Sunday, September 19, 2021

Sunday Snoozers

It's another Sleepy Sunday! Proceed at your own risk.

This first photo if date-stamped "July 1964"; we're right at the base of the Mighty Matterhorn, and our photographer tried to capture the moment a Bobsled passed by that waterfall. But he was foiled by those flowering bushes! It's not the worst picture ever taken, but it's kind of a disappointment. 


I am only just noticing that I labeled this slide "Nice Town Square", for which I have no explanation. The photo is from September 1959, a Skyway view looking down on a part of Fantasyland that included the queues for the Matterhorn and Fantasyland Autopia, the Alice in Wonderland attraction in our lower right, the Midget Autopia (out of frame to our left), and then some Tomorrowland features that you all know well. I love views of the stubby little 3-car (Mark I) Monorails. If this picture wasn't just a little bit blurry, it wouldn't be relegated to a Snoozer Sunday!


 

16 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-
I'll come back on Sunday and comment...

Graffer said...

Let's do the time warp again...

"Lou and Sue" said...

Hi, Nanook and Graffer! I thought our time machine was supposed to go back in time - not forward...

BTW, Graffer, I love your avatar! Are you new to GDB?
Nice to meet you!

TokyoMagic! said...

Dionne Warwick's song, "Deja Vu," is going through my head right now. ;-)

Bu said...

Some overall thoughts about pic. #1. That lawn is perfect...HOW...do they mow it? It's real...even the area under the fir tree is perfect. How do I get my lawn to do this? Also...in both pictures...how do they water the trees going up to the top of the mountain? How do they trim them to keep them in scale? What is the irrigation system like? Why on earth did I not ask these questions for the 10 years I looked at this mountain and talked about this mountain every day?! Pic #2 is umbrella-tastic. What an amazing collection. This part of the park always seemed a bit chaotic for me...the west side was so lush and romantic, and even the core of Fantasyland was curated and cohesive. This area...with the motor boats, Fantasyland Autopia, the tracks of the monorail, the "back side" of the Matterhorn and that little path by the subs...I honestly think it is screaming for an extension of Fantasyland...but possibly they have paved paradise and put up a parking lot (?) I will say again, the snoozers are never snoozie.

"Lou and Sue" said...

It’s like deja vu all over again.
—Yogi Berra

PS. If you slept-in Saturday AND Sunday, none of this will make sense to you. Sorry. The Major will have to explain. ;o)

"Lou and Sue" said...

Bu, I, too, want to know how they watered those trees...

"Lou and Sue" said...

Pic #1: Those folks are actually just sitting in flower pots, I think. ;o)

Bu, do you remember your Matterhorn spiel? Would love to hear it!

JG said...

I’m with Bu, I’ve wondered all those things over the years of studying the Matterhorn. I’ve always been impressed by the flower beds in the Alpine Gardens (I think that’s what the garden at the base of the mountain was called?), always blooming and lush no matter the season.

How is it the Matterhorn has no foothills? I just realized this and now will worry about this all day.

Photo 2 is fairly important, to me at least. Views of this little area are hard to find, it’s in a photographer blind spot, everyone is focused on something else. So it’s great to see this picnic area, even if it is a little blurry.

Thanks Major. Also, thanks again for yesterday’s post on Solvang, brought back a lot of happy memories, which is great for me!

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, NOW you can comment!

Graffer, it’s just a jump to the left. Or something. I’ve never seen that movie!

Lou and Sue, time machines go forwards AND backwards, how do you think I always know who will win the World Series? Graffer is not new to GDB, but I think it’s been quite a while…

TokyoMagic!, why? :-D

Bu, I feel like I have read about how they tend to the trees on the upper slopes of the Matterhorn, but maybe I just imagined it. Could it have been in an issue of the old “E-Ticket Magazine”? They must have a drip-system for the trees, that’s my theory. Mowing the grass seems less mysterious - just get a good old-fashioned push mower in there and some poor guy can mow away, just like I did for years and years in my parent’s yard. I don’t mind the “chaos” of Tomorrowland when compared to the wide-open spaces of Frontierland and Adventureland… and for all of the chaos, it still worked beautifully in my opinion.

Lou and Sue, I have no idea what you are taking about!

Lou and Sue, those are animatronic trees, they don’t need water.

Lou and Sue, sitting in flower pots is not the weirdest thing a person could do. And yes, I’d love to hear Bu’s spiel.

JG, I think that technically the name “Alpine Gardens” was used for the site of the former Monsanto House of the Future. But we can certainly call those flower beds at the base of the Matterhorn “alpine gardens” (no capitalization). I love those little areas with trees, helping to make that area feel more inviting, adding shade and beauty. Since many of the trees are right near the entrance to the “Alice” ride, that area is still Fantasyland. Not sure where the border between lands starts.

Nanook said...

@ Bu-
Although I certainly can't remember the specifics, and it doesn't necessarily look like it - the 'grass' could be Dichondra; or more specifically - Dichondra micrantha. On the other hand, the Disneyland World of Flowers book does mention "... bluegrass from Eurasia by way of Kentucky", as part of the makeup of flora at the base of the Matterhorn. So...

In Pic #2 - which does look like 'umbrella land', but not even a glimpse of the metal umbrella topper for Fan 2. What a ripoff.

Thanks, Major. Déjà vu never felt so good.

Andrew said...

The Matterhorn kind of has foothills, JG.

"Lou and Sue" said...

Andrew, hahahaha! I love it!

Chuck said...

Brilliant, Andrew!

JB said...

Major, about the 2nd image, I'll paraphrase Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas:

"I never thought it was such a bad little pic. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."

So that's what I did. I pasted the image into Paint Shop Pro, corrected some of the fading (it seemed a little washed out), and sharpened it up a bit. It's still a little blurry, and now the sky is a little grainy (from the sharpening), but still a nice little photo. I added it to my 'Disney Stuff' folder alongside about 3,600 other GDB images that I've saved over the years.

I agree with Bu (and others), Sunday 'Snoozers' are often my favorite posts. And even if the photos are a little 'snoozy' sometimes, that just gives us free rein to get creative with our comments and have some fun with it.

I think Sunday comments have increased over the past year or two. Jr. Gorillas are catching on that Sunday is Funday!

JG said...

Andrew, you nailed it.

I’ve always suspected the Matterhorn was planned for that view!

Thank you!

JG