Thursday, July 02, 2015

More From July, 1958

Today's first photo is a beauty, featuring the brand-new Columbia sailing ship. Doesn't it look great? Back when I scanned this, I experimented with some different settings, and the colors have a softer, almost "silvery" quality compared to most of my other scans. I really like it, but occasionally some weird things would happen in the darker areas. So... I've gone back to my old settings.

I love the glimpse of people over on Tom Sawyer Island, and the canoes, mostly obscured by rushes. 


Now we've left Frontierland and moved on to Fantasyland. The old "medieval" façades are so great; I love the post-1983 look, but there is something about the graphic, low-budget appearance of the original Fantasyland that I find very appealing. 

To our right we can see some of the pirate ship vehicles from the Peter Pan dark ride, while the Mad Hatter shop is dead ahead. 


11 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Both images are pretty swell, today. Once again - if you didn't know the Columbia was actually "land-locked" within the Rivers of America - you'd have thought it was sailing along some far-away river - the Mississippi, perhaps.

And the Fantasyland view - with the Mad Hatter shop in the background brings back memories of many a felt hat with my name custom-embroidered along the brim.

Thanks, Major.

Unknown said...

Oh Nanook, I think you make a funny! That's the Columbia River she's sailing on, and I think you know it...

K. Martinez said...

The first image is gorgeous. The trees are the perfect height, just enough to allow the Sailing Ship Columbia to look majestic as she plies the Rivers of America. I find interesting the way they loaded and dispatched the Indian War Canoes back then when compared with the later Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes. Here the canoes in the Indian Village are parked in "boat slots" like you'd find in a marina as where in Bear/Critter Country they employed a flow through loading dock.

The second image strongly evokes memories of how Original Fantasyland looked and felt back then. I remember waiting in those queue lines so close to the King Arthur Carrousel with the slide wire cable awnings hanging overhead. It felt like you were waiting in an "outdoor" room. Being that the original version existed my entire childhood and well into my early adulthood, its still my favorite Fantasyland. While I admire the technical quality and more sophisticated design of Fantasyland 1983, my heart belongs to the original.

Wonderful set today. Thanks, Major.

Nanook said...

@ Patrick Devlin-

Oh - I'm all about "the funny" - especially right after midnight, when my brain is barely functional.

Steve DeGaetano said...

I always enjoy seeing the Columbia with sails unfurled...and interestingly, several of her sails in this image are actually filled with wind!

K. Martinez said...

I just noticed where the slurry meets aggregate concrete at the bottom of the Fantasyland image. Looking at other Fantasyland images it appears they used exposed aggregate concrete in some of the walking areas close to Sleeping Beauty's Castle and slurry for the rest of Fantasyland where the rides are located. I wonder why they did that? Theming?

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, it’s just such a pretty picture, with the orange and black Columbia and that blue sky and the soft greens of the island. I think that I had mouse ears with my name embroidered when I was a kid… wish I still had those.

Patrick, now I wonder if the Columbia ever *did* sail on or near the Columbia River?

K. Martinez, I wonder if the canoe “parking” was angled like that because they had more canoes running in those days? That way they could load several at once. Now that the attraction is (presumably) less popular, the “flow through” method works OK. Or maybe it’s a safety issue. And I agree with you about the old Fantasyland; my feelings are totally influenced by personal nostalgia, so it is the version that I love so much. For some reason I always think of my grandparents when I see photos like this one.

Nanook, your brain functions better than most people’s!

Steve DeGaetano, I would imagine that those unfurled sails could have exerted a lot of force on the Columbia if it happened to be a breezy day. I wonder if was ever a danger?

K. Martinez (ha ha, my right fingers were on the wrong keys, so I typed your name as “J, Nartubez”), Somebody on Facebook said that the colors of the slurry matched the colors on the maps in the little INA guides, I haven’t bothered to see if that checks out. Somehow I think it doesn’t. As for why that aggregate-style concrete is in the foreground… who knows. Maybe it was supposed to evoke cobblestones?

Steve DeGaetano said...

The Columbia at DL was designed to have the masts and rigging self-adjust if there was wind in the sails.

And yes Major, the mighty Columbia River was in fact named for the ship that discovered it in 1788--the Columbia Rediviva.

http://miceage.micechat.com/stevedegaetano/sd092308a.htm

K. Martinez said...

Steve, Thanks for the link. I've read your Columbia articles before and just read all the parts of the Columbia series again as it's been a while. There's a lot of great info in those articles.

Major, "J, Nartubez"? I like it. If I ever have to go under witness protection I'm covered. I doubt the slurry colors were based on the INA booklet map as there was no pink slurry in Fantasyland far as I can tell.

Major Pepperidge said...

Steve DeGaetano, I am (somehow) amazed that the Columbia River wasn't named until 1788!

K. Martinez, yeah, I was pretty sure that the "factoid" about the slurry matching the INA guidebook maps was baloney. But it's an interesting idea!

Snow White Archive said...

Love pics of pre-1983 Fantasyland. Thanks for posting Major.