Scenes From Fantasyland, September 1983
Hooray! It's time for more photos from GDB pals Lou and Sue! All of these are from a 1983 trip to the park; I assume that Lou was curious about the brand new Fantasyland, but as always he couldn't resist taking additional photos while he was there. And like so many people, Lou strove to get the perfect shot of Sleeping Beauty Castle. There's just something about it!
Lou knew that it is a good idea to have some foreground elements to add depth and complexity to an image. I don't think I've ever noticed those lamps before, they're pretty neat. Were those added for the 1983 redo?
Mere moments later, he tried another composition. The watcher on the wall will only let you pass if you can answer three riddles. He got the riddles off of Dixie Riddle Cups. He: "What kind of train carries gum?". You (if you are worthy): "A choo-choo train".
Closer... ever closer! The castle possesses some strange force that attracts photographers like moths to a flame! Ever since the terrible fire at Notre Dame cathedral, I am extra happy to see that ornate spire to the right.
Aaaaand, one last castle photo. I was going to leave a few of them out, and then thought, why not share them all? It doesn't cost me (or you) anything! Hey lady, it's rude to stare.
OK, here we are, finally in the New Fantasyland! Lou's eye was taken by the thatched-roof look of the Mad Hatter shop; the style clearly takes a cue from "Alice in Wonderland". the level of detail is impressive.
This second view is a more traditional angle - my guess is that Lou was probably not happy with the lady in pink walking through the frame!
And finally (for today), Lou snapped a photo of the Alice in Wonderland attraction, closed for a complete redo. Old scenes were removed, formerly flat cutout figures were replaced with fully-sculpted versions, and a new ending scene was added. The revamped attraction finally opened in April, 1984. I still love it, though of course I miss the strangeness of the old version.
A big THANK YOU to Lou and Sue for sharing more wonderful photos!
27 comments:
Major-
My gosh - it IS a castle-! These days with all the 'intense colors', it's hard to tell just exactly what it's supposed to be: (Malibu Barbie's Dream House seems more apropos now). These are beautiful images of the SBC when it was allowed to shine-!
It appears the pair of follow spots that used to occupy the platform above the gantry elevators for the Rocket Jets are now sitting atop the roof of Alice In Wonderland and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. To illuminate just what, exactly-?
Thanks to Lou & Sue for these beautiful images.
And there is the dent in the Castle roof, perfectly framed on either side, by two hanging branches of elm (first pic).
The fourth pic shows us why they had to put metal railings up along the walls of the Castle bridge. Thanks a lot, kids!
If I remember correctly, the Castle did get a new paint job for the "New Fantasyland" redo. At that time, I remember the pink on the Castle was the "pinkest" that I had ever seen it, in my lifetime. But it looked nice and was tastefully done. Today....well, no comment!
In that last pic, it looks like they had already changed the color of the giant mushroom from pink to yellow, but they had not moved it yet.
- Tokyo Massachusetts!
I forgot to thank Lou, Sue and the Major, too! THANK YOU!
Nanook, they used to have spotlights like that for the nighttime performances of the Christmas parade. Since these pics were taken in September, I was baffled at first, because they did not use spotlights for the Main Street Electrical Parade, since the floats themselves lit up. But then I remembered that the MSEP went on hiatus in 1983 and was replaced by a nighttime performance of the "Flights of Fantasy Parade," which would have required spotlights for the nighttime performances.
Really nice photos! In the first one, two of the hanging branches parted at the last second so that we could see The Dent on that castle turret. (Tokyo beat me to it, but what the heck, I already had it written before I refreshed the page.)
The watcher on the wall looks like swan food to me. And the blue t-shirt kid on the wall in the last castle pic looks like he's also on the swan menu.
Wow. It's hard to see anything but that uber-pink blouse. It is a nice angle of the shop though.
Major, haha! Eating a crayon. I guess you know, Sue is gonna want you to post an image of your statue. ;-)
As Tokyo Massachusetts noted: Looks like a covered spotlight on the roof of the last image. I wonder if that's the spotlight that follows TinkerBell as she streaks through the sky? (Did she still do that in '83?)
Wonderful pictures, Lou. Thanks to Sue and Major for sharing them with us.
@ TM!-
Makes sense to me; but how many more would they need along the parade route for decent coverage-? A LOT-! That gets pricy pretty quickly, and doesn't strike me as being very practical. But what do I know-?
Nanook, they didn't light the entire parade with the movable spotlights. They did have some stationary lights along the parade route. Most of the time, the people operating the spotlights would just move them around wildly....I'm not sure why. Maybe it gave a sense of more action, or created more excitement, but most of the time it just blinded us parade performers, when they hit us in the face with the beam of light.
I don't know what they use today, but back in the day, they even set up special (ugly) scaffolding for the spotlights, in areas were there weren't any buildings. Here's a pic taken in the Plaza, facing west. You can see the ugly scaffolding and the covered lights, directly behind Mickey Mouse. For the night performances if the Christmas parade, there would be people up on the temporary scaffolding, operating the spotlights (which are hidden under tarps, in this daytime pic). Did I mention that they were very ugly? Fortunately, they weren't up year round.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KyBL-2TyB34/SyIDWztrluI/AAAAAAAACnU/kHhVZ1p0j7U/s1600-h/01+Xmas+1979+(11).jpg
JB, they very well might have used those lights on the roof of "Alice" to light up Tinkerbell, but there would have been other spotlights pointed at her from other locations, as well. Tinkerbell was actually retired by summer of 1977, because they had bulldozed her "landing pad" when they bulldozed the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland. She was absent from the summer fireworks shows from 1977 to 1982, but they brought her back specially for the summer of '83 and the New Fantasyland. By then, they had built her a special landing "tower" between Fantasyland and Big Thunder Mt. R.R. It's still there today, but harder to see now, because of the trees. It's was built to look like a "ranger tower" that you might see in the woods.
Both the Dent and the Drain Stain are visible in the third photo. Interesting how we find those imperfections endearingly charming yet we immediately invoke the Dread Pirate Pressler as soon as we see peeling paint. We truly are an odd bunch.
The only smile I found in any of these pictures is on the kid in the Spider-Man shirt in the sixth photo, and he’s not even looking at us. What’s wrong with you people - you’re in Disneyland! With Lou, for crying out loud! And a pre-Fantasmic!, original-concept Tom Sawyer Island! YOU DON’T KNOW HOW GOOD YOU’VE GOT IT!!!!
I had assumed the spotlights were part of Disneyland’s anti-aircraft system, but I can be persuaded otherwise. With cash, preferably. Use the usual drop.
Major, I had no idea you were a Marine.
Chuck, you are indeed correct about Disneyland's air defenses. Some people would say these were unnecessary, but those people haven't seen the documented proof in the Dickies album "Stukas Over Disneyland." A Junkers JU 87 can really dampen the magic, I'm afraid.
Once again, thank you, Lou for such fantastic shots! And Sue for sharing them! And Major for posting them!
Chuck, I see what you did there. Also…
“Dread Pirate Pressler”, a buccaneer there, no doubt.
Wonderful stuff, I promise to go through everything in detail later.
FWIW, the “Behind the Attractions” episode on the castles described how the Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong parks introduced brighter colors to their respective castles, partly in response to weather conditions and partly cultural expectations.
While the show doesn’t mention it explicitly, the wilder colors may have made their way into Anaheim by osmosis.
JG
Nanook, it’s funny, I still think of 1983 as “not that long ago”, but of course it is practically ancient history now. No wonder so much has changed in the intervening years. I assume that ’83 was long before Miss Kim was fussing with the colors of the “lands”, I wonder who was in charge of such things back then? The only thing I can think of regarding the spots on top of the “Alice” building is possibly for a parade, but really have no idea.
TokyoMagic!, I knew somebody would mention the dent! I honestly wonder if *anybody* ever fell off of the wall of the castle bridge? I’m not sure when I started to notice that the castle was getting pinker, but you’re right, at first it seemed fairly restrained. Now… not so much. I preferred the pink mushroom, but the yellow is acceptable.
TokyoMagic!, aha, so the spots were for a parade! “Flights of Fantasy Parade”, I sure don’t remember that one, in fact the name doesn’t even ring a bell. I guess if you’re going to have a parade at night, you have to light it somehow!
JB, you have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat TokyoMagic!. He never sleeps. I am very proud of my statue with me eating the crayon, but I also feel like it is something private. You know how it is, I can’t share everything! As far as I know, Tinker Bell has continued to fly through the sky, though perhaps the recent craziness has temporarily grounded her.
Nanook, maybe there was a sale on those lights at Pic ’N Save?
TokyoMagic!, moving the spotlights around wildly sounds pretty bad! Why would they do that? That ugly scaffolding is really bad too, yet another case of the people in charge not getting it. “It’s an amusement park, nobody will care!”. “How else are we supposed to light stuff up? Let’s just do the easy thing, even if that scaffolding will be there, looking ugly, all day long”. I’m sure that’s almost an exact quote! Wow, I did not know that they “retired” Tinker Bell for so many years, but I’m glad they finally brought back that tradition.
Chuck, “The Dent and the Drain Stain” is one of my favorite books. I’m not sure we can blame the dent on Pressler, though we can certainly blames lots of bad stuff on that wienie. Funny about people not smiling, it reminds me of when I was in line at Storybook Land, behind this big scary guy who reminded me of Danny Trejo. He just looked like he just wanted to punch someone. Then my girl started chatting with this man and his wife, and he was the nicest guy. So you just never know!
Stu29573, if you see very very early photos of Tomorrowland, they had balloons on tethers as a sort of decoration, and my theory is that they were barrage balloons to prevent strafing. I love The Dickies, and have seen them live a few times. The last time, you could tell that they’d sung those song ten thousand times and had a hard time seeming enthusiastic.
JG, it makes sense to use brighter colors in countries that tend to be more cloudy or rainy, but Anaheim doesn’t typically see a lot of rain. Clearly somebody just decided that Disneyland needed to look like a big colorful toy, with no attempt at any believable realism, even in a fantasy world.
Stu, Stukas Over Disneyland (no, I didn't stutter) was released the same year these photos were taken. Coincidence? You be the judge.
JG, ;-)
Always liked how they created an Alice sub-theme area within Fantasyland.
I must be blind as a bat. I don't see no stinkin' dent in the castle roof.
Nice pics, Lou & Sue! Thank you! Thanks to you too, Major for hosting.
@ TM!-
Yes, I remember those 'special scaffold' stands appearing periodically around the Park. I think it's the sort of thing your eye teds to ignore, in the face of 'exceptional showmanship'-! I'm certain I was there many a time to see the results from those follow spots, and do tend to remember "...the spotlights would just move... around wildly..." It didn't seem so strange at the time, but no matter how it felt to the guests, it was undoubtedly an annoyance to the performers - and the scaffolding itself was certainly 'bad show'-!
With the insane advances in LED technology, especially as applied to 'remote-controlled moving lights' now utilized in theatrical lighting instruments, what's available now is orders-of-magnitude smaller and really small when compared to the 'traditional' carbon arc (or Xenon) follow spots - not to mention really bright. In many ways, just perfect for this sort of thing where the movement of the objects to be lit is somewhat predictable.
@ JG-
The "myriad of excuses in defense of bad taste" is a pip-! This is the Disney organization, not some ragtag group of untalented braggarts. If ANYone could figure out how to "respond to weather conditions and partly cultural expectations" and still maintain proper theming and authenticity, it is Disney. The real secret, and something Disney used to understand quite well, is to [almost on a subconscious level] lead the guest in the (figurative) direction he/she needs to go, while the guest thinks he/she is in-charge. It may sound crude and somewhat authoritarian but, when done correctly: The experts set the tone, and the masses follow. The experts never second guess the amateurs; for after all, they are the leaders. Worshiping at the teat of market capitalization changed all that.
In this example, castles need to look like real castles, not the architectural equivalent of Streetwalker Chic-!
I never got to see the original Alice in Wonderland ride... Luckily, YouTube to the rescue, someone recreated it. You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh_q6DF0bPQ
Great pictures - thanks Major and Lou & Sue.
The CORRECT colors of the Castle, and everything else at this time are the beautifully balanced work of John Hench.
Grateful for those good views from before the dreaded squirrel spouts first started to ruin the careful perspectives of Disneyland Castle (that was where it started to go wrong, the beginning of the pink plastic mess we have now). Yes, the dent is already there…always seemed like a basic body-shop fix to me, but been there for ever. The lovely climbing ficus made it feel closer to the Sleeping Beauty film back then too.
Aaaahhh, nice.
I think my favorite is the next to last photo where the guy is using a video camera *hardwired* to a battery pack. I remember using the same set up recording my kid's school plays in the 80s.
Chuck brought his 'A' game today: All caps, italic, and bold- all at once!
Grant, the unit that camera is connected to may very well be a portable VCR that included a battery. My parents’ first VCR in the early ‘80s was a two-piece job, with the tuner in one unit and the recorder in a separate, portable unit intended to be used with a video camera. We never used it in “portable mode” on vacations, partly because it was so unwieldy and partly because they never bought an over-the-shoulder carrier.
JVC was first to market with a one-piece camcorder that used a VHS-C cassette, which was smaller cassette that used standard-sized 1/2” VHS tape. You had to put it in an adapter cassette to play it on a regular VHS player. Since VHS-C came out in 1982, this could be an early model.
Not sure why I am on this tangent. You know the video camera you used better than I do. Danger of having a smartphone while waiting for a kid in the school parking lot. :-)
Chuck, wow, hard to believe! I definitely owned that album on vinyl. Thanks to my older brother’s influence, I loved a number of punk and experimental bands. The Dickies are particularly listenable, being more “poppy” than many similar bands. For instance, the title track is a banger.
K. Martinez, It’s interesting that “Alice” managed to get two attractions based on it (though admittedly the teacups is pretty indirect). The dent is not easy to see, it’s only a slightly darker smudge on the shingles of the turret roof.
Nanook, I know that there are things that crowds look past because somehow their brains know that they are supposed to ignore them, but still. There had to be a better way. If Emmet Kelly had been there, he could have swept up the spotlight beam and put it in his pocket. I think they should do an entire parade using nothing but insanely bright strobes. What could be the downside? (That reminds me of a David Letterman bit where he talked about new advancements in automobiles, including strobe headlights so that oncoming traffic “looked like an old-time movie”!). And yes, I personally have come to expect more from Disney in regards to things like a solution for lighting a parade. Again, strobe lights, come on! “Streetwalker chic”, ouch!
Kel, wow, thanks for that link, I was unaware that anybody had tried to recreate the original “Alice” ride! I’ve only watched about half the video so far, but will definitely watch the rest. Very cool.
Anon, I figured that John Hench was responsible, in fact I’m almost sure I’ve read an account of how he decided on the hues to use. But Kim Irvine insists that he thought that the castle needed to be brighter. WHO KNOWS.
Anon, I’d never noticed or even heard of the dent until fairly recently, so I can understand why they never felt the need to fix it. Even now people can have trouble spotting it if they don’t know exactly where to look.
Grant, good eye, I would have never known what that cord was for.
JB, Chuck is an HTML master!
Chuck, a portable television studio?? Great Scott! I remember watching a TV report about how we might one day be able to record programs and play them back, but at the time they were crazy expensive (let’s say $10,000 just for yucks). It seemed like a dream! Same with being able to burn your own CDs. Sounds like your parents were “early adopters”, good for them! My dad was a bit more cautious when it came to things like that. Aw, nice that you are waiting to pick up your kid! I had to take the bus like a schlub.
Also, the Dickies version of Communication Breakdown is classic!
Nanook, you are right....your eyes did tend to ignore the ugly scaffolding. Since the Christmas decorations were up, they acted as sort of a detraction. Also, back in those days, the Christmas parade only ran for two weeks, so the scaffolding wasn't up very long.
Chuck, is this the type of VCR/Camera combination you are talking about? In 1980, it could have been yours for only $995, at The Federated Group! (Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post!)
https://meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/2009/12/snowflakes-in-emporium-1995.html
Thank you, all, for the nice comments! I was with my dad, late this afternoon, and shared these with him.
Bu, where were you working, around this time (September 1983)?
Ken M., shoot me an email and I’ll help you locate the dent.
Thanks, TM! (Totally Mashed!) and Kel, for the links.
DENT ALERT! I check every castle photo now for our new friend. Sometimes he is shy and sometimes he’s JUST RIGHT THERE. I like him though. He’s got that Disneyland charm.
Celeste
Stu29573, they have so many great songs! “Manny, Moe, and Jack” is a personal favorite.
TokyoMagic!, wow, I didn’t know that they only ran the Christmas parade for two weeks! Now it seems as if they reserve the months of November and December (and maybe even a bit of January) for that holiday. TOO MUCH. And wow, that VCR/camera thing would cost the equivalent of nearly $7,000 today!
Lou and Sue, hooray, I hope Lou enjoyed the blog and all the comments. Thanks for helping out Bu and Ken!
Celeste, I think Disney needs to run with this dent thing and turn him (her?) into merchandise. It would be so weird that I might even want to buy some!
Kel, thank you! For that link! Much appreciated.
Major and Nanook, please do not mistake me for someone who approves of the current wretched color scheme of the Best Castle. Theoretically, no organization should know better how NOT to ruin their own posterity. Those responsible for the current mess should be demoted to gum scrapers.
I’m just transmitting the story from the latest WDI propaganda outlet, not endorsing it.
Anonymous, thanks for the confirmation of John Hench as the colorist. The “Attractions” show credited him and had a live quote from “Kim Whose Name Escapes Me” saying the same and crediting Mr. Hench for her courage in applying colors.
Pfui says I.
Chuck and Grant, I would love to see that guy’s video. Mad props to him for lugging that giant rig into Disneyland! I hope he had a great day with his family and that they all remember it to this day.
Celeste, I’m glad you can see The Dent. It’s only visible to the Pure of Heart (and those instructed by Sue) :-)
JG
Stinking Blogger ate my comment again. Switching machines and re-writing it for the third time...
TM!, no, the system in the ad you linked was a single unit that used the CVC format, which used a 1/4" tape in a cassette just a bit larger than a standard audiocassette, and a separate camera. The CVC format never really caught on and was only made for a few years; it had problems with signal drop-out which was more pronounced due to the small size of the tape, the tapes were short (initially only 30 minutes and never longer than 60), and the camera supplied with the system had poor low-light resolution.
Our system used standard VHS tapes and was housed in two identically-sized units. One unit held the tape deck and battery. When it was in the "on the shelf and connected to the TV" configuration, it was kept in a horizontal position with the deck opening upwards. When it was in the "portable recording deck" configuration, the deck was carried vertically in a case that was slung over the shoulder (it also had a carrying handle on the horizontal front/vertical top, but it was tiring to carry it that way). A separate CRT camera was connected by a cable to the deck.
It was pretty unwieldy by today's standards, but it used the same shoulder-slung portable deck and separate camera configuration that was used by contemporary professionals for non-studio shoots, only it was in 1/2" VHS rather than 3/4" U-matic format. I only used ours in portable mode a couple of times because my parents never bought the carrying case and it was just too cumbersome to hand-carry the deck.
The other unit, which was not meant to be portable, housed the AC power source and the VCR's built-in TV tuner, which is what made it possible to record one show on the VCR while watching another on the TV set. We mainly used the camera to shoot Christmas morning, so we just stuck it on a tripod in the corner and had the tape deck connected to house power through this unit.
I wish I could find a picture of it, but I can't remember the make or model. I do remember it was black with silver trim and red lights and looked wicked cool. I know my parents paid more for it - without the camera and without adjusting for inflation - than I paid for a miniDV camcorder 18 years later. Interesting to note how much technology cost drops over time. Also interesting to note that technology cost seems to have an inverse relationship to the cost of a day at Disneyland. There's a lesson in there somewhere, but I'm too tired to look for it.
Goodnight, Moon!
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