Parade, July 1976
It's Sunday, and that means it's time for more slide scans that I probably should have just tossed. But I didn't! They are from July 1976, and feature a parade, but it's not "America on Parade" - at least I don't think so. There's no big-headed puppet people to haunt your dreams. Could the park have done a parade for Disneyland's 19th birthday?
There's a smiling Alice, so maybe it's an un-birthday. The color is so nice in both of these, I wish our photographer had been standing in a spot where the views were less awkward. The flowers in the foreground might be from the planter where the "Partners" statue would eventually go. The balloons and piles of presents reinforce my "Disneyland birthday" idea.
I like the way the yellow flower turns into a fuzzy fright wig for that smiling girl.
Mickey and Minnie! And Goofy! I'll bet Donald Duck wasn't too far away, either.
23 comments:
Major-
That "fuzzy fright wig" is actually the girl's hair-! She was always a distraction in school.
Thanks, Major.
I especially like the first picture - it’s from a unique point of view. The photographer was either sitting in the flower bed, or he/she was a caterpillar.
Fun pictures, thanks Major.
Actually, it's kind of amazing that Alice and Mickey are in focus. An auto-focus camera would have surely zeroed-in on the foreground flowers and tree branches. Which would have resulted in nice, crisp photos of flowers and trees with blurry somethings in the background.
As you noted, the colors are wonderful in these pics. That was the first thing I noticed before I even knew what the subject matter was.
It really is difficult to figure out this parade. Alice and the Big Bad Wolf together again for the very first time. If it is indeed a Birthday Parade then I guess it wouldn't really matter where the Characters were or who they were next to.
In the last photo, I wonder what that structure is to the right of Goofy? A purple turret with a blue pointy spire. Also, what is that white thing to Minnie's right? A bridge? The People Mover track?
- Juicy roast Beast:
Cooked to perfection,
Sliced on a plate.
A Who-ville confection.
Well worth the wait!
Sue, I know exactically where you are going with that comment. Three inches high is a very good height indeed!
JB, I think that thing next to Goofy is a parade element, possibly a teapot from Alice in Wonderland. The white structure is the Monorail beamway curving around the Matterhorn.
Somme of parade floats were also used in this Mystery Parade from April of 1974. At the time they were posted, the GDB Collective determined that it was probably the 1976 Easter Parade. While this looks like it could be the same Parade Alice, Mickey & Minnie are dressed differently, so I don’t think this is a case of a roll of film that languished in the camera a few months after Easter.
I hope Jason Schultz (or somebody that has a copy of his almanac) chimes in to help solve the mystery.
These pics sure do look like they are from the 1978 Mickey's 50th Birthday Parade. I wonder if they had these floats already in 1976, and then just used them again, two years later? Or maybe the slides could be mislabeled?
Chuck is right about the Monorail beam. The blue pointy structure is the souvenir stand (it had two points on top), which was located in between the Matterhorn and the Motor Boat Cruise.
And speaking of the Motor Boat Cruise, it's white sign poles and flags can be seen in that first pic. The actual lettering on the sign is blocked by the trees, however.
- Toy Magic!
In this previously posted 1978 GDB pic, we can see that souvenir stand and it's two pointed spires on the roof. We can also see the Motor Boat signage beyond that. The Monorail beam would be just out of frame on the far right. And the seating area along the bottom of the photo would give us a close approximation of where the photographer of today's photo's was located. The planter with the yellow flowers might be just out of frame, at the bottom of the photo, or maybe they had removed a planter between 1976 and 1978:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-089by_BNjsc/Wq8E50x3VmI/AAAAAAAAH5g/LUqqNjUGSTAh50JgzLUQW4PllnnH1o3AgCKgBGAs/s1600/1-1978-_IASW2.jpg
- Toy Magic!
Bright and cheerful parade pics remind me of a time when I didn’t hate the Disney parades.
I agree with Chuck and TM’s location ID, the light fixture is not a type from the central hub.
Major, I’m glad you kept these, a fun puzzle.
JG
Nanook, she was punk before “punk” was a thing.
Lou and Sue, I can’t tell if the photographer was trying to be artistic, or if he/she just fired off a shot and hoped for the best. I admit I did not consider the caterpillar angle!
JB, maybe the photographer was using a fixed-lens camera? I have no idea of course, but I would assume that a camera like that would tend to focus on things that are far away, and anything too close would end up blurry. That’s why my childhood photos of my plastic army men always turned out blurry! I do think that the park celebrated Disneyland’s “birthday” on July 17th (or 18th if they are being sticklers), even if it was not otherwise a big deal. I’m not sure what that pointy blue spire is! I think that we are seeing the Monorail beamway to the right of Minnie.
Chuck, hmmm, I guess that could be a teapot, since so much stuff from “Alice” has crazy shapes. We just can’t see enough of it. I thought it might be a small souvenir stand. At least we can agree on the Monorail beamway (my computer does not like the word “beamway”), I don’t like fighting. ;-)
Chuck, I’d forgotten about those photos (there are SO MANY), but you are right about the different outfits on Mickey and Minnie. They definitely look “Eastery” in the older photos. The balloons in today’s third pic just have that “birthday” thing going on. I have Jason’s book, but it’s at my mom’s house, I keep forgetting to bring it to my own place!
TokyoMagic!, I think that I have seen many examples of floats from older parades being “repurposed” for later parades, so I would not be surprised at all if these same floats were used for Mickey’s 50th Birthday. I think they were date-stamped, and not hand-labeled. Aha, it IS a souvenir stand, hooray. I win… nothing. Good eye on the Motor Boat Cruise entry!
TokyoMagic!, wow, good job on finding another image that shows both the souvenir stand and the entrance to the Motor Boats! I’ll bet the planter was still there in 1978, but it was just out of frame in that linked photo. Thanks, TM!
JG, I can’t say I hated the parades (though there was one in DCA that was awfully cheap and loud, I forget which one it was), but I mostly saw them as obstacles to be avoided. With rare exceptions of course. I’m glad you liked these!
It is pretty cool that the focus came out right on these. In the first pic, someone Pluto-colored is wearing a green and pink polka dot party hat at the far left, though we can’t see which character it is. I like a good Sunday mystery, thanks Major.
Chuck, I think you are right, it is the same young lady as Alice in both posts. So why not the floats too.
My distaste for modern Disney parades are just related to their unseemly length and the ridiculous overcrowding of Park made worse by dividing it in two parts by the parade route. On my recent trips, it was a scheduling issue to get on the desired side of the route before everything shut down. I was reduced to riding the train around from NOS to Tomorrowland since I couldn’t cross the parade route. There are worse things than riding the train, but it just seems so unnecessary.
On the plus side, all those people watching the parade are not in line for Space Mountain or Haunted Mansion.
JG
Major, I think you are right - this is probably a low-key (well, low-key for Disneyland, anyway) Disneyland birthday celebration. July 17th, 1976 was a Saturday, which makes it all the more likely.
TM!, now that I am properly oriented, I completely agree about that blue thingummy being the souvenir stand. Thanks for the extra pictures to help me get my brain in the right place.
JG, all those people watching the parade are also not in line for Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland. Of course, nobody else is, either, so I guess that’s not as big a win as I had initially hoped.
"Fuzzy Frightwig" would be a great name for a Looney Tunes character.
Major/Chuck-
The only thing mentioned in Jason's Almanac for July, 1976 is Disneyland's Glorious Fourth of July Bicentennial Salute. [That's a mouthful]. It ran from 7/2 - 7/5.
(Perhaps it's a one-of-a-kind salute on June 22, 1976, when Elsie Mae Houck became the one hundred and fifty millionth guest to visit Disneyland-?)
[Thanks to Daveland]-
HERE's an image of those post lights.
Kathy!, I guess the photographer got lucky! I see the green and pink hat, but can’t quite make out who (or what?) is wearing it.
JG, I agree about the parade problem of splitting the park in half. Invariably I wanted to be on the other side of Main Street! Funny how that happened. But I can’t be too mad that the park provides these parades, since so many people truly love them. At least (for now) there isn’t a $35 upcharge (though I think they do have areas with prime seating that might cost extra). And I NEVER regret having to ride the train! It’s true that the more people who are sitting there watching the parade, the fewer people there are standing in line at my favorite rides.
Chuck, we know that the park did much bigger birthday celebrations for significant numbers such as the 25th, 30th, and so on. Of course you were there for the big 45th! I’ve never EVER understood why the Mine Train seemed to never have much of a line, except that perhaps it was such an efficient people-eater. I hope it wasn’t due to lack of interest.
Melissa, it would also make a good rapper name. I’m claiming it! My new album will drop sometime in 2022.
Nanook, I think I have a brochure for that Glorious Fourth of July Bicentennial Salute! It’s always fun to have documentation of a known event. Elsie Mae Houck, what a great name. I’ve always wondered if they waited for an appealing person to be the official 150-millionth guest. “Ugh, not that weird guy with the beard! He’s not ‘Disney’ material!”.
Nanook, Daveland has it all.
Chuck, yeah I suppose that must be the Monorail beamway, I just don't remember seeing that intricate 'bridgework' as part of the track.
Toy Magic! (Great name! Short & sweet), thanks for that link. I now see that the purple part is actually the fringe below the roof.
Melissa, "Fuzzy Frightwig" is also almost a character in Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
Nanook, in that linked image, we also see Fudgie's tail (I think).
@ JB-
'Fudgie' can be seen on the east side of the Matterhorn, below and to the left of the Skyway 'right-of-way'.
Ah, you're right! I saw the stone bridge and assumed Fudgie was there somewhere. Different stone bridge!
But where is Fudgie's fright wig?
I can’t even see Fudgie in that picture...ugh.
Sue, Fudgie isn't in that linked photo. He's on the other side of the Matterhorn (thanks Nanook). I jumped to conclusions when I saw the stone bridge... sorry. :-(
Thank you, JB. Now I understand.
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