LIFE Magazine at Disneyland Special Events : Prince Akihito's visit and 1959 Inauguration

LIFE photographers came also at Disneyland during special events, and today we're going to have a look at two of them: the "state visit" - if i can say - of young Prince Akihito and his wife at Disneyland in September 1960. These rare pictures should specially interest my Japanese readers!

Grey Villet, LIFE photo reporter shoot these picture above of Prince Akihito and his wife on Peter Pan's flight...or riding Autopia. Have a look to the paparazzis on the picture fighting to get a picture of the royal couple!



On this picture the Prince is talking with Walt Disney. Paparazzis are still there, right behind!



One year before, on June 1959, LIFE photographer Ralph Crane was there for the big Disneyland 1959 inauguration. Here is Walt riding to parade bleachers with his grand children.



Some minutes later, Walt Disney, Vice-president Richard Nixon and his family watching the Disneyland parade.



It's the grand opening of the Matterhorn and here is the Swiss ballet!



Richard Nixon and Radio-TV Art Linkletter ( bottom, center ) watching the Matterhorn act at Disneyland.



Same day later, on the opening of the Monorail with Nixon, his wife and daughters, and the scissors that didn't want to cut the ribbon! Remember that funny sequence?



All pictures: copyright TIME - LIFE Magazine

Disneyland Mark VII Monorail at last began to run - Videos

We all know the technical problems that happened to the new Mark VII Monorail, but the good news is that the long-awaited train began to run with passengers - only 15 guests per car - last thursday.

No video yet available of the inside, but here are two videos, the first one with the train running over the of the Tomorrowland lagoon, and the next one showing train entering the Disneyland Hotel station, with some shots showing a bit of the inside...





And, for the fun, this one - well done, by the way !



Interesting article, too, on the L.A Times HERE

Youtube video: copyright - and thanks too! - OBLines, ReadyTooGo and : STNautilus

Rendering: copyright Disney

New Mark VII monorail arrived to Disneyland !

It's WDI Christmas gift to Disneyland : the new Mark VII monorail arrived this week with new design and colour painting, and it looks great!



Here is a short article by Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer :

"A 75-foot-tall crane hoisted the first of the new Mark VII monorails from a flatbed truck onto the beam way track this morning at Disneyland.

The five-car burnt-burgundy train is the first of three new monorails expected to go online at the Anaheim theme park starting in February 2008.

Three years in the making, the all-new bullet-nosed monorails were designed by Disney, built in Rhode Island and assembled in Vancouver, Canada.

Lead Disney Imagineer Scot Drake said the Mark VII design represents a “streamline optimistic vision” of a “fantasy future that never was.”

The sleek iconic exterior features color-shifting paint with gray pinstriping that evokes the stainless-steel side panels of the 1959 original designed by Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr.

The interior features an under-lighted central island seating arrangement that offers every visitor a view through color-tinted windows.

The other two trains in the monorail fleet should be delivered in spring and summer 2008.

Photo: copyright Disney

Text: copyright Brady MacDonald / Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Great Dick Cook interview on Box office mojo web site

The Box office mojo web site post today a great interview of Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney pictures.
Not only he talk about the upcoming movies or awaited project like the Jungle Cruise movie and eventually a future Swiss Robinson family movie too, but also about his beginning when he worked at Disneyland in the 70's.

Dick Cook used to be one of the drivers of the Disneyland monorail. In fact, he even was the driver of the monorail when it did catch fire in 1970 ! Here is below the part of the interview where he talk about it.


Box Office Mojo: Is it true that you learned the value of putting out fires while working on Disneyland's Monorail?

Dick Cook: The Monorail did catch fire back in 1970 and I happened to be driving. I had been assigned the task of driving the Monorail the day new engines has been installed. A Swedish company called Alweg—it was the Disneyland Alweg Monorail—had just installed four new turbine engines and the engineers and mechanics had been working on the Monorail, riding on it, making adjustments to the drivetrain and making sure it was OK. I was driving it [without passengers] around all day. Finally, at the end of the day, they said it checked out and was certified and ready to go. It was a very busy day at Disneyland, and we could take some loads of people. We were in the Tomorrowland station, they loaded 124 people—I know that because it happened to be the capacity for that train—and it was full. I was in the cockpit—the front section—by myself because until then they had different engineers riding with me. I went over to the rectifier, where the power comes in, and I had to shift it into neutral. When I shifted out, all these red lights lit up on the panel and I could smell smoke. The Monorail was on fire. What had happened, which I didn't know at the time, was that one of the turbines had been miswired and there was an electrical fire and it took all day for the wires to get hot enough to catch fire. I managed to stop the Monorail over the parking lot and they had to call out a hook and ladder and they brought everyone down individually—I was the last one unloaded. I was one happy guy to get off that train. At that particular moment, I kept thinking my whole career went up in flames. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and the fire was put out very easily. I did have control over the microphone and we were up there for so long. I had the guests sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," and I had them roll down the windows so I could hear them singing, trying to entertain them as the smoke was coming up. We did ruin those four brand-new turbine engines but that was a small price to pay."

I recommand you to read the rest of this great interview on the Box office mojo web site at:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/features/?id=2417&p=.htm

Interview: copyright Box office mojo