Father's Day In The Parks (Long Beach & South Bay Edition!)

It's time for another Father's Day In The Parks post! Today's photos were all taken by my dad at various Southern California attractions, specifically in Long Beach and the "South Bay" area.

These first three were taken at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The Queen Mary was a Cunard-White Star Lines ocean liner that began service in 1936. After being retired and sold to the City of Long Beach for $3.45 million, she departed South Hampton on October 31, 1967 and arrived in Long Beach on December 9, 1967. This first pic was taken in March of 1968, just a few months after her arrival.

The next photo was taken five years later, in 1973. By this time, the ship had been operating as a tourist attraction for a couple years (since May 1971) and as a hotel for a year (since November 1972). In the background, we can see the Long Beach Convention Center. This was before it received it's massive wrap-around whale mural from the artist, "Wyland."

This shot was taken ten years later, in 1983. After the ship arrived in Long Beach, the ship's three smokestacks were taken off in order to remove equipment from the ship's front engine room and all of the boiler rooms. At that time, the smokestacks were discovered to be badly deteriorated, so they were replaced with replicas.

Now we're just a little further west, in the City of Torrance. "Rideland" was an amusement park that sat at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Ocean Avenue. It closed in the late sixties/early seventies. A McDonald's and a Taco Bell replaced the amusement park and are still standing today, although an "El Burrito Junior" has now moved into the old Taco Bell building.

Being a lover of trees, I am happy to report that the tree across the street (Pacific Coast Highway) in the photo below, still exists! Today, it stands in front of the Pacific Ocean Center, a little shopping center that was built in 1966, just one year after these pictures were taken.

The little amusement park was just a few blocks from the Torrance Airport. The Goodyear Blimp had made it's home there back in the 1950's, and then again for a short time from 1967 to 1968, when it was then moved to it's current home alongside the 405 freeway in the City of Carson. It appears there was a fire burning in the distance, at the time my dad took this photo!

Moving just a little bit south to the coast, our final destination is Marineland of the Pacific, on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula. Marineland had a two-level observation car that offered excellent views of the park below, the rolling hills of Palos Verdes, and the Pacific Ocean. These photos were all taken in the summer of 1966. Marineland of the Pacific had opened in 1954, and ended up closing in 1987.

I know I mentioned this in one of my previous Marineland posts, but I'm going to mention it again! Sea World's owners bought Marineland in order to acquire it's killer whales (Orky and Corky) for their killer whale breeding program in San Diego.

When they purchased the park in December of 1986, they made a public statement saying that Marineland would remain open and that they were going to renovate it. However, soon after the purchase went through, they said that they were not going to keep it open after all, but they would keep it open through the Easter/Spring break, so that people would have one last chance to visit.

They ended up closing the park just before President's Weekend in February, more than two months earlier than they had announced. The animals were then packed up in trucks in the middle of the night, and relocated to Sea World in San Diego. Orky and Corky had actually been transferred, prior to the park's closing. Corky was pregnant at the time she was moved and shortly after she arrived at Sea World, she miscarried. Orky died the following year. The new owners also reportedly poured concrete into the drains at Marineland, so that the park could not be reopened. Such a sad ending to the park's 32-year history!

So as to not end on a sour note, here is one more pic from Marineland. I'm wondering if the trainer had a fish in his mouth here. I don't think I can see one, but it would make sense. Otherwise, I think he would have his hand out and not be bent over with his face so close to where the dolphin/porpoise was going to jump. And isn't the old "holding a fish in the mouth trick" something that they used to do at marine parks, back in the day?

Happy Father's Day Weekend to all of the dads out there!

King Arthur Carrousel: Part 2 - Relocation & New Fantasyland Construction

This is Part 2 of my Disneyland's King Arthur Carrousel posts. For Part 1, Click Here.

Today, we will be looking at the relocation of King Arthur Carrousel as well as some "New Fantasyland" construction. These first three photos show the "holes" in the ground that were left after the removal of The Mad Tea Party and Dumbo's Flying Elephants attractions from their original locations in 1982. Note the Big Thunder Trail from Frontierland to Fantasyland in the distance. It was closed to guests at this time.



These photos were taken from the Skyway, which at the time, due to construction, was a "round trip" ride only. During this time, guests could only board the Skyway in Tomorrowland and were not allowed to disembark when they got to Fantasyland. Instead, as the vehicles arrived at the Fantasyland Skyway station, they were greeted by cast members that pushed them through the station and back onto the cable to be sent back over to Tomorrowland.



Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was temporarily closed during this preliminary construction period, but would later reopen for a short time before being shut down once again for it's New Fantasyland rehab. Peter Pan's Flight continued to operate at this time, but Snow White's Adventures had already closed for it's rehab and The Fantasyland Theater had closed permanently to be replaced by Pinocchio's Daring Journey.



From this angle we get a better view of Dumbo's former location which was eventually replaced in part by the Village Inn (later Village Haus) restaurant. King Arthur Carrousel can be seen beyond the construction wall in the distance. It was still operating in it's original location.



Now in this next shot, the Carrousel has been moved and the spot where it had originally sat has been paved over.



The Snow White attraction was gutted leaving only it's roof and two walls. The Fantasyland Theater was completely bulldozed. What we cannot see in this photo is that the Carrousel has been moved to the former location of the Mad Tea Party and is just out of frame on the right.  Note the camera mounted on the roof to record the construction progress in these next two photos.



The sign on the construction wall reads, "Wish Upon A Brighter Star - A New Fantasyland Coming True in 1983.  This version of the sign did not remain for very long.  It was replaced by a much more colorful and detailed sign which can be seen here over at Gorillas Don't Blog.



And here we see just a corner of the relocated Carrousel on the far left.  We can also see what looks like a basement for what will become Pinocchio's Daring Journey.



This view was taken from the upper deck of Captain Hook's Pirate Ship.



And this was taken through a peep hole in the construction wall surrounding the Carrousel.  The view is looking west towards what's left of the original Snow White attraction.



The Los Angeles Times ran this photo in early 1982.  There was no accompanying article, just the caption beneath it, which mentions a reopening date of April 1st.



Here, we see three Disneyland icons that would not coexist in this close proximity for very long....Captain Hook's Pirate Ship, Skull Rock, and the Carrousel.



I wish this next photo had turned out better. It's a view of the Carrousel as seen from the cove behind Captain Hook's Pirate Ship. At the bottom of the photo is one of the many barrel-shaped stools that could be found in the cove's dining area.



Here's one of the versions of the guidebook that was available during the time that Fantasyland was under consctruction.



The Fantasyland pages of the guidebooks would change throughout the year as the various attractions would shut down for remodeling. This version shows that the Carrousel had already been relocated and reopened.



By the time this photo had been taken, the Carrousel had been shut down again. The planter around it had already been added, and workers were just beginning to paint a new design and color scheme on the roof. Note also, that the new facade on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is nearing completion.



This last photo shows the Carrousel on the official opening day of the New Fantasyland. The "Sword In The Stone" ceremony is taking place in the foreground with Merlin being assisted by one of the "Make Believe Brass" band members. The band was also making their park debut that summer along with the New Fantasyland.



I hope everyone enjoyed this trip back in time, to the transitioning Fantasyland of 1982 and 1983!

Dapper Day at Disneyland - An Evening Affair!

The second biannual "Dapper Day" was held at Disneyland last Friday. The basic idea for this "unofficial" park event was just to get dressed up, go to the park, and have fun. I missed the very first event back in February, but I made it to this one and I have only two complaints. The night went by too quickly and I wish I had taken more photos!



There were two scheduled "meets" during the evening. The first was for the "Dapper Derby" in Fantasyland. Everyone met at 8:00 and then "flash mobbed" the Carrousel.



The turn out for this event was so great, it took four rounds on the Carrousel to accommodate everyone in the group. Here are some photos of the first group of riders.





It's the "Disney wave."



Notice the vintage Disneyland paper bag from the late seventies and early eighties.





These next photos are of the second group to ride. Below, is "Progressland" of the Disneyland Nomenclature blog, and artists Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily.



No texting until the Carrousel comes to a full and complete stop, please!







After the Carrousel ride, many people stayed in the area and posed for pics.






Here's a very dapper Dave of Daveland posing with a dapper duo!



This shot was requested by one of the ladies attending the event. She asked for a group photo of some of the hat-wearing men.



Zooming in, we see another vintage Disneyland bag. This one is circa the late sixties and early seventies.









Then the crowd broke up since the next meeting time wasn't until 11:30 over at Trader Sam's. Some of us stayed together to watch the "Magic, Memories and You" show, and the "Magical" fireworks show and also to ride.....It's a Dapper World After All!



After the park closed, people met up again over at the Disneyland Hotel for cocktails in the newly opened Trader Sam's.



If you haven't seen Trader Sam's yet, it is definitely worth checking out!. If you order a specialty drink (or just wait for someone else to order one), "enchanted" things happen.



A "family tree" can be found mounted on the wall inside. If the colors look strange in this shot, it's because I converted the photo to "retro colors." I was going to do this to all of the photos (along with adding the white borders) to give them a vintage look, but I didn't like the way they turned out so we just have this one that managed to make it's way into the post.



This is the view from the patio of the new hotel water slides, framed on either side by tiki torches.



Here are a couple videos from that night. This first one is from YouTube user "drwrose" and shows the first group to ride on the Carousel.





This second video is from YouTube user "pizzaplanettruck" and starts out with one of the attendees choosing an outfit for the evening and also shows dancing at the soon-to-be-demolished Plaza Gardens Pavilion. I love the Glenn Miller version of "When You Wish Upon A Star"....excellent soundtrack choice!!!





For more information about Dapper Day and to see some pics from the very first event that was held in February of this year, click here: Dapper Day