Its proper name was the Mark VII Attack Teacher and it was housed in a 3 story building in New London, CT. In an age before computers could process graphics, vehicle and nautical simulations had to be done with models. Trainees sat in a submarine mockup on the second floor, with a periscope jutting up… Continue reading Dry-Land Submarine Trainer, 1950
Category: Simulated Places
Movie sets, trainers, simulators, fake cities, etc.
Disney’s RiverCountry Rotting in Fittingly Ballardian Way
In 1976, RiverCountry opened up at Walt Disney World in Florida. By 2001, it had closed. Now, it stands–rotting and decrepit in a manner that J.G. Ballard would have approved of. These photos come from an excellent thread about River Country on Dis Boards. It was just a waterpark, although one of the first generation… Continue reading Disney’s RiverCountry Rotting in Fittingly Ballardian Way
Forced Perspective at Disneyland’s Main Street: How Does It Work?
Forced perspective is one of those common photographic illusions. Let’s say you go to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and position your spouse so that he/she is pretending to hold up the tower with their hand. That is a type of forced perspective. But another way that forced perspective is used is to give objects… Continue reading Forced Perspective at Disneyland’s Main Street: How Does It Work?
Disneyland Main Street: Fake, Well-Done, Increasingly Insignificant
One of the most prominent, yet ignored, features of Disneyland is its Main Street. Even though thousands of people walk through Main Street every day, it is vastly ignored. Too bad, because Main Street is one of the best features of Disneyland. The main elevations for Main Street were drawn up by a former art… Continue reading Disneyland Main Street: Fake, Well-Done, Increasingly Insignificant
Disneyland Matterhorn: Is There a Secret Basketball Court Inside?
Legend has it that there is a secret basketball court located inside that most famous fake mountain located in the Los Angeles area…Disneyland’s Matterhorn. Truth or fiction? Truth. Instead of a secret Bondian evil villain lair with shark tanks and stolen Rembrandts, the secret room in the Disneyland Matterhorn is actually a half-court basketball court.… Continue reading Disneyland Matterhorn: Is There a Secret Basketball Court Inside?