Thursday, April 01, 2010

A Couple of Views of Story Book Canal Boats

Two early publicity photographs featuring the miniature wonderland of Disneyland, the Story Book Canal Boats. First up is a nice image of the castle Cinderella married into...note the speeding Casey Junior on the left hand side.

Next up is an early image with guys running the boat. I believe that within the first year of opening up the attraction, guys ran the boats. Then it was decided that girls were more suited to the story telling of running the attraction. Press release on the reverse reads: One of Disneyland's newest attractions, Storybook Land in Fantasyland brings to life your favorite storybook characters as picturesque canal boats gently glide through this land of make believe. You will pass the miniature villages of "The Three Little Pigs", "Alice In Wonderland", "Seven Dwarfs", "Cinderella's Dream Castle", "Gepettos Village", (pictured here) and many other quaint and beautiful scenes.

6 comments:

Thufer said...

It always brings a smile to my face to see early photos of SBLCBs. I always enjoy seeing 'male' boat helmspersons. Sorry, couldn't resist.
I always, make time for this ride when I go to the park. For some reason, I feel this ride evokes a 'closeness' to Walt and his early vision. This is what the 'little train park' at the studio would have been like (IMHO).
I truly hope THEY never remove this gem. I personally feel the value and integerty of Disneyland whould be deminished if they did.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Everything Thufer said! This is one of those attractions that I didn't even know existed when I was a kid - but now its one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing!

Major Pepperidge said...

I prefer the cute girls at Storybook Land!

Anonymous said...

What all of you said. Esp. the girls.

Seriously, I love this little ride. It's quiet and serene, the stories are suited to small kids, no flashes, bangs or scary things, except the whale at the beginning. I think coming out into the daylight softens that shock too.

The meticulous little buildings and miniature landscape are one-of-a-kind in my experience. And the topper for me is the view of the Matterhorn beyond the forced perspective mountain peaks in the little alpine village (Pinocchio, I think).

I also like that they have delicately added little models of buildings from later movies to "update" the ride, without changing it's character. (Aladdin's Palace, Triton's castle, etc.) In my youth, the boat storage area was "Never-Never Land, because we never never take you there...". Ha Ha. I think these changes will help the next generations love this ride as I do.

My kids won't ride this with me anymore...they're "too big". :^(

Thanks for this!

JG

outsidetheberm said...

Don't worry JG, they'll come back. Give them a few years to mature and appreciate a good thing...

It's most charming at night!

Anonymous said...

OutsideTB...I think you're right about both.

JG