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March Miscellany: "What Is It & Where Is It?" - The Disneyland Edition

It's time for more "March Miscellany!"  Just a reminder, I'm posting multiple times throughout the month of March!  This is post #3.

Do you want to play a game?  Yes?  Okay, name or describe what we are seeing in each of the photos below, and also the specific location where each photo was taken.  I will tell you this....they were all taken in Disneyland (Anaheim, California), and throughout various decades (1970s - 2010s).

I know this will be easy for some Disneyland fans, but perhaps it will be challenging for others.  You can leave your answers in the comments, below.  In about a week (or less), I will post the answers, along with some supplemental photos.  And feel free to leave other remarks in the comment section, and not just your answers.

Photo #1:

 

Photo #2:


 

Photo #3:


Photo #4:


Photo #5:


Photo #6:


Photo #7:

****ANSWERS****

Okay everyone, here are the answers to the "mystery" photos:

#1 - Taken from the Disneyland Railroad, on the "outskirts" of Adventureland.  I'm not sure when that panther, and the rock it was standing on, were added.  If I had to venture a guess, I would say that they were added sometime after 1989.  I think the very first time I noticed them, was in the early nineties.  And I took that picture sometime in the mid to late nineties.  I'm also not sure when they removed the panther, but the rock still exists along the railroad tracks, today:


#2 - Taken while going up the second "lift hill" on Space Mountain.  When the attraction first opened in 1977, the second lift hill featured glass panels and mirrors on either side of the track and on the ceiling, creating an effect that made it appear that you were looking out into infinity. At some point (in the eighties, I believe), they either painted over the glass, or replaced them with solid black panels, which darkened this section of the ride.  And at the top of the lift hill, they added a rotating circle of lights, which projected rotating beams down the lift hill, towards the riders.

#3 - Taken in Space Mountain, in between the second and third lift hills.  In the 2005 renovation of the attraction, a rotating cluster of rocks, or "asteroids," was added alongside this section of track.  From what I've heard, they were eventually going to be lit up, but that never happened.  The only reason they appear lit up in the photo, is because I used a flash when taking it.  Normally the rocks are just quietly rotating in the dark, and go unnoticed by most people.

When Space Mountain opened in 1977, there was an orange and black geodesic sphere in this same spot.  At some point (in the nineties, I think), a satellite dish was placed atop the sphere, and a lighting effect was added to make it appear that "transmissions" were being sent out from the center of the dish.  This is how the sphere appeared in the nineties, after the satellite dish had been added to the top of it:


#4 - Taken inside Innoventions, my most favorite Disneyland attraction, ever.  NOT!  This particular display was presented by Kaiser Permanente, and demonstrated how ultrasound imagery is taken on expectant mothers.  In fact, you could pick up an ultrasound wand yourself, and run it over the body of the manikin.  An image of a fetus would then appear on the computer screens above the respective "mothers."  And yes, this exhibit really did exist at Disneyland!


#5 - Taken alongside the Autopia track, in 2012.  The little car is located in the "park" section of the ride, and is an actual "bronzed" vehicle, from Disneyland's former Midget Autopia attraction.  After that attraction closed in 1966, the track and the vehicles were given to Walt Disney's childhood town of Marceline, Missouri.  This vehicle was reportedly reacquired from the city, and then added alongside the Autopia track in 2000.  That was the year that the Fantasyland and Tomorrowland Autopia tracks, were combined into one longer track.

Here's what the Midget Autopia cars looked like, when they were operating at Disneyland.  The attraction was located just east of Storybook Land.  It was removed in 1966, in order to widen the walkway leading up to the soon-to-open "It's A Small World" attraction.

#6 - Taken inside the Haunted Mansion.  The photo shows a rotating "wheel" with four arms/hands attached.  This is actually situated behind the vehicles, and normally out of sight to the riders.  A spotlight behind the slowly rotating "wheel," creates the creepy shadow of the hand moving across the grandfather clock, which is striking "13."

#7 - Taken in Big Thunder Ranch.  It shows a pile of "mule shoes," which were used on Disneyland's Pack Mules, when they were a park attraction.  I spoke with multiple ranch hands, who tended to the animals in the Big Thunder Ranch.  They all confirmed the story, that back in the day, when the pack mules would be re-shoed, the old shoes were just thrown into a great big pile.  With time, and the elements, they all rusted together into one connected "sculpture."  Supposedly, the pile had been relocated on a couple occasions, but had eventually become so rusted and "brittle," that it could not be moved again.  I was told shortly before the closing of the Big Thunder Ranch, that they were going to be disposed of.  I don't know if that actually happened, or if some of them survived.

The Pack Mule attraction operated at Disneyland, from 1956 to 1973:


How did you do with your answers?  Did you know all of them?  I hope everyone enjoyed this little game.  And a great big "thank you," to all of you who participated!

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