Monorail and More, December 1979
I never can seem to get enough of Disneyland's Monorail or Peoplemover. Today we get a little of both!
Let's start with this nice (if a little dark) image of what I believe is the green Monorail. "Ol' Greenie"! It's scooting toward the Disneyland Hotel at Mach 1,000,000. I know, amazing! Notice the attraction posters affixed to the beamway columns, name them all (there's six, I believe).
Meanwhile, over in Tomorrowland, this skewed picture was probably taken from the Skyway. It didn't move at ANY Mach. Not even one. What a ripoff! But the slow pace allowed our photographer to get this picture of the blue Monorail as it sat at the station, while a very turquoise Peoplemover train trundled past on thousands of tiny centipede legs. I did my own research.
17 comments:
Major-
Pirates; Alice; Monorail; [probably] Adventure Thru Inner Space; ? (Mike probably knows); Monorail, again. The 2nd image is so great as we see the juxtaposition of two 'wheeled' transportation systems - side-by-side. Pick your favorite.
Thanks, Major.
I like the silhouetted-look for the Monorail. It adds another dimension of real-life, somehow. Makes it look like an everyday sight that you'd see in Anywhere, USA. As for the APs: Pirates (I think), Alice, Monorail, can't figure out the next two, and another Monorail.
I believe the color of the PeopleMover is officially "swimming pool aqua". I did my own research, too! This is another one of those pictures that has "Disneyland" written all over it.
Nanook, you skipped one of the APs, one of the ones I didn't know! ;-(
Two very worthy additions to the GDB archives. Thanks, Major.
@ JB-
I didn't skip any; I just can't decipher the 5th poster.
Haunted Mansion.
The fifth poster is for "Ride The PeopleMover Thru Space Mountain And The Fantastic Superspeed Tunnel!
I’d name all the posters, but it would be an exercise in futility. They already have names.
Great. Now I want a Peoplemover with tiny centipede legs.
Oh well, we all need goals, I guess...
Ah, the Monorail, named after Al Weg. That’s a great Parking Lot View.
What is that tower hotel that isn’t the Disneyland Hotel? Is that the one that is the Pixar hotel now? It looks wrong, but what else could it be? And lots and lots of power lines!
I’m admiring the little white booties on the PeopleMover, are these centipede protectors? I don’t recall seeing those before?
Good stuff today Major, thank you!
JG
@ TM!
Of course. Thanks.
@ JG-
"What is that tower hotel that isn’t the Disneyland Hotel?"
This is just an odd angle of the Bonita Tower.
Nanook, the one you didn’t recognize is… well, I see (by reading ahead) that somebody else got it, so I won’t steal anon’s thunder!
JB, I mean, a silhouette is nice and all, but I’d still prefer that first photo to not be mostly backlit. Or side-lit? I want all the colors and details! I admit that those two posters are a bit tougher to ID, and one is possibly the first example of its kind that has appeared on GDB. Which is exciting? Mike Cozart knows the official names of the Peoplemover colors, but I can never remember them. That turquoise color does always make me think of the inviting hue of a swimming pool.
Nanook, we’ll have to consult the poster fairies! ;-)
Anon, that’s the fourth one!
TokyoMagic!, and that’s the fifth one! Huzzah!
Chuck, they could always change their names. For instance, my friends now call me “Cobra”.
Stu29573, have you ever seen a Strandbeest? Look up Theo Jansen on YouTube, he builds these incredible walking machines that are propelled by wind (usually), and they look like something from another planet!
JG, I have to admit that I was a bit puzzled by that building, just like you were. But I see that our friend Nanook has figured it out. The white booties… are they “bumpers” to keep the individual Peoplemover cars from bashing against each other? I’ll have to go look at other photos to see if they are something that was added later or if they were always there and I just never noticed.
Nanook, boy, it really looks so different from this angle, almost out of place!
Nice photos today, Major! I especially like how the roof of the Monorail station is similar to roof the individual Peoplemover cars. The white "booties" on the Peoplemover trains may have been a leftover from when they were intended to hover over the track like Air Hockey, but also made good "bumpers" like you mentioned. Now I wonder if they ever did actually bump each other at times??
Ohhh, the Sierra Tower. In high school my friend and I stayed at the DLHotel for an over night 25 hour party in the park (at rates even a kid could afford back then)…the Sierra Tower was brand new. When we went to check in, our room was not ready, nor would it be, as they were overbooked…just a minute sir…ok right this way please. They took us and our bags on a scooter over to the spanking new tower, woo-hoo. Then we get on the elevator with the bellman and he pushes the button marked PH, not a #. We wonder, what is up?
Then he swings open huge double doors with a sweeping view…Welcome to the Presidential Suite gentlemen! We played it cool till the bellman left…then erupted in delight running from our separate bedrooms, through the living room, out to the balconies, bouncing off the posh walls. No extra charge of course, this IS Our room the only way they could fulfill our reservation. Talk about your Magic Kingdom. We were too young and dumb to impress any one to come up to our new palace in the sky…but felt like kings, on a pauper’s dime.
MS
MS, that story is AWESOME!
Omnispace, imagine a “MagLev” Peoplemover! Now that would be cool. No comforting rumble underfoot, but the smooth gliding would be amazing.
MS, now the Disneyland Hotel is so expensive that it is out of reach for many full-grown, gainfully-employed adults; it’s awesome that you were able to stay there as a high-schooler. Many years ago I was invited to the 50th Anniversary event at the Disneyland Hotel, and my host and his wife were staying in the Presidential Suite, so I got to see it with my own eyeballs. I am so used to minimal space in a hotel room that I don’t even know what I would do with the amount of room that the Suite had! I guess they needed additional room for secret service, and probably other family members. All I need is a clean room with a comfy bed, a shower, and… well that’s about it.
Chuck, I never get bumped up to the Presidential Suite, or First Class, or anything!
Whoa, so many italics, and I didn't even do the html code except for the word "that" in my comment to Omnispace!
Cobra, thank you for mentioning the Strandbeest and Theo Jansen - I just looked them up on YouTube....VERY interesting.
MS, thank you for sharing your DL Hotel story. What a wonderful experience.
Fun "Mode of Transport" pics.
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