Two Beauties - January, 1969
Sometimes a lot of slides might consist of 15 or 20 individual images. Or there can be only two! This was one of those two-slide lots, but they are both pretty darn nice.
The Pack Mules have been gone for over 50 years... I'm sure there are many younger Disneyland fans who would be surprised to learn that such an attraction ever existed! The idea of being able to ride a real pack mule definitely seems like a concept from another era; I can't imagine that the ride capacity was that high, and the cost of caring for the mules (all those apples and sugar cubes!) would be prohibitive. And so... I'm always happy to find any good photos of it.
In a nice contrast, we now see the same boy aboard a Mark VI Autopia vehicle, in cool turquoise. The NASA guys are making sure that the kid is strapped in and knows all of the safety protocols, just like they would do for the astronauts of Apollo 10 in just a few months (it seems crazy that they were allowed to work at Disneyland sometimes, but that's just how it was). You could tell the real NASA guys because they used words like "nominal" and "outstanding" a lot.
5 comments:
Major-
All the barnyard goodness of those pack mules has been upstaged by the last 'gal' we can see at the end of the mule line, with her black, bouffant hairdo, dark glasses and scowl.
Three cheers for the Mod Hatter-!
Thanks, Major.
I wonder what the ratio of kids to adult mule riders was? I would guess more kids than adults, like we see here. There are more mule riders up on the hill. Are they at the end of their ride, or the beginning? (Or somewhere in between?) I think they should replace the saddle horn with a steering wheel!
I just noticed that these Autopis cars don't have any headlights under their 'eyebrows'. Does anybody know what is written/depicted on the circular emblem where the hood ornament would go? On the loading area, a mom and her daughter both have their sweaters buttoned around their necks like a cape. It looks like the boy to the right of the Sweater Gals is getting words of encouragement from his dad in the red t-shirt.
Looks like it was a fun day in vintage Disneyland! Thanks, Major.
@ JB-
"Does anybody know what is written/depicted on the circular emblem where the hood ornament would go?"
Would you believe THIS - except it says "MARK VI"-?
These are both very nice pics, Major. I like the first one because it captures the mules in both the loading area, and up on the ridge above, showing us the bi-levelness of the attraction.
I really like the vertical striped shirt in the second image (far right). Wasn't there a Disneyland paper bag that had those colors?
Thanks, Major!
"......with her black, bouffant hairdo, dark glasses and scowl."
Nanook, Elvira would call that hairdo a "Knowledge Bump." :-)
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