More Photos From Keith
I'm happy to be able to share more photos from Keith Schad! Today I decided to mix things up and post some photos from the batch that is from 1971-ish. Don't worry, there are still plenty from the 1958 batch! Keith believes that these are from the very end of 1971 (they were developed in January, 1972); the photos were taken by Keith's father in-law Ed.
First up... Main Street Station. Any visitor practically has to take a photo of it. It's exactly noon, I hope that they weren't just arriving! Of course back then you didn't have to worry about hitting as many rides as possible before the park got super crowded.
I love this pretty shot of a horse as he waits in the spotty shade (those leafless trees tell us that this is from sometime in the Winter). The Streetcar driver is on a break, if anybody approached him to ride he would just glare at them until they backed away.
And finally... balloons! I want a yellow one, but not just any yellow one, I want a specific yellow one that will take the vendor five minutes to determine which string belongs to it. The customer is always right!
THANKS so much to Keith Schad!
9 comments:
I truly like 1970s pics of Disneyland, as much as I like the ones from the 1950s.
I think that horse just.....well, to put it in Match Game terms, "tinkled."
That last pic was taken in front of the Matterhorn! Just in case anyone was wondering.
Thanks for sharing more of your family's photos with us, Keith! And thanks for posting them, Major!
First, thank you to all the servicemen and women who have served our country and made freedom possible for us.
Second, thank you Keith for sharing so many wonderful photos.
I especially love the 2nd one because it has a gentle giant AND purple and yellow Tomorrowland flowers.
I also love DL balloon photos. But Bu may not, as I know he recalls having to untangle them continuously (plus all the injuries from filling them with helium). Who would've known how much trouble those cute little balloons were?!
Thanks, Keith and Major. I think I'll step into that second photo...come join me on the [horse-drawn] streetcar...there's lots of room...
I like how the clock tower juts up at an angle. Dramatic! Looks like there was a pretty good breeze blowing that day.
Interesting that the Streetcar driver still has ahold of the horse's reins; he must have left the horse idling while parked. The red PeopleMover train just came out of the Streetcar's roof and is heading back to the station. The original location of the "speed tunnel" was inside the Streetcar roof but they soon realized that it was just too difficult to get the horses to stop in exactly the right spot for the PM trains to enter and exit. Live and learn.
OK, the balloons are, hands down, my favorite photo today. So colorful and whimsical. At first I thought there was a remnant of a popped red balloon hanging down from the cluster. But it's a pennant on a spire. Is that the Matterhorn station? And speaking of Herr Horn, is that a piece of him/it in the lower right corner? (Sounds like TM! agrees.)
Tokyo!, the horse is just leaking oil.
Sue, I'll join you but... just watch where you step.
Thanks, Keith for more of your family photos. And thank you, Major.
Photo 1, display of the National Colors very appropriate for Memorial Day. Disney has always had top form flag etiquette. I wonder how long it will last. We should all celebrate this holiday, in a solemn manner. Irks me no end to hear “happy Memorial Day”, unclear on the concept.
The horse may be idling, but the emergency flashers aren’t going, and he’s leaking hydraulic fluid. I hope the handbrake is set. A solitary Main Street Fancy Can has a cameo.
And who doesn’t love a balloon? Or a bunch, or bundle, or a clowder, or whatever that’s called. Very picturesque.
Thanks Major.
JG
Thanks Keith for the photos today, and thanks to all who serve, and serve those who serve. Main Street Station at noon...yes...perfect time. Lunch, and then a few rides....stay into the night. I am amazed to those who arrive at 7, then leave at 1am..good for them...I am not one of them (anymore, anyway.) Horsey just DID have his own coffee break...or possibly had too much coffee. It seemed that this act of nature happened more in front of the castle, then in town square. People would sit on this curb for whatever reason. Well...enjoy that. I am not, nor ever have been a curb sitter. No matter what entertainment is being thrust at me. I am confounded with people sitting on the floor at aiports...when there are plenty of seats on the floor. Some of them enjoying "picnics". Airport floors are "no bueno" no matter how "clean" they are. Back to matters at hand! BALLOONS. Balloon shifts were fun in some ways, and not fun in others. Balloon Room was always fun. Two separate things completely. The tangles were tangles, but the string "Intrinsic" was coated with something that made them easy to untangle. If you had a new person, or a lazy person...or a combo platter....when you relieved them for a break you would spend the entire time untangling their mass of strings. This was followed with "I untangled your strings for you...did someone train you how to do it?" Generally said with a poker face. Getting the color that the guest wanted was super easy...trade secret!!! You lower your bunch and grab the neck of the color they want, and pull the string from there. Super easy. You learn to be super efficient in whatever task you do at Disneyland. No matter what the SOP says, the employees will find a better more efficient way. Which is why SOP's are always in a stage of being re-written, and when they are finished, you start all over again. I worked in documentation and had to do that job. Teaches you a lot of about details, and EVERY detail had to be HYPER documented- even the smallest of the smallest...like what a key looked like, and what the key hole looked like, and a figure A, B or C to illustrate what direction the key would be turned to do whatever task the key unlocked. There was an unwritten SOP for keys to Walts Apartment, but a system nonetheless. To those that are interested, the keys were non-descipt and on a brass key chain FOB...there wasn't any "tah dah!" about it, or a giant sparkly "D" or anything. Just keys on a ring. With a brass circle...stamped with something that I don't remember. A key number probably. Not "WALT" or anything like that. Back to Balloons. Balloons had to be fashioned into an "Umbrella shape" as Family Schad has photographed. This made it easier for guests to see the balloons and employees to retrieve them. New people....These umbrellas looked like umbrellas after a huge hurricane. In order to "umbrella" them, you have to remove them from the bunch, then reposition them on the outside of the "umbrellas". The stings were wrapped around your index finger once. I suppose...all of that was an art. Hope everyone enjoys some time outside today! Thanks Major and Keith!
Everyone, I wrote this post months ago, and did not consider that today would be Memorial Day! As the son of a Navy man, I’d like to thank every serviceman and woman who sacrificed so much.
TokyoMagic!, at this point I love finding slides from the 1970s, though they seem to be scarcer than slides from the 1950s and 60s. “Tinkled”, ha ha. Also let’s bring back the phrase “make whoopie”.
Lou and Sue, good eye on the swirly purple and yellow flowers, I didn’t even notice them. I have no doubt that the balloons would get tangled, if you’ve ever seen the balloon vendors on a windy day, those things are moving around! Plus they make that noise. That horrible noise. Injuries from filling balloons??
JB, I’ve never noticed (during my own visits to the park) if the Streetcar horses are generally held on to while stationary. I kind of think not? The horse must be tired, hauling around that Peoplemover. It should be verboten, if you ask me. It’s hard to not like a photo of colorful balloons, but that is actually kind of a small “bouquet”, sales must have been good. I’ve seen four times that number in a vendor’s hands. Yes, as TokyoMagic! will agree, that is the Matterhorn in the lower right corner. And yes, that is the Matterhorn Chalet spire!
JG, I feel kind of bad that I omitted a reference to Memorial Day in my post, but again, I probably wrote this post back in January or February. Hard to keep track of future holidays! I think “happy Memorial Day” isn’t too bad, if it means that we can be thankful for things that brave people have protected for us (but I know what you’re saying).
Bu, I did the “arrive at 7 (earlier actually) and leave well after midnight thing the last time I was at the park. I was wiped out in a way that I never used to be. Poor horses, what are they supposed to do? Disney won’t pay the extra money for the kind that can talk. I’ve had to sit on an airport floor (carpeted) when the gate area got really full, but it’s not ideal. And I generally don’t eat at an airport, not even a Cinnabon. I wish I worked in a Balloon Room, and not just a crummy regular room. I’ll bet the balloon strings were coated with goose grease. Those SOPs are now sought-after collectibles by mere mortals, at least the older ones are. I only have one, from the Haunted Mansion. Maybe it’s worth something? I would think that it might be tough to keep balloons in an umbrella shape, especially in any sort of breeze. I don’t recall seeing a balloon vendor pull the whole bunch down to grab the selected item from the bunch, but… I might have just been looking the other way.
@ TM!-
I wonder where the world would be these days without being able to refer to things in "Match Game Parlance"-??
@ Bu-
In another lifetime, I'd be perfect to write/edit all those Disneyland SOP's. That's one of the many reasons (the SOP's, that is) Disneyland 'is what it is'.
Thanks for sharing these images, Keith.
And a good Memorial Day to you all. Imagine living back in the horse drawn days of the world. It was a smelly world after all.
As a matter of correction, that horse is a smaller Belgian and the driver is holding the "Lines", not the "Reins". Reins are those used on horseback!
KS
@ TM!-
I wonder where the world would be these days without being able to refer to things in "Match Game Parlance"-??
Nanook, the world would be totally _________!
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