Alice Snapshots, 1965
Looking through various folders, I realized I'd forgotten about some scans of some 1965 photo prints. These all feature the Alice in Wonderland ride's exterior... part 1 was published over a year ago! Admittedly those first examples are nicer, but I have to share the rest, as per the Geneva Convention.
The Alice ride is trippy and weird, which is why it's so great. But one of the most unexpected features is when our snooty Caterpillar emerges from the madness out into the clean, refreshing Anaheim air. How'd we get up so high? Maybe one-a them crazy mushrooms? You can just see the Caterpillar through the Mary Blair leaves.
Ah, there's a better look. I was going to eat that Caterpillar, but those false eyes on the side startled me. I guess I'm not much smarter than a bird. Hello, Skyway.
I also loved the simple-but-wonderful sensation that our ride vehicle might just plummet off the side of our leaf ramp. Ingenious.
Our little family has survived their trip through Wonderland, but they might have flashbacks when they least expect it.
21 comments:
Major-
That poor caterpillar is all scuffed-up along its 'base trim'. Love the family - all in hats - exceptin' Mom - who wants to show-off her BIG hair, with gigantic bangs; and 'lil Sis riding with Mom-!
I'm standing in front of the mirror - right now - practicing "looking snooty', preparing for my big speech tomorrow. I'm certain to knock 'em dead.
Thanks, Major.
Great angles on these shots! These are terrific you-are-there images, and those kids are adorable.
Did anyone else notice the turret dent??
Thanks, Major.
Sue
I dunno, Major. I think these Alice photos are every bit as good as the ones you posted over a year ago. While those others focused mainly on the passengers, these are mostly about mood and design. The two sets compliment each other.
In the second photo, the snooty caterpillar is jealous of the Skyway buckets because they can fly, and he can't... well, not yet anyway. You're wise not to eat him, Major; I'm sure he tastes bitter.
In the last photo, I like how the Imagineers made the rocks in that little berm look like small pebbles, keeping with the scale of the ride.
Nanook, in your presentation, be sure to single out someone and say, "Whoooo... are youuuuu?"
Sue, that dent is so small, I think it qualifies as a 'dentling' (with no capitalization).
Thanks for the Alice photos, Major. They're really very nice, even compared to the previous ones.
@ Sue-
"Did anyone else notice the turret dent??" You're nothing if not consistent-!!
In that last pic, it looks like the door beyond the caterpillar vehicle is open. Or is that just a little awning or roof, over the doorway? It almost looks like a "garage" type of door in the open position.
Sue, there does appear to be a dent in that roof....or even a "rumpling" of the shingles.
Major-
R.I.P. Bert I. Gordon.
Nanook, it will help if you picture your audience in their birthday suits. Or is that unbirthday suits?
Nanook (again), Sue owes it all to a little oat bran and hot water, in the morning.
@ TM!-
That sounds remarkably-close to a Golden Girls reference-!
Nanook, it was, and I figured you would get it. I recognized your comment to Sue, right away, as being a Bea Arthur line....whether you intended it to be or not. I'm trying to get away from the I.L.L. references, because I know the Major hates that show. I thought I would switch to "Golden Girls" references, since that happens to be his favorite show of all time.
Dense? I don't see any dense in the turrets!
Nanook, I didn't realize Mr. B.I.G. died yesterday. I have several of his films on Blu-ray such as The Amazing Colossal Man, Earth vs. the Spider, Attack of the Puppet People and a personal favorite Village of the Giants with Tommy Kirk. Love his 1950's "creature features".
Thanks, Major. These pics look wonderful to me!
@ TM!-
"Thank you, Dorothy, but hot water and oat bran every morning takes most of the credit". There you go.
@ Ken-
He was over 100 years old-!
Awww, lookit them cute li'l rugrats in their souvenir chapeaux.
I continue to be captivated by this ride...looks like the kiddies are holding on for dear life waiting for the next "big drop". Very cute. I waited a while to board Mr. Caterpillar not so long ago for it to go 101...note to all: when you are in this queue, and it goes down...there is no way to escape if the people in the queue stay put. It requires a "climb over railings and chain" cirque de soleil move in not the most gracious of fashions. Not sure why, when you are seeing an entire ride being evacuated, you choose to stay in the line, but there ya go. Same thing happened on Peter Pan prior to this (longer line) but they evacuated everyone including the line. Guests were screaming "WHAT DO I GET?!"....how bout a big bag of nothing...zip it and get to the next pen, people. Alice is a taxing movie, but I remember it was the first full length Disney animation film to be released on VHS so I had to have it...and watch it...(I couldn't get through it.) Visually stimulating, but couldn't hold me..I didn't know who Mr. BIG was, so looked him up: "Picture Mommy Dead" and others. Now I know who he is. All brilliantly unwatchably fantastic. Definitely much more watchable than Alice in Wonderland. The cast lists on the films are equally brilliant. Now I will 'Zoom to supersize and terrorize a town!" Mr. Big's quote, not mine. Happy Thursday all!
One of the top 5 dark rides, maybe “the top”. I know Peter Pan gets all the accolades for the flying thing, but for sheer wizardry and folding of Space-Time, Alice wins hands down. The unexpected mini Wild Mouse ending through the giant garden is the best finale of all. I love explain to people how it occupies the second floor over Toad, but I think chasing that lady across the concourse was too much, she just wasn’t that interested, I guess. Security was very understanding.
These are terrific pics, Major, and I love them. What cute little kids too!
JG
Nanook, it’s not easy being a caterpillar. For one thing, caterpillars are kind of gross. For another thing… well, there isn’t another thing. I love it when women have huge hair, I just scanned a photo of a woman who’s hair looks like she is wearing a gigantic helmet. Ok I have to ask… are you really giving a big speech tomorrow? Word of advice: start out with a dirty joke, that’ll loosen them up.
Sue, maybe ALL the turrets are dented? This is a conspiracy that America can’t handle!
JB, these two sets definitely compliment each other! I guess I personally just liked the pix in the first post a bit more, but these are OK too. You can’t go too wrong with the Alice ride. If you’re like me, you’ll take a nibble on any passing caterpillars. You never know! But they usually taste awful. Sure I could go have a cookie, but the smooshy worm is just there on the sidewalk, all ready to eat. I had no idea there were classifications of dents. I guess big ones were “mega-dents”?
Nanook, Sue has an eye for dents. She really does, she spotted a castle dent while watching “Soaring Around the World”, it was amazing.
TokyoMagic!, I couldn’t quite tell if that door was opened or if it is just recessed a lot. Not sure what you mean when you say it looks like a “garage” type door. You mean like a roll-up?
Nanook, I didn’t even know Bert was still alive!! R.I.P. Ricou Browning, though he passed about two weeks ago.
Nanook, I always walk around imagining everyone in their birthday suits. 7-11? Check. Walmart? Check (unfortunately).
Nanook, I will never get a Golden Girls reference, unless it is about my sweet, sweet Bea Arthur. I don’t believe I ever saw the show.
TokyoMagic!, you always did like oat bran. At the Gurrtini parties, it was “oat bran this” and “oat bran that”. As for I.L.L., at some point you’re going to use up all of your references. I hope.
K. Martinez, what we have here is a failure to communicate. (Anyone? Anyone?). As a reader of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” (greatest magazine ever) I feel like I have been aware of Bert Gordon for most of my life.
Nanook… all I can do is shrug.
Nanook, WOW, it must be because he lived a clean and pious life.
Melissa, I wish people wore hats like that all the time.
Bu, I once went on “Alice” with two women that I didn’t know very well (long story), and one was genuinely terrified that we would plunge off of the edge of a leaf. It was bizarre. You realize that small children can handle this ride? Weird that the ride broke down on you, it seems like a much less complex system compared to some. Did everyone stay put? Nobody else decided to leave? “What do I get?”, I love it. To quote Ted Knight in “Caddyshack”, “You’ll get nothing and like it!”. I have to agree about the Alice movie. It looks incredible, every scene is beautiful. I like some of the songs. But the movie itself is kind of hard to sit through. Even “Peter Pan” has some rough spots (the Lost Boys sequences). Let us all write a poem as a tribute to Bert I. Gordon.
JG, I think the flight over London and the hanging track of the Peter Pan ride all make such an impression that other dark rides are overwhelmed. But “Alice” is a great one. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite, though I feel like the redone “Snow White”, while nice, seemed to lack the old menace that I loved. People like spooky/scary stuff, Disney, I don’t know how to break it to you. Even as a child, I might have been frightened on the ride, but at the end I’d survived, and loved it. I remember you chasing that lady, that’s why your shoes fell apart.
Major-
Sorry... no speech. The only speechifying I'm doing today is right here - in the written form. (This way I don't have to get dressed-!) Please don't tell me you always orate 'in the nude' - I'll be so jealous.
YES - I'm well-acquainted with that [now infamous] 'dent spotting ability' while watching Soarin'... It must be in Sue's blood.
Thanks for the tip 'o the chapeau to Ricou Browning - in many ways part of the same genre as "Mr. B.I.G." (Browning was only 93-!)
I can see no turret dents on the castle but the east facing turret shingles seem to have a discoloration…. Or “dusty shingles” ( isn’t that a 1920’s medical condition??
That open garage door is one of the caterpillar storage doors … but I didn’t realize they opened upwards like that . It also has a distorted optical look … like the door should be longer … but then the bracket seems too small to support the door’s weight. “It could only happen at Disneyland!”
For how popular the Alice in Wonderland attraction is, I’m astonished it’s never been replicated in any other park. I’ve seen a few concepts for adding it to Tokyo Disneyland several years ago …. But never in another park ….
There is an audio recording of Walt Disney at a Disneyland 10th anniversary party/ dinner… where he talks about the pending New Tomorrowland….. and after that opens they will be starting on a “New Fantasyland “ ……. Supposedly there are photo stills of this Walt speach with concept art in the background- mostly tomorrowland… but a piece shows the Alice attraction entry garden with a relocated Mad Tea Party !! This is two decades before it actually happened.
As Paul Lynde used to always say : “ relax ! Don’t go getting your turrets all dented!!”
Bu, you say that Peter Pan went down, then Alice. Did you ever get on any functioning attractions that day?? I hope so.
Mike, ha! I guess I have to start looking at Major's pictures while on my laptop...as my little cellphone just doesn't do it for these old eyes. I'm seeing things!
Here's another vote FOR the Alice attraction (LOVE it!), and AGAINST the Alice movie (*yawn*).
I think the garage door to caterpillar storage is a counterbalanced door where the hinge point is closer to the middle than the top of the door to make it less heavy to lift. When it's up, it will look like it's too small to cover the opening.
Post a Comment