It's "Snoozer Sunday", the day where I use up particularly uninspiring vintage scans - it's nice to have a reason to share them, even if they aren't that great.
Al three of today's photos were taken from either a Keelboat or the Mark Twain - the angle is too low for it to be from the Columbia. And our photographer was apparently charmed by the various critters that populated the shores of the Rivers of America. Unfortunately, all of the photos are somewhat blurry, and obstructed by saplings and bushes.
I think this first one shows a mama deer and her young'n, grazing warily (there are mountain lions around!).
There's an elk, I guess. I wonder if our photographer had a zoom lens? I don't know how else such a close view could have been achieved. Maybe this one was taken from a canoe.
This slide was labeled "Wild Animils", which I enjoy. We've got two more deer, pretty realistic except that they appear to be made out of plastic, like giant toys. Which I suppose they are, in a way. Toys for Walt's frontier river model!
Jr. Gorillas - FYI:
ReplyDeleteWith the 'OK' from DrGoat, I want to let you know that our beloved DrGoat has been MIA because he is super-busy taking care of Mrs. DrGoat - while she is recovering from surgery after a bad fall.
Since I know DrGoat's still reading GDB and all our comments everyday, I just want to say, "We wish you a speedy recovery, Mrs. DrGoat, and hurry back DrGoat - WE MISS YOU!"
Major-
ReplyDeleteI think these images belong in the Where's Waldo? folder. (Or, Where's Wally? if you happen to hail from 'across the pond'). The camouflage effect is so great, I wouldn't be surprised if the Lindbergh baby is lurking-about somewhere in the dense foliage.
Thanks, Major.
Yes, a speedy recovery to 'Mrs. Dr. Goat'. (We're getting so formal, here).
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue, for providing "All the News that's Fit to Print".
"Fuzzy Animals". It seems like the imagineers could have come up with a method to make them appear more fuzzy and less like plastic. Actually, I'm sure they could have, like in the Jungle Cruise. Apparently they just didn't want to bother with realism as much here along the ROA. These deer must belong to Shiny Boy, who suffers from the same malady.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major, for keeping GDB going all these years.
Sending positive thoughts to Mrs. DrGoat for a speedy and full recovery. :-)
- Jagged Bonesaw
Ah yes, the short-lived "Bambi" tableau.....removed because it was considered way too graphic. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGet well soon, Mrs. DrGoat! Wishing you the very best!
- Tokyo Muenster! (But a MOLDY muenster!)
I'm wondering if when they bought the property back in the 50's they had deer roaming around? Even in NYC you'll see deer in Central Park or sometimes walking through streets. When I lived in Hollywood they would come down from the hills...so I suppose it's kind of plausible. It's amazing that all of that greenery was planted and none of it "happened". The thought of making a forest from a sandy orange grove is probably one of the many reasons why everyone thought Walt was crazy. Trying to think what "Bambi The Ride" would be? I'd give it a old school 50"s dark ride...not sure if more than 5 minutes would be sustainable- a bunch of pastoral scenes, a cute scene with Flower and Thumper....end with the fire scene, then "they all lived happily ever after" with a grown Bambi on a mountain. In 1959 I'm sure these forest scenes along the Rivers of America were astounding as they actually are very realistic...sometimes in certain light they do look kind of shiny. I always liked the Jungle Cruise at night as things seemed so much more real...not sure if they shine that very bright spot light on things any more. I'd go to very low lighting, but the great masses might be lamenting "We went on that Jungle Cruise and couldn't see a darn thing!!" I wonder if the Jungle Cruise was made today that it would be a dark ride? You wouldn't have to water the plants I guess...
ReplyDeleteGod Speed recovery Mrs. DrGoat!!
ReplyDeleteHmmm .... a Bambi ride?? I always hoped for a Winnie The Pooh Shooting Gallery!
When Disneyland Decorating still has its giant facility off Ball Road across the street from Gnhall Lumber , you could always see rows of Rivers of America “back up animals” ..... CONCRETE moose , elk and deer waiting to be painted and switched out with their brothers and sisters inside the park sitting outside behind chain link fence ( the fence of Tomorrow!!) there was always rows of Disney “San Francisco” park benches and other types from New Orleans Square and Bear Country too sitting outside waiting for repair or storage.
Mike, well, there was a Winnie the Pooh shooting game in Teddi Barra’s Swinging Arcade, but not quite the same effect, I guess. ;-)
ReplyDeleteDrGoat, wishing your wife a speedy recovery!
Fuzzy animals are perfect for a fuzzy Sunday morning. :)
ReplyDeleteBu, we moved to Anaheim in 1956 just a few miles from Disneyland. It was still semi-rural with citrus groves and chicken ranches. There were lots of possum, skunks, coyotes and other small critters but I never saw any deer.
Sending positive thoughts to the Dr. and Mrs. Goat!
Grant, keeper of the Tomb
Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mrs. Goat! Indeed, the whole Goat family.
ReplyDeleteSh, don’t get them thinking about a Bambi ride, no telling what they would tear down to put it in.
JB, 10 points to Griffyndor for “Shiny Boy” references. You have done done your homework!
Major, I like these forested photos. As a kid, I never once thought any of these models were real animals. Unlike the Jungle Cruise, or the original Mine Train bears, these guys are just phoning it in. Still good scenes though.
Thank you.
JG
Lou and Sue, thanks for passing along the message, of course I hope that Mrs. DrGoat recovers quickly, and that DrGoat is back with us soon.
ReplyDeleteNanook, when you think about it, I’ll bet they never looked for the Lindbergh baby at Disneyland. Bad police work.
Nanook, somehow that reminds me of a cartoon called The Venture Bros. (a sort of parody of Jonny Quest) with a villain called “The Monarch”. His eventual wife was called “Dr. Mrs. The Monarch”.
JB, I guess Chia Pet technology hadn’t been invented yet - the space program was still in its infancy in 1959. Even GI Joe had lifelike hair, so come on, Disney. I think you’re right, they must have figured that the animals were so far away that they could fudge some of the realism.
TokyoMagic!, nearby there were two static figures of hunters taking a bead on mama deer. MAN was in the forest.
Bu, I suppose it’s possible, though that area was farms and orchards. But you’re right, you’ll see deer all kinds of places, I just went to the Getty Center museum and we saw some deer on the train/tram ride up the hill to the museum. I saw a coyote on Wednesday, too! “Bambi” does not seem to lend itself to a ride very well, it’s so episodic, but rides are often kind of disjointed anyway. Just leave out things like the death of Bambi’s mother. I’ve often remarked on how good the artificial frontier looks, even in fairly early photos. A true accomplishment by the landscapers. I believe they do still use a spotlight on the Jungle Cruise; that’s a ride that I like to do once in the daylight and again when it’s dark.
Mike Cozart, I like the idea of a Winnie the Pooh shooting gallery - it probably could be done in a manner that was kid-friendly (aka BORING), but that’s not what we want. So those animals were made of concrete?? I always assumed they were fiberglass, though of course concrete would be much cheaper.
Chuck, was the goal to kill as many Pooh-bears as possible?
Grant, around here I mostly see deer in hilly areas, but not always. Farmers surely did not want deer around eating their crops, so it’s possible that any deer that managed to set foot around there wound up as venison for dinner.
JG, maybe they can tear out that Peter Pan ride, nobody likes that one anyway. And I did noticed JB’s reference to “Shiny Boy”, obviously he has been paying attention for a long time. When I rode the Mark Twain with my 8 year-old niece, she would say, “That’s fake!’, or “That’s real!” when there was some feature along the river’s edge, it always delighted me when she thought something was “real” when it was “fake”.
Feel better soon, Mrs. DrGoat! We don’t want to have to come out there and roll you up in bubble wrap, but we’ll do it!
ReplyDeleteA ride based on the scene where Bambi skids on the ice could be fun! Maybe a flat spinner or Whip-type ride, but indoors with lots of good scenery and show lighting. I’m tickled by the idea of Shiny Boy roaming through the forest, infecting all the wildlife with his Pernicious Gloss Syndrome. He’s the Typhoid Mary of lustrous sheen.
MC...I would like to see A Pooh Shooting Gallery too! If they make this shooting gallery, PLEASE bring back the REAL shooting gallery with metal pellets! They always made a big deal about the shooting gallery being painted every morning...and then it was a wreck by the end of the day. "Includes all rides, shows and attractions (except shooting galleries)" (in small letters.) They went to that laser shoot in my day...a co-workers husband created it. Lots of the girls in my dept I guess had a thing for WED guys. And people were shooting off their finger tips (that was the story anyway) "is there really something coming out of here?"...then they would blow their fingertip off. Hence: the laser experience. I like tin ducks better...or heffalumps and woozles...in "Pooh-Tacular, the Gallery uv GUNZ!" Not the most PC attraction idea...
ReplyDeleteNice try, Major, but I have correctly identified the critters. They are:
ReplyDelete1. Werewolf
2. Pterodactyl
3. Goblin
4. Ryan Seacrest
(I was a Boy Scout!)
Speedy recovery to the Goats!
@ Stu29573-
ReplyDeleteGlad to have it confirmed that Ryan Seacrest has finally been found. The gossip columns were all a-twitter with speculation...
Melissa, not a bad idea, just stick to the “baby Bambi” cute stuff. But no bad hunters at the end, for gosh sakes! Maybe the magical Frontierland forest imparts a shine and glow to all who inhabit it.
ReplyDeleteBu, the last time I went to the park, I tried my hand at the Frontierland Shooting Gallery, where they use infrared (or is it lasers?), it was a profoundly unsatisfying experience. Half the time I wasn’t sure if my rifle had triggered an effect or if somebody next to me had done it. Anyone dumb enough to test a gun by putting their fingers in front of the barrel… well, Charles Darwin would have a thing or two to say about that.
Stu29573, I admit that I skipped a lot of classes when I went to school, so I am not surprised that I got all of the animals wrong. Ryan Seacrest, I would have never known. However, I am very aware of werewolves in my daily life, so I am embarrassed about that one.
Nanook, for a while that guy was everywhere, especially in L.A. where he was a popular DJ. Is “American Idol” still a thing? I could never sit through five minutes of that show.
Major, my memory is a bit hazy about it, but I think you were trying to shoot the balloon that Pooh was floating up the tree with. I remember it used photo-electric cells and a “Pepper’s ghost” effect; the background was in front of you but the little Pooh was actually in the game’s upright case below eye level and reflected on angled glass in front of the background. Half the fun of the thing was figuring out how it worked. I was surprised see it still operating as late as 1995.
ReplyDeleteBut still no sightings of the Crested Sea Ryan.
ReplyDeleteMike Cozart, Ha! I'm still chuckling over the Winnie The Pooh Shooting Gallery. I guess Pooh would be easiest to knock off, him being so slow and rolly polly. Tigger would be the hardest to nail, him bouncing all over the place, as he does.
ReplyDeleteMajor (and Nanook), hmm, the Lindbergh baby at Disneyland... more of Walt's hard facts?
About leaving death out of the Bambi dark ride, we should all do that in our real lives! Simply deny that death exists and we'll all become immortal! Piece of cake! (Well, a piece of something, anyway.)
Melissa, "Pernicious Gloss Syndrome". Haha, thanks for that.
Stu, (did your System Reset go off without a hitch?) your critter identifications are so obvious now that I go back and look at the photos again.
- Jagged Bonesaw
Chuck, that is interesting, mostly because I remember my niece having a CD-ROM game many years ago that was supposed to help kids learn the names of colors (and other basic things), and if I remember correctly the kids were supposed to click on a particular colored balloon to make it pop. I wonder what ever happened to the game you saw? I love that it had a “Pepper’s Ghost” effect.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I’ll sleep OK tonight!
JB, yes, Tigger is the only one of those creatures who would probably be hard to “ping”. Pooh would be so easy! I guess the Lindbergh baby case could definitely qualify as a “hard fact”, it was gruesome.