I worry about this all the time. ;-)
K. Martinez, I always wish I could spend more time enjoying the diorama, as slow as the train goes, it is always too fast. Still, that is what makes it fun to revisit. I wonder if there was always a glass barrier between the train and the diorama?
Chiana, every time I listen to "On the Trail", I am transported not to the real Grand Canyon, but to Disneyland's diorama! The Grand Canyon Suite was one of those pieces that I listened to often as I was gaining an appreciation for classical music (start with the popular stuff, segue into the more complicated stuff). And the Sherman Brothers did a wonderful job with IASW's theme, I listened to the Disneyland record (narrated by Winston Hibler) over and over, and never grew tired of it.
Nancy, you are right, both the diorama and IASW are so quintessentially "Disneyland". As far as I know, the Anaheim park is the only one with a diorama, now that I think about it. Or do they have one at one of the other parks?
Major, Disneyland Paris has the Grand Canyon diorama and Tokyo Disneyland has the Primeval World diorama.
ReplyDeleteOn the Disneyland Railroad in Disneyland Paris, the Grand Canyon diorama is the first thing you see and then you’re in Frontierland (nice transition). On the Western River Railroad in Tokyo Disneyland, the Primeval World is the last thing you see and then you’re back in Adventureland.
Side note: The Western River Railroad in Tokyo Disneyland only has one train station in Adventureland above the Jungle Cruise entrance (stacked like monorail above subs building). It only has one station to avoid being a transportation system; otherwise it would fall under Japanese rail regulations.
Taxidermy animals and singing puppet children. How can that be considered leftugies. This is primetime stuff. Can smell the train smoke inside the tunnel just thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteMajor you are one of the lucky ones that it doesn't stick with you. I heard that song (small world)has been used in lieu of shock treatments in some countries.
Reading your post and the comments just reminded me of something my dad said once when we were exiting the Carousel of Progress. Referring to the theme song, "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," he said "Hey, that's even worse than It's A Small World!" My dad loved Disneyland and both of those attractions, so even at a very young age I knew he was talking about the "sticking with you" factor!
ReplyDeleteI used to be part of a team that tracked mountain lions in Saguaro National Park. No lie. Never saw the real thing but learned and saw a lot of other cool stuff out there like a kill site (deer, not human!). I was never really afraid at the time but looking back I'm sure it could have been a disaster. Just like the africanized bee extermination. Ah well, live and learn. And stick with dioramas :)
ReplyDelete"Chiana, every time I listen to "On the Trail", I am transported not to the real Grand Canyon, but to Disneyland's diorama!"
ReplyDeleteWell good! It's safer. Just keep off the railroad tracks. :)
K. Martinez - just out of view, on the floor of the diorama, is another 306-foot long sheet of canvas depicting the floor of the Grand Canyon. The painting is so realistic that reliable reports indicate more than one cast member assigned to clean the place has experienced serious vertigo and had to be hospitalized.
ReplyDelete