Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Early Disneyland, Pt. 3 & Knotts



Just two today from the 1955 grouping, beginning with Casey Junior crossing a trestle over the Canals of Mud. Shot #2 is (duh) Tomorrowland, featuring the TWA Moonliner surrounded by the State Flags before they were moved to the entrance area.



For all you Knott-heads, here are some 1955 shots for you; Disneyland wasn’t the only park with Indians.



Don’t let the life-like appearance fool you; this guy is a plaster fake:



Knotts even had its own train:



If I were crass and rude, I would say that it appears that the little girl on the left just cut the cheese under mother’s disapproving eye...however, since this blog is 100% above board, I will refrain from saying anything of the sort.



How about a “Happy Birthday” for Shirley Temple Black who turns 80 today; the actress/diplomat who gave Walt his Snow White Oscar statuettes and also christened the Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama during its dedication. Apparently, she suffered a broken arm last week and will be taking it easy.



And that is all for today; who knows what Daveland will have in store for tomorrow; you’ll have to come back and find out for yourself. To see more vintage & current Disneyland photos, visit my website.

9 comments:

Jason Schultz said...

That's a really unusual view of the Moonliner with the Court of Honor flags... what was so futuristic about flags, anyway??

Major Pepperidge said...

That's a whole bunch of really great photos. The Casey Jr., the Moonliner, and those great Knott's pictures, wow.

Happy Birthday, Shirley!

The Viewliner Limited said...

Probably one of the coolest Moonliner pics I have seen. Happy B-Day Shirley.

CoxPilot said...

It's to bad the photographer didn't lower the angle of the Moonliner shot just a little. I think the Flight Circle ended up centered right on that pole with the American flag. So rare to see good clean color pics of that time. How cool!

Anonymous said...

I just hope if everyting goes well that the sleeping beauty walkthru will reopen and it would be amazing for shirley temple to rededicate it.

CoxPilot said...

In addition to the castle walk-thru, I always enjoyed the Main Street Emporium window displays (especially during the holidays.) Every season the widows would tell one of the classic Disney stories as you would walk from window to window. Do they still do that? I haven't been to Disneyland since 1992, when we left California. I saw some nice displays at WDW, but they didn't seem to tell a story. It was hard to get pics of the windows without a bad reflection, but it would be great to see a series on them.

Chris Jepsen said...

Thanks for the Knott's photos - Especially the old concrete miner. That's the best image of him I've seen so far. He was later replaced with a similar but less detailed version. Now, of course, a big roller coaster runs through the middle of that area, which really heightens one's sense of being in the Old West.

I believe the Indian's is James "Osapana" Whiteman.

Chris Jepsen said...

Hmmm... Now that I look again, maybe that isn't Osapana. It's not a real clear view of the face.

walterworld said...

I think Handsome Brady is trading some discreet remarks with the Mom. Perhaps wondering is she would care to partake of a cool sarsparilla at the local saloon...