Macho Man at Disneyland, 1975

Although not released until 1978, the November 1975 gent with the open shirt was clearly an inspiration for the Village People’s hit song, “Macho Man.” It was no accident that the shirt was unbuttoned almost to the navel so that he could proudly show off his hairy cleavage and jewelry. 



Since this was 1975 though, you can clearly see that this could be a problem. “SECURITY!”



Was this Disneyland Security guard dispatched to tell Macho Man to button up? We will never know.



Meanwhile, over in Adventureland, attraction posters line the walkway.



Macho Man is about to enter the Enchanted Tiki Room. Maybe the birds there will appreciate his machismo.



At this time in Park history, GAF had taken over the Kodak sponsorship; Macho Man is standing near GAF Photo Trail spot #34.



I think he wanted a different kind of exposure.








Over at the Matterhorn, it looks like it’s getting some maintenance:



A closeup of the workers and scaffolding:



Last shot from this batch shows Macho Man in Tomorrowland. I’m sure he was on the way to Adventure Thru Inner Space to see if he could make out with another guest.



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

Tomorrowland On The Move

Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was once a land on the move. This September 1967 image in both static and Genuine FauxD© mode showcase the land shortly after its rechristening as “New” Tomorrowland on July 2, 1967. In one image, you can see the Skyway buckets, the PeopleMover, the Matterhorn, and the Monorail. All were attractions that guests could see moving by as they walked underneath on the pavement below.



Get up close and personal on the PeopleMover tracks:



…and in Genuine FauxD© mode. It’s the next best thing to being there!



This January 1968 shot shows an empty PeopleMover train. While they were not the most thrilling attraction (they did move fairly slowly), it was wonderful to get off your feet for a bit and see Tomorrowland from the comfort of your PeopleMover car.



There is a lot to see in this July 1968 shot. The Rocket Jets soar over Tomorrowland, the Skyway is floating overhead back and forth from Tomorrowland, the Carousel of Progress is still rotating, a yellow Monorail is visible below, and the PeopleMover cars flow along at a leisurely pace giving guests an opportunity to peek at some of the land’s attractions.



A closeup view of the Rocket Jets perched atop the platform:



…and the Yellow Monorail with the GE Carousel of Progress in the background:



From the same batch you can see the Ethan Allen submarine:



How the “New” Tomorrowland entrance looked; the floral is reminiscent of the Yellow Brick Road from “The Wizard of Oz” in Munchkinland!



Zooming in you can see the Disneyland Hotel in the background, the roof of the Enchanted Tiki Room, and in the foreground, the Plaza Pavillion.



More from July 1968:



The distinctive roofline of the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge can be seen at right:



Moving ahead to August 1969, this shot was taken from a Skyway bucket in Fantasyland:



When you look closely, you can see the PeopleMover on the left and a Matterhorn bobsled whizzing by the falls while the Skyway buckets float THROUGH the Matterhorn!



Taken from the PeopleMover, August 1969, with the Mary Blair tile mural at right:



Oh, to have the Jets back up on the platform again, AND something moving on the PeopleMover tracks!



A semi ho-hum shot from August 1969:



…except when you get closer you see ANOTHER attraction that moved that is no longer: The Motor Boat Cruise.



LOVE this shot of the Tomorrowland Skyway station:



…with The Mod Hatter below. Take some time to check out the selection of hats! You just know that sewing machine was moving faster than the PeopleMover to keep up with all the embroidery orders from guests.



I hope you enjoyed this vintage view of Tomorrowland when it was once vibrant and full of movement!

See more Disneyland Tomorrowland photos at my main website.

Mary Blair Monday, September 1976

Today I present three consecutively shot images of the Disneyland Tomorrowland Corridor of Murals, designed by Mary Blair. Shot in September 1976, our vintage photographer must have really been taken with these. Installed when Tomorrowland was re-imagined and re-christened in 1967, they definitely bring to mind Blair’s nearby attraction, it’s a small world.



The first two images show the north mural (on the CircleVision 360 attraction). While the dancing children in Tomorrowland may seem a bit out of context, the satellites at the top representing global communication kind of fit.



And who wouldn’t want to see children from all over getting along in the future?



Below is the south mural, installed on the Adventure thru Inner Space attraction.



The sun portion is truly representative of some of the temperatures lately!



There are conflicting stories about the status of these murals. Glass half full reports say that the murals are intact underneath the current c&*p that was placed on top. Glass half empty photos show that during the installation of the current c&*p large portions of Blair’s art was either removed or drilled through to make way for its uninspired replacement. I believe you can still see Blair’s Grand Canyon Concourse Mural in the Walt Disney World Contemporary Hotel, as shown in my photos from January 2010:



Not only did Blair’s designs include bold colors and shapes, the tiles were…well, tactile. In the detail image below you can see the textures within the design themselves.



If you prefer Blair’s two dimensional art, here’s a concept art piece she did for Disney’s “Cinderella” (1950:



See more Mary Blair Disneyland/WDW photos at my main website.

“A” is for Adventure Thru Inner Space

The Adventure Thru Inner Space (aka “ATIS”) attraction opened on August 5, 1967 in the location now taken up by Star Tours.



Sponsored by Monsanto, it provided a showcase of their “technologies”…



and all the wonderful (?) uses of their delightful chemicals, including fashion.



It also provided the first use of the Omnimover system. If these little vehicles look familiar, that’s because they’re still being used on the Haunted Mansion. The benefit is that they keep the people moving and can twist & turn in the direction that Disney wants you to look. On this wacky and extremely dark ride, sometimes the guests did a little bit more than just twisting and turning. Fortunately for them, this was before closed-circuit cameras had been installed. From one of the cast members who worked the attraction:

We would see marijuana lit tips coming through, as well as many people desperately grabbing at one another. Usually all we had to do was shine the flashlight in their eyes and reprimand them for their activities, with a threat of taking them to Security to achieve the desired effect. I don't recall having to actually follow through with any action. Although ATIS didn’t have a camera system, there was one installed on the PeopleMover, covering the areas where the cars slowed down (through the ride buildings). In addition, the PeopleMover had pressure-sensitive pads placed along the catwalks in these same buildings which would automatically stop the ride should someone crawl out of the cars.”

Another Daveland reader shared this story:

Naturally this was a great ride during Grad Night—all these kids wanted a dark place to make out, but the Disney people would sometimes play games with them. On one specific grad night, a couple asked a cast member how long the ride was. He told them it was 10 minutes or something of the sort…the ride was only 3-5...so off the couple went. As the crew was watching the kids take their clothes off, the rest of the cast waited at the end the of the ride where the car came out. As the car jumped into the lighted area, the half-naked kids jumped around trying to put their clothes back on as the cast members started to applaud and dole out cat calls.



The premise was that the guest was being shrunk down to the size of an atom. Remember seeing those miniature vehicles in the test tube with guests in them? Geez…how did they do that?!?



While many view this attraction with fond memories, I just thought it was a snoozer. Chemistry bored me in school, and even with a Sherman Brothers tune playing over and over again (“Miracles from Molecules”), this one had the same effect.



At least it had some interesting space-age planters outside the building. Probably the closest to nature that Monsanto ever got.

See more Disneyland ATIS photos at my main website.

Happy New Year From New Tomorrowland!

Welcome to the New Year celebration at Disneyland. These undated images are post-1967 (when “New” Tomorrowland opened); anyone who can ID the group or the year…wow! You get the Virtual Daveland Platinum Star Award!



This stage was located where the Flying Saucer attraction once was, and where the Captain EO theatre would eventually go. Let’s zoom in to this groovy group. When was the last time you saw this much polyester?



I hope you all have a fantastic New Year celebration and I send my best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2023!

See more Disneyland “New” Tomorrowland photos at my main website.