Dopey Does Main Street, 1976

The above image from September 1976 shows Dopey and, based on the costume, a wide-awake Sleepy, in the Disneyland Main Street Emporium Window. The reflection of the marquee lights from the Main Street Cinema can be seen in the upper right hand corner. This was a time before VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra 4K. People had to rely on the every 7-10 year rotation of Disney films to come to theaters if they wanted to catch their favorite animated characters. “Snow White” couldn’t even be seen on TV, either. The movie was re-released in 1975, which makes sense for the characters to be featured in the window for this time period. If you look carefully in the upper left-hand corner, you can see a Raggedy Andy doll. What?!? A non-Disney IP character?!? Below is a 1970s shot of Cruella de vil in a Main Street Emporium window display:



The only other vintage Emporium window display in my collection is this one featuring The Rescuers, from December 1976. This was obviously a teaser as the movie wouldn’t be released until June 1977.



The first Emporium display that I photographed personally is from November 2007, with this scene from “Ratatouille,” which had been released in June. You can see the metal rod going into Remy’s foot, allowing him to rotate around in a circle.



See more Disneyland Main Street Emporium photos at my main website.

Flight Circle, Astro Jets, and Pixar DVD’s

Today I present 2 shots of the Flight Circle in Tomorrowland and the Astro Jets. Shot 1 is from 1960. View #2 is from June 1963, and if you squint real hard, you can even see CoxPilot!



FYI: Ratatouille is coming out on DVD and so is Volume 1 of the Pixar Short Collection. I highly recommend “Ratatouille,” as it is a definite step up after the slightly bland “Cars.” Be sure to watch the featurette that cuts between Brad Bird of Pixar and Thomas Keller of the French Laundry restaurant. VERY interesting similar philosophies even though the businesses are different.



“Pixar Shorts” is a great collection; the best part is watching the shorts in chronological order and seeing how computer animation has developed. The featurette is an excellent bonus, describing how John Lasseter would sit next to the techno geeks as they were developing the software to produce these amazing shorts. A definite marriage of art and computers.



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

More details, June 1964

Another June 1964 shows the Monorail off in the distance, and the now defunct parking lot. Zooming in, we get a better view of Monorail Blue (dig the bubble top!) and Oscars in the background.



Just for good measure, I’ll also toss in one from June 1968, showing a crystal clear view of the French Market.



MOVIE PLUG: Run, don’t walk, to your nearest theater showing “Ratatouille.” Even better, if you live near the El Capitan (which unfortunately I don’t), check it out there. It is an awesome film with memorable characters and a good storyline. I haven’t been this excited about an animated film since “The Incredibles.” Check it out!



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

Disneyland Update

No retro today; just a looooong post about Disneyland of today, and of course, the Finding Nemo attraction. I was prepared for the worst, as outsiders AND insiders had warned of 4-8 hour waits and an overcrowded park. The reality: I waited one hour at about 5pm in the afternoon. Yes, the line winds around the attraction all the way back to the former smoking area by the Matterhorn, but the queue moves at a good pace. Three subs go out at a time, and cast members keep things moving. Umbrellas have been installed along the queue to keep guests in the shade, and a few beverage carts are also along the way to keep ’em hydrated. Either I was extremely fortunate, or there’s a little bit of marketing paranoia being spread. While waiting in line, Ed Grier got onto the attraction with a small group; I was not fast enough to get a decent shot of him, but for the online jokers who are just so freakin' hilarious about Ed being MIA, here’s one of the back of his head. Really guys, give the joke a rest—the passive aggressive approach wasn’t even funny the first time.



Back to Nemo, here are some shots from my maiden voyage.

























My overall opinion of the ride? It was nice. I enjoyed it, but I do not think I would wait an hour for it again. There were some cute nods to the old ride, but in comparison to the original submarine voyage, it just did not measure up for me. The old ride, even though it was slightly hokey, had a magical fun quality and was an entertaining journey. The Nemo voyage had some cool special effects, but I would guess that more time was spent trying to get the video effects to work than time was spent actually testing whether they were entertaining. Still, I am glad the ride is working again, and it is definitely “tweakable.” And, others must be enjoying it, as guests who left the sub before me stated, “It’s worth the wait!” Even Monorail Red has gone Nemo:





On the plus side, the park is looking fantastic; practically every attraction was open, and the Mark Twain looks great:



The moose/elk in the Rivers of America has also been repaired:



Sadly, Fort Wilderness is now gone, and the Burning Cabin has been cleaned up with no trace of the burning fires or dead settler with an arrow through the back. Heck, the area looks so civililzed it might even be ready for a condo conversion soon!





The Disneyland Railroad was working again; thank goodness! The park just does not seem the same without the train running. I made sure to take the Grand Circle Tour in the Lilly Belle, which was hitched to the back of #5, the Ward Kimball.





Disney/Pixar marketing was hard at work; Ratatouille is already showing up in New Orleans Square:



At the Disney Gallery, you should definitely check out the art there; current renderings of favorite Disney attractions and past art used in Disney storybooks. Very cool exhibit. A favorite of mine is by Disney fan and artist extraordinaire, Kevin Kidney:



And for those of you who care, yes, Monstro is now blue. Not dark blue, but light blue:



Again, it really was a great day at the park; probably one of the best I’d had there in months. For more vintage & current Disneyland photos, visit my regular website.