From the earliest planning stages of Disneyland, Walt Disney knew he wanted a pirate attraction but for one reason or another it never materialized for the opening in 1955. Supposedly concept work by imagineer Herb Ryman was to have a pirate shack along with pirate laundry drying out on a line at the edge of Frontierland. 1957 Walt was back on Pirates again and asked for concept designs and plans for a walk-through museum, this was all while work was being done to create the Submarine Voyage, the Monorail and the Matterhorn. The only preliminary work for pirates in the 1950s is this layout by Claude coats in 1957. In 1960 there was a big ship, a Cypress swamp and a burning City. October of 1960 Walt tasked Marc Davis to put together the preliminary work for Pirates of the Caribbean. Walt is quoted by Marc Davis as saying he thought it could be a walk- through. Marc Davis began developing gags, story-lines, staging and interesting scenarios and completely immersed himself in Pirate lore for two years drawing and conceptualizing Pirates. The enormous amount of work Marc produced during this time, combined with his limitless talent leaves little room to wonder why Pirates of the Caribbean is as amazing as it is! He really honed in on every aspect of the attraction, the character designs, facial expressions, clothing, background, set design, ship design, architecture, humor, lighting, color palettes, idea after idea after idea! He even took it upon himself to revise the layout. Keep in mind - there wasn't a team of people doing all of this, it was just Marc Davis. The Carousel of Progress would hone the technology of the audio required, along with the animatronics developed in the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction. Guests would experience all of it within the safety of a boat gently weaving through a canal as another world seemingly took place around them similar to It's a Small World. The working name was the Blue Bayou Lagoon boom or the Blue Bayou boat ride. We'll cover more in part 2.
Sleeping Beauty Castle is the original Disney Park icon and symbol of Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Something else unique to the castle is it’s drawbridge. It actually works (or did) and has only been used twice.
On opening day, July 17, 1955, the drawbridge was lowered to let the children into the most magical land of Fantasyland. Then after a complete renovation of Fantasyland, the drawbridge was lowered again on May 26, 1983. In 2014, heavy wooden railings replaced chain lifts, virtually removing any chance of it opening again. The next time you visit, take a look as you walk through the gates to see the old gate mechanism used to move the gate. A fun piece of park history sitting there for everyone to see. When the park first opened on July 17th in 1955, a single $1.00 admission ticket was sold at the park’s main entry gate, while tickets for each individual attraction could be purchased at the ticket booths located throughout the park. There were general booths located throughout the lands, like Fantasyland, but it was the individual attraction booths that stood out. Opening day attractions like the Storybookland Canal Boats and later additions like Alice in Wonderland, had highly themed booths that fit the look and design of the attractions they promoted. On October 11, 1955 ticket books were created and offered admission to the park and coupons to experience eight attractions—for a total price of $2.50 for adults, $2.00 for juniors, and $1.50 for children. Through the years the ticket booths were updated and added as expansions like Matterhorn, ‘It’s a Small World’ and the always changing Tomorrowland kept coming. In June 1981, ticket books began to be phased out and by June 1982, they were a thing of the past. This left ticket booths without a purpose. Around this same time, Fantasyland was undergoing a renovation and it was decide to keep to booths, but to seal them up and make them part of the overall theme and appearance of the ride. Ticket booths used to be everywhere in Disneyland and this booth from Tomorrowland is a perfect retro-futuristic example of what tomorrow look like in the 1960s. As design and aesthetics changed, booths like this went away. The bright white and blue was a positive futuristic look. Today, you can still see booths, the the Alice in Wonderland booth pictured here, the Canal Boats’ lighthouse booth and others throughout the park. Little bits of history that might go overlooked, but still hold that old Disneyland history and charm.
Mary Blair’s Tomorrowland murals opened on July 2, 1967. Along with with new attractions like the PeopleMover and Adventures Thru Inner Space, two new murals were unveiled.
The north mural on the AT&T Circle-Vision 3D building (now Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters) shows children from different nations dancing and making music. Ribbons above their heads symbolize global communications. The south mural on the Adventure Thru Inner Space building (now Star Tours), is about energy, with nods to solar energy, wind energy, water power, and fire. Each of the murals was 54 feet in length and at least 15.5 feet tall. The murals welcomed you as you walked into Tomorrowland. The south mural lasted until 1986, when it was changed to a space them in preparation of Star Tours opening (1987). The north mural survived until 1997 a victim of the 1998 New Tomorrowland project. The lighthearted, colorful and playful designs showed the genius of Mary Blair. |
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