Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Rivercraft, August 1996

Today's four photos are the last of a batch from 1996; I wish I had more, but all good things must end. My pal "Mr. X" took these, he was a big fan of Cascade Peak and the various craft that sailed the Rivers of America.

The old Keel Boats did not run on a track, and one of the highlights was when the skipper got super close to the waterfall of Cascade Peak.


The li'l Keel Boat survived to sail another day. Unfortunately they would close forever the following May.


This is an especially lovely shot with a nice view of the peak and its falls, and an Explorer Canoe rounding the bend.


And no pictures of the river would be complete without at least one more photo of the Mark Twain!


Many thanks to Mr. X; luckily for you and me, there will be more excellent pictures that he took, including the Magic Kingdom in 1971, and some amazing Disneyland pix from 1973. Stay tuned!

8 comments:

K. Martinez said...

A huge thanks to Mr. X for sharing his Disneyland photos. They're some of the best I've seen of Disneyland in the 90s.

Looking forward to his Magic Kingdom '71 and Disneyland '73 photos. I'll definitely stay tuned. Thanks for posting Major.

Nancy said...

Smiling for a sunny day at Disneyland! Those are the best kind :-)

Thanks for sharing with us, Mr. X.

Alonzo P Hawk said...

Very cool shots guys (major & X), Thanks. The waterfall of CP is always a great memory. You also have the trifecta of the early Disney cruise lines. Fink, Paddle & Twain.

Major Pepperidge said...

K. Martinez, it's so funny, Mr. X almost threw his photos away because he thought that they weren't very good. I'm so glad I happened to visit him just before they wen't into the trash!!

Nancy, I will be sure to tell him that you liked these.

Alonzo, don't forget the reproduction of the iron-clad "Virginia" and the Skidoo made entirely of logs.

Melissa said...

Oh, Mr. X, oh, Mr. X,
Thanks for the trip to ’96.
Oh, Mr. X, oh, Mr. X,
Thanks for the lovely river pix.
You’ve paddled our canoes and wheels,
Whumped our gullies, and hauled our keels,
Oh, Mr. X, oh, Mr. X,
I’m running out of rhyming text!

(Fink, Paddle, & Twain sounds like the Hyper-Chicken's law firm.)

MRaymond said...

Since that section of Disneyland is so bare now, Cascade Peak should be re-imagined. The river needs the dynamics again.

Major Pepperidge said...

Melissa, I'm just an ordinary country Hyper-Chicken, so I don't know what melody to use with your lyrics! For some reason I keep thinking of Martin Short.

MRaymond, that would be SO awesome. How expensive could it be? Probably a lot more than we think.

Melissa said...

I was thinking of "O Tannenbaum," but you probably COULD use "O Canada."

Disney's probably pretty good at knocking together a fairly economical artificial mountain and waterfall by now, as long as you don't care about ever being able to maintain or repair it in the future.