Frontierland Canoe, July 1958

Today's first slide is an absolutely beautiful (postcard worthy!) shot of an "Indian War Canoe" as it glides past the Old Mill on the south point of Tom Sawyer Island. The color is just so lovely, and Frontierland (what little we can see of it) beckons. If only I could be there! In the background the majestic Columbia can be seen.

I zoomed in on the canoe because I think it's fun to observe the folks on board. The girl in red needs to do less yammering and more paddling! A few people are clearly not even pretending to paddle (like the lady shading her eyes, or the woman in front of her). 

Next we get a rather unexciting shot of Fort Wilderness, although it looks good anyway! Very fort-ish. If you look to our left there are a few people walking along the island shore (hidden by the foliage). Grown men can be seen above the fort's walls; I have the feeling that Tom Sawyer Island brought out the boy in them.

Special Guest Photos - Magic Mountain

Today we are heading north on the I-5 to Valencia, California; that's where Six Flags Magic Mountain is! The photos are from the summer of 1980, and are courtesy of GDB reader (and bon vivant) Ken Martinez. Thanks Ken! Today, Magic Mountain holds the distinction of being the park with the most roller coasters (19) in the USA. And let me tell you, some of them are intense.

Magic Mountain opened in 1971, and it was acquired by Six Flags in 1979.  This first shot was presumably taken from the 38-story Sky Tower. Ken tells us, "You can actually see parts of all four coasters that existed at that time if you look closely; Gold Rusher, Mountain Express, Revolution, and Colossus. The Mountain Express and Colossus you can see in full". 

Next we have a great view of the Colossus, which opened in 1978. At the time, it was the world's tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster (and it had twin tracks). It also featured two drops of over 100 feet. The last time I rode it (about a year ago), they had put the trains on backwards, which was interesting.

And here we are, aboard the Colossus. Wheeee! Colossus closed in 2014, and will be replaced with "Twisted Colossus", a hybrid wood and steel coaster with barrel-roll inversions, a near-vertical drop, and dueling tracks.

Ken says, "(Here is a) classic shot of the Revolution. It was the first modern coaster to feature a vertical loop. It was originally known as 'Great American Revolution' to tie in with the Bicentennial when it first opened in 1976". I still love this ride!

This view was taken from the Revolution, and shows the Sky Tower. As if 38 stories isn't high enough, it is built on a hill that adds even more height. It was closed for a while, but guests can now go to up to the observation level for spectacular views and to see a museum showcasing the park's history.

 THANK YOU once again to Ken Martinez for sharing these great photos with us!

Woody Herman, Carnation Gardens, circa 1984

Here are some more great photos, courtesy of our friend "Mr. X", who is off somewhere fighting crime. But he wasn't so busy that he couldn't take the time to donate some personal images taken when Big Band legend Woody Herman was playing over at the Carnation Plaza Gardens. These are circa 1984.

This young man (the trumpeter in the previous image) is Mark Lewis, who was a member of Woody's band from 1980 through 1986.

As you can see, Woody's band was made up of relatively young whippersnappers… this iteration was known as his "Young Thundering Herd". Don't you wish you could hear what they were playing?

There's Woody, who was about 71 at the time, and still going strong. I wonder what it must have been for Mark to play with such an icon?

I particularly like this shot, looking back toward Main Street in the early evening, with couples dancing up a storm!

Interestingly, Mark Lewis' father was Cappy Lewis, who had been a member of Woody's orchestra in the 1940's, and a contract player for the Walt Disney Studios throughout the 1960's. You can hear Cappy performing an awesome trumpet solo in the song "The Bare Necessities", from "The Jungle Book". A classic! He also was one of the original members of the Elliot Brothers group at Disneyland. (Thank you, Mr. X, for all of that great information).

The sun has set even further, and the stage has a wonderful warm appearance here. Guest are still dancing! I'll bet it took some of those folks back to their romantic younger days.

There's the master himself; what a privilege it must have been to see stars such as Woody Herman playing at Disneyland! I know that Mr. X went to see him quite a number of times, because he has shown me the photos! Maybe I'll share more of them with you soon.

MANY THANKS to Mr. X for sharing these photos with us!

Scenes Along the River, March 13, 1958

Today I am sharing a couple of views from along the shore of the Rivers of America. We'll start with this tableau, featuring a fearsome mountain lion perched atop a rock outcropping. Just look at him, he'd eat us if he could! 

I used to wonder about why this fellow was placed in this manner, and finally found a very early photo (before those trees at the base of the rock were there) in which he was about to pounce on two unsuspecting deer (you'll have to wait for that one, I haven't scanned it yet). I can only assume that the deer were removed, since they couldn't be seen anyway. 

The deer may be gone, but there is still a nice, juicy elk! Or maybe it's a deer, who can tell. They have antlers, right? It's some kind of ungulate, OK??  While I have seen lots of photos of different fauna along the river, I don't recall ever seen this particular one before. 

Beautiful Columbia, September 1971

I was very excited to find this first photo, a rare record of the day that the Columbia was attacked by a marauding tree! I'm sure you heard about it, it was in all the papers. Look at those creepy tendrils, reaching, grasping, wanting only to choke and crush! This is why nobody likes trees today. In spite of the drama, it made for a pretty picture. 

More trees! Why, even mighty Cascade Peak was no match for them. "They" say that it was water that destroyed the Peak, but I talked to a guy at the race track and he said that it was the trees. I believe him. 

HAPPY EASTER!

I don't think I've done an official Easter-themed post in my almost-nine years of blogging. Today's the day! I've gone through my boxes of random slides and scanned some fun vintage images.

I love this first one, featuring a lady in her pink dress, with a pink poodle (!), circa 1956. We are overlooking beautiful Laguna Beach. The slide was labeled "Easter Parade, 1956", but I suppose that other than the pink dog, there isn't much "Easter-y" about it. Does her hat count as an Easter bonnet?

Next up is a cute school photos (just the girls) from somewhere in Southern California, 1959. I love the construction paper bunny ears! Everyone has a tiny Easter basket, and one tot in the lower right has an egg in her hand.

The expression on the girl to the left is priceless.

More cuteness on the same day. Maybe someday, somebody will see this photo and recognize their grandmother!

And I have saved what might be the best for last - this backyard Easter portrait, undated. The boy in the bunny costume reminds me of Ralphie from "A Christmas Story". I found this in a folder of old scans, I think I scanned it before I ever started GDB (which is one reason why it looks bad). At some point I purged my slide collection, and stupidly sold this one, but hey, it was mine at the time!

No matter what your religion (I worship cephalopods), I hope that you have a nice Easter.

Three Mystery Photos

Here are some more "mystery photos", which really means that I am too lazy/dumb to figure out where these locations are. Lucky for me I have the smartest blog readers, who know basically everything.

My guess is that this first one (from 1963) will be easy for you guys. The car to our right has a Pennsylvania license plate… so I am assuming that this is from somewhere in the Keystone State. That tall building in the distance might look familiar to you (though it doesn't to me).

This next one doesn't have many clues to go on, so I'm guessing it will be tougher. At first I thought it might be Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, but now I don't really think so. There's a place allied "Angelo's", and another called "Lou's"... I don't know guys, this might be unsolvable! Nevertheless, I still enjoy it just as a vintage photo (circa 1962), with lots of people milling about.

Next we move into "Mystery Amusement Park" territory. I have absolutely no idea where this is; maybe it isn't even an amusement park, but some sort of swamp tour (though it doesn't look very swampy). It looks like there is some lettering on the side of the boat, but it is too blurry to discern.

Get out your deerstalker caps and calabash pipes!

Monorail Station, January 1965

While today's photos rate about an 80 on the Murk-O-Meter (on a scale established by Gustaf Von Murk in 1910), I still think that there is plenty to love about them. 

You might think that our photographer wanted to capture a candid snapshot of his beloved Grandma, but I am pretty sure that the lady in the blue coat just happened to be in the middle of the frame when the blue Monorail passed by. As far as the photographer was concerned, it was now or never. And the old lady didn't have the courtesy to dive onto the floor when she saw the camera! Some people. 

This is definitely an angle that we don't see very often (if ever); an action star could easily jump from that yellow Skyway bucket onto the top of the speeding Monorail! 

Bubble dome! Bubble dome! If I am elected President of the United States, I will decree that (henceforth), all automobiles, buses, and trains will be required to have bubble domes.

I only have a few photos taken aboard the Monorail, so a new addition is always welcome. The person on the left is saying, "Hey! Somebody is driving away with our car!".  Where is Tom Servo?

Yellowstone Coach, 1956

I love this rare photo of the short-lived Yellowstone Coach that used to share the trail with the Stagecoaches and the Conestoga Wagons. For some reason they don't seem to show up in any books (that I can think of, anyhow); it's as if they were completely forgotten over the years. I wonder if they appeared in the early ticket books? Maybe they just fell under the "stagecoach" designation. As you can see, they are considerably more open, allowing for a better view. And I'm sure they weren't so prone to tipping over.

Zooming in, we can see that the driver has a cigarette going, which adds a touch of cowboy authenticity - but it seems pretty "un-Disneyland". He should at least share with the passengers, who appear to all be little girls (though there might be a little boy wedged between the driver and the girl riding shotgun)! Sharing is caring.

Here's another photo that I originally posted back in 2008 (the photo itself is from 1955). We love you, li'l Yellowstone Coach! 

April Phooey

A few weeks ago it became clear to me that my 2015 "April Fools' Day" images were just not working out; my ideas weren't that great to begin with, and then the execution turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated. Rather than present something half-assed (it wouldn't be the first time), I have decided that after almost nine years, maybe I can present a few of my past efforts. It seems that I have managed to misplace (or discard?) the original high-res files for most of these silly images, which is a bummer, considering how much time I spent on some of them. 

ANYWAY, let's start with this one, originally posted in 2007. It's still my favorite! The original slide was vertical, but I wanted more room for the rocket to fly in, so I cropped off some of the bottom and  painted in some additional sky. Then I found a decent photo of the Moonliner (I needed to see pretty much the whole thing), and altered it to look as if it was up above us, with the legs in the "closed" position. Next I found a nice exhaust plume from an Ares rocket launch, and spent quite a bit of time trying to make it look like it was behind some elements, and in front of others, so that it felt like it was inside the park. Then I added a bit of extra glow around the base of the rocket to make the blast feel hot and bright. There are some things I might do differently these days, but I'm leaving it be.

This next one from 2008 is probably my second favorite. I basically tried to cram as much incongruous stuff into one image as I possibly could with the time that I had. I think the final number of items was 31 or 32, ranging from the very large (what's the Matterhorn doing in Frontierland?) to the very small (such as the "dead settler"). Adding the reflections in the water turned out to be surprisingly time-consuming. One cool thing is that I had a chance to speak with Tony Baxter (my one and only time) a day or so later, and he brought up this "crazy picture" that he had seen online (without my prompting at all), and he was clearly describing this image. I think one of his coworkers sent the photo to him, because he did not seem to be aware of my blog. You win some, you lose some!

I can't say that this next one is my third favorite, but it was the only other one that I could find in high-res. It is from 2010; I remember that I was scrambling for an idea - ANY idea - and thought it would be fun (and weird) to put Walt Disney's head or face on every visible person, male, female, or child in the park. There's 1930's Walt, all the way up to the 1960's. The hardest thing (surprisingly) was finding a photo with a decent number of people walking toward us, and close enough so that we could see their faces. It seems that most photos show the backs of a lot of heads. I think the "Walt eating an ice cream bar" might be my favorite, but it depends on when you ask me.

Hopefully I can come up with something new for 2016, if I am still blogging!