Today I present the dozenth (that's a word, right?) post from the Devlin family. Hooray!
We're right by City Hall (in friendly Town Square). There's "Mama" (as the slide is labeled), mailing a postcard (?) to some lucky recipient. Maybe it was a rare Art Corner card! A squeaker, or a "flasher". Or a "jumbo" card, I especially like those.
This one is neat, I've never seen another photo of somebody actually having their silhouette cut! I think Grandfather is waiting patiently to the right (partially hidden). If you look at the reflections in the glass, you can see the Penny Arcade and the Sunkist Citrus House (more on that in a future post).
Major-
ReplyDeleteYes, what a unique image from the Silhouette Shop-! I don't think I've known anyone who had one done, which is too bad. Again, it's nice to see a more comfortable view of Town Square, with plenty of room for streatching one's elbows.
Thanks, Devlins, once again for sharing.
I love the Silhouette Shop! We have two double-portraits - one of my wife and I as newlyweds and another of my two boys as young grade-schoolers. They make a nice set. They'd make an even nicer set if we ever got around to hanging them up.
ReplyDeleteOne of my sisters had her silhouette portrait done at the Silhouette Shop. I remember waiting for her to get it done and also remember seeing it hung on her bedroom wall when we were kids. I think she still has it too.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the stairway to the Main Street Station just made me thing of something. Does anyone know if there's a handicapped entrance to the Main Street Station? I know the other stations are lower to the ground with easier access, but the Main Street Station looks like it only has stairs.
Another nice set today with an especially unusual view looking into the Silhouette Studio. Thanks to the Devlin family for sharing their memories and to Major for posting.
Thanks to both (Devlin's and Major) for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOne more vote for the silhouette shop. My mom made all of us sit for these when we were kids. I think all four of us still have them.
Ken, Disneyland's Main Street station is not wheelchair accessible, although the Magic Kingdom's does have a wheelchair ramp on the west side of the station. I think that's a function of the different physical layouts of the station staircases and the slightly larger space they have available at WDW. I don't know if that was an original feature or added later.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm looking at overhead imagery, scratch the word "staircases" in the comment above - it's the physical layout of the station itself in relation to the rest of Town Square that prevents Disneyland from easily adding a wheelchair ramp.
ReplyDeleteThe MK's ramp begins at the SE corner of of the City Hall complex, skirts the south side of the building, doubles back on itself, cuts south to just short of the berm, then parallels the tracks east until it terminates at the west end of the station platform, which is directly over the west end of the west entrance tunnel.
To do something similar at Disneyland would require a significant reconfiguration (and probable demolition) of the Police Station/Guided Tour Gardens area as well as the area above the west entrance tunnel. Since this would seriously mess with the Park's entrance aesthetics, the attraction is already disabled accessible from the other three stations, and there's no legal requirement to do so since it predates the ADA, I can see why Disney management hasn't undertaken the project.
Thanks for the info on that, Chuck. I kind of thought the configuration of the Main Street Station would make it hard to have wheelchair access. And yes, the grandfather clause does protect it from having to be add added. I knew the other three stations had special access so I figured they must just inform the handicapped guests about Main Street Station being limited access. I too can see why Disney management hasn't undertaken the project either. Especially when access is available elsewhere. It just didn't occur to me until I looked at the stairways in the photo. The Main Street Depot is kind of on a steep grade above ground level unlike the other stations.
ReplyDeleteI developed some familiarity with handicapped-capable attractions when we took my then 91-year-old grandmother to the Park. To help her better enjoy the day, we rented a wheelchair, which not only improved her enjoyment but also had the unexpected side benefit of shortening the line on the pre-ADA attractions whose queues had been designed without wheelchair access in mind. I'm pretty sure we boarded the DLRR at the Frontierland/NOS station, but I don't remember what we did with the wheelchair. I know I didn't put in in my backpack.
ReplyDeleteOn a somewhat-related sidebar, my grandmother was nearly deaf by the time she made that visit. She was good at reading lips, but of course had trouble with understanding loudspeakers and Jungle Cruise skippers whose heads constantly turned and whose mouths were often obscured by a hand mike. At City Hall they gave us a copy of a guide to Disneyland for the hearing impaired, and it had the scripts for several rides and general descriptions for most of them.
We rode the Jungle Cruise first, and she spent the entire attraction reading the script rather than looking out of the boat. After that, we had her read the ride description first before boarding.
At the end of the day, we took in "American Journeys" at the CircleVision theater, and they had a special audio device that worked perfectly with he hearing aids. The look on her face when she could understand the narration perfectly was priceless. I just wish they had that feature for all of the attractions.
Nanook, I don’t know anybody personally who has had their silhouette done at Disneyland; I had mine done by sitting in front of the overhead projector when I was at school in the second grade!
ReplyDeleteChuck, very cool that you have that double set. Now that you’ve seen today’s post, your mission is to hang the portraits up.
K. Martinez, it amazes me that I never wondered about Main Street Station being accessible to handicapped people; and it kind of surprises me that it was built to be accessible, even considering when it was built. Hmmmm.
Alonzo, there is a woman who worked in the silhouette shop, I seem to recall that she once claimed to have cut something like 70 portraits in an hour, or something ridiculous. I would think that even a quick portrait must have taken a few minutes. Maybe I’m wrong.
Chuck, it definitely makes sense that by 1970 (or even the late 1960’s), more consideration was given to those with disabilities. I’m glad to hear that the Magic Kingdom’s station has wheelchair access. And you’re right, the Disneyland RR was accessible via the other stations, so at least folks had the opportunity to enjoy that wonderful attraction. Now I’m wondering what it was like when a wheelchair was on the old narrow passenger cars?
K. Martinez, I haven’t looked at aerial photos, but it seems hard to believe that the Imagineers couldn’t come up with some clever way of getting a wheelchair up to the station. Not that they have to (yes, it would cost a lot), but because it would be nice. I’m sure you know that some attractions such as the subs and the castle walk-thru have rooms where people can watch a high-definition video - I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Chuck, I’m glad to hear that your grandmother’s visit was made easier by some of Disneyland’s policies. Very nice that they gave copies of the scripts for some attractions, how many parks would do that? I’ve also heard a recording of descriptions for the blind.
Major, a not-particularly-clever way to get disabled passengers up to Main Street Station does exist, but hasn't yet been implemented. It's called an "elevator." ;-)
ReplyDeleteSteve, I was thinking "catapult," but this "elevator" thing (I looked it up in my encyclopedia) sounds much safer. Are they in widespread use for that sort of application?
ReplyDeleteWhy not just use a cherry picker? I'm not sure how well it would go over with the handicapped guests but it would be cheap.
ReplyDeleteChuck, loved your story about taking your grandmother to Disneyland.