Sunday, May 1, 2011

Omnibus Ride To Destruction! - Part 1

I recently uncovered quite a bit of Disneyland home video footage that I shot back in the nineties and I've decided to start posting some of it. My first Disneyland video posting was of the live Macaws in front of The Swiss Family Treehouse in a post from last month.

First up for today, we have video that was shot in June of 1997 while riding the Omnibus up Main Street towards The Plaza. As it passes Tomorrowland, we get a pretty good view of the demolition that was taking place in preparation for the New Tomorrowland of 1998....or as I like to call it, "Brown Tomorrowland." Note the two Omnibuses passing one another. Do they even run two Omnibuses at the same time anymore? Too bad E.J. Peaker and the Osmonds weren't riding along with us and singing "Down On The Corner"!





This second video begins with the Tomorrowland construction and ends with a ride down Main Street towards Town Square. Note the large Olive trees in The Plaza that have since been removed and also the teepees set up in front of the entrance to Frontierland.....I had forgotten all about those!


10 comments:

Connie Moreno said...

NICE! That was a fun look back. I didn't even know they had two Omnibuses!

TokyoMagic! said...

Connie, both Omnibuses went to EPCOT in 1982 to help transport people around World Showcase. At some point, we got both of them back but I'm wondering if there are even two of them on the DL property anymore?

Major Pepperidge said...

I look at so many vintage photos of the park that contemporary videos almost feel like someplace else! Disneyland, but not Disneyland, if you know what I mean.

In spite of how Tomorrowland turned out, it's still cool that you got those video shots over the wall.

MIKE COZART said...

Actually Disneyland never did get Disneyland original Omnibuses back! While WDW built a fleet of new Omnibuses for EPCOT's World Showcase, Both of Disneyland's buses were sent on loan to work at EPCOT--WDW's two main St. Omnibuses also worked at EPCOT CENTER-----all four with there Main Street liveries! Both of the original Disneyland buses rotted away in the Florida weather. The WDW shops built two additional buses to send back to Disneyland and replace the lost ones-------but we were sent WDW omnibuses!!! These are quite larger than the Disneyland originals. The two Omnibuses that work at Disneyland are mid 1980's replacement -----------done WDW Main Street size!! Both Last Saturday I took my youngest niece to the park and both buses were running Main St along with both horseless carriages, the Fire Engine and two streetcars!!

TokyoMagic! said...

Mike, once again I have to thank you for your information! I had no idea that those weren't our original Omnibuses that we got back. It's horrible to hear that the originals were destroyed by the Florida weather. I guess I should be glad that we still have any Omnibuses and that they didn't sell one or both of them off like they did the Global Van Lines and Carnation trucks....oh, and the Bertha Mae!

Snow White Archive said...

Tokyo! Dynamic views from the upper deck of the Omnibus. And over the construction walls...cool! I'm really enjoying the tour of the not-too-distant Disneyland past through the lens of your video camera.

Can't wait to see the rest of your film archive. These clips are the perfect "one-of-a-kind" sort of materiel for posting on a blog.

Jason Schultz said...

I have about thirty-five hours of footage from late 1997 to 2000 that I'll need to get around to putting on my computer at some point. It includes quite a bit of New Tomorrowland construction. Maybe we'll spot one another in each other's videos?

Dan Alexander said...

Great videos! I've only experienced the Omnibus at Epcot back in 1983, but I guess I technically did experience Disneyland's bus!

Maybe you should have started singing "Down on the Corner" and everyone on the bus would have joined in as you passed by Brown Tomorrowland.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

I'm a little late to comment, but since I've already watched these videos a few times its safe to say I really like this post - thanks for the video uploads!

TokyoMagic! said...

SWS and Progressland, I have a lot more video footage! Progressland, all of my footage is from the nineties...it would be funny if we happened to catch each other on film at some point. While watching the footage, I have seen other guests walk by holding those huge video cameras from back in the day. I'm going to be watching closer now!

Dan, that's pretty cool that you got to ride the original DL Omnibuses while they were at EPCOT. I wonder if they hadn't sent them there, and they had received proper maintenance over the years, if they would still be operating at DL today?