Welcome to the Dock of the Rivers of America! Early guests at the park saw the name, "Disneyland Steamship Co." in letters at the top of the structure that faced the river. Zooming in, you can see exactly what passengers on the Mark Twain were able to view as they faced the dock.
By the time this 1958 photo was taken, guests had other options. The Columbia had appeared on the scene, providing a second way to view the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and the infamous Burning Cabin. The dock structure was changed to reflect this, by retitling putting the name of the two large vessels that circled around the river.
If you wanted to board the Twain, here's the designated booth where you could purchase your tickets:
Today, the structure looks very much the same:
Here's a 2011 shot of the other side of the dock (not to be confused with the back side of water!):
See more vintage & current Disneyland Rivers of America photos on my Rivers of America web pages.
The top of the Jungle Cruise boathouse and Pavilion restaurant roofline are visible in the first photo's horizon. Nice!
ReplyDeleteLove the Steamboat/Sailing Ship ticket booth. Don't think I've ever seen that before. New discoveries. I love it!
I'm surprised to see that this structure has changed so little over time. I was under the impression that it had been "updated" at some point.
ReplyDeleteIt does have a new roof. The modern profile batten-seam metal shown in the 2011 pics is quite different from the indeterminate material visible in the oldest pics, and not at all like any historic product from the era depicted, but still looks appropriate.
It's one of those neat little structures that is so well suited to it's purpose that you don't even notice it.
Were there historic models used to develop the look or was this just dreamed up out of whole cloth by Imagineers?
It seems like there must have been boarding docks and quays for commercial steamboats, but I have no idea what they would be like, so this Victorian loggia looks plausible.
Thank you, Dave.
JG