Happy Friday! I have two nice scans for you today, to get your weekend off to a good start.
First up is this very unusual look at the "Guided Tours Garden", which was right near the entrance (makes sense); you can see the former Police Station to our right. I wonder if guided tours were a hot ticket? Judging from the number of guides hanging around (I see six for sure), they must have been expecting a lot of business. It was July, after all.
Just hang a left when you walk through the tunnels!
It looks like they have a couple of guests just waiting their turn. "We want to see where Walt Disney draws all the cartoons!". "I'd like to see if the Mouseketeers are interested in life insurance". "Can we go to Knott's Berry Farm instead?".
I want to walk into a fancy restaurant with six Disneyland Guides accompanying me!
Meanwhile, over near the Midget Autopia, the Big Bad Wolf is hanging out with at least two of the Three Little Pigs. I like his lolling tongue and the way his pants are held up with one suspender (that's how they do it in Paris). The two little boys are dressed almost exactly alike, with even the same green hats (maybe those made them easier to spot in a crowd if they got lost?), but they aren't twins.
Interesting how a lot of attractions and jobs at Disneyland were gender specific back in those days. Tour Guide hosteses and Storybook Land Canal Boat cast members seem to be exclusively female while the great narration attractions like Jungle Cruise, Mine Train Ride and Submarine Voyage were operated by male cast members. Same with most of the Frontierland attractions. Pretty much all male cast members. Another attraction that seemed to be gender specific was the Enchanted Tiki Room which I remember had hostesses. Never saw a host on that attraction until much later Times have changed for sure.
ReplyDeleteTwo great not-the-usual pics today! The Big Bad Wolf has always been a favorite walk-around character of mine. Thanks, Major.
You’d have to have pretty good arches and strong legs to walk around leading tours in those hard shoes all day! But they’re so cute. The lady in black with the white sunglasses is the picture of ennui. Next thing you know she’ll be chainsmoking Gauloises and writing avant-garde poetry.
ReplyDeleteGreat vintage people watching today. I wish one of those untwins would turn around and show us what’s on the front of their t-shirts. The Big, Bad Wolf was going to huff and puff and blow their green hats off, but he caught too much secondhand smoke from that lady and her Gauloises.
Oh, I guess on closer look the boys aren’t wearing T-shirts after all. That’s what I get for looking at GDB before my morning coffee. But I do like how the picture is bookended by the little girls’s falling white undershirt strap on the left, and the lady’s falling white purse strap on the right.
ReplyDelete"Well-built hand-picked honeys" indeed.
ReplyDeleteWe used to dress our boys alike in public even though they're two and a half years apart. It did help find them in a crowd, and since they aren't from the same racial background, it made it easier for people to accept us as a family. Surprised by the girl wearing the pink outfit with the bare midriff at three o'clock from the Big Bad Wolf. Seems pretty racy (even for a youngster) for 1964 (says the guy who wasn't born for another four years).
We can see a man peeking out from inside of Practical Pig's hat! I always think it's a bit creepy, when we can see the person inside the costumes.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that statue of a lady holding an urn is still inside the Guided Tour Gardens, today? I couldn't tell from looking at Google "Street View."
I just watched parts of the "Tencennial" TV special (Wonderful World of Disney) again, where Walt refers to the Tour Guides as "Guest Jockeys." I guess that isn't quite as bad as calling them, "Well-built hand-picked honeys," but still......
Rare and wonderful photos today, maybe not quite the equivalent of a fine vintage Chateau d’ Yquem, but certainly a pastis to accompany that Gauloise.
ReplyDeleteWe never took a guided tour, but I’m thinking I may do so at some point, just to get the primo access to some of the crowded attractions. I’ll probably get a guide who resembles Curly from the 3 Stooges.
In photo 1, extreme left, something white can be seen through the grille work. On my last trip in 2017, in about that spot, was one of the fluted white Victorian drinking fountains of C&H fame. Maybe the last one ever. I wonder if that’s it here? I don’t recall the statue, but it may have been there still.
I vaguely remember the Big Bad Wolf, his tongue was a slick shiny vinyl plastic, very appropriate. He gets a bad rap, imho, just trying get along in a hard world.
Thanks Major, a fine way to roll out today.
JG
Girls, girls, girls! We did take a guided tour a few years ago (50th, maybe?). It was interesting in an underwhelming way. I don't remember any 'front of line' experiences. I soitenly(!) don't remember any nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, either!
ReplyDeletePractical seems to have an intense interest in the back of that lady's neck. And her little girl's dress has a homemade vibe.
Is the little boy beyond midriff girl driving an Autopia car? I don't remember how close it came to the walkways.
A fun Friday, Major
Zach
Great pictures, great people-watching and great comments! Creepy Practical Pig!
ReplyDeleteI was last in Disneyland several years ago, but that was pre-GDB for me, unfortunately. JG, it sounds like you were wise and extra observant on your last visit - and looked at everything on Main Street. Now that I’ve learned so much here, I’m looking forward to the next time. Lots to look for. (I bet Andrew’s keeping a notebook of things to look for when he finally gets his trip to California!)
Happy Friday!
I took the "Walk in Walt's Footstep's" tour and it started at this spot. At the end of the tour they took us up to Walt's apartment over the firehouse. Looking out the apartment window, I could see Mickey Mouse greeting guests by the flag pole in Town Square. A classic Disneyland moment I'll never forget!
ReplyDeleteDennis, Levittown , Long Island, NY
Dennis, that is a great story, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI want to take that tour, did you get to ride in the Lilly Belle rail car?
@Sue, I've learned a lot from GDB and Daveland too. You bet I have a notebook, but it's in my phone. The classic drinking fountain is up there with the half-and-half light bulb for me.
@Zach, I think Junior Autopia is closed in the photo, the door to the little barn is shut. Maybe they are gearing up to start. I thought the guided tours got special treatment at some of the extra-long wait time attractions? There goes my cunning plan to see Wookie World.
JG
Well, I just priced guided tours at Disneyland, packages start at $2,975.00.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have the comma and the decimal in the right spot.
JG
JG, I hope that price includes lunch.
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDeleteNice shot of the 'Garden' - and the "Disneyettes". (Interesting name from that 1961 'Parade' article).
There's just not quite enough resolution to be able to determine what brand of 'sneakers' the "boys" are wearing - "P-F" Flyers or U. S. Keds. I'm leaning towards "P-F" Flyers... "... with the Magic Wedge - that helps you run your fastest, and jump your highest-!" But... I love the "almost-matching" shirts - one with vertical stripes; the other with checks.
Thanks, Major.
...and dinner, and hotel and park passes for a week, for a family.
ReplyDelete@ Sue-
ReplyDeleteDream-on, kid-!
Maybe Melissa would lead a tour group for us Jr. Gorillas?! I would gladly pay her, as it would be THE MOST FUN and informative tour ever! And Major and KS could also co-skipper a Jungle Cruise boat for us, too! And other past CM’s could share more with us, on the tour. That would be the best day at Disneyland ever!
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, they definitely had “male” and “female” roles back in those days. Some of the more physically arduous jobs might make sense for males (canoes, Skyway). And I hate to say it, but Asians and blacks tended to be cast in Adventureland a lot. Oh well, just the way things were 50 or 60 years ago. Glad you enjoyed these!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I can’t even imagine standing and walking all day like that! I’m sure the ladies got breaks, but even still, it was probably a harder job than people think. I don’t know if I’ve ever encountered a Galois (maybe in France?), but I always imagine that they must be extra-fragrant!
Melissa, yeah, those don’t look like t-shirts, though I’d love it if we could see their Huckleberry Hound shirts (or whatever).
Chuck, I don’t remember my mom ever dressing me and my older brother alike, but that doesn’t mean that it never happened. I’ve seen other photos of little girls with bare midriffs, and I always think it’s a little odd. Same with the little boys who walk around shirtless. I’m not offended, it’s just weird!
TokyoMagic!, ha, I admit that I always look for the face inside the costume, but I didn’t notice the guy inside the Practical Pig’s hat. He’s particularly clear! I don’t think I’ve ever wandered over to that particular corner of Main Street, so I have no idea what it looks like today. “Guest Jockeys” is better than “Well-built hand-picked honeys”, but it leaves much to be desired.
JG, I never cared for any of those anise-flavored liquors that seem to be so popular in various parts of Europe. And retsina? Yuck! I’d be curious to hear about the guided tour experience today. I wonder how many people pay for that service? I can’t tell for sure if that’s one of the old drinking fountains in photo #1, it’s just too unclear.
zach, that’s too bad your tour was underwhelming; I feel like they would mostly repeat all of the stories that I’ve heard ad nauseum for decades. Did they talk about the ladies’ heels sinking into the soft asphalt on opening day? And yes, you can see the Midget Autopia cars, which did get that close to the walkways!
Lou and Sue, I’ll bet you will be back in Disneyland before two years go by! I’ll be curious, you might drive your husband crazy wanting to stop and look at all the little details. “Come on Sue, I want to ride Mr. Toad!”.
dennis, I’ve always wondered what the “Walk in Walt’s Footsteps” tour does these days, since so much of the old park is gone. I wonder if they fudge some of the facts? I used to want to go to Walt’s Apartment, but now that it is part of a regular tour, it has somehow lost a bit of that juju that I was looking for.
JG, yes, I would still like to take a ride on the Lilly Belle! I’m too lazy to keep notes. Thank goodness I have a camera on my phone, because I used to actually dislike lugging a camera around the park. I felt like it kept me from just experiencing everything, if you know what I mean.
JG, YIKES! I can’t imagine that I would ever feel like a tour was worth that much money.
Lou and Sue, lunch, but not your drink.
Nanook, oh you’re right, the boys’ shirts don’t match exactly. I thought they did. Oh well. P.F. Flyers, I used to see their ads and wanted them, but doubt I ever owned a pair. My mom was all about buying cheap shoes because she had four growing kids on a Navy salary.
Lou and Sue, yes, MAYBE if the price included that, I’d be more into it.
Nanook, unfortunately you are probably right.
Lou and Sue, ha ha, our group could mutiny, throw the Skipper overboard, and I would take over! I’d take the boat into the secret parts of the Jungle Cruise that only rich celebrities see. Oh, haven’t you heard about that?
Nanook, that reminds me of my kid dilemma every year in Colfax Ave School. The green PF Fliers or the blue US Keds logo on the backs of my sneakers. Oh, the stress of it all. Of course the tour guides were all women. Men, how silly would we look in a skirt and knee sox? Although Major does cut a striking figure in a kilt. Me, I don't have the legs for it. Sue, throw in the Adventureland sign as a keepsake to take home and I'm in.
ReplyDeleteMore fun pics from the Major!
ReplyDeleteMy mom was one of the early tour guides (1957 I think). I have a poor quality group photo of them along with her type written tour script. I'll send them to Major sometime in case he does a future tour guide post.
Oddly, even though mom gave tours I don't recall ever taking one. Of course, within a couple of years I knew the Park so well I could have given a tour. LOL
I vote for a Melissa led Jr. Gorilla group tour too. I'm sure she'd do it for less than the going rate. :)
Seeeing the yellow barn/garage door flashed me back to driving the Midget Autopia. As I recall the doors were closed until the car got close then they would swing open. It always a little scary thinking what would happen if they didn't open.
As K. Martinez said, so many cast member positions were gender specific. However in the old days it apparently didn't apply to the costumed characters. I remember having lunch with mom in the employee cafeteria. One time Minnie Mouse came in and the CM removed the costume head to eat. A guy was inside. I remember other CMs ribbing him about being Minnie. Fun folks.
What a very familiar shot! Some forensics: The reason (I speculate) that there are so many Tour Guides milling about is that the ones on the right are probably in training. If you look closely at the blond TG on the right she is not wearing a Guide pin. The Guide pin was only worn after the TG finished training and "passed inspection" on their first solo-tour. It would be very unusual, in the "Cicely" days (Cicely Rigdon- leader of the Tour Guides and Disney Legend) for so many guides to be "milling about" and not interacting with guests or in a straight line at attention waiting for their daily instructions. Directly behind that statue and wall was once the Tour Guide Lounge. You can see it on the overhead black and white shot- it is the triangle shaped building. It was very nicely appointed with lovely modern furniture, mirrors, lighting, and looked like a large living room. It was for Tour Guides exclusively with it's own phone number which I think was a rarity as most phones were inter-company only. On the walls of the lounge there were mementos/awards/and group photos going back to the early days- and since Tours began in 1958- I suppose this photo was still the early days! There was also an exclusive girls only restroom in there- and in the gardens there were small restrooms for guests- M and F. There was also the "C & H" sugar water fountain. It is odd that the Tour Guides in this photo seem to be waiting for something in a very unorganized fashion which was never the case. They might have been waiting to follow a tour by one of the more seasoned Guides. The TG Lounge was taken over by offices in the early 80's. (that went over well...) The lounge was moved to the "Police Station"- where it was decorated in Victorian Style. (These were the Guest Communications offices prior.) There is a little door on the right hand side of the photo with a few steps leading to the garden and that is where the Tour Guides would emerge at their start time and line up on the right. There would be a visual inspection of costume/grooming/etc. and then given your assignments. I don't know why that statue at the back WOULDN't be there (...they ruin everything) but it was certainly there up in through the 90's. At some point the "desk" the leads were sitting at (the round table in this photo) moved to underneath the Guided Tour sign in the form of an open air booth. Ultimately, it became the hideously out of scale booth that it is now. This was such a pretty area, with Camellia bushes, and every start of the season there would be the Summer TG Breakfast held here after the group photo taken by Renie (photographer of famous photo "Footsteps".) I didn't hear the word "Guest Jockeys" until Julie Rheim and Walt said it in their TV special. "Hostess" was only used for Tour Guides that were assigned to a "VIP" tour for the day. No one was allowed to call anything "VIP" as ALL guests were VIP's in Disneyland- per Walt. So, private tours were referred to as "Hostess Tours". When a (very) few boys joined the department the name was changed to "Special Tours". These tours were absolutely not advertised to the general public in any way shape or form. Most Hostess tours came from internal sources, business associates of Walt Disney Productions et. al. Very, very very rarely from the mass populous. It seems like it is a very profitable venture now.
ReplyDeleteGrant, I did not remember the doors opening, I may have ridden that Autopia, but cannot recall any of it.
ReplyDelete@Sue and Major, that sum for the tour is for a 7 hour minimum, no more than 10 people (no reduction for fewer), and DOES NOT INCLUDE Park admissions.
As much as I would have loved to have Melissa lead a tour, apparently only Disney guides are allowed to run tours. Enthusiasts like us are not allowed, but I bet we could pull it off without charging. We could tip heavily.
JG
JG, if that’s the total price for 10 people (and not per person), then I feel better about what they’re charging. I would still prefer Melissa—and I KNOW that we could unofficially pull it off. Though our laughter would be very distracting to the other guests in the vicinity. But who cares about them.
ReplyDeleteBu, Leave it to you for a treasure trove of behind the scenes information. Always great reads!
ReplyDeleteLou and sue, I volunteer to make name badges for the Junior Gorilla Tour. And should anyone get separated from the tour I'll be sure and include "If this person is lost please contact Major Pepperidge. :)
Great, Grant! Good idea! Maybe also matching T-shirts or those feathered “alpine” hats??
ReplyDeleteLou and Sue, Yes! Matching GDB shirts. Of course feathered alpine hats are a must.
ReplyDeleteWe should also have a predetermined meet-up location in case we see security heading towards us to bust us for an illegal tour, forcing us to scatter in all directions. ;)
Grant, where do you suggest? (You know the place better than any of us.)
ReplyDeleteMajor- regarding your comment wondering if the tour guides fudge the information: when the Walt In Walt’s Footsteps Tour was being developed the original idea was that the guide would at various points of the tour show guests images from certain viewpoints of what that view looked like back in 1955 , or 1967 etc. however it wasn’t practical to carry the portfolio of image cards around the park. But before it debuted they had people from various divisions be test guests. I had to bite my tongue so many times. The guides were very enthusiastic, but the historical information was so wrong or not quite right - it may have been because they were nervous or still learning the information... but the tour had mistakes like “ Main Street USA is an EXACT copy of Walt’s hometown of Marceline ,Missouri” ...... “Animator Ward Kimball convinced Walt to put a train around the park and Kimball’s voice can be heard doing the DL RR depot calls” ( Ward did do them in 1958) .....
ReplyDeleteThe Enchanted Tiki Room was first a restaurant” .... “ the first tiki room bird Walt bought in an antique shop in New Orleans “ ...and the New York World’s Fair attraction’s that came to Disneyland were Carousel of Progress , It’s a small world , Lincoln and THE SKYWAY ........ and those are the mistakes I remember hearing!! YIKES!!
Sue, I just saw your suggestion of KS as our captain! That's a great idea! All the former (and current) CM's will reprise their roles for our tour, if they care to, of course. We need to fit that JC boat with some wheels so we can get around to other parts of the Park.
ReplyDeleteJG
Grant & Sue- The predetermined meet-up place could be the basement of the Alamo...;)
ReplyDeleteTo add to Grant's information on the costumed characters- I recall being in the "backstage" area on break & Micky, Minnie & Donald were also on break. The costume character heads were off- both the mice were petite young women & the duck was, I believe the current preferred term is little person (although there were 7 of them in that Snow White movie...).
Major- Thanks for the great photos.
-DW
Lou and Sue, My intimate knowledge of the Park ends in the late 60s. I could easily designate a meeting location that's not there anymore. That would leave a bunch of Junior Gorillas wandering around aimlessly hoping to eventually run into one of our own kind. :)
ReplyDeleteMike Cozart, Amazing that the official tour would be filled with false information. I just read through my mom's tour guide script (determined to be from late '58 to early '59) and everything seems to be accurate. Oh what a jaded society we've become when even officially dispensed Disneyland information is of questionable accuracy.
I'm jumping in the DeLorean and heading back to 1960. See y'all later. :D
The Walk in Walts Footsteps officially started in the late 90’s after a few historical oriented test tours . Cicely Rigdon despite having to be stern in the early days was a giant sweetheart and was also very classy. She used have a British style Christmas party at her place and later it was held at her daughter Penny’s place. It was the first time I had real plum ( boiled ) pudding and Yorkshire Pudding which was t really a pudding at all . She would tell fun stories of being hired by Walt and the early data ....Cicely never swore .... EXCEPT if you brought up Micheal Eisner and ESPECIALLY Paul Pressler!! She would also retell how the Pressler Regime was booting people out of the company who had been there during the “Golden Age” ..... and she was told the department no longer needed her and her ways were out of date. She said how she would constantly be asked by Disney to be a guest speaker at The Official Disneyanna Conventions ( pre D23) Or other presentations and she refused to do anything for the 90’s regime.
ReplyDeleteJonathan, do you remember Red Ball Jets? The commercials made me want those shoes SO MUCH. I never go them though. I didn’t ever get a pony either. I do look good in a kilt, how did you know? You just have to be confident!
ReplyDeleteGrant, wow, I didn’t know your mom was a tour guide! Very cool. I’d love to see that script! I agree, you probably knew the park better than most people, even at an early age. I hope Melissa isn’t feeling too much pressure - but there’s a groundswell of public approval. I think you’re right about the Midget Autopia barn doors opening just when the car got close - although that sounds like an effect that probably broke down often. I think Mickey and Minnie were very often played by men of short stature - I wonder if that’s still the case?
Bu, I did notice that some of the guides wore different pins, but it didn’t occur to me that some of them might be in raining. Did that mean that they would accompany a full-fledged guide and observe until she was ready? I figured that there might be a lot of guides milling about because the guests were only just arriving and there hadn’t been a lot of takers for the tours yet. Hard to say. I wonder if the archives has photos of rare things such as the tour guide break room? I’d say that it was doubtful, but we can remain hopeful. “Guest Jockey” sounds like somebody was trying to be amusing (not succeeding very well either). “You know, like a disk jockey!”. Yes, we get it! Thanks for so much fun information, Bu!
JG, I’ll bet the doors were not working - you just know that those hydraulic rams gave out all the time - at which point they were probably just propped open. Ay-yi-yi, no park admission included?? That better be the best damn tour ever concocted. I just can’t imagine finishing up and feeling like I’d gotten my money’s worth. I remember when a person from a website got in trouble for giving tours of the park, so you’re right, we’d have to be on the downlow if we wanted to do it.
Lou and Sue, I took a walking tour of the La Brea Tar Pits, and the guide used this cool system where she spoke into a microphone, and the guests listened on headphones, it worked so well. Melissa could do that. And if she learned to not move her lips, so much the better!
Grant, that’s right, I’ll be the “official parent” of the group! “Young man, what do you mean by wandering off like that? Your mother and I were worried sick!”.
Lou and Sue, the wishing well! And we should all wear red carnations!
Mike Cozart, somehow it does not surprise me that the tour guides gave questionable info; it just seems like their job is to tell people what they want to hear, or even tell amusing stories even if they aren’t true. I didn’t know that Ward did the train depot announcements EVER, so that’s a cool tidbit! I wish those would show up on the internet. It’s funny how all of the “facts” that you listed are *almost* right, but really just wrong.
JG, we could get KS, and Grant, and David W. to team up to guide us!
DW, I like the Alamo just fine, but maybe we can find something a little closer to Anaheim! I’m sure it would be much easier to find a petite woman that a small man, especially one that had a certain amount of grace. And I always think of women as being better with kids, though I guess that is just being sexist!
Mike Cozart, I’ve never had a real Christmas plum pudding, but my grandma used to like to make Yorkshire pudding, and I loved it when I was a kid. Imagine having an employee party at one’s own home. They must have really been a lot like family back then. Interesting how even Cicely Rigdon was down on the way Eisner and his cronies ran the company, laying off good people left and right.
Major- Sorry, the Alamo comment was a reference to Pee Wee's Big Adventure...;)
ReplyDelete-DW
I’ve only been to Disneyland once, so I don’t know how good the tour would be unless you enjoy getting lost and listening to a lot of hastily- composed lies! I did go on s guided tour of DCA, but most of the things we saw aren’t there anymore. (I can still taste that fresh tortilla from the factory tour!)
ReplyDeleteMelissa, you're hired! Getting lost and listening to your stories ("unfacts") would be lots of fun and laughs. And, from what Mike told us, you could do a better job than those tour guides he heard!
ReplyDeleteDennis, seeing Mickey from out of Walt's apartment would be so cool! Thanks for sharing your story.
Grant, please do share your mom's picture as a tour guide. She was such a pretty and classy-looking lady...I'd love to see her in her tour guide outfit. Do you remember her practicing her lines, at home?
Grant, that’s right, I’ll be the “official parent” of the group! “Young man, what do you mean by wandering off like that? Your mother and I were worried sick!”.
Major, I've shared in past comments, that my dad's picture-taking style was to just keep walking and snapping away at anything and everything. The only problem was that if one of us (my mom, my husband or I) didn't stick with him or keep an eye on him, we'd lose sight of him. This happened OFTEN...very frustrating before cell phones came out. My dad would promise to stay in a certain area while the rest of us maybe ran into a gift shop or bathroom, etc. My dad was usually nowhere to be seen when we were done - having drifted off with his camera. We learned to always have plans made in advance for the next meal time and location - so that we'd have a meeting place, just in case.
Fun comments today! Thanks, everyone!
Melissa, that would be the best kind of tour, descriptions of things no longer there. How fun that would be, having a tour completely based on what used to be there. It would be a lot like GDB every day. “Here’s Big Thunder Railroad. Natures Wonderland was better.”
ReplyDeleteSue, my family does the same with me, I can’t stand to be still, and wander off at the slightest sign of something interesting.
I also want to see pics of Grants Mom as tour guide.
Major, I would pay real money to be guided by those guys, and Bu too.
JG
JG, I would pay real money, too. Am serious.
ReplyDeleteMajor: re: pins/training etc. There were probably only two pins at the time the photo was taken: and Walt refers to this in his TV show: "Guide" and "Hostess". 1964 was the first year of the Ambassadors, but in that year Julie was called "Miss Disneyland" so she probably continued to wear Guide and Hostess. At some point an "Ambassador" pin was added, however the pin (made by NY NS Meyer) was the same "D" with Tinkerbell, and on the bottom was either "Guide" "Hostess" and later "Host" and "Ambassador". I have photos of that break room somewhere! The archives has very very little. In 1983 I was hoping to do a book project on the 25th anniversary of the Tour Guides- this is where I went to the archives to do some re-con, and Dave Smith helped me a little on that. Dave explained to me that the archives were set up to be an archive of WALT DISNEY, not so much all of the things around him. It wasn't so much like a Disneyana convention exploded all over the place. But mostly documentation of Walt and his things (lots of paper and binders of documents). I'm not sure what they do now- or what they save/keep. It certainly was never a museum of any kind. My box of my own "archive" stuff is "somewhere", and I am pretty sure there is a picture of the lounge from an old TG Yearbook. Interesting to note that it was called the Tour Guide Lounge, and not "Break Room". There was a plaque of some sort at the door as you exiting the room which said something like "through these doors passes the most beautiful ladies of Disneyland...." Something like that- with some Walt references...who knows where all of that stuff ended up- including the award for "Tour Guide of the Year" and "Test Tube Tour Guide" which was a little maquette inside a glass tube that was mounted to the wall. Maybe a current Tour Guide who follows this blog can weigh in? Tour guides had classroom training and then "on the job" where they would follow a tour- in plain clothes, then in costume. They couldn't go on tour until they did their "Big Sister Tour" which was after their spiel test (verbatim to the script). Once they passed their Big Sister Tour, their Big Sister pinned them with their Guide Pin like a flight attendant getting their wings. Regarding misinformation given by people now (Walt's footsteps)- seems that legends become real when you say them enough times. I wrote scripts at one point in my DL career. The script went to the documentation department and they basically ripped it to shreds. Everything was hyper scrutinized for accuracy, grammar, punctuation, style, etc. Perhaps they don't scrub things like they used to, or stories that have been told for so long they become true- like a basketball court at the top of the Matterhorn (well...there was a hoop at one point.) Memories can become twisted. I certainly have told stories that people say: "that never happened!" LOL.
ReplyDeleteA day late...but I see I have been drafted! Well, let me warm up the pipes....er..."Welcome aboard the 'Leaky Tiki'....I'll be your guide today pointing out flora and fauna... Oh I see we have a boatload of all Japanese with me today with our lovely TG...armed with cameras I see. I'll also be recommending shutter speeds and 'f-stops' to all of you as well. How many speak English?...None? Well, this will a quick trip before my lunch!" :) KS
ReplyDeleteKS - MORE!
ReplyDeleteKS - MORE!
ReplyDeleteDW, I got the Pee Wee reference (how could I not?!), but my comment fell flat.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, somehow your “winging it” would make the tour that much greater!
Lou and Sue, yes for sure! And it goes without saying that we’d love to see a photo of Grant’s mom in her tour guide costume. But… it never hurts to say it anyway. I can totally imagine Lou being so caught up in his photography that he would lose track of everything else! He needed one of those tall, springy flags like you see on scooters, so that you could see him from far away. I’m sure he truly intended to stay within certain boundaries, only to see something too interesting to ignore. You can’t keep an artist in a cage! ;-)
JG, I keep trying to imagine how Disney could do an official tour that would be as fun as the one I am imagining with Melissa, but I don’t think it’s possible. They are too official and “by the book”. She could use TokyoMagic’s phrase, “They ruin everything” all the time! I’m sure the Disney brass would love that!
Lou and Sue, I would even use crypto-currency.
Bu, thank you for all of that great information about the pins for the tour guides! Lots of good stuff in there. A friend of mine once gave me what appeared to be four genuine pins, “Tour Guide”, “Hostess”… and I forget the other two, but then he admitted that they were modern fakes. I guess I should have known they were too good to be true, but I was still disappointed. I have them somewhere, but don’t want them winding up on the collector’s market where people will assume they’re real. Wow, it would have been amazing if you could have done your Tour Guide book project with Dave Smith’s help! I didn’t know that there was such a thing as Tour Guide Yearbooks, but if they exist, then I’m sure they have some rare photos that don’t exist elsewhere. Those things must be as scarce as hen’s teeth (as my grandma would say). The “Through these doors pass the most beautiful ladies…” line is a riff on the Earl Carroll Theater on Sunset Boulevard. To my knowledge no tour guides follow this blog, but if one or two DO… I’d love to hear from them! I am imagining that when they finally pass their exam, they get kissed on both cheeks as they receive their pin. Gosh, I wonder what your script said that was so objectionable?? Probably all true stuff! Thanks, Bu.
KS, oh man! How do we make this happen?!?
Lou and Sue, Yes!
Lou and Sue, Yes yes!
Funny how it seemed to come back to me. I remember that specific trip too. As for TGs...I have a few former ones as FB friends. KS
ReplyDeleteKS, I realize that some old cast members might have no interest in reliving those days, but if any of your Tour Guide friends would be willing to share their memories, that would be amazing!
ReplyDeleteMajor and KS, Yes yes!
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