Nice Disneyland, March 28, 1972
Here's a pair of pretty Disneyland photos from March 28, 1972. With a specific date available, it's always fun to consult "Jason's Disneyland Almanac"; that was a Tuesday, and the park was open from 8:00AM until midnight. The temperature got up to a pleasant 74º, though it got down to a chilly 46º in the wee hours. There are no attendance estimates, unfortunately.
So, I wonder if the photographer's eye was drawn to that huge bouquet of Mickey balloons? Red was clearly the most popular color. But I'll go against the trend and get an olive-green balloon. I'm only just now noticing that a mother and little girl (and maybe that boy) are posing with the balloons! Above the west tunnel, the CK Holliday sits as the train loads up with a new batch of passengers for another Grand Circle Tour of the park.
Speaking of olive green, here's a nice photo of the green Monorail as it pulled into the station in Tomorrowland. We're aboard the Peoplemover, heading toward a tunnel, where I believe we will be able to see inside the lobby of Adventure Thru Inner Space, with the Mighty Microscope and an endless line of Atomobiles.
31 comments:
The Peoplemover is actually about to enter the Circle-Vision building. :)
Major-
The balloon vendor has cleverly disguised himself in this shot. And as Anonymous has already pointed out, you are turned-around - as the Peoplemover is about to enter the CircleVision building - still home to the Chatter Boxes .
Thanks, Major.
That’s a cool image of the Monorail approaching the Tomorrowland station . Once the PeopleMover entered the circle-vision building it featured backlit plexi images panels … the first one was the America the beautiful logo and sponsor’s welcome message … then a series of large double images panels set at angles featured previews of images from America the Beautiful . Then an opening allowed PeopleMover passengers to view into the circle vision preshow. I remember the circle vision hosts would tell everyone to turn around and waive at the oncoming PeopleMover - to the surprise of its passengers as everyone at the same time turned at waived on cue .
I love seeing a big bunch o' b'loons! So colorful and cheerful! I do believe the boy IS a part of the group because he's looking at the camera and smiling. Not only that, they are all dressed in red and blue. And they all have a sweater (or jacket) tied around their shoulders. Lots of nice features in this photo; besides the balloons and train (which looks great in partial silhouette), we have that horsehead hitching post and the fancy columnar drinking fountain.
Olive-green Mickey: He must have tried smoking a big smelly cigar. Red Mickey: He's angry! White Mickey: He's a ghost! Light blue Mickey: He's shivering cold. Dark blue Mickey: He's sad. Yellow Mickey: He's jaundiced. Orange Mickey: Too much Tang. Seems like there should be a black Mickey balloon, to match his usual coloration.
Another nice photo! But no Bobsled, that I can see. Aren't we (PM passengers) heading into America The Beautiful? Then past the Mary Blair mural and back to the PM Station? Maybe I'm turned around again.
Ah, I wasn't turned around after all! Major, I won't say that you made a mistake; that would be rude. And besides, you don't make mistakes. Perhaps your eyes were blurry from binge-watching Road Runner cartoons?
Nice pics, Major. Thanks,
I think that boy is trying to upstage his mom and sister, with an encore performance of his award-winning tap dance routine. His school tap club (The Toe Jammers) would be proud!
I really like both of today's photos, Major. Thanks!
I was trying to figure out what that orange thing was that we can see reflected in the nose of the Monorail. But now I think it must be the distorted reflection of a Skyway bucket.
That first shot is a beauty!! There is sooo much happening. I especially love the colorful balloons and bags. Is that the back of a nun leaving Disneyland? Or maybe a very frumpy dresser?? I see a poster/sign on the train station platform that I don’t recognize…can anyone tell me/us more about what it says….
Thanks, Major.
TM, speaking of the mom — I notice she has a mid-1980’s hairdo. Quite ‘ahead of the times.’
Sue, and you just gotta love the red pants! She has something tucked in one of the pockets, and I would bet money that it is this Spring 1972 guidebook.....upside down!
Disneyland Guidebook from Spring 1972
Oh! And the guidebook is folded in half! Bad! Bad mom! How are your kids supposed to sell that for good money in 50 years, if you've FOLDED IT!!!!!
In the first photo, what's with the Asian couple on the left? Is the guy wearing a skirt? Or a kilt? What's the lady grabbing for? She seems laser focused.
Sue: that poster is a series of Disney created silkscreen posters that are all based on vintage Santa Fe Railroad posters. Santa Fe ended its sponsorship in 1974 and most of the stations and rolling stock were converted to “Disneyland Railroad”. However it was done in phases with the locomotives and rolling stock being last to be completed - most of it was all done by 1975. The Main Street USA station featured several different exhibits that delt with the history of the Santa Fe railroad. One was a model diorama set in a large rotating cylinder : as the cylinder rotated guests saw the progress of American southwestern travel - from Indians on foot … Spanish & Mexican oxen and carettas , then covered wagons & pack mules then steam trains ….then modern streamline diesel passenger trains .. ( all Santa Fe of course!!) and no depiction of automobiles or buses lol. In the 90’s a cast office that once housed a snack window within the station was reconfigured to become a lead office … and Santa Fe & Disneyland RR wall paper was discovered !! Even featuring the CK Holiday locomotive . You think how rushed and short on money and time there was during Disneyland’s construction …. But they had time for details like special wall paper !! The area incidentally was left untouched and the small section is visible to employees ( at least up until a few years ago ….)
One drinking fountain and one pushy trash can. We all know that is not the true ratio. Only the EXIT sign mars this photo. I always feel weird when I exit, kind of a well, that's that.
Nicely composed photo with only the reasonable and expected amount of guests sharing the space.
I do love a photo of the Monorail and sorely missed PeopleMover.
Thanks, Major
Zach
Lagies and genglefens, do NOT adjust your rods and cones - this is a full-color fashion PARADE! I almost didn't clock the groovy, psychedelic shopping bag because I thought it was one just one of that person's accessories! The gingham bucket hat would be a great receptacle for smuggling a whole fried chicken, but the diamond-patterned tote could carry a southern-fried swan and all the fixin's. (I am being extremely hypocritical here, as my typical park bag contains a small emergency room.) The young boy does look like he was snapped in the middle of preparing for an arabesque or something. Maybe he was just naturally graceful. The dark lady might be a nun, or she might be The Shadow. The Shadow knows which!
I should have, knowing how layered the Vroom! was in classic Tomorrowland, but I didn't realize the Monorail and Peoplemover ran quite so cheek-by-jowl. That must have been really exciting!
JB, given that we're in 1972, I'm SO glad Olive-Green Mickey isn't being drafted!
Mike Cozart, my son, a graphic artist, digitally reproduced the SF&D wallpaper, which once covered all the walls! It's going to be used in the "interior" of Main Street Station in the next version of the DRR simulator. There was an actual snack counter (staffed by ersatz "Harvey Girls") where the Lilly Belle display currently sits--I've not heard of a snack counter in the current lead's office. I have a grainy photo showing all of this.
Photo 1 is wonderful, captures the essence of town square. Balloons, trash cans, hitching posts, flustered guests, the train, and the never popular EXIT tunnel. Just wonderful, I say again. I can hear the Announcer’s Voice.
I’d get an olive drab balloon, or maybe a khaki one. I haven’t been in Scouting for years, but I still gravitate to clothes in those colors.
The Monorail Green was a personal favorite too. In that era, both our car and farm truck were in that same shade of metallic olive green. The Monorail felt like home. I saw a new car in the parking lot last week in that exact same tone, as the styles revolve, the colors come back.
That guy in the PeopleMover car didn’t listen to the safety spiel “Keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle…” He will be sent to the Churro Mines.
Thanks for these exciting pictures, Major! Perfect on a Friday.
JG
Anonymous, D’OH
Nanook, I’m not turned around, the Peoplemover was going backwards!!
Mike Cozart, all those details you mentioned… I wish we had nice clear photos of all of them, in situ. Of course nobody (or almost nobody) would take pictures of something like that, assuming that old film cameras could even capture those images in low-light. Think of the hundreds of graphics and signs that are long-gone!
JB, there is something joyful about a big bunch of colorful balloons. Even if people didn’t buy them, it would be worth having them in Town Square. But they DID buy them. The train really does look great in near-silhouette. I guess those balloons are like mood rings, the color is significant. You don’t want to see Mickey when he’s angry. Yeah, no bobsleds, sadly. See my comment to Nanook!
TokyoMagic!, you are probably right, I am always impressive complete strangers with my tap-dance abilities.
TokyoMagic!, Definitely an orange gondola!
Lou and Sue, it’s hard to tell if that’s a nun. Usually they travel in pairs, but not always. She might just be a frump! Reading ahead about the poster, I see that Mike Cozart answered your question.
Lou and Sue, I guess that IS kind of an 80s hairdo.
TokyoMagic!, I tried to figure out what that item is, your guess is a good one.
TokyoMagic!, it always kills me to see any Disneyland paper item folded by the guest. But those INA guides were free, so they didn’t care!
Steve DeGaetano, I believe the “guy” is a woman!
Mike Cozart, I was once contacted by somebody who has two of those Disneyland/Santa Fe posters. I think one showed up in a Van Eaton auction a few years back. They are incredibly rare of course, and I would like to have examples, but they don’t mention Disneyland (as far as I know), so they are not quite in my zone of collecting. Still, if somebody gave some to me, I’d be glad! Wow, again, that model with the rotating cylinder - why can’t we have great photos of that?! Or better yet, video. I know, I know. I saved a photo that somebody took of that wallpaper you mentioned, though I’ll never find it.
zach, there were lots of drinking fountains and trashcans in Town Square, we just can’t see many in that photo! After this year’s D23 Expo, lots of YouTubers speculated about the return of the Peoplemover in some form. I want it to be true, but don’t think it’s going to happen.
Melissa, in 1972, it appears that fashions are still relatively nice looking. I have photos from a few years later, and man, the clothing is so ugly. Bad patterns, bad fit, just unattractive in every way. But that’s what people wanted, somehow. I remember reading a book (maybe one of the “Game of Thrones” books?) in which swan was served at a banquet. It must not taste that great, or we would be eating a lot more swan! Maybe it’s greasy? Yes, at the Monorail station, the Peoplemover ran right next to it. I believe that was the only place where that happened.
Steve DeGaetano, cool! How did your son reproduce that wallpaper? Maybe he saw a more complete image than I did, the one I saw showed only some of what had been there. The “next version” of the DRR simulator? I didn’t know there was ANY version!
JG, I have a number of similar photos to #1, but I always love them. Even though the guest might have taken the picture as they were leaving! Seeing the trains above the tunnel always makes me think of entering the park. They should have made all of the balloons gray so that kids wouldn’t waste time making up their minds. I think I’ve seen Dodge Chargers (or something like that) in that shade of olive green, it looked great, and very 70s. I’m sure that guy only leaned out of the Peoplemover for a quick photo, but I did the same thing on the Railroad and got reprimanded.
I think I’ve seen Dodge Chargers (or something like that) in that shade of olive green, it looked great, and very 70s.
When I was a little kid, our family car was a great, big, olive-green, early 70s Plymouth Fury. The exterior was a slightly lighter shade than the balloons, but the interior was pretty close. It was a great car for long family trips and nights at the drive-in, because the back seat (bench, of course) was big enough for both my sister and me to stretch out on and sleep at the same time, or sit on the floorboards and use as a table. Looking back, maybe my parents were cheapskates in other areas of life just to keep that car running through the oil crisis.
Major, the wallpaper used concept art images of the E.P. Ripley and the C.K. Holliday that are publicly available, as well as the Santa Fe circular herald. Add in some track and period colors, and you've got a pretty accurate replica! The DRR simulator has been around almost 10 years, but it's being upgraded with hyper-realistic trains and realistic park buildings. While primarily focused on train operations, players will be able to walk around a pretty accurate model of the park and be able to enter some structures and rides. Here's an update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ_ujMMkj6o
Re: Santa Fe posters: I saw them being carted off from the boneyard at a surplus sale in 1981....in the original wooden frames...I didn't see them in the yard as I headed towards a giant fake cake that once sat in the middle of Central Plaza...and by giant and mean like giant....it wasn't in great shape, which disappointed me....so I went off to "dishes and such" with logos...who knows where those are...but I bought as many as I could carry...and that parking lot sign...which: who knows where that is....and escargot silver plated plates....from: somewhere...the Club (?) who knows....that's all I remember....but it was kind of a chill sale....no one fighting over the last girdle...Onto the photos, and the balloons....that is a GIANT wad of balloons...they usually came out to you in bundles of 50, as that is about the "normal" amount that looks good, and is easy to manage....if you had about 10 left: 60 was OK too....if it was slow and you had 40...and they are forcing 50 on you....wow...that was rough. But you don't complain. I must be in hundreds if not thousands of photos holding balloons....I've never seen one of them...and here: you can only see someones black Oxford shoes...with defined heel. Well: we know it's a boy...girls had their own shoes, and type...but not Oxfords. There's a "Nun on the RUN" there headed to the exit. I'm not sure if nuns still go to Disneyland, but nuns in habit got a discount. Nun's on the Run is a hilarious screwball comedy with Robbie Coltrane and Eric Idle....very silly, and completely enjoyable. I love a good nun movie...Onto a "bubble" Monorail....I always waited to get into either the front bubble, or the top bubble....the top bubble was amazingly roomy...and it was AWESOME....and the Retlaw guy was always very sweet even to us bratty teenagers....I am happy to see this photo, and sad to see it as well. But I feel AI will give us a complete vintage Disneyland in VR 3D Smellovision.....I'm looking forward to that...until then....I STILL have dreams about working at a vintage Disneyland....but only after eating popcorn....hmmmmmmmm.....well, perhaps that is mostly true. Thanks Major!
STEVE: the interior - larger - snack counter was earlier. In later years one of the ticket bay windows was converted to an outside service snack counter. That way window was eventually closed off and because a lead office - a very tiny office. I bet serving snacks inside the depot or even around it was an issue and I’m sure guests were irritated when they were told they had to finish their food before boarding the trains. “WHAT!?? WE JUST BOUGHT THIS A SECOND AGO AND NOW I HAVE TO TRASH IT!?? - THATS ROBBERY!!” WDW solved this issue by placing the large snack and newspaper counter ( THE STATION BREAK) along with lockers in the ground level … Like a real big city 1890’s railway depot! It really was servicing guests coming in off Main Street and WDW RR passengers EXITING the attraction .
The Goodyear VIP lounge located in the back of Disneyland’s Plaza Inn once featured wall paper with PeopleMover trains and the Goodyear logo. That wallpaper remained into the 1990’s long after Goodyear’s exit from Disneyland.
”I didn't see them in the yard as I headed towards a giant fake cake that once sat in the middle of Central Plaza.”
Bu, one of the last scans I sent to Major to post [next year] is that cake in the middle of Central Plaza.
Sue: I knew I wasn't imagining it....for some reason I'm thinking I saw a photo of it with a very very young Drew Barrymore...and the "Bachelor Guy".....John...F.......jeez....I hate getting old....Forsythe!....I didn't get the cake...It was like a Monet: really cool at a distance...up close...."huh?".....
Melissa, we had a Buick station wagon that was a dark-ish green. Not exactly “olive”, maybe a bit more silvery. It was fun to take it to the drive-in, and of course it was handy for our own long road trips. Those vinyl seats would get incredibly hot in the sun, though!
Steve DeGaetano, oh cool, I had no idea that the wallpaper design was out there on the internet. I’ll have to wait until tonight to check out that YouTube video, but I am very curious! Thank you for the link!
Bu, I’ve known former Disneyland/Imagineering employees who told me about opportunities to buy things that were considered trash, and they got some real treasures! One guy got a “next show at” clock from the Tiki Room. I also know folks who pulled incredible things from dumpsters, including miniature atomobiles, fish and seaweed from the Submarines, and so on. One guy told me that he had an armload of cool stuff from a dumpster, and a higher-up at Imagineering saw him, and basically demanded his “cut”, he took some of the stuff. Unbelievable. Like the mob! I wonder if that balloon vendor had just received a new batch of balloons, and added them to the 20 (or whatever) he had left from before? Maybe it didn’t work that way at all. I’m aware of “Nuns on the Run” (the movie), but have never seen it. As a devout Catholic, I can’t do it (joking). Yes, the front bubble or the bubble dome would have been great, but as I’ve said before, I did not ride the Monorail until many years after the Mark IIIs were long gone. My family never did them for some reason. Now I’ve been several times. I know the newer trains have received some criticism, but I think they’re pretty cool.
Mike Cozart, I agree, providing a snack counter and then not letting those customers bring their snacks on the train does seem kind of dumb. Maybe that’s why the counter was eventually removed. However, I can imagine awful people just leaving their trash on the train, or worse, pitching it out onto the tracks. Most folks would be respectful, but there’s always “those guys”.
Lou and Sue, you’ve sent me so many scans, I don’t even remember a giant cake in the Plaza!
Bu, the trouble is, they’ve used giant cakes as floats, so I might be thinking of those. Hard to say. John Forsythe, he seems way too classy to be in one of those terrible Disney TV specials. But hey, Johnny gotta get PAID.
Major, the wallpaper, or at least a clear photo, isn’t on the internet to my knowledge.
Major : I suspect trash would have been an issue. I know beverage service on the Mark Twain was cut because of guests tossing the Mint Julep & coffee cups into the Rivers of Americas ! Those Mark Twain printed clear plastic juleps cups are RARE!! There’s a foam version for coffee too with the same logo … those are a bit more common but the foam easily deteriorates. The mark Twain cups and Tom Sawyer island maps tossed in the river was such an issue it was decided to NOT offer souvenir Tom Sawyer Island maps to WDW guests when the attraction opened in 1973. A series of sign maps throughout the island guided guests . Ironically WDW wasn’t worried about the cups in the river because both the Richard F Irvine & Admiral Joe Fowler offered beverages during summer and busy seasons. In fact the riverboat beverage bars are listed in guidebooks under food service in early editions .
I probably would have been one of those Disney employees constantly snooping in the dumpster for cool things being thrown out. I used to have two store mannequins that I rescued from a storeroom cleanout when I worked at Sears. They were fun to dress up in seasonal attire and have around the house.
Ew, people can be so gross, throwing their trash in the river! I don't know why I'm acting surprised. They should have put an animatronic of the crying Native guy from the "Keep America Beautiful" PSAs on the riverbank, next to Chief Wavy.
Melissa, I remember that PSA very well!
I just noticed one of Major's olive-green Mickey balloons way over there on the left edge of the picture next to the pointing lady. Or perhaps it's part of a female extraterrestrial's anatomy. (Family blog! Family blog! Family blog!)
Bu, we always waited to sit in the Monorail's nosecone or the bubble, too. And you are right, the Monorail drivers were always VERY nice I wonder how difficult that was for them, when you consider that every single ride probably involved a new stranger sitting next to them. If I am remembering correctly....and from looking at today's pic, the two passenger seats up in the bubble were separated by the steps that led up to them. So one passenger sat by themselves, and the other sat "up close and personal" right next to the driver.
Bu (again), was the cake in the boneyard sale THIS cake?
Mickey's Month Giant Birthday Cake
That's the cake....but imagine a bunch of holes in it and totally faded :) I passed...ultimately, it probably ended up in the dumpster. Regarding dumpsters and trash: was totally a BIG no no, and was legally considered stealing. Immediate termination when caught. There was a lot of great stuff in the dumpster: the open ones...not the compactors filled with guest-goo and old spaghetti. Once I filled up my arms with stuff, and then remembered the "rules" and threw it all back in there....LOTS of old photos...brochures...etc etc.....I wasn't greedy, but it was a lot. Now: in a landfill....
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