Twainapalooza
Today we're continuing through scans from our friend, the Mysterious Benefactor, and a large group of publicity images featuring the Mark Twain. Maybe you've heard of it?
First up is this pretty shot of the Mark Twain at night, all lit up. On the lower deck you can see ghostly images of passengers who just wouldn't stand still.
Next is a photo that could easily have been used on the cover of an issue of "Vacationland", or perhaps "Disney News". Well, maybe if it was in "portrait" mode. I guess the photographer was using a new cell phone.
This third example has some issues (you don't need me to point them out), but is notable for the presence of Big Thunder, but of more interest to me is that tower to the right, which I believe is where Tinker Bell landed after her flight from the top of the Matterhorn.
The steamboat is chugging past Tom Sawyer Island (it can't help it), and we can see Fort Wilderness in the distance. The folks at the rail are HIP-MO-TIZED by the churning of the paddle wheel.
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Here's another one that I feel like I've seen before; it's probably just "one of those photos". Clearly this is when piranhas were in the Rivers of America, they are attacking that raft to our left.
And finally, a lovely telephoto shot looking past the Old Mill (no "Fantasmic!" yet), with a pair of Canoes trailing the Mark Twain. Those big trees in the distance are impressive.
THANK YOU, Mysterious Benefactor!
14 comments:
Major-
As usual from the M B, these are lovely images. I was thinking, rather than cover art for "Vacationland" or "Disney News", how's about "Ladies' Home Journal" - just because.
Thanks to the M B.
Love these images. Especially the night one.
In the second to last photo, the water has a teal look to it. Maybe we veered off to Antiqua.
The last photo is super-busy, and fun!
Thanks MB and MP!
1) I don't see no "ghostly images of passengers". Have you been hittin' the sauce again? (Sriracha) Or maybe I've been hittin' the sauce, and that's why I can't see the ghostly images. Be that as it may, it IS a lovely photo of Mr. Twain's namesake.
2) Wow! the colorful flowers in the foreground really make this one special! And the (also colorful) DL Band is an added bonus. I like the lampposts too. In fact, I'm gonna save this one.
3) It may have "issues", but I like it! Is this early morning? It looks like it; with a little mist in the air. Still and quiet. If that's Tinker Bell's landing pad, then why don't we see it in a lot of other photos?
4) From this low angle (from a canoe?) the Mark Twain looks like it is missing most of its upper structure and wheelhouse. Really nice color and contrast in this one.
5) As if the AEDs weren't bad enough, now we find out there are piranhas in the ROA! OMG! LOL! (I had a sudden urge to use a bunch of acronyms.)
6) Another excellent photo! I kept this one, too. Again with the perfect color and lighting. Ever since (I think) Ken S. told us that the Canoe Guys' coonskin caps are 'topless', I always notice that fact in photos like this... it makes me chuckle. I mean, it sort of defeats the purpose of wearing the hat (in real life).
Applause to the Mysterious Benefactor for these extra-special photos. Thanks, Major.
Love these images of the Mark Twain.
The second image definitely has Vacationland vibes.
My favorite has to be the image with the Old Mill and Canoes. Just beautiful.
Thanks, Major.
It's hard to take a bad picture of the old girl.
Yes, that is Tinkerbell's tower. Her landing platform was originally located behind Nature's Wonderland, so once they started bulldozing that attraction, she stopped appearing as a part of the summer firework shows. She was absent for 6 summer seasons, but was brought back the same summer that the New Fantasyland opened. Her new "landing" tower was added at that time.
I recognized that second shot right away. It is much older than most (all?) of the other photos we have seen from the M.B. Look closely and you'll see Rainbow ridge in the background. This photo was taken just a few seconds after this one, which was used on the cover of a Frontierland View-Master packet:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325577395716?itmmeta=01HTMDPKANC6YVBEEAK1VDPE4R&hash=item4bcdecce04:g:6wIAAOSwpKRkEzFp&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8PoViKpm7uygQ76CGewrfjXJ0p3dtCR9JYXeQ8aGTd6bu%2B24R%2FYM5mpyiLOdJ2XqWsKn6vp56qJB2IoL3h76k6IN8YOdSKT4Y14lvST60Ix%2Fj6bpL50Sf9YXsYH8G2rWB2n0gvpCvozn7qGwFR6mmjisGHcXiMD640UEE9ohAWR8NdFeOI%2FV%2Bk3cYktkKatYPf%2Fy5uUHVargRayG%2FgXGM4hu8ZSNbmgOTKL5btpTDqLuGhAGZB5zoYwDSTyU6SNjb4aLE00C7XMwG4fkhZcQfL%2BlxrozNid960j3MoGBtuXvH9kepy2Ud5m55JPoQZzSCA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7S12o3VYw
Thank you Major and M.B.!
I remember catching glimpses of Tinkerbell’s Tower in the early ‘90s and thinking “what the heck is that for?” before eventually figuring it out. By then it was mostly obscured by trees and could only be seen from a few angles. I do like that they made it out of treated wood in a style that didn’t look out of place in the corner between Frontierland and Fantasyland. I don’t recall seeing it on childhood visits, and a look at overhead imagery shows that it’s located on the site of where the Rainbow Caverns show building was. I’m going to assume that that’s where Tink landed until around 1977. The tower is now apparently camouflaged by a variety of Disneyodendron semperflorens. You can read more about it HERE (there’s even a photo of what it looks like today - or at least what it looked like in 2010).
Thanks, Major!
Oh, I see TM! confirmed my theory about where Tink landed before 1977. Now that you mention her absence for 6 seasons, I vaguely remember reading that somewhere. Thanks, TM!
I really never tire of pictures of the Mark Twain. There I said it.
Of all the amazing bits of Disneyland, the MT and its River strike me as the greatest bit of chutzpah by Walt. Build your own steamboat AND the River to run it in, AND letting me come play in it, wow, wow, wow. I’m still waiting for some internet billionaire to do something as wild. I guess building a real rocket to Mars will have to do. And I won’t get to ride it…
It’s hard to pick a favorite here, the floral shot is pretty fine, but I like the idea of ghosts taking over. Maybe this will become part of a new haunted mansion backstory. Also good to see the Island before it was ruined.
Was Tinkerbell’s tower made of Tinker Toys? And that canoe is “gunnels awash”, one more chunky tourist or too fast of a turn and they would be piranha fodder.
Thank you, Major and MB, very nice indeed.
JG
Nanook, I was not legally allowed to look at “Ladies’ Home Journal”, because I am a dude. I didn’t want to go to jail!
Lou and Sue, you may have noticed that the water on the Jungle Cruise sometimes looks like pea soup, and other times has a dark green (or teal) look to it. I guess they just dump some other kind of dye into the water?
JB, I’m sorry you don’t see the ghostly passengers. I see dead people! But that’s another story for another time. I do enjoy hitting the sauce, however, and am in fact drunk right now. While I often prefer night images (because they are not as common), I think photo #2 is my favorite, because it really does evoke those old Disneyland magazines such as “Vacationland”. We don’t see that landing pad often because I don’t share a lot of post-1983 photos. And that one photo of the Twain is from early morning, as you suspected. Until Ken S. pointed out that the coonskin caps had no top, I had never noticed. Now I can’t unsee it!
K. Martinez, whenever I see Tom Sawyer Island and the Old Mill (pre-“Fantasmic!”), it makes me a bit sore; that ugly structure that replaced the mill is such an eyesore.
Melissa, it’s true!
TokyoMagic!, as always, you are full of information! Maybe you are actually a robot? The “landing tower” for Tinker Bell is fascinating, being two or three stories tall, and it’s just kind of “out there”. I guess people just blipped past it and didn’t think about what it was. And WOW, your comparison of photo #2 and that View Master packet is amazing! You’d think that I would have picked up on it, being a former rabid View Master collector, but I didn’t. Awesome!
Chuck, if I’d ever noticed Tink’s tower (and I don’t think I ever did), that I would have guessed what its purpose was. It would have never occurred to me! Did she still get caught by a couple of guys holding a mattress? I would imagine that the person playing Tink had to make herself more compact at the last second… it looks kind of dangerous. I used to have a photo of the old landing pad in the Nature’s Wonderland area, it was surprisingly crude and minimal. Thanks for the link to the Mice Chat forum.
Chuck, I vaguely remember when Tink did not appear for months (probably from reading about it). Or maybe I just think I remember it?
JG, I agree, the river seems nearly impossible in concept. How can they build a man-made river that actually feels big enough and “natural” enough to look legit? As we’ve seen in early photos, it really was convincing before there was quite so much development along the river, but it’s still neat. If I ever win one of those billion-dollar plus Mega Millions lotteries, I will build my own river, and fill it with Mountain Dew Code Red!
TokyoMagic!, I forgot to mention that there is another photo in the "Mysterious Benefactor" batch that was taken seconds before a post card photo, it is nearly identical except for a few details!
JB....yes...topless...and back then we all had hair and no worries about getting sunburned! I would have to slather my head with UV screening today. That last picture takes me back to my days. Just wonder when that pic was taken because I had an immediate thought of the CM who is shown standing up. We had to use common sense around the MT. OK...I have to run...been busy for a while. KS
Major-
"Did she still get caught by a couple of guys holding a mattress
I don't remember the year, but fairly certain it was post-1983; your sentence described exactly what happened. (I guess we'll never know if the mattress had a 'pillow top' or not...) What was most-interesting was the [apparent] landing speed didn't seem all that fast. I suppose I would've felt differently had I been careening down the cable - I mean flying.
And no, I don't remember exactly where we stood in order to capture a very clean shot of the platform and the goings-on when Tinker Bell 'landed'.
Forgot to mention that when the post title first crossed my blind spot, I got irrationally excited because I thought it said "Twinapalooza."
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