Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Santas Village 1966 Part 3

Three more images from Santa's Village from 1966. First up is a view of the architectural elements within the park. The bright colors are very nice.

Next up is a view of the petting zoo...the entrance is a giant beehive.

Final image is a view of my favorite ride...the Christmas tree ornament ride.

6 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

Of course the petting zoo is in a giant beehive - - that's where I would put one!

A charming little park like this just couldn't exist these days, I'm afraid...

outsidetheberm said...

Hey Patrick, these are fun! Looks like I'll have to catch up on your previous posts...

Now, my memory may be fuzzy, but I think that bee hive is actually the entrance to the Bumble Bee Monorail. The loading platform is up above there. And the giant bees would make sense here, yes?

Great shots! Thanks.

Anonymous said...

@OTB, that is correct. The giant skep or hive is the entrance to the Bee Monorail.

The petting zoo is next to the monorail.

There is a picture of the bee monorail showing the entrance through the hive on Gorillas Don't Blog.

Great pictures here.

Matterhorn1959 said...

Duh, I did not even think of the bee monorail entrance. Thanks for the information!

Bon said...

Thought that beehive wasn't the entrance.

We passed this for YEARS when I was a child and my did WOULD NOT STOP!! (we have relatives at Arrowhead).
Can you imagine?

It wasn't until my own children were born that I made a point of visiting Santa's Village -- by then it was becoming a bit seedy and run down, this is right before it closed. I remember being in shock when I'd heard it closed! Santa's Village had been there forever, was an iconic part of the trip to Arrowhead.

Sad. Sad. Sad.

JG said...

@Matterhorn, the beehive entrance to the monorail can be seen in my pics on the Major's blog. The photo viewpoint you have is about 90 degrees to the left of my photo.

The bluegreen cover over the monorail load platform can be clearly seen in the background of your photo, up high.

It is possible that the entrance to the petting zoo was through the beehive, turn left. To get on the monorail, go straight ahead and then climb the stairs to the right. You can see this in my photo.

Thank you for these great pictures, helping orient to the layout.

JG