A Pair From September 24, 1956
I'm using up the last two scans from a batch dated "September 24, 1956". Starting with this nice view of Main Street Station, and the entry turnstiles - as well as those two booths with handy pay phones just in case. I've never noticed the little flower beds right there by the turnstiles. Main Street Station looks wonderful as usual.
Lower down is a sign for the ticket book plan. Only one plan - 10 rides. They apparently hadn't cooked up the 12-coupon or 15-coupon books yet (we won't even mention the 20-coupon books. Oops, I mentioned them). It's a little blurry, so I can't tell the exact price, but an adult ticket book (which included admission) was $3 and change. Notice the sign advertising special prices for Legionnaires. Huh.
And finally, here's a moody photo of a Jungle Cruise boat returning to the dock from its exciting trip along the Rivers of the World. I believe that the ride was not jokey in 1956, so I would imagine that the narration was pretty dry by comparison.
14 comments:
Major-
I also noticed the special pricing for 'Legionnaires' and wondered if it referred to Legionnaires - or merely those who had contracted Legionnaires' disease-! (That would've been rather clairvoyant on the part of Disneyland, as the name didn't exist until 1976).
Thanks, Major - and here's to continued good health-!
Wow, excellent lighting! It really makes the details pop. Even dog poo would look good in this lighting! (sorry)
Either it's 5:28 in the afternoon, or the hour hand fell off the Station clock and we have no idea what time it is... other than "time to fix the clock".
I love the mood of the Jungle Cruise photo; thanks again to the lighting. No, the JC spiel was not jokey in '56; nor in '57. We were there in '57 when I was only 4 years old. On our voyage through the jungle rivers, the Skipper was dead serious, pointing out all the dangers around us. I was already a nervous wreck upon boarding, but when the hippos did their thing, and the Skipper yelled, "LOOK OUT! THEY'RE CHARGING!", and shot his pistol at least twice... well, then I screamed and cried all the way through the ride. I was sure that the hippos, crocs, etc. were gonna crash the boat and eat every one of us. In my defense, I was only four (and unknowingly near-sighted). And realistic animatronic figures were new to the world and didn't exist anywhere except in Disneyland's Jungle Cruise (?). So how was I supposed to know they weren't real? Actually, in an effort to stop me from screaming, my mom repeatedly told me, "they aren't real!" And maybe I did believe that they weren't real, but everything was so loud and seemingly out of control, and the Skipper was so danged serious... Come to think of it, I'm probably the reason they started to make the spiel jokey. ;-p
I feel better now.
Really nice pair of pictures today, Major. Thanks.
Have we seen one of those smaller "pointy" roofed ticket booths out in front of the park before? It looks like one of the structures located in Town Square in the early years, and sold souvenirs.
Thanks, Major!
Pay phones at the entrance really were handy - great for allowing you to execute ridiculous orders like “page yourself from the entrance before buying tickets to make sure that the pager’s range extends to Disneyland.”
Odd that they had a special admission price for members of the Foreign Legion. You’d think they’d have been covered by "Members of armed forces of all nations in uniform.”
The Jungle Cruise’s narration may have been dry, but Schweitzer Falls was as wet as it ever would be.
Thanks again, Major, for taking us on a beautiful journey through time, making us appreciate the little moments that shape our lives.
That's not just any boat. Thats the Ganges Gal Ghost (G3 for short) making her twilight appearance.
The Ganges Gal went missing with all hands in 1955, soon after the park opened. Now, when the light is just right and the spiked Dole Whips start to kick in, she appears, drifts slowly toward the dock, and the vanishes; her crew and passengers all stone faced serious (except for a screaming four year old boy, at times).
One of the original Disneyland 1955 Jungle Cruise boats remained backstage at least until 2003. It had been pulled aside and had been part of a lawsuit investigation prior to the new boats going in after the Temple of the Forbidden Eye . The investigation had been going on for some time and I don’t think the outcome was every publicly revealed. However I wonder if that boat was saved after for historical reasons . For a company with so much real estate and space - they never seem to have any space to store things like you think they would. I used to inquire about the old boat and what happened to it … it was sort of a legend because it sat back stage for so long - now it’s hard to find people who even remember it being back there!!! If Disneyland can lose a Jungle Cruise boat , imagine how easy it is to lose track of Flying Saucers , Mine Trains and Hatbox Ghosts !!
Love the Main Gate, the chain link and the pointy roof. The pointy roof is actually kind of odd....because it's not in the style of "normal" ticket booths. Was this a seasonal ticket booth that was added during busy times? Could be. It seems like it would be kind of hot in there, without too much oxygen. People were way tougher back then. Now they have to have comfy seats, and plush mats, and AC, and hydration containers....and and and....Back in my day we had nothing and we were grateful for it! ....I had to look up the Legionnaries. I knew it was a disease, and perhaps those guys got the disease more than others. Apparently, you get this disease from hot tub mist...and other mists. Luckily, I do not do hot tub, or other mists. Joining the Legionnaires seem like a cool thing...the hats are very cool. I always thought admission back then was $1. Did they lower it by a dime? It's about $11 in todays money. The Jungle Cruise looks very authentic, and the style of the boat is one I prefer: I've said this numerous times. It adds a touch of whimsy...to indicate that it's a fun trip...not some Indiana Jones, eating monkey brains, snakes attacking you kind of ride. To be clear, back then it was serious, with rather unserious boats, and today it's not serious with rather serious boats. I still don't get it. Tokyo Disneyland will have a new "Jungle Cruise" ...which: I have mixed feelings about....A strictly polynesian cruise could be rather cool, but if they add plastic-y figures and ill conceived Audio Animatronics...it won't be cool. Kind of like the tree house during the Tarzan days where it was a cheaped-out plastic nightmare. It's rather delightful now. Back in the 80's there were still many foreign servicemen, in their uniforms: and if they were especially cool, they would get photographed by guests like Mickey Mouse. You'd see all the sailors on all the boat rides: which made sense. They tended to travel in packs...and it wasn't odd to see a big group of 15 guys or more. Same with the nuns. Nuns want to have fun too! Thanks Major!
For some reason, I had noticed the planters full of flowers next to the turnstiles. I don’t recall the detail from youth, only from old photos. I was undoubtedly panting and pulling at the leash to get in the Park, too busy to look at flowers. With the leisure that comes with age, spent studying the pictures, I wonder if the flowers occupied a void space created by operational design of the entry and the planter was the tasteful way to fill it up instead of blacktop? Or if they were planned strictly as a welcoming amenity? Either way, a nice touch at the start to separate you from your 0.90. The phone booths were handy to call your bank to check that your balance could cover those outlandish prices.
The ticket booths and entry structures seemed to be vaguely Main-Street-ish in style, extending that theme out into what we call the Esplanade, was it called that then? Always a joy to be there, hearing the monorail (probably the yellow one) rush past overhead, the train bell and the Announcer’s voice. No phone booths today, but everything still revolves around your phone, and the need for a deep credit line.
Seeing the cruise boat returning across the dark malarial waters reminds me that the original cruise was more serious, just as the book version of the “African Queen” is somewhat more “adult” in character than the film. Understandably so, given the era. Still, I hope the film is never re-made as the tropes of our era would not produce a good result at all. The jokes write themselves. This is a great photo, many memories in it, Major, thank you.
Indeed, thanks for all the pics and comments today, very nice.
JG
Nanook, it seems as if Legionnaires are mostly thought of in relation to that disease nowadays. Unfortunate but true.
JB, I’m not sure dog poo looks good in any situation, but that’s just me. There is a record album with a Jungle Cruise narration (by legend Thurl Ravenscroft) that has none of the jokes that we are so used to. I like the funny version, but there is a part of me that wouldn’t mind a more serious approach; the trouble is, the public would probably laugh anyway. I guess it’s just a fact of life that the mechanical animals can’t be taken seriously these days. I don’t remember being scared on the Jungle Cruise, but I didn’t like the extremely loud BANG from the guns - at some point I knew to put my hands over my ears when we got to the hippos.
TokyoMagic!, we have definitely seen the pointy-roofed ticket booths in Town Square… I am genuinely not sure if we’ve ever seen one out front like this before.
Chuck, I was never cool enough to have a pager. I only had a toy watch with a lenticular picture of Quickdraw McGraw/Huckleberry Hound, and that got terrible reception. I agree about the Foreign Legion thing, I was trying to figure out if there would be some reason they were singled out in 1956, but could not come up with a good explanation. Schweitzer Falls was as cool and wet as a Pabst Blue Ribbon pulled right from an ice chest on a fishing boat! “What’ll you have?”. PBR!
Stu29573, I’m a-scared of ghost boats! My and my great dane Shooby will run in the opposite direction if we ever encounter one. I was wondering if the “Ganges Gal” was one of those two decommissioned boat names, I typically try to remember to look for those. But the GG is still going strong (in ghost form)!
Mike Cozart, do you have any idea why a Jungle Cruise boat would be involved in a lawsuit investigation? I can’t even imagine a situation where such a thing would be necessary. “That boat came out of nowhere and t-boned my car!”. My understanding is that there are several (many?) off-property warehouses that store various items, but we know that Disneyland is lacking in the real estate that the Magic Kingdom has (of course they are still removing their river, bizarrely). Storing a large item like a Jungle Cruise boat would not be practical, it would sit there year after year. Of course I wish they HAD saved it!
Bu, the pointy-roofed shack (as TokyoMagic! pointed out) was seen in Town Square, used as a souvenir stand, and I believe that you could also purchase tickets and/or ticket books there as well. Why it wound up out front is a mystery. Maybe it was deemed no longer necessary in Town Square, but nobody had the heart to destroy it? Comfy seats, plush mats, AC?? Sounds like my kind of job! In my memory, air conditioners were responsible (partly) for spreading Legionnaires Disease (sorry I misspelled it in my original post, I can’t type). I agree, I think that the original admission for an adult was one dollar - perhaps they lowered it for the “off season”? It’s hard to think of being able to get into the park for less than a buck, even when adjusting for inflation. I thought Tokyo Disneyland was removing their Jungle Cruise altogether, not replacing it with another version. But I admit that I have not dug deep into the details of what’s going on halfway around the world. I’m sort of shocked about how disinterested I am in the new Abu Dhabi park, maybe once I start seeing cool concepts I’ll care more. I think I’ve had photos with three or four sailors in a group, but it would be quite something to see 15 or more in a gang!
JG, I’m sure those flower beds did not last long, they seem impractical, though I appreciate the effort to add spots of beauty where you might not expect to see them. I barely remember entering the park, except for things like watching the train pull into the station (bell ringing), or watching the Monorail glide by. Like you, I was way too excited to get into Town Square and up the street to my favorite attractions. With Main Street Station being the primary visual cue, it makes sense that the entrance would have a general “turn of the last century” vibe. Remember when the various rivers had water that was more of a muddy brown or greenish? At some point it changed to Ty’D-Bol blue (or blue green), I’ve always wondered WHY?
I think the confusion is that the Tokyo Jungle Cruise ( redone to Jungle Cruise - Wildlife Expeditions several years ago) isn’t going to be converted to a Moana attraction , but REPLACED with a Moana attraction. Whatever final designs and changes come thru , the renderings recently released by the Oriental Land Company are quite out of date - and obsolete and that is intentional. Just as many of the Tokyo Disneyland new Space Mountain renderings released to the public also were mostly obsolete. On the other hand renderings shown for “Disneyland Foward”
And “Dubai Disneyland” are intentionally kept very vague and generic for now.
While I’m sick that Walt Disney World is erasing Frontierland … Liberty Square will eventually follow … it isn’t WDI that is initializing this : it’s is WALT DISNEY WORLD (company) that wants these changes. While I didn’t work on any of the Frontierland changes currently underway , I’ve worked on 4 new Frontierland’s for Florida starting in 2011 …. And they all had the Riverboat as a static prop or removed all together… or a limited use or complete removal of the Rivers of America … and those plans go back even further than 2011. I guess I had hoped since it never happened the River removal had been abandoned.
I'm amazed that the jungle looked as good as it did in 1956. JB confirmed that the spiel back in the beginning was darn right serious. But was it dry? As a matter of little known fact, well into the 70s, our spiels were dry on Sundays! Well, at least mine were. LOL KS
Stu, "(except for a screaming four year old boy, at times)" Hey, I resemble that!
Lol! You caught that!
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