Fantasyland, November 1974
It's Fantasyland, by golly. Not Babyland, or Snakeland, or Scabland (three ideas I gave to Walt that he rejected). I guess Fantasyland turned out OK, though I am still a little bit sore about it. Both of today's photos were taken from the Skyway, which is par for the course - I honestly feel as if a good 25% of the photos in my collection were taken by shutterbugs as they zipped along the steel cable that stretched between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
So, down below is the "filet" of Fantasyland... the juiciest, nicest bit, with the Carrousel, the dark rides, the Dumbi, and the Mad Tea Party Ride. Delicious! Now I want a baked potato and a Caesar salad.
One of Anaheim's land whales got permanently stuck in Fantasyland, but Walt figured out a use for him. Monstro is kind of a divo (did you know that the male equivalent of a "diva" is a "divo"??) but four truckloads of sardines every day will do wonders. Li'l Casey Junior is coming 'round the track, hooray.
19 comments:
Scabland....I love it! Put it right next to Purulenceland!
It's interesting to see that the Storybook Land lighthouse still had it's ticket window. However, I bet the window was no longer being used by 1974. I sure don't remember it (or Alice's mushroom) being used as a ticket booth that late in DL's timeline.
We can see a few wrinkles in the Carousel roof. I don't think I've noticed that before. And while I'm looking at roofs, I can see numerous AC units scattered everywhere. Lowering my gaze, I see a somewhat rare green Mickey balloon in the crowd near the Dumbi.
Four truckloads of sardines and all the Canal Boats you can eat. This is a nice clear picture of Monstroland. He looks so much better in his black & white tuxedo than in his blue leisure suit.
There's something wrapped in a tarp to the left of Small World; sort of a none-of-your-business dark gray in color.
There are quite a few colorful fashion statements here: the lady wearing the red&white gingham tablecloth pants, to the left of her is someone wearing a horizontally rainbow-striped shirt, and then to the right of tablecloth lady there's the diagonal plaid every-color shirt.
Thanks for the Fantasyland pics, Major. I can see why Walt passed up on Babyland, but Snakeland? Everybody loves snakes! He really missed a bet, there.
We can see a few wrinkles in the Carousel roof.
JB, those are called dents! EVERY Disneyland structure has them! ;-)
Actually, I remember there being a big dent in the Carousel's roof, back in the nineties. The story was (supposedly), that one of the Fantasy In The Sky firework shells had not gone off properly, so it did not "burn up" in the sky, and instead came down and hit the roof of the Carousel. Does anyone else remember that? The dent was there for quite a while....maybe years.
With his stance on labor unions, I'm surprised Walt didn't want Scabland!
I love the rooftops of Old Fantasyland. And you can't take a bad picture of the Prince of Whales.
In 1995, I remember hearing a 20-something parent with stroller children discussing their options with their party: “Well, I guess we could go back over to Babyland or whatever.” In retrospect, we really shouldn’t be surprised when the general public shrugs its collective shoulders when carefully curated, immersive theming created by past masters of the craft goes out the window for “good enough, I guess.” It’s lost on too many people.
That carousel top won’t look like that for long. In 1976 the color scheme (and perhaps the entire top itself) will be replaced by a pretty close copy of the MK carousel’s pattern.
This photo brought back a forgotten memory…while riding the Skyway, did anyone else look to the south and wonder what it would be like to ride Skyway gondolas along the high-tension power lines across the Parking Lot?
In the second photo, I think that wrapped up thing that JB noted looks like it may be a searchlight. Did they use them as part of the fireworks display back then? Or maybe as a sort of after-dark ad, like at a car dealership, shopping mall opening, or movie premiere? Or were they still worried about Zeppelin attacks?
To the right of that, you can see the area where the temporary Small World Stage would be built in 1976 to replace the Fantasyland Stage while Space Mountain was under construction. I think you can see the tree JG graciously named after me standing alone behind the flagpoles.
I never noticed the top of Monstro’s rock is flat. Was that intended as a miniature helipad for Lilliputian dignitaries visiting Storybook Land?
Note the surviving checkerboard sun shade over the Canal Boat load station. I think they missed an obvious sponsorship opportunity with Ralston Purina.
Nice “wish we were there” photos today, Major!
Thanks Major, I'll always love this Fantasyland. There was an odd, enticing aroma in the original dark rides which vanished with the '83 rehab, though it remained in the Haunted Castle ride at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and I remember that odor in a corker of a spook house at San Diego's Belmont Park in the '70s. Maybe something to do with the bus bar track.
This Fantasyland paint scheme remained for many years; Tradition! The late afternoon sunlight reveals the tent tops are Masonite panels, which irked Tony Baxter as the years rolled on and the panels warped.
Under the Carousel roof we would see Dents; on the surface, they are Welts. Probably irked Uncle Welt, who missed no detail.
Chuck, when I was a kid I wondered why telephone and power lines couldn't also function as Skyway transportation systems. On rainy days every gutter with cascading water was a potential flume ride. Amusement park on the brain.
“What day is this, Pooh?”
“The day we visit Fantasyland, Piglet.”
“My Favorite Day!”
Yes, Major, these pics are the center-cut of the center-cut, after years of oak aging, these photos make a mighty fine single-barrel expression. The Angels Share indeed.
Even that narrow slice of Fantasyland yields four trash cans, truly a marvel.
Chuck, from my bit of experience in stage rock design, I’m guessing that flat spot came about as a by-product of some perspective view when viewed from below. Once the “look” was right, there’s no need to make it bigger or more pointy. Pure guesswork, but I’ve seen similar results for those reasons.
Thanks Major!
JG
Major-
I always thought the "filet of Fantasyland" was served at both Fan 1 & Fan 2... And speaking of "Divo's" and sardines - that boatload of guests about to entire the blackened confines of Monstro's big chompers appear to be "packed as tight as sardines".
@ Chuck-
The shape of that green tarp in the Monstro image certainly bears all the hallmarks of covering a Strong Trouper or Super Trouper follow spot. If so, I wonder what it was doing back there.
Thanks, Major.
Chuck, please refresh my memory. Why did JG name that tree after you? What name did he use?
Very nice views, today. Thanks, Major.
Oh, and “red sharks!”
—Sue
@Sue, Chuck recounted a vivid memory of some kind of event occurring in the locale of that tree while some other part of the Park was closed. a temporary stage was set up and some prop scenery of the Mad Tea Party was set up, and the tree in that location was the "peg" which allowed the location to be identified in the photos. Hence, "Chuck's Tree".
It shows very clearly on the 1968 and 1972 maps also, but I think it was removed for the ToonTown remodel.
@Tokyo, I left a comment on yesterday's post explaining your GGM saying about purple etc.
JG
Stefano, I was just telling Mrs. Chuck the other day about a memory I had of a storm drain I used to imagine riding a boat down when I was in Kindergarten and First Grade. Glad to know I’m not alone!
Nanook, that makes sense. I wonder if it was one of the follow spots used for Tinkerbell’s descent from the Matterhorn?
Sue & JG, it was a “Pooh for President”-themed Kids of the Kingdom show at the Small World Stage on October 24th, 1976, posted on GDB 40 years later to the day. The discussion that finally clinched the location was more than two years later.
Oh, and JG - thank you for clearing up the mystery of the “Red Hat Ladies” for me with your retroactive comment on yesterday’s post!
TokyoMagic!, they should have made that ticket booth in the shape of a giant sardine. And they could have pumped out sardine smell to make the theming ever better!
JB, yes, early on you could see wrinkles in the Carousel roof, I probably mostly noticed because of the many times I’ve had to remove dust from that area of photos. I’m wondering if the newer roof was some kind of metal? I never thought about the green balloons being rare, but you’re right, red, yellow, blue… those are the colors I think of. I agree about Monstro’s black and white scheme looking better than the blue one, I’m really not sure I understand why they felt they had to make the change, except to just add more color in general. I would love to go to Snakeland, and am just imagining the merchandise opportunities!
TokyoMagic!, oh yeah! Soon we will all be dent experts, and NASA will come calling for some reason. “I’ve heard that you are a world authority on dents”. “That’s right Colonel, I wrote the book. Literally!”. I never heard the story of the Carousel roof being hit with an unexploded firework shell, but would love to know it if is true.
Melissa, Walt was good at publicity, even if he didn’t like the commies. And I still love “The Prince of Whales”!
Chuck, ha ha, there was actually a store in L.A. called “Babyland”, and an industrial rock music band took the name as their own. I saw their debut show! While I know that many Disneyland visitors are passionate about the park, others really don’t care that much. It’s just “something to do”. Fair enough. I never loved the replaced Carousel roof, but it’s probably because I am too attached to the “Old Fantasyland”. And no, I never thought about riding the high-tension power lines, though I am ashamed that it never occurred to me! I just can’t tell what that thing in the tarp is, maybe it’s a searchlight, maybe it’s an upright piano. Did JG name a tree after you? Which one? I can’t quite tell. And now that you have pointed out that the top of Monstro’s rock was flat, there had to be a reason. I did notice the checkerboard sunshade, that had to be one of the last of its kind.
Stefano, what IS the aroma in the old dark rides? Machine oil and paint and ozone? They should make a perfume with that scent! Whoa, I’m jealous of you seeing the “corker of a spook house”, I’ll bet it was amazing. I can only read about such things today. Funny that Tony B. was so irked by the masonite. Calm down, Tony! “Uncle Welt”, OUCH.
JG, Piglet needs to buy a calendar and stop bugging everyone about “what day is it”. He also needs to get a haircut and join the Marines! I like my dry-aged beef to be so “aged” that some might consider it to be ready for the garbage bin. Perfecto! I was thinking that maybe the top of that rock was flat so that workers could safely stand on top of it (though I’m not sure why they would need to do so!).
Nanook, the “filet of Disneyland” was actually cat meat. Don’t tell anybody! Hey it was delicious. They really did pack the guests into those canal boats, they knew that they had to increase capacity on busy days. If that is indeed a spotlight, could it have been used to track Tinker Bell in the sky?
Sue, yes, I didn’t recall either!
JG, wait, they actually depicted a real tree in the souvenir maps? I always thought those things were sort of idealized renderings! So the tree in question is the one to the extreme left of the first photo? I thought it was in the second photo.
Chuck, you had a lot more imagination than I did. I imagined sitting in a room and staring at a wall. Pretty intense! Hey, you and I had the same Tinker Bell idea, yay. “Pooh for President”; we could do worse.
Chuck, I missed the “Red Hat Ladies” comment, I’ll go back and look!
Major, the pictorial maps do show the single tree and planter to the west of the IASW facade. After the removal of the old Fantasyland train station, the walkway up to it became this funny dead-end area, so there was a planter and some benches, I'm not sure if the tree was there before IASW or if it was planted as part of that improvement.
I don't have my maps on this computer or I would send a snip. I will forget to send one tomorrow, so I won't promise, but you have those maps. It's easy to find. I spotted it a while back during a search for the Frontierland ticket booth location. If I do remember to do it from home, I will.
Chuck, thanks for posting those links, I remembered the discussion, but not the details. I just read your response to my comment in the old post, and I am happy to report that I did find my old 110 instamatic prints on the fabric-textured paper. there were about a dozen prints, but no negatives. mostly the old standard views, Mark Twain, the Pirate Ship seen from the Skyway etc. taken in the early 70's, poorly focused and hard to scan because of the textured paper.
JG
I just noticed that the lone tree behind the flagpoles to the right of the betarpelated spotlight is also visible in this 1976 photo, standing alone and unafraid in a sea of blue folding chairs.
This hi-res scan of the 1968 souvenir map shows the lone tree and planter JG mentions above.
JG, I am so happy you found those pictures!
@ Chuck & The Major-
If that really was a follow spot in that location - it probably was used to illuminate Ms. Tinker Bell.
I suggest the flat rock is simply the flat roof of a structure with rock work wrapped around it, painted to match because of the sky ride. I always had slight issues with aerial views of Disneyland, since they give away so much: Backstage areas, the Main Street buildings being mere facades around a few big boxes, the very finite Jungle Cruise pressing against Main Street on one side ... In younger days it was somehow disillusioning to see Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and Small World were largely housed in big plain warehouses outside the berm.
To this day, just a little put off when a park-themed TV show opens with a helicopter shot exposing Main Street as a glorified strip mall. It's like publicity photos that reveal how small and cheap a set is, and in recent times how much is mere green screen.
^ I'm so old, I remember when green screen used to be blue screen.
We didn't have these fancy newfangled green screens! All we had was BLUE screens! But we made do and we liked it!
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