Here’s one you just don’t see very often: the lowering of the Sleeping Beauty Castle drawbridge. This one was taken on the 2nd day that the park was open. You can bet that there was a mad rush across it moments later! NOTE TO YESTERDAY’S ANONYMOUS BLOGGER: Photoshop does a great job of enlarging these photos. If that’s not good enough, donations always help!
See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.
Wow, I somehow had always thought that the drawbridge was only lowered on opening day. Maybe this was a regular occurance for a short while? I think they made a big deal of it being raised (and then lowered again) for one of the anniversaries (25th? 30th?). Neat photo!
ReplyDeleteGreat historical shot Dave! I wish he's have panned left & got whoever was performing in the bandstand...
ReplyDeleteMan - it would be great if all four of us could do a book - I'm just afraud the licensing would kill us!
You know - I betthe whole "we only lowered the drawbridge once" in the 50s story is another long told tale that may not be totally accurate...
ReplyDeleteWhat is amazing to me is that there is no fan fare about the lowering of the drawbridge. Everyone is watching the band playing at the Bandstand and really no one is looking at the drawbridge. Today there would be trumpets and a large crowd of people oohing and awing and taking pictures.
ReplyDeleteJust remember; this was only the 2nd day the park was open, and from the cast of the slides, this was probably early morning. Most people did not know what the park had to offer and where everything was. There is another shot i have that is slightly blurry that shows "the rushing" of the castle. And Tangaroa: screw the licensing, I say let's do the book!
ReplyDeleteTangaro I too thought they lowered the drawbridge twice (opening day & Fantasyland re-opening, 1983). Great shot!
ReplyDeleteTangaroa, Daveland, Major & Matterhorn... With your permission I would like to start a dialog with the gentleman who operates Figueroa Press here at USC to determine what it would take to create such a book. The purpose is information gathering only. We may have a bunch of hurdles to jump through but let’s at least establish the “race course boundaries” and then identify the “hurdles” before we get into, or out of, the race.
If that is OK with each of you please e-mail me at mcnabb@usc.edu I will not start any such dialog until I have your permission.
Respectfully,
Amazon Belle