Sunday, May 16, 2010

Sailing Through Sundays on The JC: November 1959



Scarf-gal is our official JC Tour Guide today, as she attempts to pilot the Nile Princess. Something tells me she might be somewhat of a Princess.

Back in the day, alligators and water buffalo swam together in the same area.



This hippo looks like he’s about to jump on board; either that or swallow a guest whole.



The smoke from the skipper’s pistol is clouding over this shot. Kind of a “you are there moment.”



Looks like business is shrinking again for Trader Sam:



This tidbit was submitted by an anoymous reader: “Notice the "tiller " transmission lever on the first picture with the white handle. This was a gasoline powered boat. The throttle was on the floor and operated by the pilot's foot. The conversion to natural gas occurred around 1970 as the boats were overhauled. Made it much easier for us as then both throttle and transmission was in a single swing lever as it remains today.”

See more Disneyland Jungle Cruise photos at my main website.

6 comments:

Thufer said...

The third picture down, the hippo; I was at Univerisal Studios for a second looking down the maw of a great white shark.
Interesting photo in many aspects.

stu29573 said...

Wow, I had forgotten about the 'gator/ water buffalo scene. That probably didn't end well....

Major Pepperidge said...

The first hippo picture is unusual, I wonder if they still get that close to the boat?

Katella Gate said...

Thanks to Anonymous Reader for a stellar mechanical trivia.

Chiana_Chat said...

With what happened to gas prices since 1970 I'd imagine they were very glad they switched to LPG so early!

Yeah looks more like "swallow a guest whole" there doesn't it? I don't remember seeing the water buffalo when I rode... before my time? When did it go extinct?

Anonymous said...

Thought I'd chime in as I was the writer of that anonymous tidbit. At the time I started on the JC, there were 2 of the gasoline powered boats left. They left an impression on me cause I found it difficult to keep my balance on the boat while applying my foot to the accelerator pedal. Then again, I was trying to learn the spiel, position the boat to properly trigger the animiation timing and try to be funny at the same time! I dreaded those boats for a while!!!