Snoozles™
Some slides are Snoozles, without a doubt. Others are not so obvious - today's examples really baffled the ICSGF&L (the International Consortium of Slide Grading Fellas & Ladies); they even postponed their lunch break by 10 minutes. That never happens! (Lunch was Beefaroni and lime Jello).
What does the world look like from the top deck of a steamboat? Philosophers have been asking themselves that question for centuries, even though they were standing right next to a steamboat. Nobody said philosophers were smart. Here we observe a view looking westward (ho!), past the Old Mill and toward Frontierland Station (to the left). As you can see, the forests continue for hundreds of miles. The Columbia's masts peek up from beyond Tom Sawyer Island, the ship is likely at rest in Fowler's Harbor.
A second view, and a familiar one, with the queue building for the Mark Twain and the Columbia below, and the Golden Horseshoe theater in front of us.
10 comments:
Major-
I don't know if it's merely an optical illusion but, Old Glory flying above the Golden Horseshoe looks a bit tattered. (For shame-!)
Thanks, Major.
Wow, anything that would keep the ICSGF&L from their Beefaroni and lime Jello for 10 minutes must really be earth-shattering!
The sails on the Columbia look kinda ragged and creepy... It's a ghost ship! The forest does look like it goes on forever. I guess the berm is doing what it was intended to do.
In the last photo, there are two young guys in uniform, to the right of center. Not sure what kind of uniforms they are. Let's ask Chuck! "Hey, Chuck!"
Nanook, I don't think it's an optical illusion, the flag really does look tattered... a LOT! Maybe the Santa Ana's whipped through recently.
OK, so the photos aren't so earth-shattering after all... I want my money back! (Joking. I know that GDB doesn't issue refunds.) The pics are actually kind of nice... for Snoozles. Thanks, Major.
In that first pic, it looks like there is an opening in the railing around the TSI dock. I know the rafts loaded and unloaded on that dock, back in those days. I suppose there could be a rope or two across that opening, which we just aren't seeing. But it is fun to think that it was wide open and the next person who comes along with their face buried in their cell phone, will just fall into the Rivers of America. Yes, there were cell phones back then, and everyone had one! In fact, they were absolutely required if you wanted to jump to the front of the line to enter the Indian Village, or for pre-ordering your Chicken Dinner at Swift's Plantation House.
Perhaps the ICSGF&L were flummoxed by the shadowy figure sitting just outside the mill entrance? They look pretty sketchy to me.
Tokyo, Mrs G and I were just talking yesterday that no one can visit the Parks today without a smart phone. I don’t think you can even get a paper admission ticket now, even if all you wanted to do was walk around, eat, and shop.
I see some of the woody-goody trash cans in photo 2 and there might be a simple one on the TSI dock.
JB, those boys are in uniform, but I don’t think they’re BSA. The stripe on the trouser leg is unusual. I will defer to Chuck of course.
Back on the farm, we had a few stray horseshoes dating from before WWII when Dad farmed with horses. He sprayed one of those shoes with gold paint and hung it up over the garage doors. I wish I still had that shoe. It had to be hung with the open end pointing up or the good luck would run out. Physics is hard.
Thanks Major! I’m glad you’re in solid with the ICSGF&L, they’re a good group to know. I have had brushes with them myself. I hope that beefaroni and lime jello was served with a tall glass of cold milk, none of that 2% stuff either.
JG
Nanook, that flag is pretty ragged, they should have sent one of the dancers to shinny up the pole and replace it with a new one!
JB, lime jello is one of those taste sensations that even make the French swoon. “Sacre bleu!” they probably exclaim. To be honest it’s the dollop of whipped cream that makes all the difference. I like the Columbia looking spooky, in fact they should have it be a “ghost ship” all year long. They could have a Nosferatu-like character strolling the decks. I have ideas. I’ll bet Chuck could tell us a surprising amount of stuff about those two servicemen. “Favorite candy? Good ’n Plenty!”. Yuck, licorice, no thank you. The Santa Anas might very well be responsible for that tattered flag.
TokyoMagic!, you’re right, that opening is a menace, and I hope I can sue the park for millions for “mental anguish” or some such nonsense. I mean trauma. At a local mall, there is a Gold’s Gym, and I’m always astonished at how many people, just leaving the gym, are staring at their phones and they don’t even look up to see if it’s safe to cross the street. Good thing Virginia Knott isn’t on the road these days. Cell phones are useful tools, but man, it sure was nice when we were not slaves to those things.
JG, I guess that figure is so shadowy that I can’t even see it. But I like the idea of something spooky lurking. Let’s be honest, I want the entire park to be spooky and haunted! Many many years ago I got to speak to Tony B., and he mentioned that they had an idea of making IASW interactive, where guests would periodically have to look at their phones for some reason. I didn’t say anything, but thought that it was a horrible idea. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should do it! My grandma’s house had a little “barn” (a stable really) for my mom’s horse, and it had a horseshoe over the main door, why didn’t I save that? Milk and Beefaroni is a classic combo. Gosh, I used to have milk with every meal when I was a kid, now I can’t remember the last time I had a glass of milk for anything.
@ TM!-
"In that first pic, it looks like there is an opening in the railing around the TSI dock. I know the rafts loaded and unloaded on that dock, back in those days".
And THAT'S the dock where Tony Curtis escapes the clutches of Tom Reese as he 'leaps across' the RoA to land on the [already departing] Injun Joe raft in 40 Pounds of Trouble about two years later.
The mining tunnel entrances of BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD feature a horseshoe above each frame …upside down to “hold in all the luck” ….. observant riders might notice the “cave-in-tunnel” ( now an exploding tunnel) has a loose horseshoe above it’s entry and all the luck has poured out.
Apparently that was a common practice among miners in the 1800’s said articles about Big Thunder in Disney News in the late 70’s. And maybe it was . I have about 5 dozen books on Ghost Towns of the American West , Mining Towns of The Gold Rush , and Mines of California, Arizona and Colorado ….. and I always look at the vintage photos searching for a lucky horseshoe above the mine entrances …. And haven’t seen one yet… (??) however one appears in a modern (1965) image of one of Virginia City Nevada’s famed Comstock mines with well dressed tourists walking out of the tunnel - safely.
MAJOR: there was similar plans years ago to interactively “photo hunt” ghosts in the HAUNTED MANSION - guests using their Cel phones !! I cringed.
When I go to Disneyland with people who have never been or haven’t been in many many years , I have them get a Pirate fortune card from FORTUNE RED in New Orleans Square - they love it. Especially with the added information about the coins in the in box… the artist info in the map and the original source of the music that plays while the fortune is produced after the quarter has been inserted. Anyway , in recent years the Disneyland AP offers guests a free fortune from Fortune Red. ( they are different than the regular series) however when the AP free phone signals the machine for the free fortune it throws the machinery outta-whack … then the next and sometimes the 2nd and third CASH paying guest gets cheated and receives no fortune!!!!
If this happens sometimes you can go over to PIECES OF EIGHT and they will give you a fortune card if the have them to replace the un-dispensed one the DL AP has stolen from you. It’s not the same experience as having the fortune appear from FORTUNE RED , but at least you don’t feel cheated!
Nanook, I’ve still never watched that movie!
Mike Cozart, huh, I never noticed the horseshoes above the mine entrances at Big Thunder Mountain RR. As an aside, I remember having a stupid argument about which was the proper way to mount a horseshoe. Everybody knows that you do it so that it is like the letter U, to hold all the luck! But I talked to somebody who said it was the other way around. This is why Brad Pitt and I are no longer friends. After all I did for him! On this blog I have a photo of my grandparents at the entrance of the Old Comstock Mine, and there is no horseshoe, at least not that I can see. So somebody must have added on later (I think the photo of my grandparents is from 1948).
Mike Cozart, ugh, I truly hate the idea of having to use my phone during an attraction. I want to stay off of that thing, but they’ve made it a necessity. A friend of mine still has no cell phone, I don’t know how he does anything at Disneyland (though admittedly his wife has one). Wow, you’d think that they would work out that glitch with the Fortune Red machine, I would be very upset to get cheated out of my fortune after paying cash. I was thinking that if you complained somebody would help you out, and you verified that this is the case!
And THAT'S the dock where Tony Curtis escapes the clutches of Tom Reese as he 'leaps across' the RoA to land on the [already departing] Injun Joe raft in 40 Pounds of Trouble....
Nanook, maybe that is why they left that section free from any ropes. So anyone who might have just missed a departing raft by only seconds, can take their chances leaping for it from the dock! ;-)
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