potzbie
09-06-2005, 10:41 AM
You wannt talk "retro"?
Here is a playful idea.
What if Walt Disney had opened Disneyland 50 years earlier, in 1905, instead of in 1955?
What would Disneyland feature?
• Main Street U.S.A. would match Williamsburg, Virginia.
• The Opera House would feature "Great Moments with Mr. Washington"
• Instead of "The Dapper Dans" singing barbershop harmony, we'd have the (not "new") Christy Minstrels doing an authentic 1850's minstrel show.
• Instead of moving pictures, the Main Street Cinema would probably feature "magic lantern shows" (what we call "slides" today) and daguerreotypes of Matthew Brady.
***
The science of the day would change the theme of many rides.
• We'd shrink, shrink, shrink inside a single cell in "Voyage Inside a Germ" (i.e., Louis Pasteur's theory of the cause of disease)
• The "Rocket Ship to the Moon" ride would match Jules Verne's model exactly.
• The "House of Tomorrow" would feature indoor plumbing, electric lights, a telephone, and a John Deere tractor (instead of a horse) in the barn.
Good news -- Adventureland and Frontierland and Fantasyland would be largely unchanged.
But:
• The Jungle Cruise boats would be powered by sail or by oars.
• The Shootin' Gallery would be muzzle-loaded power-and-ball guns.
• The central feature of New Orleans Square would be the showboat.
• The characters of Splash Mountain would speak in stilted, under-statement, colonial British-English, instead of talking bad grammar in a Southern drawl. (e.g., "I must confess, Mr. Tar Baby, sir, that you are not the most eloquent conversationalist in these parts!")
Q. What ride or attraction would a 1905 Disneyland have?
Here is a playful idea.
What if Walt Disney had opened Disneyland 50 years earlier, in 1905, instead of in 1955?
What would Disneyland feature?
• Main Street U.S.A. would match Williamsburg, Virginia.
• The Opera House would feature "Great Moments with Mr. Washington"
• Instead of "The Dapper Dans" singing barbershop harmony, we'd have the (not "new") Christy Minstrels doing an authentic 1850's minstrel show.
• Instead of moving pictures, the Main Street Cinema would probably feature "magic lantern shows" (what we call "slides" today) and daguerreotypes of Matthew Brady.
***
The science of the day would change the theme of many rides.
• We'd shrink, shrink, shrink inside a single cell in "Voyage Inside a Germ" (i.e., Louis Pasteur's theory of the cause of disease)
• The "Rocket Ship to the Moon" ride would match Jules Verne's model exactly.
• The "House of Tomorrow" would feature indoor plumbing, electric lights, a telephone, and a John Deere tractor (instead of a horse) in the barn.
Good news -- Adventureland and Frontierland and Fantasyland would be largely unchanged.
But:
• The Jungle Cruise boats would be powered by sail or by oars.
• The Shootin' Gallery would be muzzle-loaded power-and-ball guns.
• The central feature of New Orleans Square would be the showboat.
• The characters of Splash Mountain would speak in stilted, under-statement, colonial British-English, instead of talking bad grammar in a Southern drawl. (e.g., "I must confess, Mr. Tar Baby, sir, that you are not the most eloquent conversationalist in these parts!")
Q. What ride or attraction would a 1905 Disneyland have?