Here's a pair of quality Leftuggies - a feast fit for a king! Let's start with this July 1960 shot taken from the surprisingly long line - I guess these folks are waiting to buy their tickets, why else would they be standing there? It's fun to look at the people, including the little girl with one of those paper hats, much too big for her tiny noggin. It looks like a nun's wimple - hopefully a stiff breeze won't lift her into the air.
It's nice to have those pretty rose bushes in full bloom right next to the queue, and it's even nicer to see the E.P. Ripley on the platform (the rolling stock is adorned with patriotic bunting). And as an added bonus, there's the banner announcing the debut of the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland (as well as "America the Beautiful" and the "Art of Animation" exhibit).
Next is this photo from one year later, July 1961. We're entering Frontierland, and I don't really recall ever seeing that little ticket booth before, much less in that prominent location. It's also weird to see that island of grass and trees, just sitting there not earning any money. For some reason the masts of the Columbia seem especially tall to me, it's probably the altitude.
If anybody out there remembers seeing this ticket booth before, I'd love to hear about it! Even if it was someplace else within Frontierland.
Major-
ReplyDeleteThat ticket booth is a new one on me - but I'm no expert. It's even got the little 'emergency light bulb' poking out the top of the roof.
Thanks, Major.
OK, puzzle time: How did the little girl get the souvenir hat before she entered the Park?
ReplyDeleteThe Red Hat Bros (wanted in five states!): It looks like Mom is making last-minute adjustments to their attire, "Billy, how many times do I have to tell you to keep your pants cuffs rolled up at least three inches like your brother, Jeffy?". If brother Jeffy's pants were hiked up any higher, he wouldn't be able to see. The Matterhorn is taking center stage here.
Major, I'm with you. The Frontierland photo looks odd. I mean, I recognize individual elements, like the Golden Horseshoe and the Mark Twain/Columbia station (and the Columbia). But it looks like a modern scene from Anytown, USA; with the faded gray pavement, the scruffy patch of grass, and a little bait shop shack (the phantom ticket booth). Maybe this isn't Disneyland at all! I bet it's Freedomland? Or Nara Dreamland?
The Leftuggies were a little chewy today, Major. A little Adolf's Meat Tenderizer would work wonders. Thanks!
I just hope that all of those people in line outside the park, have a reservation. Otherwise, they are going to be VERY disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI don't ever remember seeing a ticket booth out in the middle of Frontierland's main walkway. Could that be the same ticket booth that we usually see in between the Mark Twain/Colombia dock and the Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland?
Thank you for today's serving of Leftuggies™, Major!
*cough*Fred Gurley*cough*
ReplyDeleteLove the straw hat on the kid in the stroller at the extreme left of the first photo. Also…note the single striped stanchion in the queue. Why? So the snowplow doesn’t hit it?
ReplyDeleteThe positioning of the ticket booth just further reinforces the idea that Frontierland is a gated community. I wonder what the HOA dues were like?
....note the single striped stanchion in the queue. Why?
ReplyDeleteChuck, because it's made of candy!
I like the first photo, hearing the Announcer and the clanging bell. Major, I’m amazed you can identify the train even when the name is obscured. The sign of a real pro.
ReplyDeleteBut photo 2 has all the gravy, starting with 3 fancy cans made of logs, just like Abraham Lincoln had in the White House.
Add me to the list of people not recognizing the ticket booth, even from another location.. wasn’t there one over near the train station near the HM location today? Was it this one? I wonder if they moved it because it looked like a toll taker and people were afraid to move past it.
Knowing Disney’s practice of recycling things, this booth may have ended up anywhere with a fresh coat of paint? I bet it eventually became part of IASW after adding gold leaf.
Thank you Major, leftuggies with gravy, my favorite. Now I want gravy.
JG
Nanook, the lightbulb lets people know when the person inside the booth has to use the “facilities”.
ReplyDeleteJB, “How did the little girl get the souvenir hat before she entered the Park?”. There was a souvenir stand just next to the entrance to the park, maybe mom or dad went over there and bought a hat? Or it was left over from a previous visit? Those red hats would take on a whole different meaning 60 years after this photo was taken. That darn Matterhorn is such a showoff, maybe a little humility would do it some good. I wish the second photo was Nara Dreamland, I think I have one single (not very interesting) slide from there, that place fascinates me.
TokyoMagic!, I think I’ve heard that WDW no longer requires reservations - not sure if that’s correct. Meanwhile, Disneyland is crowded every day. The little ticket booth reminds me of the one that we’ve seen near the entrance to the Pack Mules and Mine Train, but I assume that it is not the same structure. No idea though, really.
Steve DeGaetano, oh man, it sounds like you’ve caught that bug that’s been going around! ;-D
Chuck, I wondered about that lone candy-striped stanchion too, maybe it is extra magical. Ah, gated communities, we sure love them. “I’m here to visit the Terwilliger family”. “I’m sorry sir, you’re not on the list”. “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM??”.
JG, Steve DeGaetano is also amazed at my ability to ID the train! Even with his terrible cough. Abraham Lincoln split logs for trash cans, not many people know that. I have seen one or two photos of a ticket booth like this one over near the Keelboat load area, but it must have only been there a short while, because it doesn’t show up in pix very often. Did they hard-wire that lightbulb? Or was there a car battery tucked into the roof? The ticket booth was recycled, and with a few minor additions it became Space Mountain.
“I’m here to visit the Terwilliger family.”
ReplyDelete“I’m sorry sir, you’re not on the list.”
“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM??”
“Yes, sir. That’s why you’re not on the list.”
Chuck, D'OH!
ReplyDeleteThat first picture is a triple threat for me: pseudotwins, ladies in white cat's eye cheaters, and a paper hat that makes the tiny wearer look like the Flying Nun.
ReplyDeleteThe one-point perspective of the second shot really draws the eye past the ticket booth and down the road to adventure Yee, and may I add, haw.
I have no recollection of a ticket booth in this location. However, like TokyoMagic, it bears a striking resemblance to the one between the Mine Train and the Mark Twain dock. Sometimes on slow evenings, when I would look out from the Mine Train loading dock, I'd see a cute gal in the booth sitting all alone. Stopped by a number of times to chat with them....one of whom now has over 50+ years seniority. These booths were not air conditioned, so being fully out in the sun may have not been the best original choice. KS
ReplyDeleteLoving #1. You can fairly smell the anticipation! That is truly one of my favorite things about Disneyland; each of those people woke up today aware ‘WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND TODAY!!!’ Hyperventilating all the way to this point, awaiting the warm wash of “home” emerging from the train portal onto Town Square. Certainly back then, but pretty much true for all of us every time we go. (Yeah, now that pre-visit time is stressful trying to make reservations and way too much pre-planning) Back then it was show up for fun and be careful how you spend your tickets. Maybe some of you cast members my have different feelings about heading to Anaheim, but you know what I mean. The photo is also very nicely framed.
ReplyDeleteYep, stumped on that Frontierland booth too. So, a unique leftuggie.
MS
Is that Ginny’s cousin Gloria, swooping in a glam red gown, spiffy up-Do and Hollywood shades?
ReplyDeleteMS
Correct, the Park Reservation system is thankfully going away at WDW. Foxxfur has a good essay on its history and ethics here
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDeleteTHIS is probably everybody's best guess as to the booth and the 'more memorable' location for it. (from September, 1965).
Maybe the same thing, with a different sign LOOK HERE. (from April, 1963).
Another view LOOK HERE (from December, 1964).
And what may, or may not, be the same building LOOK HERE. (from the 1950's).
There are images of it in that same location at least up thru 1975. Maybe this version of the booth began its life up-front in Frontierland, and then moved back to the Pack Mule/Mine Train confluence.
@Nanook, thanks for the links, this is probably the same booth for sure.
ReplyDeleteLooking more closely at today's pic, the detailing has little wood brackets that look like those on the Train Station, a family resemblance. I'm sure they moved it around to find a good spot.
@Major, I think the power supply was probably a cord to a plug pedestal in the shrubbery. We have seen in other photos that there were outlets for both power and sound stubbed up at different spots in the planters.
@MS, "the warm wash of home". What an apropos phrase, I know that exact feeling and still feel it to an extent entering the Park. I think it is unique to Disneyland.
@Steve DG, hope your cough gets better.
JG
Melissa, I am looking forward to the big-budget blockbuster movie version of “The Flying Nun”, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Timothée Chalamet.
ReplyDeleteKS, I have the feeling that the ticket booth was there for a very short time. It seems like a traffic jam could be caused on very busy days! Wow, amazing to think that there are people who have worked at Disneyland for 50+ years.
MS, I sometimes wondered if I was the only person who was quite so excited to be at Disneyland! I know that my siblings liked it, but they didn’t love it. They forgot about it the next day, whereas I would replay the highlights over and over in my brain-VCR. There was definitely something about walking through the tunnels and into Town Square - the world just felt different!
MS, maybe it’s Ginny’s mother!
Dean Finder, thank you for that link, I thought that Foxxfur had quit writing (her blog has been unchanged for a long time). Glad to see she’s still with us.
Nanook, you did ALL the research! Thank you. As you said, it’s hard to be sure if any of them are the same building, or if they were all built using the same template. But I love those humble little ticket booths!
JG, it’s great that the carpenters went to the trouble of adding those tiny details - brackets and the saw-tooth decoration (not sure what that is officially called). They could have easily just made everything right angles and who would even notice? I’ll take your word for it on the plug pedestal, something I have never noticed! Still, it makes more sense really. Now I’ll have to look for other photos of that little “island” to see if I can spot the outlets. Thanks JG!
Nanook...that ticket booth was moved away from the MT loading dock sometime after that 1965 picture. Much more mid position between the Train and the Mark by the time I arrived in the early 70s. KS
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