Frontierland & Adventureland, January 1974
Here are the last two scans from a batch dated "January, 1974". They don't work very well as a set, but I think you can handle it.
This first photo doesn't look like much, but our photographer did capture the Old Mill, the Columbia in Fowler's Harbor, a Keelboat, and the Haunted Mansion, so I guess he did pretty well all things considered.
For some reason, pictures of the Tahitian Terrace are not common, even though it was there for decades. I only have a few. I love the design of the marquee sign, and wish that shield was in my grubby little hands (I'll wash them later, I promise). The restaurant appears to be closed, for some reason.
11 comments:
Like you said, the photographer managed to capture several Disneyland icons. Plus one measly AED... or is it an actual duck? One can't tell unless one can see the eyes. AEDs have glowing red eyes. We also see the floating barrel that Canoeists had to swerve around to avoid running aground in the shallows.
This photo has a definite 'you are there' quality; like we're walking through Frontierland on our way to the Haunted Mansion.
I love the theming of the Tahitian Terrace; lots of detail! What is that rectangular, brown and orange thing above the Aloha sign (in the rafters)? It looks like a diagram of the half-sized basketball court up inside the Matterhorn. It even has what could be, a basketball! Not only is the restaurant closed, there are no guests milling about in the foreground.
I'm trying mightily to make these two photos 'work' as a set but I'm not sure I'll succeed. You say we can handle it. I'll use your words as encouragement to get me through it. Thanks, Major.
"........our photographer did capture the Old Mill, the Columbia in Fowler's Harbor, a Keelboat, and the Haunted Mansion.
Major, he/she also captured a TSI raft, as well as Sandy Duncan and Ruth Buzzi coming out of the Haunted Mansion's exit! ;-) That special aired in April of 1974, so technically, they could have been rehearsing or filming in January. They need to film a "Sandy In Disneyland 2025." Nabisco could be a sponsor, and they could run Wheat Thins ads during the commercial breaks.
The shadows in the second pic look like mid-morning shadows to me, so it's possible that the Tahitian Terrace just wasn't open yet.
That Sandy Duncan Ruth Buzzi scene in and around the Haunted Mansion is sooooo bad that it is GOOD! The silly costumes and continual mugging to the camera, along with a swell musical number at the end is akin to the famous Paul Lynde Halloween special. It's special because it's so spectacularly weird and disturbing that you can't turn away. That being said: the Mill and Island look very lush...and where trees don't have scale, other vegetation may have some scale. It looks a wee "abandoned", and although I like this overgrown look the bushes/reeds/etc in the front seem to be messing with the overall scale of the mill. I'm all for "curated overgrown" if it's intentional. It's a lovely scene across the river, with trees and a hint of mansion at the top...this could very well be a scene from the North East. I wouldn't say the Tahitian Terrace looks closed overall...it just doesn't look open yet. Such a humble entry to a very fantastical place. Unfortunately now a shell of it's former self. The logo is wonderful with the stylized flowers and looks very "Disneyland". Not having this venue in tact anymore is up there in TRE with the PeopleMover in my opinion. What a wonderful place to have a fun meal at night when you are all "rided- out". What was that purple juice called? Thanks Major!
I have no recollection of eating at the Tahitian Terrace before the 1980’s — I only experienced the KIMOMAN sponsored version. We had lunch there quite often . Even on a busy day it felt cool and relaxing . It was best to see the Tiki Garden Gods hidden throughout the terrace making a duplicate appearance from the Tiki Room. The themed shows were always fun. Disney really made a mistake to close this Advevtureland gem RIGHT at the beginning of the resurgence of RETRO TIKI …. And doing a missile Eastern theme during desert storm war … (!??!?) like opening a “Berlin ‘38 “ theme restaurant in the early 1940’s …. ALADDINS OASIS was a giant flop … right when Disneyland was cutting back live entertainment, this dinner show sucked up most of the park’s live action budget. Unlike the Tahitian Terrace that featured several smaller shows through the day leading up to the more elaborate dinner time show , terrace diners could eat at their own pace and see the show along with the meal. Aladdin’s oasis required guest to EAT in time with the show and starting and finishing with the show … guests hated it . They had to get reservations , pay a large set fee with a set meal in advanced … wait a long time to enter the “ Oasis” … then were rushed to eat their food while trying to pay attention to the show’s storyline and extreme action. Guests tended to watch the show and not eat at them time … making it take longer to re-set the restaurant for the next group waiting in lines outside. Guests also complained to food was odd tasting or too spicy . They did love the dessert : a little mousse filled chocolate “magic lamp” . The show was costly to perform … and guests quickly began to go elsewhere to eat … as attendance dropped , the show was closed and the restaurant shuttered. For a very long time it sat unused except for a short time they had Aladdin and Jasmine reading stories to kids … another idea that flopped : have guests pay 80.00 to enter Disneyland and NOT go on attractions and rides but expect kids to wanna sit and listen to a story book read to them?? That’s like going into a empty CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS theater and being shown an appliance catalog!!! Until TROPICAL HIDEAWAY opened , Aladdin’s Ossis sat vacant and unused for most of its existence.
I’m going to pretend that I’m seeing these photos in sequence, walking anti-clockwise around into Adventureland, that helps make them into a set.
That’s a right workmanlike photo of the River, captures everything of note in one concise image. From the cask buoy to the Mansion weathervane, all the little highlights are there, and no Mark Twain overshadowing everything.
And I would gladly glom on to any one of those TT signs, I’d even wash my hands FIRST. This place is probably my saddest memory of the Park That Got Away, never once went in there, and now I know it would have been great.
We wanted to do the Aladdin dinner show when the kids were small. They were crazy for the movie, but it was so outlandishly expensive, we just couldn’t afford it. Later, as a meet and greet, it seemed consistent with the Pressler policy of managed decay, and we never did that either.
Finally, as Tropical Hideaway, this location is redeemed. I love sitting there watching the JC boats returning. I wonder if after the Fantastic Four re-skin nukes the Sub Lagoon, will there be a waterside restaurant where we can remember the Grays (h/t to our long-lost friend Thufer).
Thanks Major, a fine set of you-are-there today.
JG
JB, remember, AED eyes don’t glow until they have targeted you. THEN the lasers “power up” and you’ll be running for cover if you know what’s good for you. It’s such a shame that the Tahitian Terrace is gone (and that I never saw the show or ate there), but the sheer number of dancers and musicians must have made it too expensive. Walt probably wouldn’t have cared about the cost, but that’s not how things go today. I really don’t know what that “basketball court diagram” is, hopefully somebody else does!
TokyoMagic!, if I found a photo of Sandy Duncan and/or Ruth Buzzi at Disneyland, I could retire forever knowing that I’ve made a tremendous contribution to mankind. It would all be downhill after that! Yum, I like Wheat Thins. And Triscuits.
Bu, most Disney specials were so terrible, I was always disappointed. How could they set a show inside Disneyland and make it so unwatchable? C-grade celebrities, ridiculous situations, terrible jokes, limp songs… I once read that a single production company was responsible for these shows, and it baffles me that Disney continued to use them over and over. I guess they got ratings? I don’t mind the Mill looking abandoned, that can add to the “story” in a way. “Somebody used to be here, but they’ve been gone for a long time”. Maybe TokyoMagic! was right, it might have been too early for the Tahitian Terrace to be open. I truly wonder if any forward-thinking Imagineers saved any of those wonderful shield/signs?
Mike Cozart, I did not know that the Tiki Gods from the Tiki Room “pre-show” could also be found in the Tahitian Terrace. Did they talk and move? Or were they just static figures? “Missile Eastern” - hmmmm! I truly don’t remember anybody ever talking about Aladdin’s Oasis with any sort of enthusiasm. Did they have a genie character? I’m a fast eater (or so everyone I dine with tells me), so I probably would have been fine eating within the time limits of the Aladdin’s Oasis show, but I agree, it is not cool to have to eat within a set time limit. Meals should be a time where you can relax and set your own pace. Want to take a two hour lunch? Go ahead! It seems hard to believe that any Disneyland food could be “too spicy”, but I applaud them for at least going for it. As long as the guest is warned that a dish is “hot” - that way they have no cause for complaint. Tasting odd is another issue, nobody wants that. The Tropical Hideaway can be a very pleasant place to eat, I got to sit with friends right by the water, there is an AA parrot that would pipe up now and then, and it was fun to watch the Jungle Cruise boats passing. The food was good too, I recommend the lumpia!
JG, have they ever made reproductions of the Mansion’s weathervane to sell as a souvenir? Maybe fashioned from real patinated copper? Probably not, though I like the idea. Why wash your hands before handling the signs? Do it afterwards, to remove tropical diseases and parasites. Like you, I regret never seeing the Tahitian Terrace show, and I could have - as I’ve said before, it looks right up my dad’s alley, and yet we never did it. I’m still surprised that we never got a proper Aladdin attraction at Disneyland, considering how massively popular the movie was. Perhaps the theme became problematic? It looks like the Fantastic Four movie is doing well, but is not quite the runaway hit that some had hoped for.
Major, there will be plenty of room for a clone of WDW’s Aladdin’s Magic Carpets once they tear out that space-wasting Jungle Cruise.
Leisurely lunches are fine, but not FORCED leisurely lunches. I am reminded of a three-and-a-half hour ordeal at the POTC restaurant in DL Paris where the waiter wouldn’t bring us the blasted check. I get that long lunches are a French thing, but I have ONE DAY here, pal, and I want more memories than watching bateau that I’m not riding going past our table every 30 seconds. We did, however, have a lovely view of the busboy station.
Major : in the 1990’s there was a small series of Disneyland whether Vanes sold at the Disneyanna Shop … they were made by a company in Burbank that made real decorative metal architectural details for real historic homes … mostly craftsman. They were the items that would be in shop if you were lucky. There was a Mr. Toad , a Pinocchio Whale, a Peter Pan Flight galleon ( all from the new fantasyland facades) there was a haunted mansion ship too. They were not very large and were fabricated from brass. They were 300.00 each … kinda pricey then. I know someone with the Mr. Toad piece but I never see these come up for sale . They must be incredibly rare.
For a haunted mansion anniversary dinner ticket event held at Disneyland there was a table centerpiece of the Haunted Mansion weathervane …. I cannot remember it it was given as a gift or if the attendees had to purchase it. I see these show up in eBay and auctions now and then.
I know of a collector who took the mansion’s weather vane blueprints and had a weathervane company make a duplicate ….I cannot remember his exact cost but it was somewhere between 15k - 20k. It’s still on his home in Emerald Cove near Laguna Beach , california.
Chuck, can you imagine an Adventureland without the Jungle Cruise?? I can’t! And yet… look at the Rivers of America in Florida. It’s hard to be complacent. I remember your story about that long lunch, which sounds like torture. I would have gone crazy! At least you got to see the busboy station though, which is pretty awesome.
Mike Cozart, oh man, I love that they sold the weathervanes, even if I don’t have one. At least somebody made them, and apparently made them well. Had I known about that (and had the money!), I probably would have gone for a few! I should do a Google search to see if I can at least find a photo or two. WOW, 15K to 20K to have a Mansion weathervane fabricated?? Amazing! I’m curious how big the thing would have been - probably MUCH larger than I imagine. That’s pretty cool that this collector got the blueprints and found a fabricator!
"That’s like going into an empty CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS theater and being shown an appliance catalog!!! "
LOL! (Mike, thanks for all your info regarding the Aladdin dinner show, as I never saw it - and am now very glad I never did.)
"Finally, as Tropical Hideaway, this location is redeemed. I love sitting there watching the JC boats returning."
JG, I agree. It's currently my second choice of places to eat in Disneyland -- the first is Blue Bayou. Sitting by the water is enjoyable and so relaxing - especially watching the boats go by.
Maybe, once they remove JC, we can then watch cars zoom past, or something. :o\
Nobody solved the mystery of the basketball court sign ?? Mike??
Thanks, Major, for some very nice, relaxing scenes and subjects, today.
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