SNOOZLES™
Sometimes I'll be going through a batch of scans, and I'll wonder (out loud), "Is THIS a Snoozle?". But other times it is so obvious that there is no need for me to talk to myself (though it is fun, you should try it).
Beautiful Frontierland (from a February 1977 scan) doesn't look very inviting here; in fact I am reasonably sure that there are bears and mountain lions and raccoons just waiting to eat any guests who happen to wander too far into that dark, gloomy forest. Even the normally-cheerful Mark Twain can't cheer things up. I thought there was a large white bird on top of a rock, to the right, near the shore. But then I realized it was just a man's jacket. Sorry, sir!
Next, from April of 1974 comes this photo of the Jungle Cruise... a pair of boats sit unused by that outer dock, while another boat returns from the trip through the Rivers of the World. The trouble is, the jungle was so dark that nobody saw a thing. No crocodiles, no mother in-law elephants, no headhunters... nothin'!
18 comments:
Those bare tree branches next to the MT add to the gloom and doom of the photo. [Sh-sh-sh-shudder!] The gloom actually makes the Mark Twain look dingy and dirty (two more Dwarfs we never hear about). I think that dark forest is the Forbidden Forest from Harry Potter. There be unfriendly centaurs and giant spiders in there! I believe that's also where the AED factory is located.
I'm glad they had the red & white JC Boat in operation on this day. Whenever I think of Jungle Cruise Boats, It's always the red & white one I picture in my mind. Is that a bloody, skinless carcass draped over the foreground boat? Perhaps this is Adventureland's version of the dead settler watching his cabin burn to the ground. Ghastly, but memorable. (I know it's not a carcass... or is it?) Not a bad photo, really.
Well, the first pic is definitely a Snoozle, because of the dingy gloom. But the second pic is just a little unexciting. Thanks, Major.
Well, I was going to say the Rainbow Ridge looked abandoned, and that the attraction must have been closed for the day. But then I realized if this was taken in February of '77, then the Mine Train thru Nature's Wonderland had already been closed permanently. Sad! I guess that would make it a Sad Snoozle.
Photo 1 is not too snoozeworthy, it’s detailed enough that I can hear the “chuff” of the steam exhaust. This is one of my top five Disneyland sounds. It is sad to be documenting the loss of the Mine Train, however.
Photo 2 is worth a look, it shows a rare glimpse of the Back Side of Main Street. Do these side slips still exist or are the other places deeper in the Jungle to tie up the cruise launches for repair? I’ll bet there are some great backstage goodies hidden in there.
Thanks for feeding my speculations today, Major. Much appreciated!
JG
The water is RIGHT THERE! I love the chuffy Mark Twain. Thanks, Major.
JB, I expect the Scooby Gang to walk past in these! Except that they are photos, and people usually don’t walk past in photos. Usually. Speaking of Dwarfs, have you seen the trailer for the live-action Snow White movie? My gosh it looks bad. Poor Rachel Zegler, who seems like a talented and nice person from what I’ve seen. The striped canopies on the JC boats are classic, but you’re right, the red and white is the most classic, it seems to me that they would use red and white if depicting a Jungle Cruise boat on a toy box or whatever. It just pops. I had to look to see what you thought was a bloody skinless carcass, and that’s the only thing it can be.
TokyoMagic!, “Sad Snoozle” would be a good online nickname! Nobody would get it, but does that matter? I agree, very sad that the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland closed forever.
JG, it turns out that the “chuff” sound is just a recording played over a loudspeaker, modern day steamboats are as quiet as can be. (They got the chuff sound from an old episode of ILL, just like laugh tracks). I think that those side slips are still there, but I admit that I am usually not paying much attention when I’m there.
zach, the water is definitely right there, and it looks like there’s a lot of it! I’ll bet most Junior Gorillas love the sound of the Mark Twain.
Don't remake art....it's like the app that turns any photo into a Warhol. Speaking of, I'm not sure the masses would know a Warhol. A giant ad in the window of a store near me touted the new "Warhole" Absolut Vodka. I took a photo. Snow White aside, these Snoozles (tm) I think are actually true Snoozles (tm)! The second Snoozle (tm) is better than the first....and for the following reason....soo: the boat is coming into the dock....however...there are two boats in it's path....did the oncoming boat sail past these boats? The boats (in wait) seem to be docked waiting for capacity to rise, as they are at a flimsy and skinny dock seemingly only meant for skippers....Red and white African Queen style boats win out the Indiana Jones motif: These are fanciful. The new ones...SANS CUSHIONS!...seem rather "military". Without cushions: even more so. Don't let those soldiers be comfortable: keep them humble! The cushions were the best part, and on a sunny day it was toasty on the BTM. I'm glad they haven't filled in the jungle river yet....but it seems like a super large piece of real estate. I always thought that rivers were kind of a sacred cow....but ....given the hour I spent reading comments about WDW's "fill in"......eeesh.....I would say that the crowd response was about 70-30 to fill it in!.....which I found rather disturbing, and stopped reading. With all the land in Florida....you had to fill in history? The will of the people say "up with CARS!" I enjoyed the Cars ride in Calfornia....I didn't see the movie, but the ride was kind of "Test Track" with cute things.....But: Tropical, meets Frontier, meets colonial America, meets the Haunted Mansion, meets the Bayou...all within a half block? For Cars? I don't get it, and I'm not the target audience so I'm not supposed to. So there! Thanks Major for the Sunday Snoozles! (tm).
You know what I like even more than the sound of the Mark Twain? The taste of the Mark Twain.
A friend was recently aboard the Twain on a cold and rainy day. He had the whole main deck to himself. The area accessible to guests next to the boiler provided a nice, warm respite from the weather.
Assuming no changes from 2022, that outer dock is still there and they still tie out-of-service boats to it. There’s also an entrance to a siding just past where the boat with passengers is located in today’s photo. It curves to the right and parallels the backstage street west of Main Street, terminating in a boathouse where they can do more maintenance offstage. I watched a boat come out of that estuary and go into service on that trip.
I think the Jungle Cruise will survive in Disneyland at least due to it's connection to the Indiana Jones area. As long as that ride stays in operation, they can't really repurpose the land for the JC.
As for that Snow White movie, yeesh! The CGI dwarves look terrible - it's like CGI has regressed in the last decade to early-2000s quality. Somebody commented that Snow White looks like Lord Farquaad from Shrek and now I can't unsee it. I can't believe nobody at Disney decided to cut their losses long ago on this movie. It's going to be a huge loss, to be offset by higher prices in the parks I'm sure.
@ Bu-
I would say, regrettably, the only way any sort of SANE semblance can remain at both US parks is for the company to be taken private - which seems highly-unlikely. Enjoy your memories, for what remains continues to tick-away at what Walt and his Imagineers created - fully aware that change was inevitable - and welcome. But not change for change's sake foisted on the public by money-grubbing idiots with outsized egos, aided and abetted by morons.
Going forward - please remove the Disney name completely from the parks...
Thanks, Major.
I'm with JG, I immediately felt the chill of the wet air on a February morning while on the MT. And I thought of hearing that puffing sound while it would begin to steam away, or while docked. And Chuck is on target about being near the boiler to enjoy a warmer experience. The JC boats are docked while sitting on the "spur" awaiting the needs of the capacity of the day. There was room for 3 boats. Others are parked in the 'back side of Main Street' where heaver maintenance could be done on them onsite or pulled out of the water and moved to the shop. Seeing the red and white boat coming out of the canopy, I thought "Why that's the Congo Queen!". I could be wrong but first impressions are usually accurate. KS
The jungle cruise service & storage docks still parallel WESTSIDE Main Street USA … in fact when that area is used for guest overflow park exiting , the parked jungle cruise boats are visible. The space with the boat lift is normally blocked from guest view with a large canvas curtain .
The removal of the Rivers of America at WDW is truly devastating…. I think it’s something the company with eventually regret. In Walt Disneys earliest descriptions of the magic kingdom park , he didn’t go into detail , but he says it will be diffident , but like Disneyland , it will have a beautiful castle , a railroad and a frontier river .modern Disney is so quick to spend millions on adding a new verse to its a small world attraction and promote it as if it’s some respect to Walt Disneys legacy … it’s not : irs a ego stroke to current Disney corporate… …. But they will destroy a real Walt Disney legacy like The Rivers of America .
This past Thursday nite was a private party at Disneyland so the park closed at 8:00 .. and we had a substantial rain storm … the MARK TWAIN continued to operate till closing at nite … I rode the steamboat 3 times … once on each deck ( before the top deck was closed off to guests) myself a a crew member and the engine attendant were the only people on the whole level. In the dark and in the rain it really felt like it was 150 years ago…. Somewhere on a AMERICAN Frontier river! ( you don’t get that feeling sitting in a Starbucks wearing EarPods
Farewell WDW’s Rivers of America … Frontierland , Liberty Square …. I wonder how much longer Disneyland’s River will flow?
Major, not sure if I've seen the official, full-length trailer. But I have seen a couple of different ads on TV. I wasn't bowled over. The 'gags' seemed awfully lame, from what I could see. And the CGI Dwarfs looked... CGI. I'll hold my tongue 'til I see more. But yes, it doesn't look very impressive, so far.
Thanks for verifying the bloody, skinless carcass. You should update the JC Wikipedia page to reflect that new piece of Disney lore.
Dean, your description of the CGI Dwarfs is spot on. It looks like a regression of computer technology. Maybe they made the Dwarfs on an Atari 800 8-bit computer with 48k RAM? ;-D
Nanook, don't be shy. Tell us what you really think. :-p
Bu, on rare occasions, a movie remake can be good, but we all know that Disney only makes money-grab remakes. I’m sure we’re all looking forward to “Freaky Friday 2”. I’m surprised that Absolut Vodka is still using Warhol imagery, since they did that decades ago. I guess his fame continues to have some sort of magic. Such a strange person that the brightest stars needed to be close to. The oncoming boat did pass the ones tied to the dock, but on the inner channel that is out of frame to our left. I have no doubt that guests were not allowed out on that dock. For one thing, they’d probably fall into the water once in a while. I miss the old procedure with the boat cushions, but understand that they added one step that could be eliminated. A 10 minute trip isn’t so long that one needs padding. I do now worry about our River, since it takes up such a large portion of Disneyland’s real estate. If they remove it, I’m pretty sure I would truly be done - there is no attraction that would tempt me to go back. Like you, I was shocked at the public’s response to the Florida changes. “I never liked Tom Sawyer Island anyway”; and so on. Of course those are the squeaky wheels, I have no doubt that many are distraught at the removal of the river. I’m also disappointed that they will copy Radiator Springs Racers, it’s so nice for parks to have their own unique rides. Clearly, theming has no meaning in the modern Disney parks.
Chuck, I’ll have to be sure to give the Mark Twain a lick the next time I’m there. I don’t know what I’m missing! Cold rainy days on the Mark Twain sound awesome, I wish I lived close enough to pop in on a day when it rains. But several hours on the wet freeway are a big “NO” for me. I’m sure you are right about the Jungle Cruise docks still being the same as they were a few years ago.
Dean Finder, you make a good point about the Jungle Cruise and its ties to Indy; plus, it does seem like the Jungle Cruise is still very popular. As is the Mark Twain. It’s possible that the Anaheim crowd has different “likes” than the Orlando crowd, at least I hope so for the park’s sake. I’m so baffled by that Snow White movie, how could it look so terrible without somebody stepping in? Just make the Dwarfs look like 3D rendered versions of the original 1937 movie versions. No need to make them “realistic” (which they aren’t anyway).
Nanook, I feel like there is no way they can shock me anymore; yes, they can disappoint me! But I’m sure that someday decisions will be made that will make my derby fly off my head. When I look at what they’ve done to the exterior of the Haunted Mansion (and the nearby area), “change for change’s sake” definitely comes to mind.
KS, I can only imagine what it would be like to be in the park early in the morning when there are no guests, and everything is just coming to life. Especially on a cold winter day when the sun is only just coming up! I don’t think I’d ever get tired of it. I will go with your guess that the boat with the red and white striped awning is the Congo Queen!
Mike Cozart, I don’t think Disney would ever admit that they made an error, and they clearly don’t care what Walt wanted. “He’s been dead for almost 60 years! Times change! The people want new attractions!”. And to be truthful, I think that the guests will be so happy to have something new to distract them - that’s usually the way it is. Your experience on the Mark Twain sounds amazing, and I would have wanted to ride it three times in a row as well. I’ve mentioned it here before, but I once went to the park in the rain, and because Fantasmic would not be performed, the Twain was going to run at night. I was SO happy, it was one of the most memorable things of that trip. Cold, clear, uncrowded, and beautiful.
JB, you’re not missing anything, don’t bother to watch the trailer, it literally makes me cringe. I hate that they call these CGI-fests “live action”, like they did with the remake of “The Lion King”. There’s nothing “live” about them. I’ve heard interviews with Rachel Zegler, and she sounds like a genuinely nice person, I feel bad that she has been stuck with what appears to be a real dog of a movie.
I, too, have been on the Mark Twain on a calm, rainy (drizzly) night, sans Fantasmic. Heavenly.
(Hey, maybe if we remind people that if the ROA and MT go, so does Fantasmic -- so that, then, the Fantasmic lovers WILL want to keep ROA!)
Thanks, Major.
^ Good point. How ironic; Fantasmic may be the one thing that keeps the RoA/MT/TSI there.
BTW, your avatar icon hasn't been showing up the last two days or so. Is the problem at my end?
JB, to answer your question, "Is the problem at my end?", I have two responses:
1. ALL of GDB's problems are at your end. ;oP
2. When I quickly comment on GDB from my cellphone [instead of my laptop], I usually don't log-in to Google -- so then my avatar doesn't appear.
Nanook, I couldn't agree with you more!
I think the Jungle Cruise will survive in Disneyland at least due to it's connection to the Indiana Jones area. As long as that ride stays in operation, they can't really repurpose the land for the JC.
Dean Finder, I really hope you are right! But that doesn't seem to be stopping them from shoving a Cars themed ride and/or land right up against WDW's Liberty Square! :-(
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