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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?

MrsPooh
09-06-2005, 11:39 AM
Potzbie, I think you have too much time on your hands! :eek: ;)

Wow! That took a lot of thought! I am guessing this idea has been tossed around in your head for awhile? ;)

Interesting! ;)

TowerofTerror
09-06-2005, 11:44 AM
it will look really different from what it look like right now.Well they did have plan to have something else down main street. Early map showed another section to main street

Opus1guy
09-06-2005, 03:20 PM
Sidebar:

At the Plaza Inn Restaurant at Disneyland Paris, there are several wonderful murals that depict Disneyland's Main Street back around 1905 in fictional settings, during the 4 seasons of the year. For example, in the Winter one it shows folks ice skating in old Victorian garb, out in front of the restaurant and such. They are really nice.