Sunday, August 09, 2015

Mine Train & Desert, August 1961

Are you sick of photos of the Mine Train and the Living Desert yet?! I know I have been posting a LOT of them over the last few weeks, though I think the glut is just about over (for better or worse). 

Here's a view (not a great view, either) as if we were waiting in line to ride the Mine Train; we're definitely getting on this next vehicle! Dad came prepared with a cowboy hat - perfect for those hot August days. Notice the opera house in the background... not many people know that Disneyland used to have two opera houses.


Seeing this photo of the rock formations (some of those rocks are tumbling!), with the yuccas and saguaros, makes me wish I had the wherewithal to have a huge "backyard" railroad. It would probably grow and morph into an entire theme park - Gorillaland! 


14 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

How can you say you've posted too many pictures of the Mine Train-?? Although the first picture may not be of "museum quality", its image of 'great anticipation' finally fulfilled, as the Mine Train is about to embark on (what seems to be) GDB-followers favorite extinct attraction-! I wish I could climb-aboard right now.

Gorillaland - it's perfect-! You could build a chain of them, dotting the countryside - From Maine to Michigan. Wait, let's set our sites higher: From Maine to Maui. There, that's better.

Thanks, Major.

TokyoMagic! said...

Nanook, how about a worldwide chain? I want to visit Tokyo Gorillaland! Heck, I want to visit any Gorillaland as long as Major P. was behind it.

Nope you can't post too many NWMT pics. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they should have NEVER taken that attraction out! I don't care if the attendance was dwindling....they could have reworked it just as they have the Jungle Cruise over the years. Big Thunder was a sorry replacement for a Walt Disney classic.

I think we can see the trestle that went out over the water through the tunnel in that first pic.

K. Martinez said...

Arrrggghhh!! More Mine Train?! It's overkill, I tell ya! Just overkill!

Seriously, Major. I never tire of seeing the Mine Train photos. It's one of the great lost "Walt Disney" attractions of Disneyland.

Love the hitchhiking cactus in the second image. Are those a couple of the seven dwarfs I see next to him? I can easily visualize the tilt-and-spin of the boulder on top of the balancing rock as the Mine Train passes by. Wonderful! Thanks, Major.

Snow White Archive said...

Don't think I'd ever get sick of seeing pics of the Mine Train.

Gnometrek said...

Gorillaland yes. Gorilla World perhaps (but just one). If anyone suggests GorollaQuest, you may want to pass.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I know, I guess I get jaded. Plus there’s a part of me that wants every photo to be exceptional. You’d think that by now it wouldn’t be an issue! What should the hats look like at Gorillaland??

TokyoMagic!, don’t forget about Tokyo Gorilla Seas - it all started when I was sitting on a bench eating peanuts watching a crazy person yell at passing cars. What a beautiful story. I’ve always loved that the trestle was the first thing people experienced after going through that tunnel. Talk about starting out with a bang!

K. Martinez, I only wish that my Nature’s Wonderland photos didn’t lean so heavily toward the same views of the same rocks, but I appreciate your enthusiasm! I don’t know if I’ve ever noticed the hitchhiking catcus before, but I see it! Can’t quite tell if those are the “dwarf” cactuses nearby.

Snow White Archive, I’m trying to remember if I have any NW pix left in my remaining slides! There must be a few, but certainly not a ton.

Gnometreck, What about GORILLACOT?

K. Martinez said...

Now I'm confused. Wasn't the first thing that happened when the mine train passed through the portal/tunnel to Nature's Wonderland was train rolling along the edge of the stream of what was known as Beaver Valley? I thought the only trestle was over the Bear Country tableau after exiting Cascade Peak about midway through the ride's duration.

BTW, I always wanted to see Six Gorillas Over Texas.

TokyoMagic! said...

K. Martinez, that was the only trestle. I was just saying that I think we can see the trestle through that first tunnel. When I look at an aerial view, it looks like there should be enough vegetation that we wouldn't be able to see it, but it is located in a straight line directly across from that tunnel. Maybe they had trimmed the trees recently?

How about Pepperidge's Gorilla Farm? All you need to start with is The Original Gorilla Stand and the rest of it will grow from there.

K. Martinez said...

TokyoMagic!, Okay. That makes sense to me now. From Beaver Valley the trestle was visible and the first tunnel aligned just right so you could see it. Thanks for clarifying it for me. I think I got thrown off when I read Major's comment that the trestle was the first thing people experienced after going through that tunnel.

And I love Pepperidge's Gorilla Farm! I hear Mrs. Pepperidge's gorilla pies are the best.

Melissa said...

Uncle Walt: "Oh, yes, this is just my SPARE Opera House." *yawns, blows nose with wad of cash, throws over shoulder, picks teeth with gold nugget*

Yes, yes, to Gorillaland, Gorilla World, and APECOT Center!

Melissa said...

Uncle Walt: "Oh, yes, this is just my SPARE Opera House." *yawns, blows nose with wad of cash, throws over shoulder, picks teeth with gold nugget*

Yes, yes, to Gorillaland, Gorilla World, and APECOT Center!

Nancy said...

Never tired of this....every view makes me more sure I wish I had had the chance to experience this ride. :(

Anonymous said...

I would visit GorillaLand if all my GDB friends would go too. We could ride the Gorilla Train and eat frozen bananas.

JG

Melissa said...

My sister and I have a pact never to take pictures of each other eating the frozen bananas at WDW because there's no way to do it without it looking like porn.