Our May 1959 trip to Disneyland takes us to Storybook Land today, with some wonderful shots of the miniature homes and gardens that inhabit this amazing attraction. First off we have the home of the sensible pig who used brick, not straw. Here is a comparison shot of it today:
The enchanting cottage of the Seven Dwarves:
And a contemporary shot showing it all decked out for the holidays:
The village below Cinderella’s Castle:
And a contemporary comparison view:
I believe this one is of the Tremaine home, but please don’t boil me in oil if I am incorrect:
And a contemporary comparison view:
The Old Mill near Alice’s Village:
You know the drill...here it is today:
Pinocchio’s Village will be lost in the shuffle when readers see the construction of the Matterhorn in the background; with all that lumber and the fact that this attraction is almost 50 years old, it’s no wonder Disney has had some major issues with keeping the mountain from literally falling apart.
And the recent version:
Last one for today is another view of Pinocchio’s Village, accompanied by a somewhat similar shot from today:
See more vintage and current Storybook Land photos at my website.
Great Matterhorn construction image. I also like the detail seen in the village in the foreground. The photographer was very good at what he or she did! It is unusual to see such clear images of the smaller details.
ReplyDeleteAmazing construction image of the Matterhorn! I kind of wonder if the lumber that we see isn't mostly the external scaffolding? I am actually pretty curious to know if there is a lot of wood in the mighty Matterhorn!
ReplyDeleteAlso love the detail of the tiny deer in front of the Dwarve's cottage.
What, only 14 pictures today? ;-)
Great shots!
ReplyDeleteanother fantastic post.
ReplyDeleteI was there during construction of the Matterhorn. It was a huge wooden roller coaster with wire mesh and plaster on the outside. We all thought it was just a giant version of what we used to build for our model railroads. They plastered and painted it from the top down, and added those metal flakes in the white paint for the snow reflection look. I think it's amazing that it's lasted all this time. I was SOOO disappointed when I discovered that WDW didn't have a Matterhorn.
ReplyDeleteThe best picture of the construction I've seen so far. But, I don't like the new versions of Storybook Land. The colors are just wrong! It looks like something out of the My Little Kitty coloring book.
As always Lee - thanks for the first-hand account; greatly appreciated! - Dave
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