2 more glorious images from June 1959, showing the brand new Monorail speeding over the Submarine Voyage attraction in Tomorrowland.



Last vintage shot of this batch is one of my faves:



This plaque can be found at the Tomorrowland Monorail Station:



Monorail 7, the newest version of the 1959 transportation attraction, has gotten a lot of press for its engineering flaws. However, both Monorail Blue & Red have gone through rigorous testing and are now actually carrying passengers through the park. It is easy to understand that 50 years later, with different rules, regulations, and a 50-year old track, that some problems are going to occur. Just be patient, folks,, as I am sure the bright folks at Disney will (to quote "Project Runway"'s Tim Gunn) "make it work."





See more vintage & current Monorail photos at my regular website. Meanwhile in media-land, “Sleeping Beauty,” the Platinum Edition, will be released on October 7th.









The section of extras on the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama is not to be missed. Pick it up on Blu-ray at Amazon.com as well as regular DVD at Amazon.com.

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On June 14, 1959, in an elaborate ceremony, The Richard Nixon family presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Monorail. First graphic is of the original attraction poster, followed up by a photo of the Nixons, including wife Pat and daughters Julie & Tricia.



This color view was taken on June 24, just 10 days after the official debut of the Monorail.



The other 2 shots for today are also from June 1959. Was the film stock more colorful fifty years ago or was the world just brighter? Sure does seem like there was more optimism back in 1959 and that people dressed accordingly.





See more vintage & current Monorail photos at my regular website. Meanwhile in media-land, “Sleeping Beauty,” the Platinum Edition, will be released on October 7th.



The section of extras on the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama is not to be missed. Pick it up on Blu-ray at Amazon.com as well as regular DVD at Amazon.com.

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1959 was one of the most exciting years in the park, and even garnered its own TV Special, entitled "Disneyland ’59." Today’s entry into this series focuses on the Monorail. First came the Viewliner; as you can see from the photo, Walt was purty excited about this narrow guage miniature train, but as I have said before, it looked like a toy. Walt knew that this train was not going to be the wave of the future of transportation.



According to this drawing, the original Monorail would have hung from a beam rather than glide on top like it does today. From what I have read, Walt was not happy with this version.



On a trip to Germany, he saw the Alweg Monorail in Cologne and realized that what he had in mind was actually possible:



This John Hench rendering was more to his liking, and shows the Monorail that we all know and love today:



In this shot, you can see the construction of the track shortly before opening, as the workers rush to meet the deadline:



Walt truly believed that this mode of transportation was the wave of the future, and that city traffic would be greatly reduced when Monorails were installed. What I wouldn’t give to see a Monorail installed here in Southern California to help alleviate the mess on the freeways! As a little tease for part 2 tomorrow, here is a gleaming image from June 1959, the opening month of the Monorail; it just doesn’t get better than this, folks!



See more vintage & current Monorail photos at my regular website. Meanwhile in media-land, “Sleeping Beauty,” the Platinum Edition, is about to hit the streets, and boy is it a beauty (pun intended)!









The section of extras on the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama is not to be missed. Pick it up on Blu-ray at Amazon.com as well as regular DVD at Amazon.com.

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This isn’t what I would call an amazing slide, but it gives a good segue into this post. This view is from October, 1959, showing the Red Monorail not long after it’s opening day. My next image is my “re-creation” of the original Monorail poster. Most of the copies available today are sub-par quality or have been altered slightly from the originals, so I have begun re-drawing the original silk-screened classics using Adobe Illustrator.



This last link takes you to my redesigned Tomorrowland page, which features a brand-new Flash animation of the Monorail. I also used the logo featured in the original 1950’s Disneyland TV Series. Hope y’all like: http://davelandweb.com/tomorrowland.

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Here are 3 views from Tomorrowland, circa May 1964, beginning with the Autopia, moving onto the entrance to America the Beautiful, and then the big finish of the Red Monorail (with a dash of Autopia).





For more vintage & current Tomorrowland photos, visit my regular website.

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