Beautiful Tomorrowland, November 1959
Today I have three wonderful 1959 photos from Lou and Sue, so you know they're going to be good. All of these feature Tomorrowland, from only a few months after the big additions of the Matterhorn, the Monorail, and the Submarine Voyage.
This first one is neat because we can see that Lou is aboard the Monorail, looking out the window (he was in the rearmost compartment) back toward the Yacht Bar and the Matterhorn, along with the Skyway and the ramp bringing guests up to the Monorail station.
Now Lou's Monorail train was underway, gliding smoothly along the curved beamway, passing above the Autopia roads - but where are all the cars?? I wonder if the Autopia was down for maintenance?
This third one might not be beautiful, but it is the most interesting because it shows a backstage maintenance area that I am totally unfamiliar with. It appears to be a dry dock. Oompa Loompas in white coveralls are working feverishly!
Work is clearly being done on a submarine, one that was perhaps not finished when the Submarine Voyage debuted five months earlier. It still appears to have some red primer waiting for some gray paint. One man in a suit gazes down at the sub, I wonder if he was a Disney employee, or maybe even a General Dynamics executive?
Thanks as always to Lou and Sue!
19 comments:
Major-
All the shots are beauties - but I particularly like the first image. As for the Submarines 'round house', LOOK HERE to see where it's hiding. Near the lower righthand corner, and just to the right of the 'cloverleaf' and inside the railroad track, appears to be where all the "backstage" action was underway. (Thank you, Daveland).
Thanks to Lou & Sue for these lovely images.
Lou #1: Fudgie! It's been a while since the last good sighting. And this is a pretty good one.
It always seems strange to see the Matterhorn looking so dark and snowless like this. This is before Mickey, Donald, and Goofy tripped and spilled white paint all over it.
If the Monorail was headed in the other direction, toward the Matterhorn, I would say, "OMG! The beamway isn't complete yet! The trains are gonna reach the end and crash into the Alpine Meadow at the foot of the Mountain!" But it isn't headed that way, so... nevermind.
Lou #2: From this angle the Matterhorn looks like it has too many holes in it. Although, it IS Swiss after all. I like how we can see right through that tunnel on the left.
Lou #3: Fascinating photo. What do you suppose the Oompa Loompas are working on? As Major P. noted, there be Subs in the channel behind the workers. I suppose it's too much to hope that the 'suit' standing there is Mr. Disney. And what is that dark spherical thing sitting amongst the grass and trees? A fake boulder? It looks like the Sphere from the movie "First Men in the Moon". I hope they have all the Cavorite-painted shutters closed or the thing will fling itself into the sky, never to be seen again!
Thanks to Major, Sue, and Mr. Perry.
All those curved sections of track, ground-level and elevated, add a whole new level of vroom to the second picture. TY2L$S$TMT. (LSMFT.)
Beautiful photos from Lou, as usual. And that third one is quite remarkable. I'm assuming that is some sort of "roll-up" door in front of the submarine. I wonder which scene inside the Submarine Voyage show building, would be on the other side of that door?
JB, we can see Fudgie in that second shot, too! We can also see the masts of two "tall ships" on either side of the Matterhorn. I wonder if they share the same body of water? ;-)
Thank you, Lou, Sue, and the Major, too!
Love today's photos. Especially the backstage photo. When it says Lou Perry on the image, you know it's going to be great.
Isn't that the backstage area seen along the Disneyland Railroad where the sign "Disneyland Naval Shipyard" appeared? That sign later changed to "Disneyland Oceanographic Institute" when the Subs changed to yellow, I believe. Anyway, does anyone know if this is that area?
Thanks Lou, Sue and Major.
Ken is right - the name of “Lou Perry” is the gold standard when it comes to vintage Disneyland photography.
That second photo is amazing! It captures both tall ships; the Fantasyland Richfield Eagle; four subs in the pen, one underway and possibly one more at the dock; the Major’s personal swimming hole; ten Skyway buckets; the Skyway chalet; the multicolored Fantasyland Skyway support pylon; the red trim on the Motorboat Cruise loading dock; the festive “tent” roofs of both Fan 1 and Fan 2; Cinderella’s Castle; the Matterhorn load structure; the Yacht Bar; the Circarama building; the Plaza Pavilion; Fudgie the Whale; an empty Autopia; and at least two trash cans at the far left in Tomorrowland and possibly a third on the Motorboat dock.
As Nanook and Ken have pointed out, that’s the “Disneyland Naval Base/Oceanographic Institute” you can see the sign for from the DLRR just after passing through the it’s a small world facade. Last time I rode the Monorail (which, on my horrified reflection, may be more than twenty years ago), you could still catch a glimpse of the dry dock from the left side of the train. If you zoom way in and squint, I think the sub in drydock is D-306, George Washington.
JB, anyone who can throw out a casual reference to “cavorite” is OK in my book.
Melissa, I was going to recommend shift+7 next time, but then I realized you’re right - these really are “money shots.” Also - note to self - pick up a pack of Luckys on the way home.
TM!, the spur to the drydock appears to be located at some point during the “Bottom of the Sea” segment of the ride. Compare this map of show scenes from the 1966 Standard Operating Procedures with this blueprint.
Thanks so much, Lou (and his enablers)!
Yep, Lou pics have been scientifically proven to be 85.2% more exciting than the average shot. Now you know!
I love the subs! I especially love how by just changing the narration (and, of course, the style of the "boats.") they completely changed it into 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Thanks Lou and Sue!
Awesome photos this morning! I have never seen photos taken from the rear cone of the Monorail, ever. That was a place where only the round trip from the Disneyland Hotel guests would be allowed- with no entry into Disneyland. A whole lotta lotta going on in photo 2...a bit overwhelming. In the older photos it seems that there are more older people in them...or maybe it's just me? I remember this dry dock area for subs...either driving by...or something...it was "branded" in some way...just remember it was somewhere you had to "go" to, to go to it....not sure if I'm making sense...it would be a hard place to accidentally "explore" if you found yourself on the "wrong road" backstage. Other areas could be plausibly denied: "I had to park there because there was no parking ....la la la....." There was never any parking backstage that was remotely "convienient"...not when the park was open anyway. I remember you parked wherever, did what you had to do...and move on. Looks like go away green was in full force in '59. Thanks Lou and Sue for the historic photos this am!
Wow, top notch photos today, Lou, Sue, and Major.
It’s pretty hard for me to say “here is something I have never seen in Disneyland.” But that is the case here.
I must have ridden past this many times in either monorail or DLRR, but the go-away green did the job.
I’ll study these and come back.
Big thanks!
JG
Best way to get Monday started. Photos from Lou. As everyone agrees, they are the apex of Disneyland pics. First two pics are wonderful, and the maintenance shots are indeed, something I've never seen in Disneyland. The Monorail track is right there, and so is the DLRR. How could we miss it? As JG said, go-away green and some early Disney magic did the trick. Thanks Nanook for the aerial. That maintenance yard is quite a distance from the lagoon.
Thanks Sue and Lou, and thanks Major for posting these exceptional beauties.
Nanook, thanks for the link to the Submarine “round house”; I guess I never really thought about the park needing a backstage area to work on the subs!
JB, oh yeah, there’s Fudgie himself, when he was still young and full of hopes and dreams. You can always tell when photos of the Matterhorn are from the early days because of that dark coloration, I admit that it makes more sense to have it a lighter color, for that “forced aerial perspective” trick. And I always like being able to see through the Matterhorn, maybe because it isn’t possible anymore. I’d sure love it if we could confirm that Walt was standing there watching all the guys working on the Subs, but we’ll never know. Maybe it was Dick Clark. You get an A+ for mentioning “Cavorite”!
Melissa, I don’t think there’s any reason to add curse words to the end of your comment! ;-)
TokyoMagic!, this is the sort of backstage stuff that I would have loved to have explored, especially in the good old days. I’ve mentioned this before, but I always thought it would be so cool to snorkel through the Submarine ride, especially since you’d be able to go where the track didn’t go. I’m always amazed at how we are usually able to see the Pirate Ship from a distance, and (not quite as often) the Columbia too.
K. Martinez, I was looking forward to showing these to you guys because I knew how much everyone would love them. I assumed that that the third photo showed the “shipyard”, as far as I know this is the only picture I’ve ever seen of it, or certainly in this detail. I’ll have to leave it to somebody like TokyoMagic! to confirm 100% if this is the shipyard, though.
Chuck, I love all three photos as if they were my children, I can’t pick a favorite! However, you make a strong case for photo #2. Aw the heck with it, it’s my favorite, and my other kids can lump it. As I mentioned in my text, I really wonder why that Sub (I can’t tell if it says “George Washington” on it!) appears to be in such a sad state, and it was only a few months after the debut of the Submarine Voyage attraction? Was it attacked by the sea serpent or a giant squid? I’d love to somehow be able to confirm if the GW might not have been completed until after the ride had opened. And yes, as a kid, I always loved it when “First Men In the Moon” was on Channel 5. Or any Harryhausen movie, really, but that one was a favorite. I’m telling you, Melissa, was cussing up a storm! Thanks for the link to the blueprint, I might even have a copy of that somewhere - probably at my mom’s house.
Stu29573, I always wished that I would be able to ride the Magic Kingdom “Nautilus” subs, and was truly shocked when I learned that the ride was going to be removed. Such a crummy thing!
Bu, what a great thing to be able to do from the Disneyland Hotel… take a round-trip ride on the Monorail! I wonder if they figured that riders would be so dazzled by what they saw that there was a very good chance that they would pay to go into the park? Of course I also wonder who would stay at the Disneyland Hotel and NOT go into the park! See some of the previous comments that mention that the dry dock area was called the “Disneyland Naval Shipyard” and the “Disneyland Oceanographic Institute”.
JG, yeah, that third photo is pretty exciting for those of us who have looked at umpteen-thousand photos of the park! Any time we get to see something “new” it’s a real treat. I want to wear “go-away green” clothing, I’ll be practically invisible.
DrGoat, the first photo is really nice for me, I love knowing that Lou was inside the Monrail, and I love seeing the Yacht Bar and the Speed Ramp, and even the Skyway gondolas overhead. We sure are lucky to get to see Lou and Sue’s pictures!
Melissa, Disneyland's multiple Tomorrowland levels during this era has always been the most appealing aspect of the Park for me. TREDT? (I got most of your alphabet soup, but not all of it.)
Tokyo!, yeah, I saw Fudgie in the 2nd one, too. But it's not quite as nice and obvious.
If I had to guess which scene was on the other side of that roll-up door, I would say the erupting underwater volcano. The red lighting and bubbles would help camouflage the door.
I didn't notice the Columbia's masts on the left. I'm sure you're right about them sharing the same body of water. ;-) Actually, they are, aren't they? Was the Pirate Ship lagoon part of the 'dark' water system?
Ken M., Lou's photos are like the Good Housekeepng Seal of Approval.
Chuck, you left out that black oil-spot near the bottom of the Autopia track... or maybe it's roadkill.
Looks like your theory of the scene behind the door is probably correct. I guess there were lots of icebergs and such to hide the door?
Major, the gold paint "Cavorite" was one of my favorite ideas from the book and movie. It's one of my favorite films, but I was always a little disappointed that most of the Selenites were people in costumes instead of Harryhausen stop-motion.
Glorious
Major, Go-Away Green is very slimming and flattering to the figure.
Still can't get over the drydock pic, it's the Fowlers Harbor of Tomorrowland.
Yes Tokyo, that is a roll-up door, almost certainly leading into the show building.
Looking at the orientation of the sub vehicle, it must be backed off of the main track onto the drydock siding. I wonder if the drydock is "uphill" from the waterline, otherwise, it seems that all the water would run out of the show building when the the door was open. There must be a way to get a sub out of the water without draining the whole lagoon.
I wonder if this "back-out" configuration and dock location was selected to minimize visibility from the monorail? It's hard to see as you speed past without looking back, and I bet the narration is directing your attention to IASW or DLRR at this point.
It's probably hard to see from the DLRR since the train is more at the ground level.
So. Many. Questions.
JG
Looking at the Google aerial and the shadows cast in this location, it appears that a building has been built over the drydock trench.
Heavy tree cover between the railroad and the building, so it's probably hard to see at all now, and definitely nothing interesting like these photos.
Grateful to Lou and Sue and Major for finding something new to me in Disneyland.
JG
JB, I agree, I always want as much Harryhausen stop-motion as possible. I understand that there were budgetary concerns. The “moon cows” were pretty cool (giant caterpillars, but still)! My brother saw Ray Harryhausen at a hotel in San Jose and got me his autograph!
Anon, that’s a good word for today’s pix!
JG, if you look at that aerial photo from Daveland that Nanook linked to, you can see a Monorail in what must have been almost the exact spot that Lou’s Monorail was in when he took his photo. Kind of neat. I wonder if the dry dock had a sort of cofferdam arrangement? Then they could just pump the water out, and when finished, let it fill up naturally. I would also assume that they could have completely hidden this area if they’d really wanted to, so maybe they left it open to give interested guests a little thrill seeing some of the “forbidden” areas?
JG, interesting that there is now a building over this area, I wonder if it became part of the “dark ride” portion of the Nemo subs ride? Just a guess of course.
Wow. That maintenance pic is great. Lou had to be quick to snap that one.
I also love First Men in the Moon. Lionel Jeffries is a hoot. I loved the scene where the spaceship breaks out of the greenhouse.
JG & Major (and anyone else that’s interested), for some additional insight on the drydock procedures, check out this old thread from MiceChat; look for King of the Frogs’ first comment beginning with “Misinformation central around here…”
Based on that description, I think the Major’s guess is pretty accurate - a cofferdam opens, the sub floats into the drydock, the cofferdam closes, then the water is pumped out. The volume of the drydock relative to the entire show building and lagoon - the current attraction holds 6.3 million gallons of water and the original version held 9 million - would make the relative water level change across the attraction imperceptible. Since the drydock is at the same level as the rest of the attraction and the sides of it are higher than the water line, there is no risk of flooding the surrounding area.
The cover was built over the drydock to hide sensitive operations from spy satellites and stray Aeroflot flights.
Looking again at the photo Nanook linked above, there are some additional treats visible regarding the Submarine Voyage. Note that the lagoon is drained, and you can clearly see the tracks leading into the lagoon “sub pen.” I didn’t realize that those were back-in berths; for some reason I had assumed they were through sidings from a (nonexistent) switch just after the track exited the show building. On reflection, that makes no sense - why would you design a system to run a boat all the way through the attraction empty just to take it out of service?
I am also wondering - have I made this observation before and just don’t remember? I hear the first thing to go is your memory, and then…shoot! What was that second thing?
Wow, I learn so much from all of you. It never occurred to me that my dad was in the back of the Monorail, and also that he was 'looking back' to get that last shot. I can definitely picture my dad being all happy about that particular Monorail roundtrip - like a kid in a candy store with money to blow. I wouldn't be surprised if my mom was back at the Disneyland Hotel shopping - and my dad just wandered off. I know I mentioned in the past that you had to always keep an eye on my dad, as he just kept walking and wandering, snapping pictures of anything and everything.
JB, it would be my [and my dad's] luck that the 'suit' is Walt, and we missed his front view by two seconds. Just like that other shot from last(?) year where we saw some of Walt's little vehicle parked in the picture.
An early shot of Fudgie! Yea!
Thank you, everyone, for your super nice comments. I'll share them, tomorrow, with my dad.
P.S. I see that KS commented late yesterday, with some interesting info...plus he transported (rescued??) another Belgian. KS, is he now your new baby? If yes, please send a picture.
Post a Comment