Elephants
Elephants! It's today's theme. Not that I often have themes, and I admit that as themes go, "elephants" is kind of lame. But I'm going with it anyway.
The Sacred Elephant Bathing Pool might not rank up there with the "most photographed" features at Disneyland, but it's still way up there. Guests just loved those frolicking pachyderms. I'm a little confused, because the fella sitting to the left appears to be the same one that sat beneath the waterfalls, taking a happy shower. But here, he's just kind of out there. Perhaps this slide predates the addition of that scene (which was added in 1962)?
From the same batch comes this photo of completely different elephants. Flying Dumbos, to be precise. A whole bunch of them, whirling around in endless circles. I don't often do the Dumbo ride, but it was fun to do when my niece and nephew were little. And it's such a Disneyland classic, I hope they never remove it (based on its popularity, I don't think we have much to worry about).
27 comments:
In the first pic, I seem to remember a discussion here from a year or two ago that the elephants were moved around several times over the years. It really is strange seeing the 'sitting' elephant not under a waterfall. He belongs there! This is a nice photo of the elephants.
In the Dumbo pic, Timothy Mouse is giving us the cold shoulder. At first I couldn't figure out what that thing is on the babushka'd lady-in-white's coat. Then I realized it's a half-eaten ice cream bar being held by the gentleman next to her. Silly me.
Thanks for the ephelants, Major.
Notice the safety fencing around Dumbo: the posts are all different angles rather then plumb and verticals. This is a nice design touch adding to the simple whimsy of early Fantasyland. This detail would have been an additional cost to do.
And there is that "mooning" elephant in the bathing pool. DON'T LOOK ETHEL!!!" But it was too late.
Starting around the time of the park's 50th birthday, the JC skippers began to call the elephant under the waterfalls, "Bertha." They would also say that she has been in that shower for 50 years, and that is why she is all "wrinkly." Not only was it not a very funny joke, it wasn't an accurate number of years, since "Bertha" was not there when the park opened. Am I being too nitpicky? As the years went on, they just kept adding a year to the amount of time that she "has been in that shower"...51, 52, 53, 54, 55, etc. I wonder if they still use that line, today?
Bertha’s probably just waiting for the shower to warm up before stepping under the water.
If you zoom way in on the Dumbo photo and look to the left of the ride’s central support column, you can see a girl with a dark ponytail, white cardigan, green-and-white checked skirt, and long white socks standing on the inside of the safety railing while the ride is in motion. Is that a cast member?
My dad had a yellow windbreaker identical to the one worn by the guy in the extreme left foreground.
Ah, those wacky ephalants. These, of course are the aquatic variety "pactadermius wricklaquadas." I know that because I'm smart.
There's nothing like a squadron of soaring Dumbi! They used them in WWII to bring supplies to the front lines...in their trunks! (rim shot)
Ok, ok, I'm going...
Matching the tint of your sunglasses to your babushka is taking the game to a Whole Nother Level. Bablueshka!
I wonder how many people, like me, saw a Disney animatronic elephant long before ever seeing a real one? We lived, like, an hour and a half from a large zoo but we never went there until I was a teenager.
What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino?
Elephino
Wait up, Stu, I’m going, too.
Chuck, my Dads windbreaker of that exact style was bright blue.
Major, this theme of Heffalumps calls for a companion post on woozels.
Re the Bathing Pool, I think the happy elephant is sitting right where the waterfall would be added.
In the Dumbo pic, I notice now the candy-stripe detail on the supporting arms are matched to the cap color of the individual Dumbii, and also that these are fixed-wing Dumbii without ear hinges.
In a recent thread discussing engineering problems with the rotary-wing* Dumbii, the caps and stripes didn’t match, although the colors were the same palette, they were “mixed-not-matched”. I wonder if this was due to switching out malfunctioning Dumbii with less regard to the accuracy of the color scheme? Since reading that thread, I’ve had visions of hydraulic fluid leaks from the elephant ears, a common affliction of aircraft, and a vivid memory from Air Force hangars, where diaper-like pads are placed under critical locations.
I’ve known pilots who wouldn’t fly a craft “without” a leak, since how else could you tell if the plane was properly lubricated unless it leaked?
*Technically, these should probably be called “ornithopter” drive, but I like rotary-wing better, even if less accurate.
Good stuff to start the week, Major. Thank you.
JG
@ JG-
That 'candy cane' striping on the support arms appears to have an interesting history. It was not original to the attraction, but seems to have appeared on the scene in early 1956. [Maybe] disappeared entirely for a time in the late 50's, only to return in the form of stripes running length-wise along each edge, sometime in the early 1960's. Then around 1965, the candy striping returned. Details, details. As far as color-coordination with Dumbo's cap is concerned - that seems to be sheer chance - as most images confirm a 'mix-and-match' condition.
Thanks, Major.
Boy, I can tell that I wrote this one while distracted. Argh. Oh well, it is what it is.
JB, you are right, the elephants were moved around for various reasons, including changes to the river pathway. But I don’t remember seeing the “showering elephant” in another location before, so that was a fun discovery! I like Timothy Mouse so much, but this might have been when he was going through a difficult time. You know how it can be.
Mike Cozart, good eye! Thanks for pointing out that detail.
TokyoMagic!, you know that Ethel always looked. She’s only human. We all know that even Marty Sklar, who should know better, often got basic facts about rides wrong, so you can’t expect mere mortals such as a JC Skipper to get it right all the time. You aren’t being too nitpicky!
Chuck, hey, I had to wait for MY shower to warm up too! Bertha and I are a lot alike, when you think about it. Yes, I’m afraid of mice too. Oh, I see the girl inside the Dumbo fence! She HAS to be a cast member! Otherwise she might be another statistic - 900th person injured by a flying elephant. When will we ever learn? My dad had a yellow windbreaker, but he also had a blue one and a red one. He played golf, ya see.
Stu29573, I am impressed with your knowledge of Latin and taxonomy. You obviously did not hide a comic book inside your science book when you were at school the way I did. Remember at the end of Dumbo, when they show a newspaper headline with some sort of WWII-style aircraft that resembled our favorite flying elephant? I always loved that.
Melissa, the matching sunglasses tint and babushka is pretty good, but if she’d also matched her shoes and purse, a rift would have formed in the space-time continuum. I have no idea if I saw an animatronic elephant before I saw a real one, but I do know that if I had my way, I would have gone to Disneyland rather than the zoo ANY day. And I liked the zoo!
Lou and Sue, I LIKE THAT JOKE. What does that say about me?
JG, I have still not come across any good photos of a woozle. I have a few that look like your typical Bigfoot photo, blurry and grainy, but they are not suitable for sharing. I suspect that they are actually showing people dressed as woozles. Darn scammers! You might be right, maybe the waterfall formed around that elephant. Happens all the time. Yes, the support arms for the Dumbi were candy striped, not sure if that is still the case. I also think your hypothesis about the vehicles being switched out when necessary, resulting in non-matching caps and stripes, is very plausible. You get a gold star and a smiley face. Pilots not flying aircraft without a leak, that’s an interesting personal rule. I guess I can see a certain logic to it!
Nanook, I wonder if they’d always planned to have the candy striping, but just didn’t have the time for it until the park had been open for a while? There are other examples of details that were added within the first year that I suspect were also due to limited time. Do you happen to know if they still do the candy striping? Sure, I could Google it, but there are so many bonbons to eat.
Major-
The stripes are long gone. Following the 1983 Fantasyland redux, the arms were painted red. Today they appear to be a medium grey. Original concept art illustrate the support arms with the 'candy cane' stripes.
Dumbo the Flying Elephant is the only Disney Parks attraction that appears in every one of Disney's "castle' parks. Even the Mad Tea Party wasn't brought to Shanghai in favor of Pooh's Hunny Pot Spin (similar to Mad Tea Party).
The Buzz Lightyear shooter attraction was once in every "castle" park, but Hong Kong's closed theirs to make way for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle shooter ride. Like anybody really cares.
Thanks, Major.
Mike, I didn't notice the irregular fencing. A fine example of Disney going the extra mile (or at least a few feet).
Tokyo!, yeah, why IS that elephant facing away from us? Maybe the Imagineers are showing off their artistry and craftsmanship by proving to us that the elephants are indeed, complete 3D models.
"Ethel"? Was that Lucy or Fred talking? ;-)
Chuck, when I first looked at the 'inside girl', I thought maybe she was actually on the outside and that the fence rails were just camouflaged against her sweater, etc.. But she's about a foot and a half taller than anybody else, so she must be closer to the camera, i.e. on the inside. So yes, what the heck is she doing there?!
Stu, yer not going fast enough! ;-)
Melissa, I like your bablueshka coinage. I wonder if that craze ever caught on? I definitely remember the crabushka years, where all the women wore crustaceans on their heads. (Who could forget it!!)
Sue, see my admonition to Stu. ;-) It IS kind of a clever joke though, especially if you say it out loud.
JG, I can hear the animatronic pirates now, "We wants the Woozles! We wants the Woozles!"
(I think I'll go follow Stu and Sue now. Hurry up, you two, the crowd's getting angry!)
Huh, I never noticed the color-matching Dumbo hats and lifting arms. I DID notice the fixed-wing ears though.
Planes wear diapers... who knew?
Major, after Dumbo started to get all the attention, Timothy's fame dwindled and he became jealous and sour-tempered. Often, he could be heard humming "Evergreen" from A Star Is Born.
Nanook, I await your forthcoming book on the fine points of elephant-shaped rides: "Dumbo Through The Years (volumes 1-3)" Interesting stuff, actually. At least to us GDBers.
K. Martinez, it makes one wonder why Disney would go through the trouble, effort, and money to make attractions for IPs like Ant-Man, which will probably be fleeting, when they have such a wealth of other, time-tested properties. Strike while the iron is hot, I suppose. Then rip it out a few years later for the next 'new thing'.
That’s correct : Dumbo is a opening year attraction at very Disney “Magic Kingdom” . However in Shanghai it is not located in Fantasyland but Fantasia Gardens .... their park’s “hub” that is counted as its own land.
I actually built the first few versions of the POOH HONEY POTS attraction on the large 1/100 show model of Shanghai Disneyland. Fantasyland started out with a “Alice in Wonderland” section with the hedge maze and Teacups .....all Disney 1950’s Alice. But marketing felt they wanted as many different character exposure to the future communist Chinese consumers that Shanghai was designed and built for. It was decided to re-design the hedge maze to the more recent Tim Burton Alice and give additional consumer exposure to the POOH characters. The communist Chinese knew very little about any of Disney’s characters so for many of them this would be the first real exposure to them and Disney company wanted to take advantage of that. Two factors drive the design of Shanghai Disneyland ;(1) Marketing to get a foothold in the communist Chinese consumer market and (2) the Chinese communist government insisting their park have the BIGGEST DISNEY CASTLE EVER!! And that’s why Shanghai Disneyland’s castle looks like a communist apartment building ... odd architectural details ... big and boxy ... sitting on a flat wide open space ....
@ JB-
"Strike while the iron is hot, I suppose. Then rip it out a few years later for the next 'new thing' ". Have you not been following the Disney fanatics for the past several decades-? (Actually 'fanatics' barely scratches the surface. As a friend of mine said a very long time ago: "There are fans... and there are fanatics".) The current Disney fanatics get all excited when a new 'themed' plastic drink cup is announced - which can be had for the upcharge of $25.00. [And don't even ask about the exclusive, numbered-limited edition, magical, sparkly straw-!] And I didn't even mention a new attraction.
I would never be so shallow as to place my life on any sort of pedestal that others should follow, but it does strike me that many of the 'Disney fanatics' - and I'll just let it go at that - are perfect examples of what happens to a society that finds itself with not only far too much leisure time, but just too much of everything. Or, put another way - this quote from John Steinbeck, which [coincidentally] was "borrowed" for The American Adventure at EPCOT... "We now face the danger, which in the past has been the most destructive to the humans: Success, plenty, comfort and ever-increasing leisure..."
Now... as for us GDB folks, well.........
Mike, I have often said, many times at random to compleat strangers, that the Shanghai castle is the ugliest god-awful monstrosity ever propped up in a theme park.
Now, wait up, Sue and JB! Dibs on the front seat!
Nanook, somehow I was thinking that they were red, so I was “sorta” right. Now I guess that they are “go away grey”??
K. Martinez, interesting, I guess that proves just how classic the Dumbo ride is. I much prefer the Mad Tea Party theme to a Pooh theme, but that’s just me. Pooh is probably a lot more appealing to the general public. I watched a video of the Ant Man attraction, and was… underwhelmed.
JB, poor Timothy, if he just held on, he would have been rediscovered by Quentin Tarantino, and his whole career would have been revived. Then he could do “Battlefield Earth 2: The Hunt For Curly’s Gold”. IN 3D!
Mike Cozart, “Fantasia Gardens”, well that’s certainly a break from tradition. I wonder what the rationale was behind that? I do get that merchandising is important to the parks, but it seems screwy to me that it would actually help to dictate what rides would make it to the park. Shouldn’t it be “the best guest experience” that is important? I guess I’m just not Imagineer material. (Clearly!). So does the hedge maze in Shanghai actually have a Tim Burton theme?? If so, yuck! I like some Burton movies a lot, but the Alice movies do nothing for me. I wish he would get back to doing smaller, more personal movies, but the last one he did (“Big Eyes”) was not a big hit, so I guess it’s back to the mega-franchises. So funny that China insisted on the biggest castle. Not the most beautiful. Sigh.
Nanook, I guess I have been downgraded to “fan” status, despite the fact that I blog about Disneyland almost every day. I don’t feel like I can be in the “fanatic” column anymore. A plastic drink cup for only $25?? Shut up and take my money! I don’t know if we have too much leisure time, or if it is partly a “bread and circuses” thing. Distract everyone with stuff that doesn’t matter in the long run, so to speak. John Steinbeck, I’ve heard of him. Founder of Steinbeck’s Spicy Pickles, right?
Nanook, (I wrote the following before the Major posted his latest comment)- Are you saying there is a new 'themed' plastic drinking cup available? And for only a $25.00 dollar upcharge? TAKE MY MONEY!!!!
(Funny, how it's almost word-for-word!)
Stu, you can have the front seat, if you like. I'll be happy in the backseat. All the rotten fruit and vegetables being tossed by annoyed readers must be quite alarming when hitting the windshield.
Major; yes... the Shanghai Alice in Wonderland Hedge Maze is all themed to the Tim Burton version of the film ... but any of the characters were given a slight animated look to soften the hardness of the life actors ( and enough to avoid royalties to the film actors) again the communist Chinese audience of Shanghai Disneyland was not familiar with either the Disney 1951 film nor the Tim Burton version.
When a “Haunted Mansion” attraction was being developed for Hong Kong Disneyland it was quickly realized that they subject used at the USA, Tokyo and Paris versions couldn’t be used as the Chinese have a very different concept of death and afterlife and spirits .... and there is absolutely no humor associated with it either. This is why the Hong Kong MYSTIC MANOR developed ... it has no ghosts .... just “cursed” and “enchanted” artifacts. But before Mystic Manor developed there were extensive plans of TIM BURTON’s HAUNTED MANSION ..... the Themes and characters would have probably been a acceptable to a portion of the (then) still mostly western friendly Hong Kong audience ...... but ultimately Disney avoided using it has it was difficult to get a fit or overall land for it. But the scary part was how excited many of the younger imagineers were about a Tim Burton Haunted Mansion and I couldn’t see there were people who would have no problems replacing the American Haunted Mansions with such a thing. To me tim Burton’s nitemare film is just a “low hanging Fruit” film mocking the holiday specials done by Rankin Bass. ( who I think are amazing )
Stu: Shanghai features some of the TOP ugliest things in the theme park industry ... the Castle .... Mickey Avenue ... and the park’s attraction posters.... ( they are horrible!!)
I looked up Shanghai Disneyland Castle. Oh dear. There I go again with the pearls. Wow...they didn't ruin anything, they just started out that way. Imagine when they do ruin it...There must be other elephants in Disneyland- It's a Small World? Somewhere. That's all I got today, besides the backside of Elephant. Wonder if that back side has a front side?....
I am kind of glad I don't have the money, because that Figment popcorn bucket was pretty sweet.
There were plans to finally develop some pirate themed attractions for Hong Kong Disneyland , but because of Covid and after Communist Mainland China invaded and took over Hong Kong two years ago , the Chinese Disney park development has basically slowed. Tokyo Disneyland development is very much active and today is still one of the most successful Disney parks.
I have also long held that Hong Kong and Shanghai were egotistical overreaches that made zero political sense. I wanted to see a focus on the original parks.
But that's just me.
I've seen the difference between Disney fans who obsess over history and details of attractions vs. fans who have Disney as their identity described as "foamers" vs. "pixie dusters" "Foamers" comes from serious train fans who would ride ride restored trains virtually foaming at the mouth in excitement. The pixie dusters are the ones who will buy anything Disney tells them is a collectible and pop up to explain how great whatever the latest thing is. Foamers tend to collect old stuff and are willing to criticize Disney's decisions.
I'd read somewhere that the "communist apartment building" :-) blockiness of the Shanghai castle was to allow bigger projection surfaces for the nighttime shows, and the massive size allowed more space for profitable restaurants. Also, a lot of the decisions around the park design has to do with the demographics of the CCP's one child policy. The standard touring group there is one child, with 2 parents and 4 grandparents, so there are a lot more places to sit in gardens while the child goes on a ride.
Also, I'm surprised they went with a Pooh theme for the teacups ride, considering that Pooh is somewhat controversial in communist China. President Xi is sometimes compared to Pooh, at least by people who don't fear spending time in prison.
Mike, I remember a year or two ago you telling us how Marketing had had an inordinately powerful hand in “helping” design Shanghai Disneyland. Your description of their efforts to squeeze in then-current films that the public ha already largely forgotten is disheartening. Cool that you built the initial models of Pooh’s Honey Pots. With the connection between Pooh and President Xi that has developed since the ride was designed, the name makes me chuckle. I’m imagining a sexy version of Kanga trying to entice poor, hapless Westerners into compromising positions to then blackmail them into revealing state secrets.
Dean, I think the ride was probably designed before the first Xi-Pooh comparison showed up in 2013 and the CCP got really sensitive about it over the next few years. Mike can confirm that for sure.
Not crazy about the Shanghai castle, but I think the remuddled Hong Kong castle is uglier.
Post a Comment