Subs, June 1960
For a Snoozer Sunday, today's photos aren't that bad. In fact, they are fine. Just fine!
It's June, 1960, and the Submarine Voyage was still only a year old. The water still had that "new lagoon" smell. There's nothing better! One of the subs in the distance is mostly obscured, but it appears to still have its patriotic bunting in place. Folks are walking across that gangplank, heading toward the spiral staircase that took them into the belly of the beast. They will spend the next nine months submerged beneath the surface of the ocean.
Someone heading up to the Monorail platform took this view of these poor souls. Little do they know that at least half of them will be driven mad due to Claustrophobia - fear of Santa Claus.
8 comments:
Major-
All of a sudden I fell down. Down.... down... down... Little do those filks know. (I wonder if they ended up in the upside down room-?)
That water always looked so inviting.
Thanks, Major.
That's a fine photo of the sub lagoon. It's amazing that these were taken from the mind-numbing velocity of a Speedramp. If only those poor souls knew what terrors awaited them down in the depths.
I think these are in sequence. I spot the woman with the white purse, woman in grey dress, and the young girl in both photos.
Ah, the subs. Disney did a great job of even making getting on and off the attraction part of the attraction. There was really no need for the watertight hatches or all the steel in the stairs nor the low lights when boarding, but they added to the experience. So much so that this ten year old was completely convinced that he went on an underwater voyage. (Maybe I was just a schmuck). The subs and Pirates are my most vivid memories of Disneyland. Thanks, Major!
The Submarine Voyage, like the Jungle Cruise and Mine Train Ride was one of the great narration attractions at Disneyland which took us to another environmental experience complete with animals, plant life, rockwork and sounds of the regions explored. These attractions fired the imagination more than the IPs that converted these classis attractions or replaced them today.
The military/navel theme was the best.
Both images today are winners in my book! Thanks, Major.
The subs and the lagoon are the perfect photo subjects. When they switched from Atomic Navy to research subs, did they they go from nuclear reactors to running on recycled plastic and farm waste? I need to know these things. But hey, at least we still have the subs. I bet Walt took one out at night for a run under the Pole after everyone had gone home. "Lillian, I'm going to the lagoon and torpedo that pesky sea monster!" "Ok dear, bundle up it's cold out there!" Thanks Major.
Some lovely summer dresses on the ladies going to their doom.
Nanook, … the Submarine Voyage should have had an upside-down room! “Skipper, you’re suffering from hypoxia!” (Skipper starts singing show tunes).
Omnispace, you had to board the Speedramp at a full run; it took guests to the top in one second, and there was a 10-foot area for them to land! In a way it was an attraction all on its own. And you are right, these were placed in order!
stu29573, for some reason I seem to remember at least some water pouring in whenever they opened the hatches at the end of the ride, but I think that was just runoff from the waterfalls. Still, it strengthened the illusion that we’d actually been under water! As a child, all I knew when I looked out the porthole is that I was definitely below the surface of the water, I didn’t really think about anything else!
K. Martinez, back in the days when I first discovered that you could find old attraction soundtracks on Napster (!), I remember finding a version of the Submarine Voyage narration, and was so happy! It’s funny, there is a band called “Soul Coughing”, and they have a song that had these weird noises, and I thought they sounded familiar - it took me a while to realize that it was the exact sounds of the fishes “talking” from Disneyland’s ride!
Jonathan, I think they conveniently forgot to mention that the subs were nuclear powered! Or else just didn’t want to bother mentioning the fuel source. I do kind of wonder if Walt ever took the Subs out, maybe with a small group of friends, for a trip through “liquid space”?
Melissa, if ya gotta go, you might as well look good!
In the revised ( completed ) que in 1960 a General Dynamic display made it very clear that the Disneyland Submarines , like their prototypes were supposed to be nuclear powered.
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