Two Randos Plus a Bonus!
Happy April Fool's Day! Due to lack of time, I didn't have anything fun to share with you today, but one of the Junior Gorillas generously sent along this funny photo from July 1972, with a mom, grandma, and an extremely squirmy little boy, posing in front of the Mickey floral portrait at the Magic Kingdom. The kid might actually be transforming into a werewolf before our very eyes!
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program. This one is (obviously) from the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, looking down from the poop deck (heh heh). Mr. Smee himself, looking more svelte than usual (is he wearing a Santa hat??), smiles up at us. Which probably means that Captain Hook is right behind us, ready to keelhaul us, or make us walk the plank, or some such nautical shenanigans. I hope I don't have my hatches battened down.
Next we have Gus-Gus and Jacques, Cinderella's two mouse pals, walking through Fantasyland, with the Matterhorn chalet in the background. I don't see too many photos of these rodents, which makes me wonder if there had been a recent rerelease of "Cinderella". Meanwhile, when kids see giant mice walking through the park, they like to march along. It's a natural instinct.
45 comments:
Major-
Squirmy little boys are the best. (I didn't realize werewolves were welcome at Disneyland).
Cinderella was re-released in June, 1965 - and judging from both the style of, and amount of, clothing - maybe this image dates from then-?
Thanks, Major.
That mom and grandma are in for a FUN day, no doubt! Hey, Major, how do we know that’s not you in that photo?
Fun pictures, thanks Major.
And Happy April Fool’s Day!
Ha! We can't see the hand that grandma is using to restrain the junior werewolf, but Mom has a death grip on the werecub. You can see how white her hand is turning from the lack of circulation! Squirmy looks like he was dressed by Fräulein Maria.
Does anyone know what kinds of flowers are used in the floral Mickey? The yellow ones look like mums.
Mr. Smee needs to find a better optometrist. He can't possibly see through those lenses; they're a foot apart!
The girl-in-blue looks kinda nauseous. Maybe it's because she just noticed that she has bird legs.
Interesting souvenir hat on the boy in the white t-shirt; a cowboy hat with a feather stuck in it. Have we seen one of those before?
Sue, you could be on to something.
Thanks for the fun fotos, Major.
That kid is hilarious. He looks like Benny Hill when he’d play a naughty little boy. ………. It’s gonna be a LONG day at the Magic Kingdom!! I’m gonna go look at the attraction posters.
Major-
Also... I think that lad near Mr. Smee has a Kodak Brownie Starmite II Camera around his neck.
@ JB-
I was wondering the same thing about that "cowboy hat".
Do we know the identity of the little squirmy-wormy one? Poor kid....he was just camera shy. I can sympathize with him.
I love the pirate ship pic! And like Bea Arthur in "The Golden Girls," Mr. Smee just wanted to be svelte for Barry Glick!
I am surprised to see Mr. Smee in this part of the ship. He doesn't have a very stern look about him.
Did characters ever ride the attractions? I've seen Kenny Kangaroo riding some random rides at Kennywood before with some kids.
In case anyone is wondering, it is with great sadness that I say I Am going to be terminating my connection with this blog. Major, I have taken great joy in leaving comments over the Past three years, but I have decided that I can't take the added stress of Reading these posts anymore when I have a Long list Full of soap Operas to Observe at Length. Sorry
Andrew, Please Reconsider your Ill-advised plan to Leave this community, For it is Our connection with Others that makes Life worth living. Seriously.
Don't ever change. :-)
LOL, I see that Andrew spells out FOOLS at the end of his paragraph. WHEW!
And APRIL, too. I just woke up.
Chuck, I think Andrew should Probably Relax Indefinitely....surely, he would Lament the loss of this blog. By the way, who was the First One to comment On Last Sunday's post?
I can identify with that kid (about not wanting a picture taken, not about being a werewolf). When I was a kid, my eyes were very sensitive to the light (as all vampire eyes are) and my mom insisted on taking pictures with the sun in front of me. I would hold my hands over my eyes until she said "now!" and I would quickly take them off my eyes, resulting in a picture that looked all the world like I was being held up by desperados.
By the way, your legendary April Fools Moonliner launch pic showed up on Vintage Disneyland on Facebook this morning. I quickly gave you credit. Again. I think this has become my life's work...
I see what all of you are doing here, but I’m not up to the challenge, sorry. Thanks for the good efforts though.
JB, the yellow flowers are chrysanthemums, the blue are pansies, and the white appear to be petunias. I think the pink ones are carnations. The purple border “might” be wandering jew, and of course, the little hedges are boxwood, and some very finely maintained turf which must be really hard to mow. It is a very ambitious floral portrait.
The only flowers in Mickey that I recall from personal observation have been purple and white alyssum which are perennial (or at least biennial) in the OC climate, reducing the need to replace.
I’m also eyeing the elaborate wall design (without the iron fence and posters) making me think this is a fairly recent photo. I think the wall is brick now. Maybe this pic is WDW?
Major, when I see a group of giant mice, I have an uncontrollable urge to fall in line and march off with them, probably to a deep cavern under the Matterhorn.
Hope no one is seriously taken in by any hoaxes today. Thanks Major!
JG
@ TM!-
So then Barry Glick is taking the picture of Mr. Smee-? He does get around.
JB,
I think that's got to be a Frontierland souvenir. Don't remember them but I don't remember a lot of things.
Andrew, very clever. I tip my Frontierland souvenir hat to you.
As far as the first pic with the blonde haired Eddie Munster, it looks like poetry in motion. Thanks Major. What a sight.
Andrew, good luck! I was suffering the same stress with a Golf Cart blog. Sadly I said goodbye to my friends and proceeded to binge watch several seasons of my Days of Our Lives VHS library. It didn't help. Neither did acupuncture or hypnosis. I was an empty shell.
Then I discovered this blog. Sometimes those old stressful feelings start to resurface along with thoughts of leaving another blog. So I go to the Zoo and watch the gorillas (If I go missing for a few days that's where I am.) I don't know why it makes me want to continue being a part of GDB since it has nothing to do with gorillas but after a zoo visit the days are bright, the sky is blue and I read GDB posts stress free! :-)
Yapph Lirpa Sloof Yad
That werewolf kid is cute.
My favorite pic is the last one with Jaques and Gus. Great shot! I notice a queue rope at the bottom of that pic. I wonder if it was for the Storybook Land Canal Boats.
Andrew, Good one! While at Disneyland, I've seen Mickey and Goofy riding in the last car on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while waiting for that attraction to open. It was pretty wild to see. I thought for sure their "heads" were going to come flying off. I've also seen the Mad Hatter character on the Mad Tea Party when riding it.
JG, by jingo, you’re right - that is WDW!
Those mice are huge. But what did they expect after clearing the cats out of SBC? Looks like it’s time to pay the piper….
TM!, funnily enough, it was Sue. She sure took a couple of comments to wake up today, though.
I’m finally all awake.
Being WDW explains everything. That kid is wilting from the heat and humidity.
The lady on the right in the first picture’s dress reminds me of a yellow watermelon slice. Smee looking svelte is unexpected, since he’s wearing horizontal stripes, not vertical like the boy near him. He also borrowed Mickey’s shoes (didn’t Smee wear sandals in Peter Pan?) People are enjoying the mouse parade in the final pic, but Jaq and Gus’s rubbery dangly arms are quite disturbing. Thanks, Major and Andrew, I’ve seen characters riding teacups and the carousel. Too bad you’ll never read my response since you’ve gone ;).
Nanook, I’m pretty sure that werewolves are not welcome at Disneyland, but once the human is through the gates, what can they do? And I agree, 1965 seems like a good guess on the date!
Lou and Sue, I know that’s not me in that photo because I was always polite, well-behaved, and actually had a slight British accent when I spoke (just to show how classy I used to be).
JB, I wonder why that kid was losing his mind? “Let’s all pose for a nice photo for daddy!”. “NO! Don’t WANNA!”. I know next to nothing about flowers, so I will have to leave that to somebody else. Now I have to fine a picture of Smee from the old movie, did he have glasses that were so widely-spaced? I think that cowboy hat has a pheasant feather in it, it looks pretty cool!
Mike Cozart, yeah, they haven’t even gone in and done anything yet, and that kid is already a pain in the neck. Poor parents!
Nanook, because I have poor reading comprehension, I at first thought that you said that Mr. Smee had the Brownie Starmite camera!
TokyoMagic!, nope, no idea who that kid is. There’s “camera shy” and then there’s whatever is up with that kid! This is why I always have a flask of gin with me, it keeps kids nice and calm.
Chuck, as a kid I always wondered why Smee, who seemed like a harmless fellow, would be working with Captain Hook. He probably just took the job for the benefits package.
Andrew, “Kenny Kangaroo”?? Kangaroos aren’t even American! I’m outraged! And while I will be sorry to see you go, I give you kudos for your encrypted message!
Chuck, well done!
Lou and Sue, I was going to announce that I was running away to join the circus, but figured that everyone would probably just believe me.
Lou and Sue, since you commented before 6 in the morning, you are forgiven!
TokyoMagic! Gee, some of these comments are awfully weird.
Stu29573, it’s funny that you say that about your mom wanting photos of you with the sun right in your face… my mom has TONS of photos of her as a child, and her head is almost always at a slight angle down and away from the photographer, for the exact same reason. She even commented on it when I was showing her some photos that I’d found! Look at you with all of your botanical knowledge, very impressive. I do think that they replace the flowers in the Mickey portraits fairly regularly, does Disney have its own large fields of flowers somewhere in Anaheim? And yes, that photo is from WDW, I even say so in my text!
Nanook, everyone knows who Barry Glick is. Except for me.
DrGoat, that hat certainly looks like something a cowboy might wear. Probably a scout who can detect footprints, even on hard stone. I wonder if that squirmy boy was making high-pitched shrieks to go along with his moves? FUN!
Grant, reading your comment made me wonder: are there people who actually REWATCH old soap operas? Even as a kid I found them so uninteresting, and I used to have lunch with women from work who liked to go to a place that aired “General Hospital” on big projector screen, it was so boring! Going to the zoo to watch gorillas is always a thing to do, even if it means that you have to miss this blog. I will give my blessings.
K. Martinez, I always like any shot with characters who we don’t see very frequently. As a kid I loved Jaques and Gus Gus, but now those scenes just feel like filler, if you know what I mean. Except for maybe the famous “dress making” scene. We’ve had photos with Mickey on the Monorail, or maybe the Peoplemover too. Oh, and the Disneyland Railroad, and you’re right, the Mad Tea Party too. So they definitely do ride some of the rides.
Chuck, nobody reads what I write!
Lou and Sue, that boy’s hair was curly just moments before this photo was taken, but the humidity has taken all of the curl out of it.
Kathy! it is illegal to wear vertical stripes unless you have been licensed by the International Federation of Referees, or IFR. Yes, Smee wears open-toed sandals, seems like a bad idea, but Pirates are not the brightest sort. And hey, MY arms are rubbery and dangly, what’s wrong with that? Oh right, we’ve seen characters on the Carousel too.
Major, to complicate things, the ‘Magic Kingdom’ means ‘Disneyland’ to old-fart me, cuz that’s what it was called for years, before WDW was born. If you were on the DL hotel grounds - you were at ‘Disneyland,’ and the attractions were at the ‘Magic Kingdom’ or ‘The Park’ - a part of Disneyland. ;o)
Wow...we just entered and he's already having a meltdown?! That would have gotten us a trip back to the parking lot to sit in a hot car with windows rolled up. Public meltdowns were absolutely verboten...as a matter of fact...speaking was also verboten. I did have my fair share of meltdowns in Disneyland, but only when I was assaulted with Pirates and whatnots. I can see that the Mickey floral is the traditional Mickey Floral and not some "souped up" Hamburgler Mickey Floral...or a Kermit Mickey floral, or a Miss Piggy floral. Which, speaking of...I WOULD actually like a "Muppet- Land"...with all things Muppeticious. How can you not love a Muppet? When you enter "Muppetopia" you enter through Cookie Monsters mouth as if you have transformed into a giant chocolate chip cookie. Lining the walls of Cookie Monsters mouth are the attraction posters of the thrills yet to come in MUPPETOPIA. At the far end of Sesame Street is the "Colossus of Piggy"...a recreation of the Colossus of Rhodes done in Miss Piggy style. 17 million ostriches had to be sacrificed for the largest pink feather boa ever to be constructed. You won't need to paint her pink in 60 years...she is ALREADY pink! I love "Elmo's Scary Adventures", and "Fonzies Flight!" Spread em Piggy, I'm goin' in! The Electric Mayhem dazzles in a live stage show in Snuffleupaguskingdom where "Snuffles" delights riders on the "SnuffleShuttle". A round trip journey around the seven themed lands of Muppetopia! In 75 years I will create a website: "Gonzos Don't Blog." Where fans will chime in on how Muppetopia was ultimately ruined when Miss Piggy was given a makeover....to light lavender, subtle grey, and blue turrets. Happy April Fools to all.
Sue, I'm with you in that, to me, the Magic Kingdom IS Disneyland. It always was until that upstart amusement park in Florida opened. I mean, why steal an established name? So many others were available. Rainy Kingdom, Humid Kingdom, Copycat Kingdom... ;)
Major, actually my wife used to record Days of Our Lives every day (on VHS) and watch it after dinner. So I had to watch or at least hear the show daily for years. Fortunately she didn't keep and rewatch old episodes.
Signed... Grant :p
Grant, at first I was trying to figure out who the other old fart was that was commenting back to me. Glad you can relate!
Mom and grandma have gift bags. Maybe they ARE heading to the car to go home or back to the hotel. Because of Dennis the Menace?? Maybe he is mad that he didn’t get any souvenirs?? He obviously didn’t get a hat or ears. And why a photo on the way out, during a meltdown?
One more thought:
Before EPCOT, the park at WDW was referred to as ‘Disney World.’ I don’t recall anyone using the term ‘Magic Kingdom,’ at least not by people I knew.
It would take me at least an hour (or two) to come up with a decent A-P-R-I-L F-O-O-L-S paragraph... so I won't.
JG, thanks for the floral Mickey exposé! The mums were the only ones I recognized.
DrGoat, yeah, most likely Frontierland. It might be a "Swamp Fox" keelboat style of hat?
Grant, sknahT
Ken, " I thought for sure their "heads" were going to come flying off." Now THAT would be fun to see!
Chuck, too late. The giant mice ate the piper. And even if they didn't, I'm sure the swans would've.
Sue, I agree. The Magic Kingdom moniker should be reserved for Disneyland.
Major-
Well, not everyone-! (At least TM! & I do). The name is a one-time (unseen) character reference from [as you saw] The Golden Girls - Season 1, Episode 22, specifically. According to several sources, in spite of it airing very late in Season One, it was actually the second episode shot. Now you know far too much TV trivia.
Didn't Two Randos Plus a Bonus use to open for The Firehouse Five Plus One?
Like BU, meltdowns were not allowed. Can't remember either my sister or me ever having one of those. We had our own method of displaying our frustration and anger. My sister would just be in a huff or a while and I would just go into my impression of Eeyore and go into quiet, downtrodden mode. It worked on very few occasions. Neither of us were screamers.
Lou and Sue, yes I know what you mean, I used to resent WDW for appropriating the term “The Magic Kingdom”. But after years of therapy I have achieved inner peace!
Bu, I can’t recall ever having a meltdown at the park, I think I was just so darn happy to be there, but then again, I might have been a stinker when I was a toddler. What am I saying, that can’t be! I wish that they would just put the Hamburgler in front of the Disney parks and get it over with. Greatest. Character. Ever. I wouldn’t love a Muppet Land, but for some reason I never got into The Muppet Show the way everyone else did. I liked it, and watched it once in a blue moon, but it didn’t have enough killer robots from the future, nudity, or explosions for my taste. There is a sentence in your comment that I can’t even bring myself to retype, having to do with “Piggy”! Ha ha. Are you still on the road, by the way? Did you ever set foot in Disneyland?
Grant, oh, it’s totally understandable that somebody would tape a soap opera to watch it later that day, or within a few days, but I wonder if anybody watches soaps from 20 years ago? Is there a market for those vintage dramas? Maybe there is, and it is bigger than I ever imagined.
Lou and Sue, ha ha, I think more than a few of us now fall into the Old Fart category. I was looking at those bags, I’ve never seen examples of them before, maybe they were unique to Florida. They look sort of generic. No Mickeys or castles on them.
Lou and Sue, I do think that they used “The Magic Kingdom” before EPCOT, but I’m not 100% sure. You are right though, after EPCOT it was THE term that they used.
JB, yes, life is too short, at least if you have a low IQ like me. My mom is a flower expert, you’d think that some of it would have rubbed off on me, but no such luck.
Nanook, well that would explain it; I never saw a single episode of The Golden Girls. I’d see bits and pieces, but it was not a show that was on my list of “what to watch”.
Melissa, they did, until they trashed one too many hotel rooms.
@JB, thanks. Glad you found that. Major is attributing to Stu, which is fine, since he is busy.
For a while I wanted to be a landscape architect, knowledge stuck on.
Chuck, I guess the Major said the photo was at WDW, but like others here, the Magic Kingdom will always be Disneyland to me. It was pure guesswork for me, but that wall has always been brick in Anaheim, unless it was the old original ugly concrete.
JG
@ JG-
Originally that wall was "the old original ugly concrete"... complete with water staining from natural seeping thru the concrete.
LOOK HERE. (from 1965)
@Nanook, that was the image i had in mind. Hard to believe that was the front entrance for so long, I guess we were so busy looking at the floral portrait and the poster collection that it didn't register as "bad show". Really surprising to see weepholes for backwall drainage instead of concealed pipes to a storm drain. Really a cheap way to drain a retaining wall.
I checked a recent YouTube video from FreshBaked today, and reminded myself that the Anaheim wall is brick, not the limestone-appearance concrete in the photo today. Google doesn't include the esplanade in street view
JG
The “Magic Kingdom” is technically ANY Disney castle park. Disneyland is the magic kingdom and Walt Disney World was divided into the castle park “the magic kingdom” and “the vacation kingdom” …. The surrounding resort. When Epcot Center opened it became necessary to separate The Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center. This really began with printed brochure and map material and the like ……. The castle park would still be referred to Walt Disney World … on most signage and attraction posters etc… WDW RAILROAD , etc…. Over time there was more Emphasis on the term Magic Kingdom as more parks were added to Walt Disney World.
The monitoring of official nomenclature is very loose now, but technically it’s a management issue and also the lack of training and education of new designers not trained in proper marketing , writing and graphics etc. an example is while doing a walk thru of New Orleans Square the number of cast members saying “New Orleans” to guests in giving directions or even the conductors on the Disneyland railroad. It may seem nitpicking or unimportant , but it is important to maintain the quality of the product and the show. The fact that employees continue to use incorrect names of Lands and attractions shows management is failing to maintain this. Again , in the long run it degrades the quality of the themed show …. And will also make it difficult for the Disney company to hold its properties. Guests can abbreviate attraction names and subjects but anyone in the company that does is eroding the product.
Mike, you do bring up a good point about "eroding the product" by using the wrong names. It does get confusing, though, especially when names keep changing over the years. For example, I still want to call that 'studio park' in WDW - Disney MGM Studios. It was especially confusing when the name, for a short time, was The Disney Studios, before its current name, Disney's Hollywood Studios. Or is it something else, now? I can't keep up.
You have to agree, the worst case of "eroding the product" occurs when people call Walt Disney World - Disneyland. Though it's not done by the employees.
Major, maybe those aren't gift bags. Grandma may be sneaking in a whole fried chicken. It happens.
@ JG-
There don't appear to be any 'weep holes' in the wall; merely natural seepage of water through fine cracks in the concrete, seeking the path of least resistance, through a non membrane-coated wall.
Maybe that kid with the cowboy hat was predicting Woody from Toy Story by a few decades.
The Florida castle park is Magic Kingdom® Park. Accept no substitutes.* As opposed to Disneyland Park®. It's the most magical intellectual property in the world.
*Magic, Wonder, Wish, and Dream are trademarks of the Walt Disney Company, all rights reserved. We have lawyers, and guys who break thumbs.
@Nanook, 2 weep holes clearly visible at the base of the wall in your photo, but cracks are leaking too.
Site walls (not retaining conditioned space) like this are often not waterproofed even today as long as they are drained to relieve hydrostatic head. But it can be unaesthetic.
JG
@JG-
Indeed-! I'm afraid my eyes were drawn to the upper portion of the wall where the moisture was most evident. Thanks.
Grandma may be sneaking in a whole fried chicken. It happens.
Sue, you are right. It DOES happen! I know from experience!
Nanook, if I were to testify to it (as I have done in other cases), that wall has “failed”. Several leaks align with the post embeds for the fence, so inadequate concrete cover is partly to blame. The other cracks, who knows? Maybe inadequate reinforcement or the same lack of cover over reinforcement.
Fortunately even if structural failure also occurs, it is unlikely to be life threatening.
JG
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