Fort Wilderness, July 1964
It still amazes me that Fort Wilderness (on Tom Sawyer Island) has been off-limits to guests for two full decades - it used (arguably) be the primary feature of a visit to the Island; guests felt safe within its log ramparts (no more worries about grizzly wolves or poisonous-spitting lions). After they stopped trembling, they'd relax - maybe even whistle a merry tune, while they explored the entire fort. Go say hello to Andy Jackson, inside the Regimental Hdqrs. He might even be sober. Obviously the soldiers who lived here had a copy of the book, "Antler Crafts".
It's a good idea to have a well inside the fort (don't forget about the grizzly wolves). Plus, soldiers loved to make wishes. "I wish't I had a ten dollar gold piece and might meet a gal with long eyelashes". Aw! This is one of those new wells that had built-in water bubblers, very practical. Speaking of practical, how about that trash can, carved from the trunk of a mighty pine?
23 comments:
Major-
Those 'mighty pine' models are clearly the epitome of trash cans-! Evidently the gal holding the Tom Sawyer Island map isn't nearly as impressed with the combo well and drinking fountains as we are here on these pages. (Maybe the Canteen was all out of pickles, which put her in a sullen mood-!)
Thanks, Major.
I'm guessing that book "Antler Crafts" was a pitifully thin volume consisting of one chapter with one page: "Toss 'em up on yer roof. It confuses the hell out of folks; a real head scratcher."
Another explanation for the antlers on the roof could be that a giant thunderbird flew overhead with a moose, or two, clutched in its terrible talons and, having ripped all the flesh off the bones of the meese, dropped whatever was left over, like the antlers, which, by chance, landed on the roof. The thunderbird also dropped the hides of the meeses, which also landed on the roof. Here we can see that a strong gust of wind has blown the hides up against the walls.
Is that a Jack-O-Lantern in the window on the right?
In the 2nd photo, Sis is saying, "I wanna go hoooome!". Honestly, it looks like she's about to collapse. Meanwhile, her brother, Jeffy, is so hungry that he's eating his fingers. It looks like he's got about ten more years of growth in those rolled-up pant cuffs.
Nice, clear, Fort pictures, Major. Thanks.
I think that girl in the second pic is just embarrassed, because her brother is flossing his teeth in public.
Not only does that well have a bubbler, it also has a spigot on the side. Genius!
JB, I think that "jack-o-lantern" may be the globe of an oil lamp.
Our soldier wishes he had a well, a pine trash can, a 10$ gold piece and a gal with long lashes (and a well-turned ankle).
My goodness, getting warm in here…
The pic of the well is a keeper, I would not have recalled those details till now.
Now we know where Gaston trained as a decorator.
Thanks Major.
JG
One of the things that I love about WDW is that the fort is still open for business! OF course all those Seminoles running around means that don't dare close it!
I remember my grandson going through the pitch dark escape tunnel when he was six. He tried not to act scared...but wasn't entirely convincing. He was pretty proud of himself when we made it out the other side!
I think the DL fort might still be open is they had had Andy Griffith instead of Andy Jackson, but they didn't ask me...
Stu, I'm surprised they didn't replace Ol' Hickory with Michael Jackson during the Captain EO craze. He already had a uniform with epaulets.
Good point, Chuck! And then they could have switched him out with Captain Marvel when that fad took over!
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that a tree trunk trash can is the best way to keep your for spruced up. OK, maybe that joke wasn't pitch-perfect, but what can I say? I'm just a big sap.
Everybody gets the vintage fashion award today; all those outfits are cute as a button. I think we have clear photographic evidence that this is the time of the afternoon when everybody is so hot and tired they start snapping at each other over every little thing. "What do you mean, you want to sit down? You're RUINING the ENTIRE TRIP!"
Stu, getting scared in the caves is one of my most vivid memories of my first childhood Disney trip. It wasn't scary enough to be traumatic - JUST scary enough to be exciting. I can only imagine how much more exciting the fort must have been when everyone was spending their evenings at home watching Westerns on TV.
Decades?! What a poor real estate choice. You would think that in the worse case scenario, which we would all have TREsomething to say about ...at least it could be leveled and become a merchandise location. I vote for a food location, (after kicking Fantoostical off the island.) Tom Sawyer Island could be delightful on a moonlit night. It is truly the last vestige of "quiet" left in Disneyland...save for some off hours in the Tour Guide Garden...Disney: PLEASE stop thrusting STIMULUS at us! "Visually interesting" and LOUD STIMULUS are not friends! That being said: I spent much time on the Island 'Hosting' (read: babysitting) various celeb kiddie winkies and the like. It was nice to stop for some popcorn and an ice cream bar and get away from a busy summer day whilst daddy and/or mummy was working elsewhere in the park. After the snack, Gib Gerard threw up on me, and I went to wardrobe for a new wool jacket worn in the height of a hot Summer. I'm not bitter. Gib: if you read this- yes...it's true, and in "projectile" format. Now that that is out of the way and information purged: Pink shorts looks miserable. How you could be miserable on Tom Sawyer Island, I'll never know. But maybe this one was always miserable...maybe she is still miserable? My family had a reindeer antler road side stand...yes...those things existed, and perhaps they still do. My cousins took care of the reindeer pelt side of things. I never saw how these things were "processed" and I'm glad I didn't. Reindeer meat is a wee too gamey for me, and reindeer meatballs were like a normal thing in my house: with boiled potatoes. The antlers I am assuming were gathered across the rocky landscape as there were major populations of Santa's other helpers. Like Gaston, I also use antlers in all of decorating to balance out the lace doiles and frilly draperies. Thanks Major for reminding us of the now decades old "former Ft. Wilderness"!
Kids especially need an oasis of calm to escape to during a day of overstimulation in the park. There's always talk of replacing WDW's TSI with some new attraction, and it would absolutely be TRE.
Most of the people who've thrown up on me were cats; nothing nearly as story-worthytory-worthy as Buck Roger's kid.
Nanook, I wonder if they made a cast of an actual tree trunk for that trashcan? It’s certainly possible, though we have seen that the Disney folks can sculpt a realistic tree with no problem.
JB, you haven’t see the best examples of antler crafts. How about a nice comb for dad? BBQ tongs? A novelty pencil? Antlers have 1,001 uses! I like your giant thunderbird theory, however, and want it to be true. I think we’re seeing an actual lantern through that window, no Jack involved. There’s at least one other photo of that same little girl (photo 2) and she looks just as peevish. The little brat.
TokyoMagic!, I’ve actually seen people flossing in public, it’s SO weird. They often use those little plastic floss things that you buy by the bag. Yuck.
Chuck, hmmm, I wonder what the spigot was supposed to be for? If it was a park where people brought their dogs I could see it being handy to fill a bowl, but otherwise… maybe people liked to wash their feet.
JG, I would take all of those things too, things haven’t changed much! I once saw a woman’s ankle, and nearly fainted. Who is Gaston? Not the guy from “Beauty and the Beast”??
Stu29573, yes, that’s one of the things that the Magic Kingdom has over Disneyland. Jealous. I wish I went through the secret escape tunnel, I didn’t go to TSI until long after it was gone. I’d love to see Andy and Barney at the fort, but NO Gomer (or Goober)!
Chuck, the funny thing is that Andy Jackson was also famous for saying “TEE-heee!”. It’s one of the reasons he won the Presidency.
Stu29573, I guess we can be grateful that the fort won’t have to suffer any Marvel indignities. I actually like many of those movies (not all), but admit that the thrill is gone.
Melissa, (desperately grasping for a tree pun), whoever made that trashcan is a son of a birch. No, I’m not proud of it. I feel like I was happy to be at Disneyland even on hot, crowded days, but maybe I have just forgotten about all of my whining. My main memory of the caves on TSI is how often I bumped my head against the VERY rough walls, I’m sure there was blood.
Bu, they apparently use the fort as a sort of backstage area for all of the Fantasmic! performers, which is pretty crummy. There has to be a better solution. Meanwhile, I’d love to go to the island at night, but can only assume it closes at dusk due to liability. You just know that somebody would manage to fall into the water, or trip and hurt themselves, or… well who knows. Folks can’t be responsible. I’m afraid that quiet areas are not considered important; they are just seen as places for future gift shops or meet and greets. Is Gib Gerard (“GIB”??) a celebrity? Do you mean Gil Gerard, aka “Buck Rogers”? The thought of being vomited upon is pretty horrible, but somehow even worse at Disneyland. I’ve never eaten deer as far as I know, but I had camel once (or so the waiter said). It was OK! I still think the waiter was just hoping to see the American turn green and weep. Not THIS American! I need a deer antler so that I can make arrowheads.
Melissa, I truly wish that the designers would leave some quiet areas to rest and relax, but they have to keep squeezing in more and more stuff. Yuck. And OH, is Gib Gerard the child of Gil Gerard? I guess I should have picked up on that. "Gib", what a name. Short for "gibbon".
Mrs. Chuck vomited on my shoulder while she was in labor and I was holding her stock still while trying to keep my voice soothing and calm as I watched the nurse anesthetist make stressed-out "no, that's not it" faces during multiple attempts to give an epidural without permanently paralyzing her in the process. I'd prefer a kid projectile vomiting on me.
Here's a 1999 slide for sale of Gib Gerard and his mom, Connie Sellecca.
Hope that doesn't trigger any PTVD, Bu.
Connie Selleca and Buck Rogers came to the Captain EO premiere the year prior. She was on his shoulders like a little kid...they were quite the "active" couple at that event. I came into Buck's trailer when he was um "Buck"...(well...almost Buck) when the offspring decided to barf...as now I've started to remember more...I took off my coat like nothing had happened and let him finish the rest of the involuntary action into my coat. The wardrobe people were horrified...I was "just give me my other one please"....and went back to the trailer, where Buck, now fully clothed, was giving Mini-Buck liquid Tylenol in a syringe...which he threw up immediately. Since Buck was in his costume: he faced the kid away from him...as we actors do. This moment in time is when Big Buck and the star of Hotel were going through their "stuff" and I think he had "Daddy duty" for the day...but tiny little Gib was so very sick and probably should not have been tooling around a hot Disneyland, but Pops still had to bring home the bacon. Thanks to technology, the day I was barfed on will forever be remembered in a painful TV special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf0TMMIpUw0 PTVD is real.
Bu, wow! So among all the other things you had to deal with as a Tour Guide, you had to deal with half-naked celebs and their projectile vomiting offspring!
I never watched Hotel, but I remember Connie Selleca in Flying High, which was probably the best series ever, in the history of television. And of course now, she is Mrs. John Tesh.
I remember the televised "celebrity party" for the opening of Captain EO, but I don't remember that special for the opening of Star Tours. I tried watching it, just now. I almost turned it off when C3-PO started rapping. But then I did turn it off once Michael Eisner started talking.....just to keep myself from projectile vomiting.
Does anyone know why antlers were scattered on the roofs in Frontierland and TSI? Were there lost of Santa-related mishaps back in the day? Some other "hard facts" I am unaware of?
Antlers on the roof: I’ve heard it was similar to a horseshoe over a door … a sign of good luck . However it’s more likely because antlers needed to be completely dried out before honing them into knife handles …. And other tools .. but if it rains….that throws that idea out.
On riverboats , ships that were the fastest on the river were honored with deer or elk antlers in the roof of the wheelhouse …. Later railroads did the same thing with locomotives with the fastest speed records received antlers on their headlamps .
LOL! GDB Gold. VERY entertaining comments today, thank you all!
Thanks, Major, for hosting.
I always think of Connie Selleca as the girlfriend on The Greatest American Hero.
Melissa, believe it or not, I do, too.
Melissa - Believe it or not...
George isn't at home
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