Special Guest Photo!
I have a SPECIAL GUEST PHOTO for you today, courtesy of long-time GDB friend Patrick McGilligan. See some of his previously-shared photos HERE and HERE.
Patrick says that this photo is from May of 1977; that's him manning the shovel, and he's with his friend Jeff. They are standing on the little sandy beach next to Captain Hook's Pirate Ship in Fantasyland, trying to take some of that pirate treasure! Somebody didn't do a very good job of burying it.
I don't think that guests were really supposed to be on that beach, and I asked Patrick about it, but he doesn't recall if he and his pal snuck over there. Maybe they just ambled on over, not thinking it was off-limits! At any rate, they weren't thrown in Disney Jail and fed only churros and water.
As most of you know, the Pirate Ship would only be around for another five years; it was torn down sometime in 1982.
Here's a previously-posted (from 1961) image to give you an idea of where the little beach was. As you can see, to the left (near the lady with the pink shirt) it would have been pretty easy to step over those low rocks and make off with the cursed treasure.
Many thanks to Patrick McGilligan for sharing his fun photo!
23 comments:
Major-
Ahhhh, there's noting better than 'crafty kids' when it comes to getting even with "the man", and crossing-over the 'courtesy row' of rockwork. Good show to both of you; and thanks for sharing.
And thank you, too, Major.
Patrick and Jeff had a great idea! How creative(!), and what a FUN picture! :)
I love all the other pictures Patrick shared in the past, and I see that yesterday's bucking bronco at KBF was in one of Patrick's past posts, too.
Thanks for sharing your fun memories with us, Patrick - and thanks to you, too, Major!
Ah, but the joke was on them. Everyone knows the chest was filled with cans of tuna! (The ones on the ship were tarter sauce, as has been discussed here before). Fed churros all day? I could live with that...
Wow, that is such a great photo! And I love Patrick's and his friend's poses! That area was definitely "off limits," but I'm glad that that didn't stop them from getting the picture that they wanted. I can totally relate to THAT!
And it was neat to see that Knott's bronco photo again from your 2011 post. I wonder if that is the same bronco that Cordelia Knott posed on, for a publicity photo? As mentioned yesterday, they did have to replace the horse every so many years.
Thank you Patrick, for sharing your photo with us and Major P. for posting it!
What a great “off limits “ picture!! I’m sure there’s places as guests we all wanted to be able to get a closer look or explore at Disneyland. As a little kid I always wanted to be able to cross the tracks and explore the mine town buildings of ( the original ) Rainbow Ridge. I bet one could have an entire collection of vintage guests photos taken in areas that were not intended to be accessed by guests. I knew someone who had a decent collection of Disneyland / Walt Disney World “ gone wrong” pictures - vehicles derailed , attractions broken down , props failing etc. and views taken by guests being evacuated from attractions.
Churros and water, breakfast of champions.
I'm not sure I want to ride a dead horse. I know you're not supposed to beat them.
Thank you Patrick for sharing!
Dz
Nice! Patrick and his buddy pulled off what I probably never would have gotten away with at that age. My parents were hawk-eyed and were firm about where you weren't supposed to go. Probably why later life, as a teen, I went where I wasn't supposed go occasionally.
Nice touch with that reference shot.
Thank you Major and thanks Patrick for sharing.
Nanook, I’ve heard many stories about Disney’s legendary security, and how they seem to be on top of any shenanigans, so it’s possible that they could see that Patrick and his friend meant no real harm?
Lou and Sue, I had to move some posts around so that I could share this one ASAP, I knew people would like it!
stu29573, as most people know, cans of tuna age like fine wines. A can of “Chicken of the Sea” from 1956 is worth six figures now!
TokyoMagic!, I asked Patrick if he was aware that he and his friend were doing something a little sneaky, but he didn’t remember after 40+ years. I’ve seen kids get reprimanded for sitting on rocks that they weren’t supposed to sit on, but things might have been more lax in 1977.
Mike Cozart, I think any true Disneyland fan wanted to go and explore areas where guests were not allowed - I sure did. I wanted to jump off of my boat in “Pirates”, or my Atomobile in “Adventure Thru Inner Space”! But I never did because I am a good boy. I wish I could have an entire collection of photos like you describe!
dzacher, I like to think of those horses as “life-challenged”. “Dead” is such an ugly word.
DrGoat, remember, somebody had to take that photo - presumably a parent. So there were three people who snuck onto that beach. Having an adult there might have made it look a little more “OK”. Plus I’ll bet the whole escapade took less than a minute!
Oh you little rascals!
They did what I always dreamed of doing, this is that little "out-of-bounds" beach I was writing about a few days back (on the posts with the treasure chest conversation". I would gaze longingly at the half-buried treasure, wishing my Dad would look away so I could jump over and play there.
What a great photo, thank you for sharing this, Patrick G! So glad you got to do this. I was probably in Disneyland that same month with my school group. One or two more trips and then a 20+ year blackout, and when I came back, it was all gone.
Just one of the best spots in old Disneyland, Skull Rock Cove. Major, thanks for the reverse angle, it really helps to set the scene. I didn't recall the rock barrier so low there by the bench. There was another little viewpoint that is almost behind the ship, to the extreme right in the photo, where the rock dipped down like a peephole window right on the treasure. So. Much. Fun.
JG
@Mike Cozart, I just saw your comment about Rainbow Ridge, I had the same feeling. There was something so engaging about the miniature buildings, I wanted to go wander around in them. I still have that feeling about them, in spite of the changes in the ride.
Oddly, in spite of my love for Storybook Land, those dioramas never sparked the same urge to wander in them, maybe they were just too small.
Thanks again, Major and Patrick. These photos have made my day, knowing someone got away with it.
JG
Mike, now that you gave the Major your saloon photo, your next assignment is to get your hands on those “gone wrong” photos and get them to the Major. Good luck, we have faith in you!
dzacher, I thought the phrase was, "You can't lead a dead horse to water."
I have a small collection of photos of "out of the ordinary" stuff at DL. I don't know if I would call all of them "gone wrong" type of situations. I have pics that I took while being walked off" of "Roger Rabbit" and "Alice." I have some pics from backstage of the Storybook Land boats and Casey Junior train in storage. That was when the park was so crowded for the final performances of the MSEP in 1996, they started directing traffic through the backstage areas. I also have a pic I took of Tom Morrow turned off and slumped over (no, not the cool 1967 one from Fight to the Moon, but the host of the crappy Innoventions "attraction.") He was broken and they just put a black curtain in front of him. I peeked behind the curtain and got a pic. I also have pics of people being escorted out of the PeopleMover vehicles and walked down the track. I still need to post those pics......but I also video taped it. If anyone's interested, the video can be seen here (I might have provided a link to this a some point in the past):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0B1ssNZjIQ&t=18s
TM! Please post those pictures, too. Would love to see them. I’ll definitely check out that video.
“Lou and Sue” those DL & WDW “Gone Wrong” pictures belonged to Imagineer Bruce Gordon - sadly now deceased. His collection of Disney and research stuff was auctioned off many years ago by the Howard Lowery Auction House ....if they were not given to someone I’m assuming they had been sold thru Howard Lowery. I know many were photos he personally took but over time other imagineers and people gave him other pictures of odd things including Rene Barbeau Disneyland’s longest official photographer ( imagine the images he had!!)
Some of the pictures that stuck in my mind were color photos of the famous day it rained so hard that DL’s Main Street was completely flooded - deep! Another was a Main St. Horsecar horse that had died in the street -and was covered up and about to be removed off stage with a fork lift. Another was a 70’s or 80’s Monorail shot of all the doors popped open of the Monorail about 30 feet AWAY from the hotel station! Another was a WDW RR scene with tons of guests outside standing in the indian village having been evacuated off the passenger coaches - two of the coaches are pushed up against each other about 7 or 8 feet in the air!!! ( I guess a coach coupling failed and snagged the track ) there were so many kinds of pictures like that . anyway - I assume somebody out there has those pictures today
Mike, by any chance were you working at DL during the Main St. flood? I bet other areas in DL would've been under water, too, at that time. The Monorail picture would've been great to see . . . there must've been a lot of surprised looks on those riders, if we could see their faces! Do you know if anyone got hurt in that train episode?--I hope not. (Thanks for sharing!)
Sue
TokyoMagic! I just watched your PeopleMover ("PeopleNotMover") youtube video that you mentioned. Great footage! My palms started to sweat where the people are walking where there are no hand-rails. I LOVE the feathered hat at 3:53, in your video. (Melissa, I think you'll love it, too!) Thanks, again, TM!
Sue
I've never been to Disneyland, but I consider it a shame they took down the pirate ship. I can only assume that the Sailing Ship Columbia managed to fill in the gap left behind. After all, it is a ship you can explore AND ride.
What an adorable picture, you couple a scamps! I remember my sister and I sneaking off up some roped-off set of steps in the WDW PotC queue and seeing a little alcove with a case of light bulbs sitting on the floor. We felt so naughty!But looking back,I have to wonder if the memory is 100% accurate. We didn't want to waste a precious film picture on it!
“Lou and Sue” the flood on Main Street I was referring to -the really big one was in March of 1978 - I just turned 10 years old. There was another in 1980 but the ‘78 flood was legend.
“Lou and Sue” reg that Walt Disney World Railroad incident I remember asking if anyone was hurt and being told nobody - and there wasn’t a single lawsuit! Today everyone on the train would have sued and people who were upset only hearing about the incident would have sued also!!
Years ago when it was easy to ride on the Disneyland Railroad in the cabs with the engineers, I used to live asking about unusual things they had experienced on the DLRR - one engineer told us about a time a train was pulling out of the Frontierland station and the water tower spout
Collapse and fell between two coaches - the spout tore away as the train moved forward and water sprayed out on EVERYONE as the train passed by the spraying water blasting out of the tower! He said there wasn’t a dry guest on the whole train by the time they realized what happened . He said nobody was hurt and most passengers were hysterically laughing. The engineer’s and other DLRR cast members expected to hear of lawsuits - and there wasn’t a single one!!
Really cool shots here! Looks like OSHA may have stole a bit of magic... So much easier to lose yourself in the imagination when everything isn't completely fenced off.
Thanks, Patrick, for sharing your photo! I don't personally remember this tableau (and it galls me that I don't), but I'm sure I'd have wanted to jump the wall and play.
TM!, your video shows why the PeopleMover can never return in any form that exactly recreates that wonderful experience - no handrails and a long walk to a staircase. [sigh]
So glad everyone likes the photo. I’ll try to get ahold of Jeff and see if he can remember how it came about. My parents were pretty strict about rules, so I’m guessing Jeff’s mom took that pic. She had a bit more of a relaxed attitude about such things!
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