Thursday, December 04, 2014

Two From October 1962

Oof, I have been a bad gorilla, and need to do some serious scanning and blogging. I feel like I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel with my scans - it's been a weird month in gorillaland, folks.

SO… with all that being said, I guess this first picture isn't too bad! I remember looking at issues of "The E-Ticket" magazine years ago and loving every vintage photo of the Monorail. Now I get a little less excited, but that sleek futuristic train in the sky is still pretty neat.


Over in Fantasyland, statues of Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, and a few critters, all adorn a grotto with fountains and cascading waterfalls (much like the ones you would see at the Villa d'Este near Rome). This charming spot was dedicated by Walt Disney in April of 1961, only a year and a half before this picture was taken. Is this area still used for meeting princesses, or has the addition of the Fantasy Faire let it return to a quiet and romantic corner?


5 comments:

Melissa said...

Wow, it looks like they dyed the lagoon water extra blue to go with that spiffy blue Monorail. It looks turquoisier in most pictures of that era.

I can never look at a picture of the Snow White grotto without thinking "I really hope there were bathrooms nearby." It always puts me in the right state of mind to... you know... go.

Katella Gate said...

The Snow White Grotto was always a magical corner of the park: quiet, picturesque, and with a little show: the fountain animation with the clever "echo in the well" performance of "I'm wishing". It was gestures like this that kept the Disney films alive in the 7 year desert between theatrical releases.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, Villa d'Este. Went there last month. Quite a place, very cool and relaxing when Rome is humid and gross.

This is reminiscent, but much more "g"-rated. For a bishop's palace, the Villa Garden sculptures were pretty racy.

JG

Alonzo P Hawk said...

Any photo of the Santa Fe sponsored Monorail (in all it's bubble canopy goodness) is all right in my book. The hues of azure make it even more especial.
Thanks for posting.

Major Pepperidge said...

Melissa, they used TWO extra Ty-D-Bol cleansers in the lagoon that day! And I thought that the Snow White grotto WAS a bathroom? Guess that explains the strange looks from other guests.

Katella Gate, I love the grotto at night especially… people don't seem to congregate there after dark, for some reason.

JG, I am very jealous that you were at Villa d'Este so recently!!

Alonzo, when Santa Fe stopped its sponsorship at the park, it was a dark day. Things have never been quite the same.