Rivers of America & Cascade Peak, March 1963
Here are two nice photos of Cascade Peak! I've been trying to figure out where our photographer was standing when he/she took these, and all I can figure is that they were at the stern of the Mark Twain (or Columbia) at the loading dock, and the boat hadn't yet got underway, since the angle doesn't appear to change between the two shots. What do you think?
In this first one, a Keelboat comes toward us in kind of an unusual view; the trees on Tom Sawyer Island appear to just be leafing out, but still look pretty bare and wintry. Notice that Cascade Peak is cascade-less, presumably for maintenance reasons during the off-season. Both of today's photos really make Frontierland look like an impressive, large frontier.
The photographer could not resist snapping another photo when a plucky yellow Mine Train passed, and who could blame them? No "back side of water" this time, but that's OK, they're in Nature's Wonderland, and that's more than enough for anybody.
14 comments:
Major-
Nature's Wonderland. Sigh...
Thanks, Major.
If I'm not mistaken, these photos were taken from one of the Submarines, probably the "Skipjack". Although, it could be the "Patrick Henry"; it's hard to tell the views from the two apart at times.
Seems sort of strange to see trees leafless like this. One thinks of them as being green and lush all year long in SoCal. That's a nice clear shot of the "Bertha Mae". Seems like almost everybody rode on top, not inside; I know I'd be on top!
The fire alarm bell thingy is featured prominently in these photos.
It's strange to see the man-made lips of the waterfalls... without any water spilling over them. Did the Train drivers use the same "backside of water" joke here, as well as on the Jungle Cruise? If so, did they still make the joke when the water wasn't running, as it is here? I think that would make the joke even funnier, cuz, you know, there isn't any water... OK, maybe not.
Thanks for the cascadeless Cascade Peak photos, Major.
I see the fire bell, I see the fire bell! But no Fudgie, and no dent. And no Cookie Puss, either.
Wow, there might have only been six people riding the Keelboat that day! No wonder management closed that attraction......34 years later.
Now that we know about the water gong (fire bell), it cannot be unseen.
I’m having a hard time picking a favorite, the train pic is objectively better, but the Peak in majestic solitude has its appeal.
I think both photos were taken in winter of a dry year, accounting for the lack of leaves and reduced water flow.
Major, I don’t recall the “backside of water” wheeze until fairly recently, not at all from these years. That joke seems like an ad-lib from the JC script, while the train spiel was recorded and less subject to evolution. But “someone knows” and I’m not an authority at all.
Thank you!
JG
JG is correct … that JUNGLE CRUISE “backside of water “ stitchk dates from the early 90’s …. The mind train was recorded … by Dallas Mckeanon … but Rex Allen also did the mine train recording pre carousel of progress ….I think there were default sutustiins where the narration was does live …. I’m sure Ken Stack will know. The narration around Cascade Peak focused on the waterfalls …. “BIG THUNDER” and “THE TWIN SISTERS” ( because they’re always babbling…”).
Thinking about the first use of the Jungle Cruise “backside of water” bit and the tongue-in -cheek narration of later years , it reminded me that at HONG KONG DISNEYLAND they do the Jungle Cruise narration in a serious format … they have sone “cute” bits of narration like the elephant bathing pool
And the smallest elephant “baby brother” is “very happy” under the waterfall … but the overall attraction is more suspenseful . It’s funny however to see so many of the guests - experiencing a jungle cruise attraction for the first time freak out from being nervous or afraid … but VERY entertaining for us to see them react that way! The guests really freak out during a finale park of the cruise between Fire and Water gods … a volcanic area that feels very ominous becomes active with flames …. Then a flash flood from rainstorms further in the jungle extinguished the fire creating a dramatic steam enveloped boat …. Also a native attack uses 3-d audio so it sounds like actual spears are whizzing past you …. A very effective trick. Regarding the flash flooding mentioned earlier …. That is something witnessed in several parts of the Treehouse Island …. Guests take rafts that travel across the Jungle Cruise waterway …. Every 30 minutes about the flash flooding occurs on the treehouse island … and suddenly there are waterfalls everywhere !!!! The Hong Kong Disneyland Jungke Cruise offers three different queues: 2 different Chinese language and 1 for English narration . They also feature a recreation of Disneyland’s original 1955-1960 Boathouse and tower .
It’s The Gong Show over at Cascade Peak. I think the guy on the keelboat in the plaid shirt is Chuck Barris (no relation).
These could have been taken from the upper level of the Plantation House, although this composition would have required a telephoto lens of some type. I think one of the big deck ships is more likely.
Mike, now I want to ride HKDL’s Jungle Cruise really badly. Thanks!
OK, JB, you got me. "The fire alarm bell thingy is featured prominently in these photos."
??
1963! My first visit to Disneyland. Also, the year National Geographic did the Walt Disney and Disneyland article too. Those were my first impressions and memories of Disneyland.
Nature's Wonderland is now an attraction that most visitors at Disneyland today have never experienced. A "Walt" attraction that's been gone for nearly half a century now give or take a few years.
Thanks, Major.
Speaking from an early 70s perspective...the "Backside of water" was widely used by Skippers. My time on the MT was with the use of the recorded narrative only. We had no other alternative which made it interesting when Big Thunder was dry and you still had to run through the recording. No mics at that time. I need to check with my 'bretherin'.. at next month's meeting for a wider perspective on what the earlier generation of Miners said. KS
Nanook, yep, it was a good one. Kids these days don’t know what they’re missing! Why don’t they get haircuts??
JB, it’s true, you can tell that these were NOT taken from the Ethan Allen or the George Washington. Or the Morey Amsterdam. It really is odd to see the park with those leafless trees - but sort of neat too. California really does have seasons! “Hot” season, and “Cold” season. I don’t believe there was a “back side of water joke”, for one thing the spiel was prerecorded, although supposedly some drivers could choose to do the narration live if they wanted to. Which would have been cool.
TokyoMagic!, Fudgie was elsewhere, as you know! If I ever saw Cookie Puss at Disneyland I would lose my mind. I’m glad they closed the Keelboats, they look so smug!
JG, I’m kind of surprised that I forgot to point the gong out, but obviously it is unnecessary. Everyone loves the gong! Also, in the first photo, the peak isn’t all alone, it has that smug Keelboat nearby. “With friends like that…”. See my comment to JB regarding the spiel, but I have read that some engineers (or whatever they were called) chose to do the narration live. Or maybe that’s another one of those “facts” that is untrue?
Mike Cozart, wow, I thought that the “backside of water” went back way before the 1990s, but it’s not like I had any evidence for it. I’d love to hear the Rex Allen narration, and now that I think about it, I think I did once have a strange assortment of random Mine Train tracks that included some sound effects and other stuff, maybe it had a Rex Allen spiel.
Mike Cozart, interesting to hear that the Hong Kong version of the Jungle Cruise is so different. I guess it makes sense that the humor would have to be different, and perhaps the guests expect something more sober and serious, with a few light moments of levity tossed in. I don’t know much about the additional scenes in HK… fire and water gods? A volcanic area? Sounds kind of fun, though I don’t want them in Anaheim please! The flash flooding does sound neat though.
Chuck, it’s Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine! I can hear his theme now. That would have to be some crazy telephoto lens… one of those ones you see on the sidelines at football games, two feet long. I want to ride the HK version of the Jungle Cruise, I just don’t want to go to Hong Kong.
Steve DeGaetano, for some reason there is a fire gong on Cascade Peak. I forget who first pointed it out years ago. If you look at the left side of the Peak (maybe zoom in if you can) at about the level of the top of the tree line, and just a little but up and to the right, there is a round gong affixed to the side of the peak. It’s tiny here, but once you see it you can’t UNsee it.
K. Martinez, it’s so crazy to think that this big, beautiful attraction has been gone for so long, I am very glad that I saw it!
KS, thank you for that info, maybe it was much earlier (the 1960s?) when the Mine Train operators were allowed to do the narration live. Supposedly Walt preferred that, or so I’ve read, but we all know how that goes. Just because it’s in print doesn’t make it true!
Live narration of MTTNW was ended when a church group was scandalized by a conductor's wanton use of the word "Tarnation!"
I don't see a fudgie or a fire- thingy on Cascade Peak sans cascades...but I do see a kitty cat at the top....a striped one with wild white eyes staring at me....just saying...I also remember "the back side of water" from the late 70's...and the best JC skippers said the naughti-est of things and I completely enjoyed the myriad of double and triple entendre's. Thanks to whatever employees risked their jobs to make me laugh. Very much appreciated. Speaking of naughty: Big Thunder and the Twin Sisters......sounds like an "art film". That's all I got on this fine hump day....except for: $13 for an Adult, the Electrical Parade is at 8:00pm and Fantasyland is closed. And all of these things sound different to me now...we were also not allowed to say "back side" in any way as kids as that was also naughty. Could be abbreviated to BS...but that sounds even worse...(I'm stopping now.)
^ Sounds like a load of back side to me. ;-D
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