Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Overloaded Raft

As a companion to a post last month on Jungle is "101" (a wonderful Cast Member perspective on Disneyland), I present a September 1964 photograph of a somewhat overloaded raft:

A couple of things to look for: The Cast Member in the foreground is wearing flip-flops. The raft appears to have taken on some water, attracting the attention of the kids on that side of the raft. And what's that guy on the right doing on the wrong side of the railing? Was he an uncostumed Cast Member? At least he's wearing shoes!

UPDATE: Major Pepperidge commented that the lady is on the wrong side of the rope, too. She is not, though the smaller sized photo is ambiguous. So, here's a close-up of our lady friend!

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3 comments:

  1. Major PepperidgeJuly 8, 2008 at 7:01 AM

    That lady is on the wrong side of the rope, too! Man, that thing really is on the verge of capsizing. The boy in the striped shirt seems to be looking at the front edge of the raft rather intently.

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  2. Katella GateJuly 8, 2008 at 10:29 AM

    Sharp eyes Major: Judging by their age, dress, and body types they are married. I am also going to guess they are "jumpers"... people who were told to wait for the next barge sorry ... raft but were too "important" to follow instructions.

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  3. Westcot2000July 8, 2008 at 3:17 PM

    You call that overloaded? It's not overloaded unless the guest start screaming! The raftsman's motto is "If they're still standin', it's a good landin'."

    A fully loaded raft has a tendency to try to submarine and that tendency increases with speed.

    Cast members often stand outside the railing and at least in the 90's it was a common sight to see security and custodial

    The switch to closed toe shoes was obviously made for safety reasons. A cast member or two lost the end of a toe back in the old days.

    What strikes me as unusual in this photo is that the raft seems to be in an unusual position and I can't figure out where the picture was taken from. The Mark Twain is ruled out (it's hiding next to Castle Rock) and the Columbia would have a higher point-of-view. The canoes would be much lower and a raft going to the island should be behind the one in the picture. That only leaves the Keel Boats, which would normally dock before the raft would cross. And the raft also seems to be headed for the Keel Boat dock. So maybe the docks were moved at some point? Or are my eyes fooling me?

    If not, it looks to me like somebody is going to get a reprimand for not following standard operating procedure.

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