The Submarine Voyage ride opened in 1959.
From an interview of one of the original mermaids, Suzanne Brewster:
The costumes weren’t without flaws. Brewster, 18 at the time, told HuffPost about the day the costumes were delivered. As the group’s self-described best swimmer, she was tasked with demonstrating her dolphin kick for a group of besuited Disney executives standing around the hotel pool.
“When I came up for air, all the men were turned around facing the other direction,” Brewster remembered. “My instructor leaned over and said, ‘Your top came off!’”
After that initial summer, the mermaids reappeared for only three more seasons between 1965 and 1967.
I rode the submarine ride at Disneyland back in 1965 at the ripe old age of 6. Sadly, I don't recall the mermaids however.
ReplyDeleteWere all the men with their wives????
ReplyDeleteThere's something fishy about that picture.
ReplyDeletei have been on that ride in the mid 60's
ReplyDeleteWhat is a woman?
ReplyDeleteI did a couple cruises on that boat in the early 60's.
ReplyDeleteYup. I remember those girls VERY WELL. I could ride that sub every day and never get tired of seeing them. They got paid $4.00 an hour but suffered horribly from the chlorine and freezing water in that lagoon. And look at what Disney is selling today......
ReplyDeleteThey were discontinued because teenaged boys repeated dove into the Submarine Lagoon and swam out to them to chat them up, necessitating closing the ride, calling Security, and sending in the boat to retrieve the miscreant.
ReplyDeleteYes, really.
So you helped ruin huh Aesop, ha ha ha ha
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