Autopia Junior, August 1958

Today's offering features this great shot (in spite of the soft focus) of the Junior Autopia, from August 1958. This attraction would only be around a few weeks more before it closed (on September 15), eventually being replaced by the Fantasyland Autopia. For the sake of comparison, take a look at this photo from back when it was still pretty new! Notice the arched sign for the Fantasyland Viewliner station in the background.


And just because it's from the same lot, here's a shot of Frontierland. I know, not too exciting, although I always like it when you can spot the striped tent from Holidayland peeking up in the distance.

I Heart 1972

The Disneyland of 1972 is the one that ol' Major Pepperidge remembers fondly from when he was a tadpole. I love looking at photos from earlier years (obviously!), but this is MY Disneyland! And the Submarine Voyage was way up there on my list of favorite rides (I didn't know that they were called attractions back then).

I have pretty vivid memories of waiting in line, smelling the diesel fumes from the subs, hearing the putt-putt of the nearby Autopia, and occasionally hearing the Monorail swoop into the station overhead. I'd watch the subs as they cycled in and out, eating up people and spitting them out again. And I'd try to remember my favorite scenes; oddly, I always like the erupting volcano, which was just red lights and bubbles!


Gary the grouper seems to be asleep, hopefully having sweet fishy dreams. All I know is that he ain't swimmin'! Maybe he's been hip-mo-tized.


I had a book about the sea when I was a kid, and remember an illustration showing an Asian pearl diver swimming perilously close to a giant clam. If he got too close, WHAM! The clam's shell would snap shut on his foot, trapping him underwater. One more thing to worry about!

Three from 1962

I was fortunate to find a few oversized Disneyland slides in a box of otherwise dull pictures of snowy mountains. They had turned magenta, and I did the best I could to bring them back to somewhere in the range of "tolerable"!

Here's a cute little girl in her lovely dress (what, not jeans and a t-shirt??), relaxing at a Frontierland eatery (any idea which one?). I think she ordered a hot dog and fries (always fries!). And look, they gave you a plate to eat off of instead of a paper box. What a novel idea! I like her amused expression.


Next we wait in line to board the Motor Boat Cruise. The boats were part of Fantasyland, but they look like they are heading into Frontierland here! Arg, I am just realizing that Speedy (my assistant) forgot to clean up some of that dust. Sorry folks! He won't be getting a gold star this week (and he loves those gold stars!).


I'll bet that aliens (who watch plenty of our TV shows, I'm told) would know where they were if they landed their atomic space ships and stepped out to observe this classic scene!

Indian Dancers, 1955

Any picture from 1955 is OK with me! Even the much (much much much) photographed Indian Dancers. I'm not sure why but these pictures still have lots of 50's charm even though there are no poodle skirts or cat's-eye glasses or skinny ties to be seen. These guys are between numbers, and are trying to decide whether to do the popular eagle boogie or the thrilling beaver polka.


Who is this guy interrupting their set? What a faux pas. They look like the just might kick his butt, and invite everyone else to join in.

Two More From 1956 Frontierland

Here's an unusual view of the friendly Indian Chief who waited on the shores of Frontierland to wave at passing boats. Ordinarily you see pictures of him taken from the Mark Twain, but in this case our photographer was standing somewhere on Tom Sawyer Island. I can only assume that the foliage quickly became too lush to see him from here for long, since this angle is so scarce. Up on the hillside you can see one of his buddies, wearing a buffalo horned headdress.


Now let's look at this great early view of Harper's Mill, the landing for the rafts (or rather, one of the landings), and Tom's treehouse. Nothin' much to say about it except that I like it!

Friday Fun

Details, I love details! For instance, here's a nice but not-very-exciting shot of Cascade Peak. It wasn't as tall as the Matterhorn, but it was still pretty cool, with its roaring waterfalls and the little mine train that passed beneath it. As for the details...


...I always get a kick out of seeing the bighorn sheep capering at the top of the mountain! The didn't last very long, apparently they spooked the Pack Mules. Or something. If so, the mules were big babies. Photos from just a year or so later show that the sheep were removed and replaced with pirates. In a series of slides that I will post one of these days, you can see the sheep in different positions and they moved back and forth, laughing at death from those giddy heights!


Here's a pretty sweet late-afternoon look at the Swiss Family Treehouse, but I'm not interested in that so much as...


...whatever is in these boxes! Trust me, zooming in didn't help, they just got blurrier. Obviously there must have been a souvenir stand just to the right, and these boxes might have been full of all kinds of faux-tropical goodies. Anyone got an idea what they could have contained?

Indian Village, July 1960

Well, sooner or later we were bound to return to the Indian Village and the Dance Circle. But at least this first photo is a bit different, taken from a little further away and giving a nice view of the Village. And if you wanted to sit on half of a log, then this place was for you!


Figured I might as well throw in this one showing a bunch of suburbanites looking on as the Indians performed their strange and exotic dances. Like the Batusi! Animals that were sacred to the Indians were represented on the circle itself, such as the ferocious beaver. Beavers provided warm furs (useful in trade) and delicious beaver jerky. I call dibs on the tail!

Ticket Boofs, 1972

Where did you go when you want to buy tickets at Disneyland? Well, first you found a boof. It was pretty hard to miss the ones out front, although you could buy tickets at various spots around the park once you were inside. I'm kind of surprised (and maybe just a little bit disappointed) by my photos from 1972, not a single long-haired hippie to be found. Where are the freaks?? Probably hanging out at "love-ins" and "be-ins", and maybe even a "laugh-in"! Hippies, what can ya do.


Meanwhile, prices have gone up. Now a family of four (two adults and two young 'uns) will have to shell out around $24 to get in! Outrageous! Little did they know back then that by 2008 it could cost you in the neighborhood of $400 for four single-day park hoppers. Yeesh.

Anyway, here's a closeup of the signage on the boofs for those of you who are interested in tickets. I know you're out there!!

Flyin' Saucers! July 1961

It's another "short but sweet" post today, folks!

Here's a nice shot of the Flying Saucers attraction, with great vivid colors. This is one ride that I think I might enjoy watching more than riding (although I DO want to experience that hovering sensation)... to be honest I am just not that much into people crashing into me. Call me crazy.

A new version of this ride will be going into Disney's California Adventure; instead of hovering in a flying saucer, you will be hovering in a .... flying tire? It makes no sense, but perhaps that doesn't really matter if it is fun enough. I'm not sure if it will still be a gussied-up bumper car ride, but time will tell.

More Tomorrowland Construction, 1966

Any time I find slides that show construction going on, I am a happy camper. But this blog isn't for me, oh no. It's for you. Yes, I'm lookin' at YOU.

The year is 1966, and Tomorrowland is going through some massive changes. By the following year it will officially become the "New Tomorrowland". But for now we see the removal (try not to weep...) of the Flight Circle, the Moonliner, the Flying Saucers, the Clock of the World, the Space Bar, the Astro Jets, 20,000 Leagues, and more.

As you can see in this photo of the Submarine Lagoon, a mysterious curving track is being built around the Autopia and Monorail. What could it be? Well here's a hint: It moves pipple. That's right, it's the Pipplemover! (That IS what it's called, right?)


I am fascinated to see that the Autopia remained open while all of this construction was going on.


To the extreme right and left you can see more wooden scaffolding for the mover of pipple!