Feisty Frontierland
Here are five more Feisty Frontierland scans from our pal, the Mysterious Benefactor! It's a nice mix of subjects today.
Here's a familiar view of the Burning Settler's Cabin, if only the settler had worn his blue shirt that day, he'd still be alive (and 164 years old).
Next is this pretty scene along the Rivers of America, with two Explorer Canoes and the Mark Twain, with Big Thunder Mountain peeking up, not far from where Cascade Peak once stood (though that was more to our left).
This next photo is from much the same angle as the previous one, though (based on the trees) it must have been taken a few years earlier. A family poses for a sunny portrait. It kind of amazes me that even at this later date, Frontierland could still appear lush and green from certain angles.
Holy Toledo! Look at that insane crowd! I have to wonder if this was taken during the debut of Splash Mountain, or on some other special occasion? Surely this can't just be a busy summer day, can it? We have no date so it's hard to say. However I just noticed that there is a crowd heading away from us, and another crowd heading toward us. It's a mystery!
And finally, here's a pretty and placid look at the Rivers of America. All of the watercraft must be on their journey through the frontier. Which gives us a slightly better look at Big Thunder, though it is far away.
THANK YOU, Mysterious Benefactor!
10 comments:
Funny, I hated that floating stage that's visible in the last photo, because I thought it was such an eyesore. But compared to the huge ugly stage that came later for Fantasmic, it's nothing!
Major, that second to last pic is flipped. I was trying to figure out the orientation, since we can see people waiting at a railing for the TSI rafts, in the distance. But it really wasn't making sense until I reversed it.
The burning cabin, settler, and grinding wheel look like miniatures in that first pic! The settler looks almost like a little clay figure like Gumby or Mr. Bill!
Thank you, Major and M.B.!
1) Seeing the settler lying there, he reminds me of SNL's Mr. Bill. "Oh nooooo!". Now that I think about it, Mr. Bill sounded like Mickey Mouse. [Edit: It's crazy how both TM! and me mentioned Mr. Bill!. I swear I didn't read TM!'s comment until I was already through with my own.]
I suppose this photo was taken from atop the Mark Twain, but the angle seems higher up than that?
2) This is a nice photo! Lots of good qualities. We get another view of topless coonskin caps on the Canoe Guys. I wonder if one of these is our friend KS?
3) Another nice, colorful picture! I wonder what the Kid in Red is doing with his hands? Just being a fidgety kid I suppose.
4) My favorite part of the crowd photo is the bright blue Mickey balloon. Mickey's ears look like eyes. There are other Mickey balloons here; quite a few actually. I wonder if this was another staged photo?
5) Love that glassy, inky water. I bet they made a trip to Knott's and brought back several truckloads of Boysenberry jello powder and dumped into the ROA to thicken it up and give it that dark glassy look. Yes, I'm sure that's what they did.
Nice photos, that the Mysterious Benefactor gifted us today. Thanks, Major.
Well TOKYO beat me to it: the crazy crowded imaged is flipped …… I’m so familiar with Disneyland’s layout you know when something isn’t right. Like TOKYO I hate when things like temporary entertainment staged - like the one protruding into the Rivers of America affect the well planed and themed areas or attractions … now I’d love to have that original stage compared to the overkill that was built for CRANTASMIC - Presented By OCEANSPRAY.
I was just reading a early 1980’s Disneyland Line ( as one does) and it gave a anniversary salute to a employee of either the engineering department or staff shop and mentions that he was used to make the casting of the burning cabin settler …. ( well it says from his torso up….) and the settler is named after him … although I cannot recall his name and I do not have the issue at hand - I’ll have to report back. We can then in future posts use the settler’s actual name.
Mike, I bet his name is "Burn-ie."
Very nice, thanks to the MB and Major!
Looking at some of these photos, it’s hard to believe the whole scene is a man-made fabrication. The rocks and big trees just look perfect.
I’m hoping that crowd photo is staged, otherwise, what a crummy day to visit. I’ve been there on days like that and it’s miserable.
JG
I'm still trying to recover looking at that crowd....I have experienced that prior to the Pirates bridge: however: it only happened a few times a year: like 4th of July, Christmas day, etc....and this crowd is exceptionally exceptional. If you came through Adventureland with your group and saw this...you were adding another hour to your tour. Looks like Mr. Bill is stiff as a board, while the fire rages out of every crack and crevice. It seems like for a very passive "attraction", there were many renditions of this scene....kind of the same: but different. I think this one is the most wooden I've seen that guy. The canoes often went out in pairs...some times with some casual "races". I'm glad this "ride" still endures: it's a peaceful way to traverse the waters, despite some robust direction from the canoe guys. The picture taker looks like she has one of those flat cameras with the small cassettes of film. They took lousy photos if I remember correctly, but not as lousy at that camera with the "wheel" cassette with teeny tiny negatives. Camera life got a bit better with the "Sure Shot"...where everyone could play with 35mm film with relative ease. That is some 80's hair on camera lady: with the poof on top, or is it 90's? The kids should learn to stay a bit more still whilst they are being blinded by the sunshine. This looks like an ad for Kodak: and it very well may be. A nice day along the river: despite the mayhem of that crowd. Imagine driving a car very delicately through that....I can, and that is for another time :) Thanks Major!
that crowd pic is wild, yikes!
based on comments, using an online tool, I made a mirrored image of the crowd photo (!)
Bu, you are correct. That's a Kodak 110 camera. Most of my childhood was photographed with one of those.
Kodak's Disc camera had some fairly advanced optics and electronics to have a good negative despite its tiny size. The problem was that few labs bought Kodak's specialized equipment to properly enlarge the tiny negative images to print size, so most people were disappointed by the blurry prints and soured on the camera..
TokyoMagic!, yeah, that floating stage is almost unnoticeable by today’s standards. Funny, I was really trying to get my bearings on that fourth picture, now it makes sense why I couldn’t. The umbrella in the foreground should have tipped me off. Remember, these aren’t my scans, so I can’t go to jail! Now I wish I’d done a “tilt-shift” on that burning cabin pic. I had a Mr. Bill t-shirt, which makes me incredibly cool.
JB, I guess today is “Mr. Bill Day”, I think it was enacted by FDR in the 1940s. And you and TokyoMagic! are the only patriots who remembered. I think all hats should not have tops on them, that way you can keep tissues or gum in them. No, mom, I don’t need you to put this in your purse for me, I have my topless coonskin cap! Kids are spazzes, it’s just a fact of life. It seems hard to believe that photo #4 could be staged, imagine having to wrangle all of those people. And those staring balloons! Yum, a boysenberry river sounds delicious, it would be hard to resist diving in. I wonder how the AEDs would like it?
Mike Cozart, I don’t mind things like that stage if I know that it is temporary - sure, it’s a bit unsightly, but not for long. Unlike the giant Fantasmic stage, which I just can’t stand. “Crantasmic”, don’t give them any ideas! Imagine being the guy who was used for the dead settler, now THAT’S some real trivia for you. If somebody told me that, I’d think they were kidding.
TokyoMagic!, D’OH
JG, even though today’s photos aren’t as old as some, I do love the amazing transformation that the Imagineers achieved, as you say, it is (was) a convincing approximation of The Frontier. I assume that the fourth pic HAD to have been taken on a significant day, it’s just SO crazy crowded.
Bu, oh gosh, I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for the cast members on a day like that. How can anybody even control that many people? It actually seems a little unsafe. Maybe Big Thunder was debuting? Since we don’t have a date, we can only guess. There were different versions of the burning settler, or at least he was placed in different poses, including being dramatically draped over a bench. I wonder how many settlers they went through over the decades? And how often did they have to change his clothes? Frankly I’m astonished that the canoes are still around - glad, but astonished. I could just see some VP deciding that they could cut costs by getting rid of that low-capacity ride. You are right about those cameras taking lousy pictures. I also saw some tiny disk transparencies (like miniature Viewmaster reels) from Kodak that are truly horrible, they should be ashamed of themselves for making such a terrible product. Happily, that format did not seem to last long.
LTL, thank you! I was away all morning or I would have done it myself!
Dean Finder, hey, I just mentioned the disc (disk? I never know) cameras. I’ve only seen a few of the finished, developed disks, but those were really bad. I mean REALLY bad. And I think the film turned orange over time, though that is not unique - we have boxes full of photo prints that have turned various shades of either blue-green, pink, or orange. And they have that terrible “linen” texture that is crummy compared to a nice glossy finish.
Hi JB. No, it's not me in the picture. I left while Big Thunder was under construction. But looking at the picture, I wanted to crawl into it and be sitting in the steering position of that canoe. Miss those days! KS
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