Gosh, it's a great day to be bored! I'm so tired of excitement and thrills. Give it a rest, am I right?
This first picture certainly fits the bill - it's a real snooze-fest. The bell is a bit too shiny for my taste, but other than that, nothing about this image is interesting. You're welcome.
"But Major, how can flying saucers be boring?". Well Timmy, they just can, that's how. Boring, and a little blurry. Look at that kid in the foreground, he is overwhelmed by ennui. And I love it!
It looks like steam is coming out of the side of the Douglas Rocket. That was a thing, right? I'm pretty sure we have seen it before, but just not very often. That takes the second photo up a couple notches, Major! Happy Snoozle Sunday, to ya!
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDeleteI believe we can see a bit of condensation (fog, etc.) emanating from the Douglas rocket body - opposite the 'A'. That disqualifies the image from being a Snoozle™-!
Thanks, Major.
Hard to say what the photographer's attention was focused on here: The shiny bell? Or the Cap'n behind the wheel? Maybe the decorative gingerbread? Or how about the Mark Twain name plaque? All of the above? I kinda like this photo. As Linus would say: "It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."... And some blue sky... and for the Cap'n to have better lighting.
ReplyDeleteWell, the kid in the foreground may be ennuiing to death, but we rarely see the Saucers from this angle; with the Moonliner and the Moon Domes in the background. Are these bored people waiting for the ride to begin? Or are they waiting to disembark? Either way, they're ennuiness offers up a clue as to what was wrong with the ride: Too much waiting, not enough gliding.
Guys, guys... That's just a bit of cotton candy stuck to the side of the Moonliner.
Thanks for the Snoozles, Major... Even if they're not.
Photo one looks like what a photography student might enter in a contest as an "artistic" architectural photo. In other words; yeah, boring.
ReplyDeletePhoto two on the other hand!
Yeah, also boring.
The problem is that ANY traffic jam is dull. Not even a Moonliner that hasn't quit it's smoking habit can make up for that, I'm afraid.
The bell on the Mark Twain needed polishing after the water ski runs when bugs would splatter on it in high speed collisions.
ReplyDeleteKirk Douglas’ rocket may have frijoles the day before. Yes, this was an intermittently operating effect. Not sure how it was done. Might be steam, or just plain mist. Might even be the same trick used on Monstro’s spout, which had a similar effect.
Bored kid is waiting on the saucer load cycle, which was, as I recall, long and tedious.
Not dull at all today, Major. Always something worth seeing on GDB. Thank you!
JG
Nothing boring about today's pics for me. The Mark Twain pic is nice. I like the detail of the lights and wiring attached to the steamboat wheelhouse.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Major.
Note the signal lamp atop the Twain’s pilot house. This is how they passed messages to the Columbia, Gullywhumper, and Bertha Mae without breaking radio silence. The messages were easier to read at night…and with your eyes open.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have seen the Moonliner with steam oozing out of it. It seems apropo, considering it was built out of a boiler tank.
Looks like both saucer…fields? decks? air hockey tables?…are in operation. There’s still a crowd waiting. This is the part of the Disneyland experience we all edit out of our memories. If you think about it, that speaks volumes about what Walt and his team were able to accomplish.
Thank you, Major!
@ JB-
ReplyDelete"Hard to say what the photographer's attention was focused on here: The shiny bell? Or the Cap'n behind the wheel? Maybe the decorative gingerbread? Or how about the Mark Twain name plaque? All of the above?"
For all the [deserved] 'poking fun ' The Major points in my direction about the Festoon lights - perhaps that's what the photographer's attention was drawn to... AND for good reason. Those lights are NOT original to the Park's opening - making their appearance in the Fall of 1955. (I always enjoyed the use of [ceramic-?] insulators spaced at intervals creating groups of three sockets/lights). A nice touch - or maybe required to satisfy some arcane electrical ruling.
I like both shots. Everyone has commented on the bell and the spotlight, but I should mention the hinged boards attached to the front "window" if you will. On a rainy or windy day, we could adjust them for some protection from the elements. And those flying saucers...yeah, the excitement being in line and the agony of getting 'this close' only to have the attraction go "101". Aargh. It was noisy too but oh so much fun. Vapor exhaust from the Moonliner made it seem it was ready for launch. KS
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, yes, because we knew that rockets would be steam-powered in the future! Half of the rocket holds coal for the steam boiler.
ReplyDeleteNanook, maybe I need to take the Snoozle Assessment Exam again, but I don’t want to do all that studying!
JB, I’m assuming that the Cap’n was much more visible to the eye, and the camera was unable to deal with the relatively dark cabin compared to the brighter outer area. I use that Linus quote all the time! You are right, this is a somewhat unusual angle on the Flying Saucers, I was just disappointed that it wasn’t sharper. Funny, I was originally going to say that the vapor was cotton balls (from a bottle of aspirin), but I know how much you love cotton candy!
Stu29573, it’s true, I used to see the photos from my school’s photography class, and there was often an attempt to be “artsy”. It usually didn’t go well. The Moonliner is vaping, is that better than smoking?
JG, down in the basement of the Mark Twain, there were large tubs of bell polish, specially formulated to remove bug goo. It was NASA surplus, since the Apollo craft often had bug spatters on them. I’ve always assumed that the vapor was steam, but I’d love to know how it was done. Since my understanding is that they didn’t want people to step on the blue Flying Saucers “floor”, how did people get to the vehicles that were not right next to the “boom”?
K. Martinez, I appreciate your positive attitude! If you like the lights and wiring, you and Nanook have a lot in common. ;-)
Chuck, I’m more of a semaphore guy (love those flags!), but a signal light is good too. As a Scoutmaster, are you fluent in semaphorese? The steam coming out of the rocket is a brilliant touch, as if the thing was going to blast off real soon. I’m assuming that the saucers were just about to “launch”, so it makes sense that the “deck” of the attraction would be working at that moment.
Nanook, poke fun? ME? Well, maybe I do, but I hope it comes across as good-humored and not mean. All I know about lightbulbs is that they have a little man inside of them, and he’s the one who makes them work. BTW, I never really noticed how elaborate and decorative the bell “bracket” is, I wonder if it was custom-made?
KS, thanks for pointing out the hinged board, which I would have never noticed. I’ve never experienced the Saucers or a breakdown of that ride, but hey, I had that same experience with the Rocket Rods! 2.5 hours in line. OUCH.
In my post above, I just noticed that I wrote "they're ennuiness" instead of "their ennuiness". Now my face is red and I will don the Cone of Shame.
ReplyDeleteMajor, "the vapor was cotton balls" was mildly amusing, but then you added the specificity of "from a bottle of aspirin"; and that made me chuckle out loud. You really know how to 'plus' a joke!
JB, no worries, I find myself sometimes typing the wrong thing even though I know the correct thing - it just happens!
ReplyDelete