Night Maintenance at Disneyland - 1970's (and the Castle Moat Swans!)

Today, we have another vintage Los Angeles Times article, from my childhood collection. I didn't write the date on this one, but if I am remembering correctly, it was from just after the opening of the "New Matterhorn" in 1978.

Unfortunately, the park doesn't have swans in the Castle moat anymore! I wonder if it was a cost thing? I remember hearing somewhere, that they supposedly got rid of them because the swans were mean, but I've read that swans are only aggressive when defending and protecting their nests. Does anyone know if there were any incidents involving guests? After all, swans had been in the moat for decades, so I'm willing to bet that Disney management just didn't want to pay those rental fees anymore. Thank goodness the Tiki Room birds aren't rented!

I remember reading that part about it taking one man all night, to polish all of the brass on the Carousel and thinking how tedious that job would be! I have ridden the Carousel and noticed all the fingerprints and smudges on the posts. I wonder if they even bother to polish the brass anymore? Unless someone who is reading this knows for sure, the only way to find out might be to go to the park at opening and head over to the Carousel first thing to see if it is smudge-free.

For anyone interested in seeing footage of a Swan in the Castle moat, here is a link to some brief video footage I shot back in 1992. (There's some footage of Snow White's Grotto in between the shots of the swan.)

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!

King Arthur Carrousel: Part 1 - 2013 Construction/Refurbishment

"Carrousel of Fun - Disneyland's colorful "King Arthur Carrousel" is one of the largest of it's kind in the world. Today's bold knights may ride on any of the Fantasyland attraction's 72 beautiful hand-carved steeds for an imaginary journey back to the days of King Arthur."



That was the description that came with a photo I received from Disneyland's publicity department back in 1983.



I don't recall exactly why I had written to them, but as a kid, I wrote to them often. I would always get a reply back and it would often include press information, or the latest issue of Disney News Magazine. A couple times, they even sent me a copy of the current Disneyland Pictorial Souvenir that was being sold in the park. Incidentally, the postmark on this mailing was May 19, 1983. That was just 6 days before the "New Fantasyland" would have it's grand opening.



King Arthur Carrousel recently underwent a refurbishment that put it underneath tarps and behind construction walls. The following photos were taken just a few weeks ago.





Lately, Disney has been doing a pretty nice job of posting some history on the park's construction walls.



These signs on the walls around the Carrousel provide information about the attraction's origins as well as it's history over the last 58 years.













Here's a close-up of one of the photos on that last sign. The part about the Carrousel being relocated in 1983 isn't really accurate. Yes, it was moved as a part of the "New Fantasyland" remodeling which was completed in 1983, but the Carousel itself was actually relocated in 1982 and it also reopened that same year. This was prior to the completion of the Fantasyland remodel in 1983. Of course due to surrounding construction, it did close again at some point in it's new location and did not reopen again until the "New Fantasyland" opened in May of 1983.



I have some photos that I took back in 1982 that show some of the stages of the Carrousel's relocation, including a shot showing it operating in it's new spot right next door to Captain Hook's Pirate Ship and Skull Rock before they were both demolished. I will post those pictures in Part 2 of this post, so stay tuned!

****POST UPDATE! Here is part two of my King Arthur Carrousel/New Fantasyland Construction posts: King Arthur Carrousel & New Fantasyland - Part 2

Dapper Day At Disneyland: Part 2 - Tom Sawyer Island, The Dapper Derby & Miscellaneous

It's time for Part 2 of Dapper Day at Disneyland! (to see Part 1, click here) After "The Mark Twain Mixer", people headed over to Tom Sawyer Island for "Island Escapades." This dapper guest was dressed like Becky Thatcher.



The raft dock didn't ever get as crowded as the Mark Twain dock. I think some of the people skipped the island meet. Maybe they didn't want to get their dapper duds dirty?







Now we're back on the mainland and hanging out in New Orleans Square.





Sampling a fragrance at Madamemoiselle Antoinette's Parfumerie.



Dapper Day attendee Doug Marsh, brought a bag of vintage Disneyland props for some fun photo-ops.





More dapper groups....







A very dapper couple....



Dapper photo bomb!



Merrily, merrily, merrily on their way to nowhere in particular!



Mini-dapper!



These guests wanted to ride the Skyway.....and Nature's Wonderland Mine Train....oh, and Adventure Thru Inner Space....AND THE PEOPLEMOVER!



Now it was time for the "Dapper Derby." Everyone met at King Arthur Carousel at 7:00.



These dapper guests have their "A" coupons ready.



They were shocked when the cast member wouldn't take their tickets.



Another dapper guest was surprised to find out that the entire Disneyland "ticket system" was eliminated over 30 years ago.



Waiting in line to ride.....




Wheeeeee!








I have to say that I wasn't terribly happy with the quality of these Carousel pics. Many of my Carousel photos from the last Dapper Day ("An Evening Affair") came out blurry, so this time I set the camera on the "action/sport" setting. Well, many of them still came out blurry and the ones that weren't blurry came out kind of grainy. Maybe I'll eventually learn how to take flawless pics with my camera....or maybe I'll get a better camera!





Goodbye Dapper Day....see you again in the Fall!



Here is the information for the upcoming Fall 2012 event. Meet-up times will be announced on the Dapper Day website (DapperDay.com) this summer.



***Post Update***

Oops, I forgot to post the video that I took of one of the go-arounds on the Carousel, so here it is. Unfortunately, it's not very clear either! You might want to just skip it and watch the two "professional" videos below it!



This is a wonderfully edited video of all the day's activities from YouTube user "renrenataren."



And here's another excellent video by YouTube user "pizzaplanettruck."