Two Nice Ones From July, 1972
Happy Friday the 13th! I have two bright, colorful photos from Disneyland from the Summer of 1972. I could have been there, in fact I was probably just off-camera wearing my velvet "Little Lord Fauntleroy" outfit and carrying a big lolly.
A happy family poses beneath the Tinker Bell Toy Shop sign (which really should be in my collection), I wonder if Tink held a special place in their hearts? What am I saying, of course she did! Just as she holds a special place in your heart. I'll bet there was some great merchandise inside the store and wish I could walk and and look around (with a wallet full of money), maybe I'd buy one of those cool Sutcliffe "Nautilus" toys.
You know, like this! I had one when I was a kid, but was stupid and actually played with it, thus reducing its collector value. I think I still have the sub itself somewhere (mine is a pale yellow), with a few pieces missing.
17 comments:
Major-
Nice Nautilus.
As for that fun, family image.... let's just leave it with this: Welcome to the Dollhouse. If you know - you know.
Thanks, Major.
Didn't we just have a Friday the 13th a few weeks ago? Who do I complain to?!?
Major, I'm sure guests mistook you for a costumed Character, in your velvet "Little Lord Fauntleroy" outfit. Only, they couldn't figure out which Disney movie or cartoon you were in.
I feel sorry for the Red Shirt Kid... somebody super-glued his knees together! And wow! Sis sure is a tall drink of water! Maybe she nibbled on Alice's piece of LSD infused cake. I too, would like to browse around inside the Toy Shop. In 1972, I'm sure there would be lots of neat stuff. Unlike today, where there'd be only plushies and bubble wands.
Hmm, they took a bit of artistic license in reproducing Disney's Nautilus. i.e., cheep. Evidently, you wind it up with that key to make the propeller/screw spin. It's not clear to me how one makes the sub neutrally buoyant so that it can travel underwater. Or maybe it just floated on top of the water? Still, I would've liked having this as a kid. And now I suffer from 'sub envy'.
Oh, I see Red Shirt Kid got his knees unglued. But now his butt is glued to the car seat! I don't remember seeing those signs on the front 'windshield' before. I can't make out the wording after "Please", but it's probably a warning not to ram the car ahead of you. Yes, that IS a nice assortment of fruity colors. We gots 'nanners, 'maters, granny smith apples, and whatever kind of fruit the light blue is.
Some early seventies goodness. Thanks, Major.
Hmm, it just occurred to me that perhaps Red Shirt Kid may have some kind of genetic malady. If so, I apologize.
I remember the Tinkerbell Toyshop of the mid 70’s….Madame Alexander and Efenby dolls took up most of the girls section and high end Steif toys from Germany. and the boys section was Corgi and Rio diecast and matchbox models of yesteryear and matchbox KINGSIZE ….and a massive selection of Britains metal knights and soldiers there was also Exin Castle Kits from Spain. There was also marklin trains and Lehman Nan’s Gnomy friction motor cars and trains from Germany. In fact the majority of toys here were from England , Germany , Italy and Spain.
In 1974 I got a Matchbox Models of Yesteryear diecast 1906 Peugeot. However I convinced my parents to let me get it is unknown because it was probably twice as much at Disneyland as it would have been at a local Woolworths or Mini City Toy Shop … I was picking it out at the Emporium but they only had the display left and could not find the box for it. The castmember helping us called the Tinkerbell Toyshop and they held one for us. My mom
Stayed with my sister on Main Street and my dad and I headed to Fantasyland. After paying , I was handed the car in a spectacularly bright Disneyland balloon pattern bag and my dad look at me and said : “that is NOT to come out of that bag until we get home!!!”
Didn't we just have a Friday the 13th a few weeks ago?
JB, the calendar for March is always identical to the calendar for February, except during leap-years.
It's not clear to me how one makes the sub neutrally buoyant so that it can travel underwater.
JB, my brother and I had a couple of tiny toy submarines, which came in a box of cereal. The thing that allowed them to descend and ascend was a small amount of baking soda, which you placed inside the sub. But I can't explain the physical or chemical process of why that worked.
Hmm, it just occurred to me that perhaps Red Shirt Kid may have some kind of genetic malady. If so, I apologize.
JB, he might have had gneu valgum. If so, hopefully the condition corrected itself as he got older!
Thanks for the 1970s DL pics, Major!
Another happy family in the Park, no mobile order, no Genie Plus, no Lightning Lane, no $30 popcorn buckets, and no Princess Meet-n-Greets.
Notice the Peg-Leg the Pirate painted on the wall. What cartoon was he from?
Major, I envy that sub too, never seen that before. One or two times I peeked in that shop, but all the toys were too expensive. It was like One of A Kind Shop for kids.
Junior is enjoying a day’s drive on the freeway of the Future, Autopia cars are very close to today’s autonomous vehicles. Just occurred to me… were these cars garaged during rain storms, or were there drain holes in the floor of the cars?
Thanks Major!
JG
Spiffy fresh candy cars, got that sad little NOTtilus beat by miles. But those outfits are some schweet '70s in action.
MS
I am so jealous, Major. That Nautilus is so cool.
JB, it’s not nice to make fun of Red Shirt Kid. The poor fella didn’t survive the episode. Oddly, he showed up years later as a different character on TNG.
Mike, I remember going into the Tinker Bell Toy Shop once in 1976. It was amazing. We didn’t buy anything, though - too expensive. I think my souvenir from that visit was a map (which was still pretty cool).
TM!, the calendars for February and March are NOT identical. The months’ names are spelled differently.
Thanks, Major!
Leave Red Shirt alone. He just has to pee. I think the sign reads 'PLEASE blah blah blah.' The dad taking the photo is 6'8, I'll bet. The Monorail track and waterfall in the distance promises more fun to come.
Thanks, Major, colorful, for sure
Zach
@ JB-
"I can't make out the wording after "Please", but it's probably a warning not to ram the car ahead of you".
Indeed, yes. I believe the entire 'warning' states:
PLEASE
Do not bump car ahead
Keep hands inside car And then an arrow surrounding 'EXIT'.
Nanook, Dawn Wiener!
JB, yes, I thought the same thing. How many black cats do I have to avoid NOW? It’s funny, they actually probably would not let somebody in dressed as Lord Fauntleroy… I read a story about how Siousxie (of Siousxie and the Banshess) wanted to get into Disneyland, and they told her that people would think she was a character (in her extreme goth makeup). So she had to wear a trench coat over her outfit. Red Shirt kid just looks skinny and awkward, I doubt there was anything medically wrong with him. Sis is pretty skinny too. The Nautilus toy is made of surprisingly heavy steel, so in that regard it is a quality toy, but it doesn’t look nearly as great as the movie sub. If you look at it, the “periscope” comes out of a rubber cork, and that’s where you were supposed to put baking soda I think. We used it in our neighbor’s pool, and my memory is that the thing was so heavy that it just sank to the bottom.
JB, I doubt Red Shirt Kid is reading!
Mike Cozart, poor girls, they were supposed to like dolls. While boys got all kinds of great stuff! Not sure I’ve seen Kingsize Matchbox cars, but I just saw something like that with Hot Wheels at Target the other day. I used to like Matchbox cars a lot, but once Hot Wheels came along, I only loved them. The metallic paint, the outrageous designs, they were made to appeal to boys of a certain age! Do you still have your Yesteryear 1906 Peugeot Matchbox toy?
TokyoMagic!, I had no idea that March and February were the same except for leap years. How has that fact escaped me all these years? I could see the baking soda trick working with lightweight plastic subs (I think I had some of those too, as well as some scuba divers), but as I said to JB, that Nautilus toy was heavy. I remember my dad being peeved that we put that nice toy in water! Gneu valgum, gotta look that one up.
Chuck, don’t forget, my Nautilus is missing a few pieces! It was almost certainly bought for me by my grandparents, who spoiled us rotten. My dad would have happily said “NO”, ha ha. Hey, a souvenir map is once of the best things to have! I love them.
JG, yes, that was a simpler time for sure. Are those dumb popcorn buckets actually $30? Yeesh. Nothing like a big fragile plastic thing to store or display. I’m sure tons of the crack by accident. As I said to Chuck, I have no doubt that my generous grandparents bought that sub for me, most of the toys I wanted in life remained on the pages of the Sears Wishbook. Good question about the cars on rainy days, as far as I know there was no garage or even tarps to cover them on such occasions.
MS, aw, I like that Nautilus toy! I thought it was pretty neat at the time.
zach, I think that sign might say something about not crashing into the vehicle in front of you - it wasn’t a bumper car ride. Somewhere I have a better shot of one of those signs, but I can’t find it at the moment.
Nanook, aha, there you go! Thanks!
Major, I'm sure your yellow one was cool...it gives a Beatles Sub vibe to me.
MS
I owned one of those cool subs as an adult. Where did it go? MIB too. The things you own, and the things you lose. I think I've lost more than I owned. Well: those kids seem to have the same ears...and it looks like Mom had them too, but she's disguised them with a clever helmet. The halter top is to distract from ear coverings. They are all dressed kind of "snappy" and just enough "matchy" to be called a family that plays together, stays together. Those Autopia cars didn't change much in 8 years....Too bad the kid didn't get into a red car, that would have made sense. And with Mom riding shotgun, her hair would have withstand the speed of the mighty Mach-(whichever number it was). Sister didn't join, because the of the "lift" aspect of the earage aspect. I'm trying not to be so mean, but I do very much hope they grew into them. I bought my favorite Mickey shirt at the Tinkerbell Toy Shop....and I wore it well into the 90's (from the 70's) when it was literally threads. Another thing into the trash, and I REALLY wished I saved it. Thanks Major for the trip to '72.
MS, I wonder when the first film-accurate Nautilus was made? It might have been a plastic model that kids had to put together.
Bu, I would kind of love to buy one of those subs with the original box (that red and orange color scheme brought back memories, though our box has been gone for decades); they go for a lot though, and I guess I’m not that willing to spend a ton. After all, it would be put away and I would only see in occasionally. There is definitely a family resemblance between those three. I noticed mom’s helmet-hair, and realized that nice ladies could get away with fairly short skirts in 1972. I think those Autopia cars remained pretty much unchanged for around three decades! I’m not crazy about the current versions; it’s fun that there are three kinds of cars, but they are cartoony, which is nowhere near as neat as a jazzy sports car. I wonder if the Mickey t-shirt you mentioned is the yellow one that we saw you wearing in some snapshots?
I'm disappointed that wind-up Nautilus toy doesn't have accurate bow planes or functional ballast tanks :-)
I noticed the prominent Goodyear tires on those Autopia cars. Did Goodyear take sponsorship of Autopia when they sponsored WDW's Grand Prix? I read they picked up that sponsorship because the WDW Peoplemover did not use the rubber drive wheels as in Disneyland. Though I did notice the ramps up and down from the WDW Peoplemover's boarding area had big "Goodyear Speedramp" plates at each end.
Dean Finder, good observation on the Goodyear tires... as for the ins and outs of the sponsorships, I'll have to rely on the knowledge of others. The Speedramps at Disneyland were by Stevens-Adamson, but I guess Goodyear had the same idea.
Only the Disneyland Monorail used Stevens-Adamson Speedramps. By 1967 Stevens-Adamson was absorbed with Goodyear Industrial and was part of Goodyear’s SPEEDRAMP and SPEEDWALK. This also replaced Goodyear’s older “rubber railway” for freight . PeopleMover, Carousel of Progress, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and in Florida Pirates of the Caribbean , Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion , Contemporary Resort also used GOODYEAR Speedramp and Speedwalk. By the 1990’s the Goodyear ramp treds and turntables were a mix of Goodyear and Dunlop.
Goodyear was already a supplier of tires for WDW and sponsored Grand Prix Raceway from the beginning… they were also set as sponsors when Walt Disney World was set to have an Autopia prior to the raceway theme. Goodyear had also intended to also sponsor the Walt Disney World PeopleMover … in fact the first concepts were identical Disneyland designs without a canopy roof as from the beginning the Florida “Goodyear PeopleMover) was to have a covered beamway. As the linear induction motor WEDWAY PeopleMover developed goodyear decided to not be unloved ( once nylon wheels were used and rubber cancelled)
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