Has anyone ever noticed that above the entry door of grandfathers mansion there is a window curtain that opens and closes with grandfather behind it? I didn't notice it until 2 or 3 trips ago.
Yes I have noticed it. I think this is probably my favorite thing about Grandfather's Mansion. If you visit at Christmas time he is wearing a santa hat.
Grandfather has been up there spying on visitors since at least the early 1970's. I find that pretty funny. I don't know if they still play the music or not, but there used to be a music box in the front entry area on the right as soon as you walk in the door that played "be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!" Little touches like that really add to the overall experience of what could have just been a typical run of the mill "gravity house." Those special touches are why SDC is special!
Since the 1970's? Man, I need to pay more attention to these things! :D. That music box that your talking about is still at the entry. I still wonder why it got put in Grandfathers Mansion but it really is a good touch.
Yep, Grandfather has been keeping tabs on everyone since I was in a stroller. Which made it more frightening for me to want to go inside when I was younger...there was this guy spying on us! The warped sounding music box and that little parlor is one of my favorite places at SDC. My sister used to always tug at me to "hurry up and come on!" but I would always stop and let others go past me and just soak up the ambiance for a while.
The fact that the parlor has been pretty much un-changed since i was a kid is pretty impressive. I would dare say, one of the last hold-outs like that...even the rest of the Mansion has undergone some improvements here and there.
Your right. The parlor has never changed. It really has made me upset to see some things that have been apart of SDC for a long time change. the green trams and Tom and Hucks fort are both examples. I'll really miss them :-[
Gosh, now i gotta take a look when we'r down there the weekend of July 10 & 11. I aint never noticed G'pa. ???
Wow. In the 1,500,000 times (give or take a few), I've been in Grandfather's Mansion I've never noticed this!
Well like I said, I didn't notice it until 2 or 3 trips ago. I don't know how I've missed it in all the trillions of times I've gone to SDC. ???
I don't know how many times I have gone into Grandfather's Mansion and I have not noticed that either. I will have to pay attention now.
Wow! I never realized this many people had not seen grandfather in the window. This is like saying you mean sdc has a cave. Well that might be an extreme :).
Actually everytime I go I see something different too!
I think there was a period of time when Grandfather wasn't "peeping"...must have been when he was taking a shower up in that attic thing.
I think grandpa had just "broken down" and it took a while to get him fixed. He used to take a shower downstairs in the room with the slanted floor. You could see his sillouette against the shower curtain as he scrubbed himself with a big brush. I seem to remember he sang in the shower and shouted comments to those walking by, too! BY THE WAY...duz anybody remember all the "family pictures" that hung in frames on the lower floor as you entered the slanting floor room? They were old 100 year old photos with funny comments under them in a script handwriting. They were replaced with some funhouse mirrors that were in there last time I walked through a few years ago...I gotta admit, I like the mirrors, but I sure wish they would have hung the old photos on another wall because they were fun to look at. Oh, and to they still have the portrait of the woman whose eyes moved back and forth? That was cool, too!
^The woman with the moving eyes is still there. And when did they put the mirrors in? Because as long as I can remember, the mirrors have always been there.
No, the mirrors are a later addition. I don't like them - and they don't reflect well anyway.
Grandfather used to take a shower at the top of the ladder in the pool table room (when you could climb the ladder to look) - and a different upside down room was where he takes a shower now. It seems there used to be a lady in one of the showers. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.
Grandpa's shower was next to a porch swing that hung in the tilted floor room. it was across the room from the old "bed" or wooden couch thing that people could lay down on. The ladder used to go up into a little space where there was nothing but darkness. It was funny because you made all that effort to climb up...and then there was nothing in there. They took the ladder out...I guess some Bozo fell and threatened to sue, or something, who knows?
Yeah, you're right, but I'm pretty sure there was a peep hole at the top of the ladder with something to see. Anybody else remember this?
Junior is right about the ladder but you are right about the peep hole. I was wrong in thinking that is where he was taking the shower. In actuality, the peep hole at the top contained nothing more than an old tin type photo if I remember correctly
Yup, forgot about the peep hole!
When was this ladder and peephole here? I don't think I ever saw it.
The ladder is still there, but inaccessible - to the right of the gold nugget and convex mirror trick and to the left of the portrait of the woman with the moving eyes.
There he is!!!
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/IMG_2663.jpg)
Eeek! Thats almost creepy.. :D
They have freshened up Grandfather in recent years...He's wearing a hat and has a fuller beard. Used to be just a bald headed guy wearing gold rimmed glasses.
With the curtains opening and closing back and forth, I had to come back when the sun was not glaring on the window, and zoom in...and wait! This grandfather looks different from the one I remember as a kid as well.
Thanks for posting the photo Rube! :D
Its funny this being posted, I went to SDC on Thursday and was playing around taking videos with my iPhone and oddly enough I made Grandfather part of the closing of the video (its a bit over 5 minutes long) I posted it on youtube, it has clips of rides etc on it, was just playing around, first time I have ever edited video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T6E0wxqACY
Sweet.. Show'd some'a my favoeite spots, great vid! Thanks for post'n. I can almost smell the place. Looks like ya went when it was dead.
^^ Great Video.. Wish I was there right now.
Thanks for the video!
Thanks, glad you liked it, I thought I would do something from time to time with it when I go, wish I would have had something like this back on May 1st when I went. I was walking by the Mansion when I saw Grandfather peak out, I thought I gotta have that for part of the end of this. I wanted to include Thunderation but just couldn't think of a good spot to get any video from. Maybe next time, or when the leaves are gone this fall.
Gotta add my appreciation to the list! Great video. I would say that it really makes me want to go right now, but everything here on site makes me want to go. Thanks
Add me to the list of lifelong SDC fans who has never noticed Grandpa spying. Wow.
This is a question about Grandfathers mansion was in there today and granted it had been a couple months but at the end wasn't there a room that was like an grandfathers office they tied into he has just lost his lease or am I just thinking about something else
A sign saying "Hurry out, we've lost our lease" has hung over the exit door of the mansion since at least 1970.
yes, that was great. I am ready to go! 20 days
Speaking of grandfather spying out of the upstairs window above the entrance, here is a quick weekend trivia question for you all. How many different times do you see grandfather in Grandfather's Mansion?
There aren't that many, but we do see him more than once. Can anyone list them all? :)
I couldn't tell you...and back in my days, I cleaned the mansion every morning I worked. I guess I just never paid attention. I did enjoy looking at the "family photos" that hung at one time in the big room in the basement...where all the special effects are. They were old turn of the century photos with captions under them written by somebody at SDC. Some funny, some appeared to be straight.
too funny!! ok I have one off topic, for junior and the other "leaders" ::).. How many Cow Skulls are there in the Lost Mine? ??? One of the guards had me count them last itme i was there. ;D OK? who knows?
Man, I gotta be truthful here...I worked at Flooded Mine and I could not even tell you where even one cowskull is! I never noticed them. When I rode through the ride it was to do an inspection, making sure all the light bulbs were lit, and special effects were up and running...never once do I remember looking for a cowskull!
LOL!!! Not surprised, there is so much to see in there, BUT they are there!! oops....."they" guess that means there are more than 1... ::)