Disneyland Gems from ’56, Pt. 2

Today’s 1956 Disneyland gems take us to Fantasyland, the heart and soul of the Park. One of our dapper vintage guests is standing in front of Merlin's Magic Shoppe. Unfortunately, the camera being used did not produce images that were all that sharp, so the zoom in window view is meh at best. However, you can see the vintage shop sign above the guest’s head.

A nice overall view of Fantasyland that shows the tea cups, Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, and the Casey Junior Circus Train off in the distance.

Zooming in, you can see that the Storybook Land attraction is taking shape, as the framework for the rocks is in progress.

This image yielded a wonderful surprise. At first glance, it just appears to show the mini-lake/pond behind the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, with Casey Junior chugging along in the background.

A closer look reveals the old Canal Boats of the World sign, unceremoniously dumped against the fence:

A previously posted shot of the sign before it came down for good:

And this image was the reason I purchased this set in the first place:

What a great color detail image of the original Snow White's Scary Adventures dark ride mural!

Still more great 1956 gems to come!

See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland Fantasyland photos at my main website.

Under Construction

Today's post is an assortment of construction photos accompanying the text of an article from the Disneylander Employee Newsletter, September 1961. First photo here shows the sign for the Storybook attraction in Fantasyland BEFORE it got the Storybook! Following are two shots from the testing phase at Arrow Dynamics in Mountain View, California for Casey Jr. The rest are fairly self-explanatory.

THE DISNEYLAND PROVING GROUND

Much has been written about the very important phases of designing and construction of Disneyland's many attractions. When the construction crews have packed up their tools and the adventure is opened for the enjoyment of guests most people consider the project completed. However, the job is just beginning for the maintenance crews in Truman Woodworth's division.



Very few people realize what goes on behind the scenes to keep everyting so colorful and fresh looking. Continuing vigilance by mainteance crews round the clock, every day throughout the year is necessary to retain the Magic Kingdom's ever present "new look."

An article in a recent issue of the Western Paint Review magazine covers the problems of one group of Disneyland maintenance experts as follows:

Disneyland painters, under Larry Smith, realize the problem of maintenance, as they are responsible for maintaining every painted surface that is seen by the Disneyland guest as well as many that are not. These vary from "snowcapped" Matterhorn, to the underwater fish in the Submarine Voyage, to the re-finishing of the high style interiors in the stores along Main Street, U.S.A. and to the production line coating of structural steel recently used in the extended Disneyland-Alweg Monorail System.



Disneyland packs more painting problems into a 160 acre area than probably could be found in any other place in the world. At the peak of the season 30,000 people per day are shuffling over the coated asphalt walks, sitting on painted benches and generally contributing to the wear and tear on all finished surfaces. The effect of water corrosion is another of Larry's headaches. In the Submarine adventure, underwater surfaces must be maintained in good condition for at least a year. This includes the submarines themselves, tank walls, mermaids, fish and fluorescent decorations.

For many applications in Disneyland, standard paint formulations are not suitable and Larry has worked closely with his paint suppliers' chemists in developing and testing materials formulated for his special needs.



Among his notable successes is the development of a new coating for asphalt walks which he anticipates will withstand one year of terrific wear in comparison to the life of the previous coating, which was three months. Some of the coatings in the submarine lagoon are still sound after three years of immersion. Originally, a suitable finish for the lifelike fish could not be found. Larry finally came upwith the answer—a ceramic type of coating which is burned on with a torch.

Color is also something of a problem at Disneyland. Everything in the Park is color styled by the Disney art directors and this runs into 2,500 different colors for the paint department. These colors are all eye toned by color specialists and in addition, for touch-up work, original colors are let down to match the fading colors.



There are also major painting jobs which come up every two or three years, like painting the Matterhorn Mountain. In this case, Larry has a large colored rendition of the mountain provided by artists at the Disney studios. He stands down below and directs his crew with a walkie-talkie and ends up with a remarkable resemblance of the picture. Another major project occurring every two or three years is painting the submarine lagoon, the submarines and all the objects in the tank. This requires a lot of special finishes and artisitc ability. How often do you find a man who is an experienced 'sea serpent' or 'mermaid' painter? A lof of black light finishes were used which are especially effective when viewed through the portholes of the submarines.



There are many routine jobs such as, touching up many miles of hand rails once a month and five hours daily spent touching up the targets in the shooting galleries.

Colored water produced by black light pigments in the Mine Ride is checked daily. A regular touch-up program with a periodic refinishing is carried out on all the various vehicles, carousel horses and boats used to carry guests on Disneyland's forty-five adventures. All the benches, tables, waste cans, popcorn wagons, etc., receive the same treatment.

In short, practically every surface in Disneyland comes in contact with the brush of an expert painter with clock-like regularity. It all helps to keep Disneyland shining as brightly as it did on opening day back in 1955.



See more vintage & contemporary Disneyland construction photos on my Construction/Behind-The-Scenes web page.

TPE: Casey Jr. & Storybook Land

This may be one of my weirder requests for my Time Machine, but I would really want to visit Disneyland between Opening Day and June 1956 so that I could see Storybook Land...without the Storybook.



It seems hard to believe that Casey Jr and the Canal Boats actually gave guests a tour of the muddy (and apparently weed-filled) banks of Storybook Land, aka Canal Boats of the World.



At least the ornate circus-themed vehicles of Casey Jr. provided an element of fun.





The boats though...how did the cast members drive these and point out the "scenery" and keep a straight face?



Apparently they got very good at the deadpan as they recited lines like this: “The miniature landscaping is so miniature you can't see it!”







I'd also want to ride Dumbo, too. Why? Because I could get a good aerial view of the construction, and because I'd want to capture the Dumbo ears in movement, back when they flapped up and down.







The next 9 photos were shot sequentially, circa 1955:













I have to zoom in to see the Ticket Booth window:



Some of these vehicles were salvaged from the original carousel that most of the King Arthur Carrousel horses came from:







The Chicken of the Sea Mermaid from the Pirate Ship Restaurant is visible in the foreground as Casey chugs along in the background:











The Russian Olympic Team from 1956 that we saw a few days ago is back, this time trapped in a monkey cage.



Construction of the patchwork quilt:



Signage geeks rejoice with this March 8, 1956 image:





Workers are visible as we zoom in, catching them with less than 3 months left to finish the new and improved Storybook Land attraction:



See more vintage & current Casey Jr. photos on my Casey Jr. web page.

Disneyland in Glorious B&W, 1955, Pt. 6

Although Casey Jr. was briefly open on day one, Storybook Land was not themed and decorated until about a year later. These shots show Casey chugging around the track and the barren shores known as Canal Boats of the World at this time.



And last for today is also in Fantasyland, before the Skyway soared over the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant.



See more vintage & current Fantasyland photos at my regular website.