Tomorrowland, December 1980
I have two beauties featuring Tomorrowland, from two slides date-stamped "December, 1980".
See what I mean? Pretty great! I believe that our Peoplemover train was on its way back to the station after a relaxing (and interesting) tour of the land.
Notice that the sign on the building to the left (America the Beautiful) still says "Presented by", but the rest ("AT&T; Your Host Company - Pacific Bell") has been removed. Presumably Pacific Bell/AT&T had ended their sponsorship at some point, but I haven't been able to determine when this occurred. If you look under the "UL" of Beautiful, you can see the ghost of an outline of the old Bell logo.
Look at that crowd! Sure, it's like a typical day today, but back then, this seems unusual. Is it possible that Tomorrowland was still getting a "bump" from Space Mountain, now in its third year?
And there's the Rocket Jets, placed dramatically atop the Peoplemover station - I always wish the rockets were in the air in photos like these, but you can't have everything. "America Sings" would have been going strong in the Carousel Theater.
Next is this beauty looking back toward Space Mountain across the Sub Lagoon; I'm not positive, but I think that this one is also from the Peoplemover. There's the zig-zag roof of the Monorail station, the Carousel Theater (again), the Subs, and the Skyway. Even Main Street Station makes a surprise appearance!
15 comments:
Major-
These are beauties-! I don't know when the Bell System/Pacific Telephone jettisoned their sponsorship but, in August of 1980, a good friend and I were able to get 'backstage' in the Circlevision projection booth (and also in the underground 'control room' for Tomorrowland). That "tour" was arranged thru another friend who happened to work at the Pasadena office of Pacific Telephone; and it was that office who staffed the Circlevision Theatre and also another little Park 'perk'... Making reservations for their membership in Club 33. And to answer the next obvious question: Yes, and yes, etc.
Thanks, Major.
None of the people are dressed for December weather. Maybe it was freakishly warm that winter. Or maybe the exposed film sat, ripening, in the camera for six months or so. Seems odd that they didn't remove the "Presented By" part of the sign. Maybe they were expecting another company to take over he sponsorship.
The last pic is especially clear and sharp. And the Rocket Jets are up in the air in this one. Space Mountain doesn't look as impressive as it usually does, here. Too many things going on in front of it, I guess. It was nice of the Gondolas to give us a view of all three primary colors.
Really nice, blue sky pictures, Major. Thanks.
Southern Californians remember well the heat wave we had on Christmas Day 1980. It was a weird few years of weather with extreme rains starting in 1978 in the spring and winter … we had lots of canceled school days throughout this time and into about 1981…. Because of flooding and the well known landslides …. So the Christmas Day heatwave really stood out.
Actually BELL TELEPHONE departed Disneyland In September of 1983. …. It was on a Monday : this was the break up of the Bell System ( Pacific Telephone - Western Electric and AT&T) as they could no longer be involved in joint promotional ventures. I have a collection of items from the last Bell manager of Tomorrowland , Helen Baker - including her Tomorrowland costume ( managers had a business dress and also a version of the cast costume) all the Bell Circle Vision castmembers were actual Bell Telephone employees who were sent to Disneyland for 6 month assignments if they had been better than average jobs in their regular positions. Bell was a sponsor for 23 years.
After BELL’s September 1983 departure , Disneyland continued to operate CIRCLE VISION showing “America The Beautiful “ till January 1984 when it closed for remodeling to become “world premiere circle vision” showing the new film “AMERICAN JOURNEYS”. This film began showing previews in June of 1984 and had a grand opening July 4th 1984. The new sponsor was PSA ( airlines) .
Disneyland presented a commemorate program to the closing Bell Telephone employees : “Farewell to Bell ….. thanks for the memories “ it features a historical review of the 23 years of association with Disneyland and is a very rare publication.
“Reach out - reach out and touch someone … reach out and just say HI!” ( preshow to circle vision theater entry song )
Also starting in October of 1982 Disneyland began to slowly replace the Bell employees with regular Disneyland castmembers …. By the 1983 departure date only two Bell managers and a handful of Bell employees remained.
The Sub Lagoon shot is wonderful. Love seeing the Skyway and Rocket Jets in action. This was peak Tomorrowland as well as the best Disneyland ever was. Thanks, Major.
Beautiful pictures, Major! A last look at Peak Tomorrowland before the Decline and Diminishment of Eisner, may he be ever cursed. Looking back at it now, it seems like the Fall of the Galactic Empire (the real Asimov one, not the George Lucas rip-off) but we have discovered no First or Second Foundation to restore civilization.
(Brief digression to advise not wasting time on the AppleTV Foundation series. It’s even worse than the last Disney Star Wars, if you can imagine that…)
I see that Goodyear is also gone, the once-rotating oblong sign is a dull fixed rectangle saying “PeopleMover”.
Yes, I remember the screwy weather around that time. Terrific drought in 76-77, and torrential rains thereafter. Only then we were being lectured about the Ozone Hole and the coming Ice Age. I just found some old snapshots of Pine Flat Reservoir that I took in fall of 77, trees and buildings standing exposed in the lake bottom. We were afraid we would lose the farm without water.
Thank you for these pics, Major.
JG
Nanook, you were lucky to get those tours, few people outside of Disney saw those areas!
JB, we’ve certainly had hot Decembers, though it is always possible that the photos were actually taken in August - those feel like summer crowds. I’m assuming that the “Presented By” sign was in mid-removal, though maybe they really did leave it like that. Yes, the Rocket Jets are up in the second scan, but just like Space Mountain, they get a bit lost among all the detail.
Mike Cozart, I was here in 1980 (as opposed to on the east coast), but my memory doesn’t work like some people’s memories. As I said to JB, I know we had very hot Decembers (very unpleasant), but I sure would not have been able to tell you when those were. I feel like some people just have a knack for that - I have friends who are sports nuts who can tell you the progression of a baseball game from 30 years ago. Since today’s photos are from 1980, it seems odd that the breakup of the Bell System three years later had anything to do with the removal of that sign. Who knows! Maybe you do. Do we know if they (like many others) ended their sponsorship for other reasons?
Mike Cozart, I’d love it if Huck chimed in, since he seems to have been around at about this time, and we saw some of his Bell-related photos years ago.
K. Martinez, yes, 1980 was still a great time to be at the park, as these photos clearly demonstrate!
JG, it is a little crazy to think that somebody would look at this Tomorrowland and think, “This needs improving”. I wouldn’t even mind changes if they really were improvements. I remember being intrigued by the idea of a Jules Verne-inspired Tomorrowland, but the execution was not done well, and some iconic attractions were removed forever, resulting in the land that we have today, basically. Fun, but lacking. I remember seeing Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters listed among the worst Disneyland attractions - I know some folks love it, but I did it once and have never felt the need to do it again. It’s funny how we have grown attached to some of those old sponsors, such as Goodyear or Monsanto (evil Monsanto?!?). Droughts are no laughing matter, we had one big storm that might stave off a bad drought this year.
I've always felt that it was a real loss when the original corporate sponsorship of the various attractions began to disappear; I assume this was due to economic factors, but the sponsors who showed up to replace the originals - if any - tended to be "second tier" compared to the original companies. We all loved the animated sponsored ads in Tomorrowland for Goodyear and Monsanto, and the demonstration area for the new AT&T phones of the future was fun, inspiring, and actually educational - the same show that was presented at the 1962 Seattle world's fair.
Kodak surrendered to the demonstrably inferior GAF.
GE originally sponsored the Carousel of Progress, which made sense, since it had been the GE pavilion at the 1964 New York world's fair, and its story is largely the story of the development of electric power in America; its finale pointing to a future where entire cities would be designed from the ground up to contain and display all of these wonders.
There was something very optimistic and comforting about the world being presented to us in those days. We were shown a future where everything was going to be better, cleaner, more "modern" - but even at Disneyland, or maybe especially, the demands of commerce started to dominate all the dreams and hopeful messages.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
But I can still remember, and the images on these pages help keep it all alive. Thank you for that.
Major, I'm going to vote for these pictures not being taken in December...nor even November during the Thanksgiving holidays. Those folks look pretty scantily dressed in the afternoon for the earlier, and colder evenings that came later in the year. I always looked forward to those warm...potentially hot...early afternoons when the Santa Ana winds would come in December. It would clear out the smog, the skies would be blue and the mountains could be seen as I drove north up to the Park for my shift. Yep, I'd sweat working rear load on the JC. But it would be hot for only an hour or two. Then it would cool down as the sun dropped down early.
So I look at these great pics and see that the buckets are running and the flags over the Theater show a mild on-shore breeze. The shadows look more more like mid-August-September to me. I guess you can tell...this post successfully put me back into my time capsule. KS
Yeah - all the dates I mentioned are from the Bell - Disneyland “Farewell” booklet and a corresponding Disneyland Line employee newsletter from the collection of the AT&T manager there when the sponsorship ended. Disney has always been quick to remove sponsorship identities - I remember KODAK was gone or temporarily covered up the very next day at Disneyland.
GOODYEAR is still the PeopleMover’s sponsor in these pictures … it’s Just not visible ; when the sign rotates , the opposite side of the sign says “Goodyear” the updated rounded rectangle sign for PeopleMover was part of a PeopleMover - GOODYEAR upgrade in conjunction with the Space Mountain opening and nothing to do with Goodyear’s 1981 departure.
Huck was “active” in the 1976-1977 period of AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL I recall — his photos showed the red and blue cast costumes . The last Bell tellephone costumes look very much like a push button phone in a tan with dark red colorsheme ( and I’m serious the look is inspired by a push button phone. I believe TOKYO MAGIC showed sone pictures of this custom on his 1980-1983 “America the Beautiful” photo essay.,
I remember playing with my newest Star Wars action figure playsets that Christmas Day waiting for my grandparents to arrive … and my mom making my dad turn the AC on while he was reluctant to do so.
I can never get enough of the 1967-1985 Tomorrowland! Thanks for the mention, Mike. Yes....in the past, I did post a pic of the 1983 costume for the CircleVision employees:
America The Beautiful at Disneyland
Thanks for sharing these great Tomorrowland shots, Major!
Someone advised that I should take a look at today’s post—and so, I have.
The photos I provided ten years ago of the various Bell employees having photographs taken with Mickey, etc. (before the park opened for the day) were shot in the spring of 1980 as that particular batch of folks were nearing the end of their yearlong (not 6 month) assignment at Circle Vision.
Thus—red, white and blue it was through 1980. After that, I’m not so sure.
Just for the record, I worked at the park from 1975 through 1980. When I left near the end of ’80, the Bell people were still wearing red, white and blue costumes. My girlfriend went back to being a telephone operator just down the road west a few miles in a Bell facility on Katella at the start of summer 1980… and really missed working the exhibit.
~Huck
Huck : the 6 month assignments were what was listed in the Bell Disneyland farewell booklet and a DisneyLand Line issue. They both mentioned that two managers and a few of the AT&T employees stayed longer to help train Disneyland CMs as Disneyland preparer for its transition. The red/tan costume was replaced the red/blue/white costume and was used from 1980 till thePSA “champagne sunset” costumes debuted. For those of you that remember the PSA preshow exhibit with the backlit panels showing the progression of PSA crew and stewardess uniforms … the models were all PSA employees wearing actual vintage uniforms … those Disneyland panels are and the airplane scale models in the preshow at Disneyland are part of the PSA archives at the San Diego Aerospace museum .
Those were the days
Hogarth, I agree with you completely, there was just something about those original Tomorrowland sponsors (and the sponsors elsewhere in the park) that had a air of “the best”, although I admit that as a child I basically knew nothing about most of them. Thanks to Adventure Through Inner Space, I had the warm fuzzies for Monsanto for years! Little did I know that they’d someday become synonymous with EVIL. I always thought it was hilarious that Chris Elliott’s character in “Iron Heart” was “Chris Monsanto” - he picked the most hated name he could think of. “Optimistic” and “comforting”, those are just the right words, they definitely harkened back to the wonderful World’s Fair, in the days when folks talked about “progress” as a real, aspirational thing. I sure miss that feeling.
KS, of course you could be right, as always the date stamps should be taken with a grain of salt. Or a spoonful? Folks are definitely dressed for hot weather, though as noted, there have been hot Decembers. The point about cooler nights is a good one. I’m glad these photos evoked some pleasant memories for you!
Mike Cozart, you need to have a museum exhibit of all of your Disneyland artifacts! Just because I am nosy and want to see them, ha ha. Too bad we can’t see the Goodyear name on the sign, but oh well. Wow, so funny that the Bell costumes were eventually inspired by the colors of push button phones. I guess it would seem a little more exciting if the color wasn’t BEIGE. I mean, yuck. I guess 1980 was too late for a classy color like Harvest Gold! I’m sort of jealous of the kids who were just the right age for Star Wars to be such a big part of their lives, I was just a little too old for that. I liked the movies, but that’s where it ended.
TokyoMagic!, I’m afraid I’m going to have to charge you $5,000 for sharing that link on GDB. I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them.
Huck (Hi, Huck!), thank you for checking in. I love the photos that you shared (TEN years ago???), and I think other people also love living vicariously through former cast members. Red, white, and blue, much better than the beige that Mike mentioned! I can only imagine how humdrum it must have felt to go back to being a telephone operator after her time at Disneyland.
Mike Cozart, I suppose 6 month assignments made some sense; if a particular employee was unhappy or doing a poor job, they could be cycled out, and if others were doing a great job, they could have their assignments renewed as often as necessary. I sadly do not remember much about “America the Beautiful”, or the preshow at least. I think I missed some of the post-Bell versions, there was a long stretch where I did not go to the park, for various reasons.
Anonymous, they sure were!!
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