I'm continuing a look at some photos (probably from 1982) featuring the massive construction project that would result in the "New Fantasyland" that opened on May 25th, 1983.
This might be my favorite of the bunch, with a group of girls having a great time in their blue Skyway bucket. Below us is the Alice in Wonderland attraction, with a boxed tree and lots of pipes and fittings and other stuff. Monstro can just be seen beyond the Skyway vehicle.
This next one is similar to others some that I've already posted; it's still strange to see the building to our left, where "Peter Pan's Flight" will be, as just a big empty structure. Tinker Bell's toy store will be to our right. just in front of the pickup truck (and porta-potty) is a rear view of the sign announcing the coming revamped land... you can see it in this post, and we'll get a better look at it next week.
There's only two more from this batch!
Major-
ReplyDeleteI remember those days of 'flying' over an under-construction Fantasyland - not with five girls (drat), but still. Poor Monstro - it looks as though he's finally getting that root canal job-!
Thanks, Major.
The door to the mushroom is open! It's nice of the girl with the pigtail to hold her cigarette outside of the Skyway bucket so that her non-smoking friends don't have to breath the smoke from it.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to see the spiky dandelions by Alice in Wonderland. Didn't know they were like that in 1983.
ReplyDeleteThe heart of Walt Disney's magic kingdom has been obliterated! The medieval faire has moved on, the tropical lagoon has dried up and the Pirate Ship restaurant has flown back to Neverland. Even Storybook Land is touched as it is barren and parched around the edges. Looks like King Stefan's and Princess Aurora's home was the safest place in the Land, untouched by the catastrophe.
ReplyDeleteIn all my years of smoking, I never smoked on an attraction. It is nice that she was considerate of her friends, but I hope she didn't tap her ashes to fall on the heads of guests below. Perhaps she only smoked above the construction site and not above Tomorrowland. Addiction! Ain't it wonderful!
Always appreciate New Fantasyland construction shots. Thanks, Major.
Nanook, I wish I had visited the park during this time… I probably would have wanted to take the Skyway back and forth all day!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, sometimes you just have to air out your mushroom. That CAN’T be a cigarette in the girl’s hand! She looks like she’s about nine years old! I admit that it does look like she’s holding one, but am going to choose to believe that there is something else in her fingers.
Tom, I actually wonder if those dandelions were removed during the 11982/83 remodel, but just hadn’t been touched yet?
K. Martinez, it really does look like the “end of the world”, so to speak. If only they could have saved the Pirate Ship and Skull Rock, I would have been 100 percent happy with the redo! Also, not only should you smoke on attractions, you should throw your still-lit cigarettes out of the vehicle whenever you want. This is America! Don’t let those lefties tell you how to live.
Major, I was kidding about the cigarette, but you never know....they do try to hook them when they're young! Maybe it was the only place that she could smoke and get away with it. And I know you know this already, but I agree with you about the New Fantasyland. I would have also been 100 percent happy with the remodel, ONLY if they had allowed the Pirate Ship and Skull Rock to stay.
ReplyDeleteTom, the dandelions were removed for the Alice redo. The attraction just hadn't been touched yet in this pic....except for the demolition of the maintenance and storage room at the bottom of the leaf/ramp. Remember, Alice did not open until 1984. They left the outside pretty much intact and placed a low construction wall in front of it so the facade could still be seen. They also placed some grass in the old loading and unloading area, along with a sign that read, "A New Alice In Wonderland In 1984". I have a pic....I'll try to get it posted soon.
When I visit here each morning there is a funny (peculiar not ha-ha) gap between my viewing the day's offerings and then reading the day's posts by the local simians. I loooked at the dandelions and thought, "Ooh, I'll bet nobody even noticed those." Heh, fat chance. Good info, TM, since now I don't need to look for them during my next visit.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, though, if that boxed tree is the big ol' ficus (I think) that got planted right next to the twisty vine portion of the ride? I went to Google Maps to look at the overhead of Alice in Wonderland and couldn't see a thing due to that tree's leafy abundance.
Patrick Devlin, it is either the tree that was planted up against the vine portion of the ride, or the one that was planted next to the relocated Mad Tea Party attraction entrance. "Progressland" of "Disneyland Nomenclature" did a post about one or both of those trees. I'll see if I can find his post. One of those trees is the one that had been growing in front of the entrance gangplank to Captain Hook's Pirate Ship. I'm guessing that it's the one we see in the pic and that it had just been boxed up and moved over there during the demolition of the ship. :-(
ReplyDeleteOne of my stock retorts when asked by passersby if "I can spare a cigarette" is - 'Naw, I stopped smoking when I was nine-!' I'm always surprised at the few number of folks who even register a look of doubt at my answer.
ReplyDeletePatrick Devlin (again), I found Progressland's post! Just a warning...it has some pretty graphic demolition photos of the original Fantasyland INCLUDING a horrific photo of the Pirate Ship half-demolished. It turns out that the tree by the Pirate Ship is the one we see sitting boxed up in Major Pepperidge's post today, but it was eventually relocated to the queue area for the Mad Tea Party. Now I am wondering where the ficus came from that was placed up against the Alice facade and the winding leaf. It was also a pretty established tree at the time. I'm going to guess that it came from the seating/dining area that was in front of the Alice attraction, prior to the Mad Tea Party being relocated. Now if I could only find a good pic of that dining area pre-demolition!
ReplyDeletehttp://disneylandcompendium.blogspot.com/2011/06/follow-that-tree.html
@Tokyo, I have read before (but can't recall where) that both ficus trees were relocated from previous locations in old Fantasyland. One was as you note, from the Pirate ship and the other from another location which I can't recall. It might have been the dining area you mention.
ReplyDeleteGood luck finding pictures of that area, they are scarce as hens teeth. For some reason, it was always just out the field of view as the photographer focused on something else. I have searched quite a lot trying to find good ones, once I noticed that it was a sort of "blind spot".
Major, these are really fun pictures, thank you. This remodel was done in the years between my visits as a boy and visits as an adult, it has always been difficult for me to figure out where the line was between old and new. These shots help a lot.
In photo 2, the white trim on the wood framed castle, probably some kind of plastic or foam base element that makes up the core of the supporting bracket. Once the plaster is up and the adhered stone stuck onto it, you will take it for granite.
Noticing especially the complex concrete ramp at Peter Pan queue to the left (octagonal area by the truck). I was fascinated by this while waiting on our last visit, the queue ramps down and to the right (in the photo orientation) in order to pass under the exposed beam framing of the complex gothic roof overhead, so you don't bump your head, then ramps back up to get to the load queue level, which is well above the adjacent grade (so your pirate ship can swing free at the end of the load). Such a complex 3D design in such a tight space, a lot of thinking ahead there...
JG