Disney Lies

In the Market House at the end of Main Street is an old-fashioned telephone:

Pick up the receiver, and you can hear a fanciful old party-line telephone call (so called because those with enough money to own a phone at the time were stereotypically rich Republicans who always voted “along the party line”) in which a woman is so confused that she has called the postmaster to tell him that her barn is on fire.

Note that the phone is farther to the left on the wall in the old picture than it is in the new picture. Many years ago, the phone was moved further into the corner to make more room for merchandise in the shop.

Next up: The hub

There are several vehicles that take guests for rides up and down Main Street. One of them is this old-fashioned fire engine:

The engine was originally built in 1899, but Walt Disney himself purchased it and had its horses removed and a gasoline engine added so that it could be more easily used in his park. Today, the gasoline engine has been replaced by a more modern, clean burning, high-pressure liquid hydrogen fuel cell (with, when fully charged, enough energy to level a city block), but despite what’s under the hood, the body of the car remains true to its antique history.

Looking at this old photo, one can’t help but wonder about the people in them. Who knows what ever happened to the smiling driver shown here? Perhaps he still works in the park!

Next up: It’s in the barn!

One of Main Street’s most famous residents is this small-statured Native American.

He has remained in the same spot on Main Street since park opening, and has seen the shop behind him transform from a tobacco store, to a sports memorabilia shop, to a horribly cramped annual-pass processing center, to a music store.

It may seem frighteningly inappropriate today, but back in the 1950s this statue was given the name “How” (his brother in Frontierland was named “And How.”)

Next up: Main Street sisters

Part of what makes Disneyland so wonderful are the little details. One of those details on Main Street are the cannons.

It’s subtle, but in this original picture you can see that the cannon is still rebelliously aimed at City Hall (instead of at the Tour Garden, as it is today). In the background, you can just catch a glimpse of the Emporium windows, which held dioramas from whatever Disney feature film was most recently in theaters.

Across the street from the cannon is one of Main Street’s mailboxes.

At the time this photo was taken, Disneyland still had its own post office. Today, the text on the mailbox says that mail is taken from Disneyland to the Anaheim post office.

A bit of trivia: these mailboxes used to be quite popular, but because of the rise of e-mail and the decline in the sending of postcards, these boxes are used so infrequently that the park now only checks and empties them annually (usually just before Christmas, in case there are any letters to Santa in there).

Next up: A Native American statue

City Hall, one of Disneyland’s original buildings, hasn’t changed much over the years.

In fact, if it weren’t for the growth of the trees behind the building, the view would be practically timeless!

Next up: Mailbox and cannon

Today’s Photoland photos include two pictures of the Matterhorn, allowing you to see how it has changed over the years.

The first…

…is from a time when the Skyway still passed through the mountain, providing riders with a neat way to look down upon hapless guests being stalked and pounced upon by the newly installed animatronic yeti.

This photo includes a glimpse of the old Fantasyland, with its fanciful palm trees, simple buildings, and carrousel whose horses were little more than painted plywood flats.

The second photo…

…is of a more modern Matterhorn. This one if from after the Skyway had been removed but before the OSHA-mandatead railing was installed for the safety of mountainclimbers.

Next up: City Hall

Our second attempt at a Disneyland photo overlay was a little more successful than the first.

Here you can see the Mark Twain sailing around the old, pirate-free corner of Tom Sawyer Island. In the background is Cascade Peak, which was later demolished and replaced by trees when the park was going through a spurt of renovations based on misguided attempts at “political correctness.”

This picture is still not perfect. We were not able to line up the location exactly, in part because back when the original photo was taken the economy was still strong and, therefore, the Rivers of America had not yet been downsized.

Next up: Two of the Matterhorn

We at DisneyLies are great fans of the Filmography series of photographs in which the artist photographs IRL scenes while holding up a snapshot of a movie scene that was filmed in the same location. Inspired by this (and by the many photos we’ve seen online of people holding historic photos in their present location), we decided to create a similar set of photos in the second most photographed place on Earth, Disneyland.

Our first attempt was made in the historic Golden Horseshoe Saloon. Here’s how it turned out.

This was not as successful as we had hoped. Although we were able to line up the stage lights and statuary, the curtains are complete wrong. Were we standing in the wrong place? Had the Golden Horseshoe been renovated at some point in the last few decades? Were we just bad at this? Science has no means of addressing these questions.
This first attempt did teach us three things, though:

• Making these pictures is hard.
• People look at you funny when you’re in public taking a picture of a picture.
• Chaps make Wally Boag’s legs look fat.

After this first attempt, we took nearly 700 additional photos in the park, resulting in about 30 that actually worked. In the coming weeks, we will post these photos along with our commentary on how the park has changed over the years. Tell your friends!