Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Scenes From Nature's Wonderland, August 1960

Why bother visiting real nature, it is full of bugs. You know I'm right! I'd rather go to Disneyland's "Nature's Wonderland", which was gluten free and bug free. 

I've got to hand it to those Imagineers... that bear in the water looks pretty realistic. He's hoping to grab a silvery trout from the water. Then he will grill it with some lemon & parsley butter and serve it with garlic mashed potatoes and a crisp Chenin Blanc.


Those pronghorn antelope are looking a little dopey. That convenient "watering hole" is actually full of naturally occurring moonshine, formed miles underground. Bobcat's love pickled antelope!


This geyser was called "Old Unfaithful", named after Sir Albert Oldunfaithful. 


8 comments:

Nanook said...

I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing shots of Nature's Wonderland. It may not have all "the bells and whistles" that today's 'modern' attractions offer, but in so many ways it just doesn't get any better than this.

Thanks, Major.

K. Martinez said...

I love the strong connection Nature's Wonderland had with Walt Disney's True-Life Adventure films. Beaver Valley, Bear Country, Olympic Elk and The Living Desert. It was all there.

The Jungle Cruise and Rivers of America still have a touch of the True-Life Adventure films, but not on the grand scale Nature's Wonderland had.

Nice pics today!

Nancy said...

I agree. These scenes were what Mr. Disney envisioned and I am so sorry to have missed them, and so happy that someday in our future we would have a place like this to enjoy them (tho I am still waiting for my hovercraft....)

Great pictures today!! :)

Anonymous said...

Major, your captions today are 5 star! And how did you know that I was giving up pickled antelope and gluten free wildlife for Lent?

The Painted Desert portion of the ride is a favorite memory because while we knew it wasn't real, it was just real enough to keep our full attention on it as we rolled along through.

Bill in Denver

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, NW is in my top two "most missed" attractions; I honestly wonder, if the ride had survived until now, would it be a walk-on, or would it be more popular than ever?

K. Martienz, you are right, the connection to that famous series of films is pretty neat. I still remember watching many of them in grade school, and always being happy when I walked into class and saw a film projector in the room!

Nancy, at this point a LOT of people didn't get to see Nature's Wonderland. Hard to believe it has been gone for over 30 years.

Bill, thanks! I would give up gluten just because it sounds gross. Nature's Wonderland really was the old west, train ride equivalent of the Jungle Cruise.

PsySocDisney said...

Your post and Daveland's today go hand in hand in giving me a good Nature's Wonderland/Frontierland pick-me-up. Never gets old. The commentary never hurts either... Thank you :)

Anonymous said...

And I feel fortunate to have been a CM operating the train. It was a great work assignment...day or night.

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that those geysers smelled of chlorinated water, not moonshine, but what a great idea.

Like the Lake of Whiskey, in the Great Rock Candy Mountain.

Thank you Major.

JG