Leftuggies™
I have two tasty Leftuggies™ for you today, so I hope you didn't eat a big breakfast. First up is this September 1964 view, either taken from the Tomorrowland Skyway terminal, or from a gondola. Below us is the striped awning for the Autopia, as well as the Autopia itself. The center rail was brand-new in '64, and we can see a few Mark VI vehicles. This corner of Tomorrowland looks very pretty, with plenty of lush landscaping. And best of all, we get both the red and blue Monorail trains!
Next, from September, 1963 is this photo of the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, with some sort of mysterious, and haphazard-looking scaffolding. I can't even really determine what the scaffolding is supporting, Is it going from the boardwalk to the ship itself? If anybody has any clue what is going on here, please chime in!
14 comments:
Mr. Smee must have led the construction...!
Thank you Major
Wow! It's so rare to see two, good views, of Monorails in the same photo. We've seen a couple of pics with two Monorails, but I don't think we've seen any others with the Monorails featured so prominently. We can see the Richfield satellite sign, still "years ahead".
OK, I'll bite: What does that lady, standing on her queue position circle, have on her head? It seems to be a marching band "shako" hat. Was that a type of souvenir hat you could buy? I don't remember seeing one before. Maybe it's a shredded coconut-covered Zinger. In the extreme bottom left corner of the pic there's something partially covering that light blue Autopia car. I wanna say it's a piece of Screechy's wing, or tail. But I can't convince my brain to accept that.
That scaffolding really is a mystery. I could tell you what I think it is, but it involves feral cats, AEDs, Skully, and the planet Mars... and wouldn't be of much help. I don't see any guests on the upper deck; maybe it was closed off for whatever function the scaffolding is serving. We get a nice, readable, look at the lamppost with the CotS signs hanging from it. The scaffolding looks like it has a temporary ramp going up to the cannon on the deck. Are those sandbags up there, supporting the cannon?
Walterworld, Haha!
Especially nice Leftuggies, Major. Thanks.
It looks like the “grog” (soda) vending machine on the deck of the Jolly Roger (with the barrel on top) is pulled away from the poop deck bulkhead. My theory is the temporary ramp is there to allow the machine to be replaced. I’m curious if that vending machine was more trouble than it was worth, as it was removed altogether by 1967.
The scaffolding is probably getting ready to move the door forward.
I do enjoy grog, and I do think something was going on where they needed to push something down a temporary ramp. Like when scaffolding goes up, and there is a thing that looks like this for trash to slide down into a box. There's not a guest to be seen, so something was definitely "up". Just a note that the light fixtures on the ship are amazing. The one on top of the sign too. I didn't see the two Monorails at first, as I was mesmerized by the drum Majorette. I think that is what a Major's side kick is called. Major: do you have a Majorette? Do they were a fanciful hat such as this? Autopia: can smell it through the photo...I'm actually coughing. I like that it's all still around: destined for TRE perhaps. Tomorrowland is a land on the move! So much color and kinetic energy. '67 would layer on even more. Going to go make a Majorette hat for my next visit to Disneyland....I will wear it all day, on the Matterhorn and Space Mountain too! Seems like Majorette needs a special locker for the hat...maybe that's why she is still wearing it here on Autopia. Thanks Major and Majorette!
The Monorail/Autopia pic is wonderful. Back when Disneyland had that sense of wonder. Thanks, Major.
I’m another vote for the Two Monorails (No Waiting) pic. A thing about Autopia, it’s hard to find a pic without a fire extinguisher, they are the trash cans of Autopia, never more than a hot dog munch apart.
I know everyone wants that lady’s hat to be a marching band hat, but what if it was one of the “Peter Pan” style with the big ostrich feather which is giving the illusion of one?
Yes, the Pirate Ship has a particularly ad-hoc ramp in place. Definitely not wheelchair-accessible. Taking out the soda machine is a plausible reason, buttressed by the fact that taking anything “up” that ramp is next to impossible, while going down is more like a controlled fall, so whatever its accommodating is already on board.
Ken, sometimes I think the only sense of wonder left in the Park is wondering “who thought that was a good idea”. Sigh.
Thank you Major, some real head-scratchers today.
JG
I wonder if that gal is possibly wearing a feathered Indian headpiece??
walterworld, Smeeeeeee!
JB, it was some real serendipity, both Monorails passing at that moment, and the photographer snapping at just that second - two seconds later and it would have been pointless! Hmmm, now that you mention it, that IS an interesting hat on that lady (girl?). Maybe she *was* in a marching band? That doesn’t really explain it, but I have no answers. I believe we are seeing part of Screechy’s tail in the lower left. I wish Disneyland had way more feral cats, they should ship in 25 every day. I’ll write to Iger pronto. I honestly can’t tell what the heck is going on with that scaffolding, even with the few anomalies (the sandbags?). But you are right about the ramp, which I did not notice. Crazy.
Chuck, oh yeah, look at that! I did not recognize the Grog machine. Or I did not “grok” the Grog machine? Since I believe that the vending machine had been there since at least 1956, it had managed to survive for going on seven years by the time this photo was taken, but I do think that it probably was removed not long afterwards.
Anonymous, interesting! I’ve never done a side-by-side comparison, but I do remember reading that the door had been moved. Great thought.
Bu, I’ve never had grog, but it doesn’t sound bad. Rum and lime juice, right? You see those “trash ramps” all over NYC, although I guess now they tend to use plastic tubes/chutes. We don’t want bricks to fall on the heads of people. There are definitely no guests aboard, so if you wanted a tuna burger, you were out of luck. It’s possible that the young lady is a majorette, but why would she wear her funny hat while in civilian clothes? To hide her pet rat? I’m assuming that anybody who worked the Autopia for a long time probably had health issues, but hopefully not. That’s a lot of fumes to inhale hour after hour. Ha ha, I love the idea of somebody wearing one of those hats on Space Mountain, what could go wrong?
K. Martinez, I agree with you, that photo has *something* that makes it extra special!
JG, now I wonder if those fire extinguishers were ever used to put out burning Autopia engine? Talk about exciting. Of course the thing would eventually explode, as in all action movies. I thought that maybe the lady’s hat was actually something behind her that just *looked* like a hat, but I think it actually is a hat. If that has an ostrich feather, it’s a lulu. It seems like building that ramp is an elaborate way to get the vending machine off the boat, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t used for that purpose. I’d float it over the rail using my telekinesis, but realize that this isn’t an option for everyone. I’m not at the “I’ll never go to Disneyland again” point, but could see it happening if they do a few particular “improvements”.
Lou and Sue, hmmm, it’s hard for me to get the “majorette” hat out of my head now, are there Indian hats that look anything like that?
@ Chuck-
I like your thinking about the ramp being used for vending machine 'movement'. I certainly hope the photo was snapped just moments before a giant mattress was placed at the bottom of the ramp to 'cushion' the touchdown of that vending machine. Have you ever tried to move one of those babies-? They are incredibly heavy for their size and shape.
Thanks, Major.
Maybe the fire extinguishers are for putting out Majorette hats that happen to ignite? It seems like they would be super flammable.
I think I figured out what’s on that gal’s head. A cygnet.
Anonymous, the starboard door was actually moved aft in 1960 when Skull Rock was added. It was originally directly opposite the exit on the port side of the ship.
Sue, I hope not - those things are bloodthirsty!
Nanook, I don’t know why they didn’t just use explosives to launch the vending machine into the air. They needed somebody with my “outside of the box” mentality.
Bu, oh boy, another thing to worry about when wearing one of those hats!
Lou and Sue, I remember when Bjork wore a swan, so maybe that young lady was ahead of the curve, fashion-wise.
Chuck, I’m really going to have to look at photos of the ship pre-1960 and post-1960. They should have moved the door up three feet, and made it 50% smaller.
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