This batch of pre-1960’s shots begins with Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. Anyone know what the little structure in front of the Castle was for?
There’s no Snow White’s Wishing Well, but there are two swans:
Deep in Fantasyland, we have 2 Dumbo shots:
Just a few steps away is the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship:
Over in Frontierland, the Mark Twain is about to take another load of guests around the Rivers of America:
Final one from this set shows Tomorrowland:
See more vintage & current Disneyland photos at my regular website.
9 comments:
Dave- I believe the structure was an information adnd souvenir stand. It appears to have moved around quite a bit in the early years.
Patrick - Thanks! Maybe it was on the same rotation schedule as the poor Magnolia Park Bandstand!
Black and white Disneyland - I love it. Thanks Dave.
In that last shot; Dig the crowds around the Flight Circle. Can't tell if it's pre-Cox era or Wen-Mac days, but they sure are jammed in. That was usually what we had. Great pics.
After looking at the photo a little more, I can see the flags in the area later occupied by the Astro Jets, which went in in 1956. Also; you can just make out a Skyway tower between the two big palm trees, which also was built in 1956. The photo must have been during a time between the two installations that year. In those days, the Flight Circle was operated by the Model Club. I've yet to find out which club that was.
After doing a little web research I found this from Model Aircraft.org/museum:
"The Williams brothers developed all-metal team racers, which were flown successfully in
contests. The brothers flew in the first AMA Nationals on the West Coast in 1952, and Granger
won the AMA team racing event using an all-metal scale model of the Cosmic Wind Minnow.
This was the only scale model to win a Nationals’ team racing event. A construction article of all-metal aircraft by Granger was printed in Model Airplane News shortly thereafter.
During 1951 the FAST Club became the first Control Line show team, flying in a 50-square-foot wire enclosure at the annual hobby and craft show in Los Angeles. The Williams brothers developed and manufactured vacuum-formed plastic scale models for the team’s use on a water line carrier, which reposed in a 10 by 20 foot pool inside the enclosure.
In 1952, Larry and Granger joined North American Aviation working in the Downey facility model shop, constructing and operating wind tunnel models using metal and fiberglass materials.
They also made plastic floats for Schneider Trophy racers that the team flew from the same pond. These shows were performed two each night and two each weekend afternoon for 10 days, annually, for 12 years. Cox, Wen-Mac, etc., plastic models were demonstrated in the shows with equipment furnished freely by the manufacturers."
I believe this is how the Flight Circle started, and that the club mentioned, the FAST Club, was the one that first produced the shows at Disneyland.
If all of the photos are from the same batch they are most likly from around late 1955/early 1956. at that time ticket books weren't a permanent thing yet so booths moved around alot. from the detail in the photo the booth doesnt look to permanent. The photos of the chicken of the sea and mark twain also give a sense of the date as storybook land is not developed and tom sawyers island isnt as well.
CoxPilot - you are the best. Thanks for the extra info. Many thanks to you, too, 999 for narrowing down the date.
It's intersting to see the Jolly Roger flying over the shoulder of Sleeping Beauty Castle in the 2nd and 3rd pic. It changes the fantasy feel of the area, as if thecitizens of Fantasyland are being overrun by looting pirates on the other side of the wall.
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