The attractions at Disneyland’s original Fantasyland area had Tournament Festival “Tent” façades. This was much cheaper than the original idea of Tudor façades. Here is the original Peter Pan attraction as it looked in the 1950’s. Note the mother covering up her son’s face; the little tyke was probably scared to fly through the dark ride, as many still are.
In getting this post ready, I noticed this little design element on top of the attraction building. At first I wasn’t sure if it was a microphone, a mechanical bird, or…?
The Snow White façade from 1968:
…which also had the same doohickey on top. It seems like it was tacked on as an afterthought.
In 1982, Disneyland did a scrape and burn of the original Fantasyland, rebuilding everything with the original Tudor façade concept. Here is the area in the midst of construction, as workers feverishly attempt to finish in time for the grand re-opening, May 25, 1983.
Just in case you wondered what brand of paint was used:
Painting the new windows:
Here are some of the black and white publicity stills that the Disney Corporation sent out in advance of the grand opening, with this one showing the “new” Snow White attraction exterior:
Oops…they weren’t quite camera ready.
The Peter Pan Tudor façade:
A shot of the little kiddies being let loose into the revamped land:
Who let this clown in?!?
See more Disneyland Fantasyland photos at my main website.
I'd like to believe that the doohickey is some sort of a bird sculpture but in reality I believe it is nothing more than a three-dimensional fleur de lis. In that third to last shot there is something very similar at the top of the Peter Pan entrance tower. Technically, there's three of them. This is unfortunate, I would like to believe it was a raven sculpture instead. I always thought that this Fantasyland redo was Tony Baxter's idea. I recently finished Rolly Crump's book where he stated this idea came from one of his imagineers at wed, but Tony stole the idea from her and claimed the project as his own after she had it green-lighted by management already.
ReplyDeleteThere is some irony to the fact I have to check a box that says "I am not a robot" to appease a robot who later refers to me as anonymous when i post because it refuses to recognize my identity. If only George Orwell could see this now.
ReplyDeleteReminds me more of Frederick Pohl--robots posting comments to be read by robots, with us humans just getting in the way. "A pipeline has two ends "
DeleteDave, that is an interesting gadget, I've never notice before.
ReplyDeleteToo early for video, maybe a speaker for background music?
Frazee Paint is a long-standing SoCal brand, still available today, quality stuff. For some reason, paint can be a regional thing, it's not readily available in NorCal, Dunn Edwards is the Bay Area product, while still others are available in both areas, and nationwide.
thanks for these interesting construction photos.
JG