Here are more DISNEYLAND DETAILS - photos that have zoomed in on some tiny aspect of a ride or building. Both of these are undated, but definitely from the 1950s.
First up is a detail that fascinated me as a child... the big blue eye of Monstro the Whale, the "host" (?) of the Storybook Land Canal Boats. I guess most hosts don't swallow you, but Monstro has always thought outside the box. I would happily watch a 30 minute documentary about how this eye was made; is it cast resin? The iris was surely hand-painted on the inside of the clear semi-sphere. The addition of the blinking eyelid (perhaps once a minute?), along with the occasional spray from his blow-hole made him feel just a little bit "alive".
I've seen a number of photos of the Mark Twain in which you can see somebody looking down at the turning paddle wheel at the stern. I feel like it's usually a boy, or an older man, but I'm sure plenty of girls and women have looked too. I wonder how long those wooden paddles can last, being constantly wet? Do they still use wood, or something that just looks like wood? I just scanned another slide that is almost exactly the same as this one, but I'll share it some other time.
Major-
ReplyDeleteMonstro's eye - almost as famous as those of Elizabeth Taylor; just less 'violet'-!
Thanks, Major.
"Host"? I'd say he was more of a glutton. He must have devoured hundreds of boats, and thousands of guests every day! Insatiable! He looks sooo much better wearing his formal black and white outfit than the happy, colorful blue that he sports today. He also had some plastic surgery done, didn't he? He no longer has the fierce, threatening countenance that he has in this photo. Now he looks like he's part of My Little Pony Land. How embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteThe water looks kinda milky here; must be the lighting. The water is also exhibiting much churnfulization from the paddles. Maybe somebody dumped a boatload of nonfat dried milk powder into the ROA. Yes, I bet that's it. I have the urge to drop something down into those whirling paddle blades just to see it get all mangled up. Sort of a sadistic version of Pooh Sticks.
Nanook, Liz's eyes were also just less 'violent'.
Details are fun. Let's see some more! Thanks, Major. Are you back yet? I'm getting a powerful urge to do some mischief!
They still use wood for the Mark Twain but since the early 1990’s the have used a water resistant wood from the Philippines as opposed to American Oak that was used previously.
ReplyDelete"I am your host... your boats-down-my-throats host..." I had seen still pictures of Monstro, Prince of Whales, for years before the first time I saw video of his blinking eye and blowing hole. It blew my mind!
ReplyDeleteI love these kinds of pictures. Thanks for the details!
They've got to be strong paddles too, as they do the real work of churning the river waters...since the loss of Cascade Peek. Without Mark Twain RoA would be a mosquito farm.
ReplyDeleteMS
I like details. They are what every life is an accumulation of.
ReplyDeleteMS, they still have the “streams” that flow from TSI, but you are right - it’s not anything like what Big Thunder could do to areate the pond.
- Chuck
As a kid, I was convinced that Monstro’s eye blinked, but as an older kid, I decided that was a false memory since it no longer moved. Turns out my old memory was right and the effect was broken for many years. I never recalled him spouting at all, so that effect must have quit before my time. I had a similar memory of the Barker Bird, who also vanished. Very confusing.
ReplyDeleteMajor, you’re right, there is something mesmerizing about the paddle wheel. I could watch it for hours. It’s a shame the paddles are now imported wood, what’s wrong with good old American plastic?
Thanks for the details, these are what sets Disneyland apart from other parks.
JG
Seems you're keeping an eye on us, Major. Har! No mischief here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major for close-ups.
Zach
Is that the gray tarp of the Mickey Mouse Club Circus that we are seeing beneath Monstro's teeth? I need to know.
ReplyDeleteTokyo Disney Sea has a shop that is shaped like a whale, and it's eye also opens and closes slowly. It's obviously a nod to Monstro at Disneyland. Or not.
Tokyo Disney Sea's Sleepy Whale Shop
Nanook, not many people know that Liz Taylor’s eyes were one foot in diameter.
ReplyDeleteJB, “host”, “glutton”, it’s all the same! All I know is that Monstro looks spiffy in his tuxedo colors (as you said). I think he still looks sort of fierce, there are now teeth poking up out of the water too. But the blue coloration is odd to me. My Little Pony Land?? I already have my costume! Mmm, creamy milky water. Just wait until the weather gets hot. The river will turn to cheese. I’m back! BTW, your guesses as to where I was were totally reasonable - but I was in northern Oregon, near Tillamook. Yes, we went to the factory and bought cheese curds, and had ice cream! We did other stuff too, but that was the cheese reference.
Mike Cozart, thanks! I knew you’d know.
Melissa, I guess one would not expect Monstro to blink or blow a plume of mist. The Disneyland difference!
MS, I’ve always wondered if they stocked the Rivers of America with minnows to control mosquito larvae. If so, I’ve never heard about it!
Chuck, “They are what every life is an accumulation of”. Whoa. WHOA! To help aerate the river, they have 50 of those little castles that you see in fish tanks. I’ve seen them!
JG, well now it makes sense why I would wait for Monstro to blink, and he wouldn’t. I thought that maybe he only blinked every five minutes and I just missed it. I had no idea that the effect was broken. I agree with you, America plastic is the envy of the world, and we should be using it instead of foreign wood!
zach, you should write jokes for the Tiki Room or the Jungle Cruise!
After going back and rereading my own post from 2008, I see that the Sleep Whale Shoppe's eyeball also moves around, in addition to the eyelid going up and down. I had forgotten about that extra little detail!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, hey, good one! That is definitely the big tent, though I wonder if it is for Professor Keller’s Jungle Killers? I believe they moved the tent to another location, but admit that I might be mistaken. I love that whale-shaped shop!
ReplyDeleteJG - You have a memory of the Barker Bird spouting? I suspect you may have imagined that.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home, Maj! Your real-life cheese adventures sound much better than the stuff we made up!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Western NY, there were two completely unrelated whale-shaped car washes kids begged their parents to drive through: one in Niagara Falls, and the other in a suburb of Buffalo. Both gone now. Neither blinked nor spouted. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare the lone and level sands stretch far away. Or something like that.
Welcome back, Major. You got back just in time! I was getting ready to do mischief. [JB puts away his boxes of firecrackers, TP, and eggs.]
ReplyDeleteGeez! (Or Cheez!) I almost suggested Tillamook as your destination since it's another 'Cheese Capital of the Universe', but Wisconsin seemed more likely since you have relatives in the upper mid-west. Tillamook is about a hundred miles northwest of here (Eugene). I probably saw, or heard, your plane go over!
Dean Finder, JG was one of the fortunate to see the Barker Bird when he spouted. It only last a week or two before the Imagineers realized that it made no sense.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, thank you! Wow I would have loved a whale-shaped car wash. I once helped with some artwork for a dinosaur-themed car wash, with cave men and “lava” (which was the soap that sudsed your car), it was in Fresno and I never got to see it while it was in operation.
JB, thanks. I had no idea that my absence would bring out the evil side of you! I don’t think many would have guessed the Tillamook area, though you live close enough that it very well could have come to mind! Based on our flight tracker, we went right over Eugene. You probably felt your spidey senses tingling!
When I was a sprout, nobody could convince me the canal boats were all sweetness and light after being swallowed by a mean-looking whale. And when I finally DID go on it, I wasn't scared but a little grossed out by the idea his tail had been blasted off by a sneeze. Better than the alternative, I guess.
ReplyDelete