Along the Shore of the River...
Today I have two nice photos from 1957, taken along the Rivers of America. I'll start with this example, which is interesting to me because the very barren shore reveals those deer, peacefully grazing, unaware that a hungry mountain lion is watching them from atop the nearby rock formation. But I guarantee that they all had a case of the heebie-jeebies!
It looks like the railroad track runs left to right at about 1/3 of the way from the top of the image. I'm so used to this area looking very lush and verdant....
... like this photo. I can't help wondering if the deer were removed (or at least moved), because they sure wouldn't be visible behind those shrubs. I always thought that the mountain lion was oddly placed up there, and now I know that there originally was a reason (beyond the fact that he would be more visible).
Next is this great early view of the Friendly Indian Village, also looking strange due to a lack of plants. In almost every other photo I've seen, that canoe is upside-down - to keep it from floating away? I kind of like it right side up.
Hello, telephone poles!
5 comments:
Major-
"Hello, telephone poles" - indeed-! In spite of 'em, the photo still looks swell.
Thanks, Major.
I guess the riverboat narrator could've passed off the telephone poles as the first transcontinental telegraph system. But there you go. My friends, the telephone poles, watching over the back of Disneyland.
I love early Disneyland with all the openness. Can't say I'd care for that today though. Nice set today. Thanks, Major.
Our first trip was in '57, but I have no recollection of it being that bare. I always see it as the lush and verdant area, as you described it. Is that spot still there or is that area now the bar on Datooine?
Lovely shots today, Major. Is/was the mountain lion still visible until the recent renovations, because I got no memory of it. Thanks.
Major, is this the same mountain lion that featured in some earlier posts? It seems like he had a big spotlight aimed at him for a while.
@Patrick, I think this figure was (re)moved at some point in the (remote) past, it hasn't been around for some time.
I looked at some pictures of the new ROA online yesterday. Apparently the Mark Twain is running again and Fantasmic has resumed, but the DLRR isn't starting till end of July. The photos of the DLRR that parallel the line between Star Wars and Frontierland look pretty good. This line seems now to be mostly rocks, cliffs and waterfalls with trees growing up behind, kind of like a longer Cascade Peak. The DLRR seems to be incorporating more animatronic animals than before. I'm hoping this might be a nod to the long-lamented Nature's Wonderland. The SWL construction is just visible beyond from a NOS vantage, mostly due to the tall cranes & c. This seems OK to me since we can see the Castle and Big Thunder in the distance from other parts of the Park. It appears that from the closer viewpoints of the river or the train, you won't see anything beyond the now-elevated tree line since it is quite tall. The area doesn't look barren or unfinished at all now that the scaffolds are down. I am still hoping this will be a satisfactory improvement to the river.
Also, Star Wars Land will be called "Galaxy's Edge", or something like that.
JG
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