Parade, 1980
I have a group of about 20 slides in an very small oddball format; the actual transparency is not much more than a half-inch wide. Looking these up, they are apparently 110 slides. Were they taken with Minox "spy cameras"?
These were undated, but thanks to this first one I'm pretty certain that they were taken during Disneyland's 25th Anniversary, which was in 1980. It's not easy to do-si-do on a moving float, but these two were professionals. Please don't try to dance on a parade float at home. Notice the sign for the Motor Boats behind the letter "N".
Whoa, those are some tiny horses! Of course we know from "Cinderella" that they (and the footmen) were actually mice, transformed by the Fairy Godmother. The fellow to the right would never admit it, but he liked wearing his powdered wig.
There's Cinderella herself, looking beautiful in her fancy coach. All curlicues in Southern California were used up in the making of this coach. I assume that it still exists somewhere... possibly in Florida?
Cindy's dress is covered in thousands of iridescent sequins, just like my prom tux. When the spotlight hits her, it's DISCO TIME!
I was reminded of this Summer 1980 copy of Disney News... I was a subscriber at the time, and always looked forward to the latest issue.
And finally (for today), one of the Tweedles shares a float with the White Rabbit, while Bernard (from "The Rescuers" can just be seen to the left of Tweedle Whoever.
There will be two more installments from these teensy 1980 photos - all but one is from this parade, but they are still fun.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
GDB pal Michael Sandstrom saw an item called "Disneyland Promotions" - date unknown, and I'm not really sure what is inside. BUT... that's not the important part! LOOK AT THAT DENT! You can't miss it!
4 comments:
Major-
"... in an very small oddball format; the actual transparency is not much more than a half-inch wide"...
"Whoa, those are some tiny horses!"
The oddball format was specially-designed for photographing 'tiny horses'.
Thanks, Major.
So, what does that giant letter "n" go to? It looks to be in the traditional 'Disneyland' font, but there's no "d" to the right of it, so it can't be spelling out "Disneyland".
I wonder if Cinderella slid from one side of her coach to the other, so that she could greet the guests on both sides of the street? Or maybe [gasp!] there were two Cinderellas in the coach, one for each side.
Wow, that's the dentiest Dent we've seen in a looong time! And there are multiple Dentlets and other irregularities surrounding The Dent. The guys who did the installation of that tower must've used it as a soccer ball for a few hours before hoisting it up into place. Thanks for that pic, Michael.
Thanks for the parade pics, Major. I hope SoCal managed to replenish its supply of curlicues!
I loved this parade! And it's theme song, "Disneyland is Your Land!" It was reused for the stage shows and the premiere parade, when Tokyo Disneyland opened two years later. JB, those letters did spell out Disneyland. The letters were far enough apart, to allow the performers to stand between them. They were also able to spin those letters around, because they were mounted on a pole (the letters, not the performers).
Major, I believe the Cinderella coach did go to WDW the following year, for WDW's Tencennial anniversary, and then came back to Anaheim to be used over at the DL Hotel for "Disney" weddings. Or maybe two were made, one for both coasts. I bet Mike knows! Back in the day, I remember seeing the cost somewhere for adding the use of the coach to a wedding package at the DL Hotel, and it was a fortune!
JB, when I did the Christmas parade (Fantasy On Parade), one year later, a different Cinderella's coach was used, which was more enclosed, so they did have two "Cindys" with a curtain down the middle, so each one could stay focused just on the crowd on one side of the street. The Family Reunion Parade, seen in Major's pics today, only used one "Cindy," and she was forced to turn back and forth, from left to right. However, it did keep her waist trim, so she was able to eat an unlimited amount of Zingers between parade performances, since she would "twist and turn" those calories off during the parade itself.
Major, I have a pic that I took, which is almost identical to that "close up" shot of Cinderella. I took it while sitting on the curb, looking up at her. Also, around 1979 and 1980, I started using 110 slide film to take all of my pics. At the time, I thought the film gave me a sharper image than the 110 print film. Now I am not sure if that was the case or not. I've posted some of those slides in the past, but I would like to re-scan them with my newer scanner and see if I can get a better image.
Thanks for sharing these, Major. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the parade. One of the original DL Stagecoaches was used in the Frontierland unit of the parade, so I hope you have a photo of that, because for some reason, I never took one. Thanks to MS, too, for the crystal clear dent pic!
Make that THREE years later, when Tokyo Disneyland opened!
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